I was raised a quilting snob - by a mother who saw tied quilts as inferior. (She was NOT a quilter!) I would have sworn that my grandmother (the quilter) never tied a quilt in her life, but .... found two she made for my son 31 years ago that ... gasp ... were tied. They are made of double knit and very heavy so that's probably why she tied them or ... he's adopted and we got him sooner than expected and she may have just wanted to do this quickly. Anyway --- after I examined those quilts my tied-prejudice evaporated. In certain circumstances tied is fine! (I'm a beginner and do SIMPLE machine quilting - if it's too big for my machine it gets tied. If I want that more puffy look - tied.)