My mom was like that, I loved her to pieces but she was critical, I listened, thought "oh my, she's grouchy again today" and did it my way anyway.
I ALWAYS pull my binding over to the front, I really hate to hand sew my binding on, you can sew it on the machine when you pull it over to the front, looks really nice on the front and back if you use a decorative or blanket stitch (I'm assuming you have a sewing machine).
I've never had a quilt machine quilted by anyone. I do a lot of stitch in the ditch, or X's to quilt.
Recently I started to free motion quilt on my sewing machine. I do it in small sections so it's manageable. It takes practice, but it's fun so you might consider trying it out as an eventual alternative to tying some day.
If you're doing all your quilts by hand, you can still do these techniques by hand as an alternative to tying as well.
Nothing wrong with tying. There's something really comforting about a tied quilt.