Well, it depends on how you look at things I guess. Back b-4 the rotary cutter quilters worked with templates and scissors. Now there are SO many gadgets available it's hard to decide which ones to use and which ones to leave alone. I mean, all one "NEEDS" to quilt is a needle and thread, scissors, fabric and batting. But you could probably add a hoop to quilt in, and a sewing machine to do piecing with, and as long as you're piecing on a machine you may as well quilt on the machine as well and since you're using a machine you should probably have a cutting mat, rotary cutter and ruler, and heck, let's throw in a template or 2 (or 10) for cutting different shapes, and fancy marking pens and a die cutter and heck, it's a pain to quilt on the little domestic machine, let's get a long arm, and... well b-4 you know it your sewing room looks like mine! LOL! But it sure is fun in there! And I doubt I'd ever finish even one quilt if I had to sew the whole thing by hand anyway!
So...the short answer is, I guess we don't "need" any of the modern gadgets, but it sure is hard to say "when." Besides the more gadgets I buy the more I'm supporting the economy right??
LOL! Sorry, this got a little silly, it's late. Oh yeah, and I LOVE gadgets and tools!