Your quilts are extraordinary! These are heirloom quilts to be treasured and handled with care. Most people want to make quilts or other items (bags, tablerunners etc) as gifts, and cannot devote the time it would take to hand quilt, so machine quilting is the answer. I was taught to quilt by my sister 6 years ago. She taught me how to hand quilt, because that is what she knows. As a result, I hand quilt. If I had not had her guidance, and had taken quilting up on my own and gone to a LQS for help, as many quilters have, I probably would be a machine quilter. I have recently been experimenting with FMQ for tablerunners and baby quilts, but I don't think I could ever machine quilt a larger quilt. Over the years I have come to really appreciate good machine quilting, it is a talent and skill that takes years of practice, and can create amazing works of art.
I think of quilting like any art form, there are many branches. In painting, you could use oil, pencil, watercolor, you could paint portraits or landscapes. Hand quilting or machine quilting is just a choice in how you want to create your piece of art. To each his own. I enjoy hand quilting, but it is slow. At my house, there always has to be a quilt in the frames so I can sit down at any time and do a few stitches. It is like breathing, must be done!