I am fairly new to quilting... only one quilt to date. I machine pieced/hand quilted the first one. However, I am machine piecing and quilting the one I am now working on. It certainly is faster which is beneficial because my brain is already quilting future quilts. I am finding that machine quilting takes quite a bit of skill (of which I have yet to acquire)... one really has to be "one with the machine". I am enjoying both methods and will leave both options open.