Originally Posted by feline fanatic

I think there are still plenty of quilters who do not take advantage of the modern conveniences. We have many, many members on this board who hand quilt, quite a few who only hand piece and a lot who peice only by treadle or hand crank.

I embrace the best of both worlds! I love my Bernina and love my new long arm machine. I also hand quilt. I own a treadle but have yet to get her up and running so I can try piecing a top on it. I will not do without my rotary cutter!

I would like to add as a beginner Longarmer, it does take just as much concentration, skill, practice and talent to operate a longarm and getting an intricately quilted quilt as it does for hand quilting, maybe even more. I am a self taught hand quilter and I was able to pretty much jump into it with both feet and have a nice looking result in the end. I think longarming, at least if you are going to do something other then a basic meander takes as much skill if not more as the less modern techniques. Same goes for FMQ on a domestic machine. I actually think that takes even more talent and skill as it is much more difficult to manipulate the quilt through the DSM then it is to move a machine riding on a carriage over the quilt.