More power to you for still being able to hand quilt - I can't - my hands immediately begin to cramp... it's all I can do to get the binding hand stitched around a quilt.
That said, maybe that quilt shop owner has seen 'hand-made' quilts like some of the ones I've seen...
there's a place here that sells hand crafts - some absolutely fantastic work and then there are the 'hand made' quilts - I'd be embarrassed to have my name on some of them. the stitches are HUGE - they look more like basting - the kind of thing you'd say, 'that will fall apart the first time it's washed'
do you recall seeing any of the hand quilted quilts at walmart? the huge big sitches probably done by very young children? that sort of thing
if you've seen any of the Gees Bend quilts they are very very crudely made - like maybe a 5 year old just learning - don't yell at me about it unless you've actually seen one of them - I know I wouldn't spend thousands of $$$ on one of them
I guess the point I'm trying to make is, there are different degrees of effort and talent in anything to do with quilting, just as every person is different so is their talent...
Apparently this woman hasn't seen your work and jumped to some rude conclusions....
I think hand work is gorgeous if done well - if not, it's just shoddy, just as machine work...
For decades any woman who did her quilting 'by machine' was really put down - it still goes on, people sniff when they see that you 'quilted it by machine'..... so the prejudice goes both ways - heavily weighted against the machine quilters in my experience.
that woman's opinion of your 'way of doing things' is totally not important - do your own thing, enjoy it for what it is - your way of expressing yourself...
and then show off some of your creations here!!