Some of hand quilt, some of us machine quilt, others send them out to be hand or machine quilted. Each to their own and there really isn't any clear answer as to which is better. It is a matter of preference. I can always tell if it is machine quilted. I do prefer hand quilted.....but that is my preference. For some reason, machine quilted just seems "assembly line" to me, but then again that is just my take on it and I don't mean that to be derrogatory in any manner toward anyone.