Perhaps it's also because we are living longer (think of all of us on this board who are retired). After we retired from our job (and kids WERE time consuming too) we are freed to celebrate our creative side. And many of us have hubbys who are pitching in with the limited housekeeping 2 people require.
Quilting is exciting, but it does consume a lot of time. I suspect that the "quilt police" are losing their gripe (grip) on quilting because there is no longer a "standard" or "right" way to quilt. Some still worry about "the right way" but many of us are really enjoying just .... doing. I think that brings a lot more people into the quilting world. I particularly love the way quilters send things to areas that have been hit hard. And the fact that more and more of us have the time and energy to work with G-kids, or, less frequently, our own kids. The internet certainly is a huge issue, whether building quilts or building bombs. Or maybe many of us simply have great friends with totally individual ideas about quilting who keeps us reaching reaching for new ways/patterns to quilt!