Small machines make quilting difficult.

I would recommend using your little Brother for piecing/applique/embroidery and maybe using your workhorse vintage Singer for quilting. I love my Singer 201-2 for quilting! Slap a walking foot on her and she does beautiful, even straight stitches and the free motion is even better.

If you can't afford a namebrand machine with a LARGE (9+ inch) throat area it isn't worth the grief to try and force a large quilt through a tiny machine. Vintage Singers have so much throat space and will stitch through all kinds of stuff without an issue.

That's what I did on my limited budget until I could afford my Viking Sapphire.