I have been hand quilting for over 25 years and love the process and the look.I do machine piece. It is really very personal. I have machine quilted, but just not my cup of tea. But I also would never give a hand quilted piece to someone that would not appreciate it or understand the love that goes into it. I hand quilted for my little nephews and they love their quilts, I don't even care if they get ruined, because by the time they do, they will have loved them to death. Although there mom tries to put them up for them after a time.
I taught my friend to quilt last year and she went directly to machine quilting and has finished 8 quilts to my two, but that is ok, she likes machine quilting and does not like hand work. It took me forever to convince he to sew the binding by hand, but after trying to sew the binding on completely by machine and not liking the look, she has agreed the binding looks so much better when the final stitching is done on the back by hand.