I agree with feline fanatic!

We are each blessed with 24 in a day and we determine how to spend our daily treasure of hours. Our grandmothers did not have that luxury. They had far too much work and toil to accomplish-but they still had 24 hours. They socialized in sewing days and quilted together-and waited their turn to have a quilt quilted. There is nothing more beautiful than a quilt that is hand quilted but machine work is magnificent. I loved to hand quilt-but am quite slow at it-so I machine quilt. I think our grandmothers would have adapted quickly to machine quilting if they had had access to the things we have. After all, they were quick to embrace washing machines rather than rocks; they accepted cars in place of their horses; most gave up grinding their own wheat to make bread. Do what you enjoy, aspire to do your best and enjoy it. Be comfortable with your present abilities or strive for a higher plane. Enjoy your journey but learn to appreciate the different journey path of others.

hahahaha.....we've had about the same discussion about 10 years ago in a photogroup:
Is a digital photo real or is it only real when you make a photo with an analog camera and develop and print it yourself...... We all know the outcome by now!!!!
For handquilting you need skills, but for machinequilting you need skills also.
It makes you finish a quilt much faster but stilln it takes a lot of time and effort.
I really appriciate both ways

Go look through the Pictures forum here and see what you think. Saying that hand quilting is good and machine quilting is bad would be like saying oil painting is good and watercolor is bad. Weird.

My quilts so far have used very simple machine quilting -- outline and stitch in the ditch. I've been practicing some hand quilting because I have a project that doesn't lend itself to the type of machine quilting I can do (no FMQ foot, never done FMQ, etc.). I have another project going that might even be some of each -- machine for the border and hand for the center panel. Wonder what your quilt police would say about that! LOL LOL LOL

As my daughter always says "Haters, hate".

I am a machine quilter and proud of it. I would never complete anything if I had to hand quilt. My mom teases me because I claim to be allergic to hand sewing. If there is any way to make something by machine instead of hand sewing it I will find a way. I don't have time for quilt snobs and would find a new guild.
I just went to the International Quilt Show in Cincinnati last weekend and the majority of the quilts on display were machine pieced and quilted. Do whatever floats your boat. They are your quilts make them your way. There are no rules for creativity. The most creative things are made by breaking the rules.
Have fun. Do it your way.

I think most of them are really beautiful either hand quilted or machine quilted.

I made a lovely quilt which I donated to a church group for their Christmas raffle. I do not even belong to this church. When I took it in to them, an older woman remarked as to how lovely it was, moved closer, sniffed and turned up her nose, and said, "Oh, it'machine quilted, i only hand quilt." I replied that perhaps she could donate the next one. This lap quilt earned them over $500.

I always hand quilt - sometimes machine piece, but most of the time hand piece. I am in awe of the beautiful machine quilted patterns & I certainly would machine quilt if I could afford the machine. There is room for all methods in quilting, just as there is in all art forms. Sometimes the only way someone can feel good about themselves & what they do is by tearing down someone else.

hugs
Shirley in Indiana

The only thing bad about ANY quilting is when the quilt can stand up in the corner because it is so stiff! Sometimes machine quilters go overboard. BTW, I have a quilt being quilted by machine right now. Minimum quilting requested and the women always complies.