Its OK for them to prefer hand quilting, but it is also OK to machine quilt. I used to hand quilt a long time ago, but then didn't really have a machine that would do nice machine quilting. I have machine quilted for probably the last 20 years. At first there were snide remarks about machine quilting, but hey, the quilt police can be replaced. ha. Myself and 3 friends did an original applique quilt and then had a professional machine quilter do the quilting. It has since won many ribbons nationally and even a Viewers Choice at the national machine quilters conference. Do NOT let them discourage you from machine quilting. Just smile sweetly and say "I prefer to finish projects". Eventually even most of the people will come around when they see ribbons on your quilt. Most shows have categories for hand and machine work. Keep on machine quilting.