The first couple quilts I made were in the 70's, and they were sheets sandwiched with thick wool batt and tied with yarn. I made one for us as a newly married couple and one for my in-laws. That was the kind my grandma made. Afterall she lived in Wisconsin. In the mid-80's my parents retired to NC, in the same town Georgia Bonesteel's husband's hardware store, housed her shop. I bought several patterns but never made them. In 1986 I took a quilting class in my home town at the HS. It was a QAYG but each block was hand quilted. Got all the blocks done and two quilted, but decided hand quilting was NOT for me. Finally made a few wall hangings for my Mom and did hand quilt those but it took forever. When I found out I could FMQ on a sewing machine, there was no turning back.
I agree, the rotary cutter revolutionized quilting for me and a lot of others.