It's funny, but the' long arm vs do-it-yourself way ' sounds a lot like the 'old hand vs machine piecing' or the newer 'hand vs machine quilting.' Lots of people think the hard, slow way is the best. I'm old, too, but I'm tickled this long arm stuff has started! I'm happy to hand over my quilt - and I LOVE to machine quilt my smaller projects and have for years! Big, hard to handle quilts get done -well - and I'm able to get them to the recipient and on to the next project. If you want to fool around quilting for years, go ahead - it's your quilt after all. But don't let ANYONE tell you a long armed quilt is not as good-or authentic!!