I hand quilt, its very time consuming but hey! I have time. you may also want to look into hand tied. I know its not a prefered method to quilt but with a little practice and an eye for what to look for in a pattern you can make some GREAT quilts in no time at all! I saw a quilt a few months ago that a friend of mine was doing a running stitch with crochet thread! it looked really nice, my sil is doing one with running stitch in yarn.
there are SO many options out there, dont let the popular method distract you from other creative options :D