Everyone has their own preferences....some love the piecing and send all their quilts out to be quilted. Some rush through the piecing to get to the quilting to make it a work of art. I have a cousin that loves the piecing and hand quilts all her tops. When she's hand quilting, she talks with God about all the things she can think of and asks for guidance. I ponder with him while I am ripping out seams. It's my quiet time.
Me, I like all of it, the piecing, and machine embroidery, and applique and quilting on my long arm. I would absolutely love to have the computer assist for the long arm, but I don't want to invest several more thousand dollars, so I mostly do pantographs. All of my quilts are loved and that's enough for me. If I make a really special top, I will consider sending it out to a good professional, but I find the price of over $600 for the quilting to be out of my price range right now.
I did notice at the Quilt festival in Houston that there were several new long arm manufacturers there this year. I believe this means there are more people quilting now and they believe there is a market for these new machines. Also, some of the manufacturers who have been around for many years, are really expensive. It's hard to believe that you have to pay anywhere from 15 to 25 thousand dollars for a long arm and it isn't computer assisted.