I don't think hand quilting is dying out, it's just faster to machine quilt. I don't know how long it takes to machine quilt some of the beauties I've seen in shows, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't take the two years some of my queen sized quilts have taken.
There are some quilters who are able to enter hand quilted quilts into major shows almost every year - Linda Roy, who won a major ribbon at Paducah this year, and Suzanne Marshall, who does her quilting without a hoop - are two that come to mind right away. I don't know much about either of them, but I'm pretty sure they must devote most of their time to quilting.
Janet