It took me a long time to decide what to do with my first two quilt tops. My instructor advised my class not to try to quilt a bed-sized quilt (which these were) on a regular sewing machine. She also said she used a long-armer.
This bothered me because I felt like I needed to do the whole thing myself. I thought if anybody else worked on the project with me that I wouldn't be happy with it. This decision nearly brought my quilting to a halt.
Finally, I decided to go with a longarm quilter. It has allowed me to fall in love with quilting since I don't think I was ever cut out to do the quilting part. I love choosing the colors and doing the piecing, but I'm more than happy to let someone who is more inclined to the quilting part do that. My quilts have turned out beautiful, and I'm very happy with them.
If I'm short on funds or I think it's the better choice, I tie some of them. I've even used a small decorative stitch on my sewing machine to tie blocks rather than using the embroidery thread.
Recently, I've machine quilted a couple of wall hangings. The small size is easier to do on a regular sewing machine. I've done just a grid of diagonal lines with good results. I've also stitched in the ditch (which is easier than you might think) and done just wavy lines. If you use monofilament thread, you won't even see any mistakes.