When I first started quilting, I did it all by hand. FMQ was not in my vocabulary. I even did a quilt with the stipple stencil, it took forever and the fabric is a busy print and you can hardly see the quilting. I can't seem to get the hang of FMQ other than small pieces. I have done several quilts with grid quilting, diagonal lines in both directions at 2" intervals. I love the look and it works for me. I haven't given up on hand quilting, it is still my favorite. Maybe one day I'll get the courage to try FMQ on a large quilt.