KrazyQuilter--I hand pieced and hand quilted my first quilt over 25 years ago. I then decided that quilting was not for me! I admire you so much for your talent, time and patience. I returned to quilting 9 years ago, but now my motto is more like-"so many quilts, so little time". Arthritis keeps me from doing as much handwork as I would like to do, so I stick to the sewing machine and send a lot of my tops out to be quilted by someone else.
I am so sorry that shop owner was so thoughtless. She did not realize what a turn-off her selfish comment was-she could lose a lot of customers with attitude like that. Please try not to lump everyone in the same basket with her, there are a lot of people who share, or at least admire, your hand quilting preference.