The art quilts are lovely, but I prefer pieced quilts, too. I am going to a quilt show tomorrow in Northern lower Michigan. I expect to see plenty of pieced ones there. I wonder if the Amish in the area enter. I doubt it. They do some beautiful work.
Finishing a quilt is always a problem. I'm not a fan of tying, but it has it's uses. I have Trip Around the World in my playroom that I tied on the back. It worked nicely. Holds it together without the stringy looking front. Machine quilting on my machine gets cumbersome, but my hands can't do a lot of hand quilting. I love my hand quilted quilt my grandmother made dearly, but even she didn't do her own quilting. She sent hers out to be hand quilted.
BTW, years ago machine quilted quilts were very desirable. Only the wealthy could afford a sewing machine, so a machine quilted quilt was a sign of prosperity.
patdesign, Every quilt is an original. Even if we all use the same pattern, our color choices and border choices, etc, makes it our own.