I've always hand quilted until recently when I got a machine that'll drop it's dogs so have done a bit of FMQ now. I love the speed of machine quilting and it can be beautiful - look at the work of some on here (Patti, Jaquemoe, Katrine etc...) And we're talking regular machines, not long Arms. I know there are some machines that have an antique stitch which leaves the spaces KLue mentions. But of course, the stitches are uniform; I love the process of hand quilting and agree that it gives a different 'feel' to a quilt. I think each have their place and one is not better than the other - just a different process. :D