You should be very happy quilting your quilt by hand and when you are finished you will have a treasure. I am not all that familiar with this modern quilting, but it certainly saves time and is beautiful. Yes, the quilt I am making is talking to me. Made a red, white and blue (with star motif, even) for my GGdaughter. I free-motioned the center and it came out beautiful. Then started doing the 6 inch squares around the middle panel. I had no problem with the tension, but when I did the third square I had nips and tucks like you wouldn't believe. you also woulod not bvelieve how long it took me to remove all that wandering stitching, but I did it. Now, I am stabilizing each square before I even start stiching. I awm using high loft batting which make a very pretty back. I still have 4 blocks to quilt on my small Brother quilting machine, then the 8 inch border.
Think I'll do the border in the old fashioned way, just straight along and if it curves a little, will match all the curves and balloons in the center. GFood luck with yur hand quilting, you will be done sooner then you imagined