There is a time and place for all. My preference is hand quilting but "reason" tells me if I want to ever get all my completed tops quilted I need to send some out to be LA'd. Have hand pieced and do enjoy it but the patterns I like show up so fast afnd furious and it's very quick to machine piece one in a couple of days as opposed to a several months hand piecing and hand quilting. My preference is minimal quilting because I don't choose to distract from the pieced top I fell in love with initially. Some of the pictures that have been posted here of LA work have been stunning and really elevated some rather otherwise humdrum quilts. I would like to see their beautiful work displayed on a whole cloth quilt. But, in the end, as long as it's pleasing to the eye, warm and serves a purpose it doesn't matter how it's accomplished. We're all different so why shouldn't our quilts be different as well.