This post made me go back into my memory archives. We I first started quilting we really only had 2 options. You could hand quilt or you could tie it off. Long arms machine were almost unheard of--they were few and far between. We almost always tied off baby quilts because of the constant use and they held up well with tying.
We are very blessed to have so many quilters that have long arms machine and they do such a great job on the quilting. It took me a few years to "adjust" to quilting by check. meaning I'll gladly pay someone to use a long arm.