I understand what you feel. We are also limited very much by funds, and I rather my money go to fabric then anything else. Last year I was looking for a sewing machine I could FMQ on. The dealer showed me some regular machines, but I explained that I needed something bigger. I ended up with a Janome MC 6300. It has a 9" throat space.

For a long time I have just been finishing off quilts with my walking foot. I would experiment with FMQ on mini quilts, but nothing large. Just last night I bit the bullet and started FMQ a large quilt. It's a loopy all over design. The quilt measures about 95x73, which is the largest I've ever done by far. I am working on it in quadrants, which has made it really, really, easy. It actually looks pretty good, I am really surprised. It looks like my practice has actually paid off.

So don't let the money part get you down. Finish your quilts in a way that satisfies you and doesn't stress you out. "Finished is better then perfect", really is the best saying.