Wow, thanks for all of your kind comments! You truly understand. OK, maybe I was feeling guilty for machine quilting this quilt and needed reassurance.
To answer the comment about trapunto, I hadn't really thought about it. The polyester batt that the client provided does give that look. It really helped to take up space in the applique' pieces, since some of those blocks were so poofy next to their neighbor. Quilt wrangling, that's what it was! and the curves and stippling helped it to lie flat. The quilt actually "grew" four inches by the time I got to the bottom of it!
This pattern is a version of a pattern called "Whig's Defeat" that was popular in the late 1800's.
I wish I had thought to take some "before" pictures!
In my opinion, the love of creating something truly beautiful has not changed since my great-grandmother's time, but this is a new generation of quilting. And in today's world, we quilt with the tools we have at hand. Not many of us have the time, the room to set up a quilt frame, nor the neighbors, friends and family that can come over to devote scores of hours hand-quilting. So we quilt with a machine, or we quilt with our checkbooks, and we still get the joy! :D Thanks again for your input.