This has been a great discussion....almost a pause in the road to look forward and back and see where we are. Each of us loves our quilting for our own reasons and it seems those reasons can change based on comments from quilters about initially loving piecing and how that love transferred itself to applique, etc.
Technology has been such a gift to this art form and it's only going to keep going, which means ultimately the price of longarms will start coming down, and that's a blessing in itself. But in spite of all the technological advances, there will always be some little girl or boy who takes a piece of fabric, cut's two shapes, threads a needle and sews those shapes together. It's a wonderful life!