Dear All,
thank you for all your nice comments! Your interest really makes me happy and I want to answer your questions as well as possible.
Depending on the fabric and the batting I use for my quilts I am able to quilt up to 16 stitches per inch (only counted on the top), the average size is 12 to 14 per inch. Fabrics and battings always have differences so my result also has it's changes.
In general I don't use broadcloth or extra wide fabrics like the ones for backings. I've never found a fabric quality that I like until today and for that reason I purchase cotton fabrics with 44-45" width and piece them. The seams are pressed open and I sew them by hand so the seams do not distract too much from the whole design.
The hand quilting thread I've used on the blue quilt is a shade of light blue, not white. I love to use a contrasting color of thread, especially on dark fabrics where the quilting doesn't stand out well using tone-in-tone thread.
I use pre-cut stencils for my designs but I also do my own designs. I make stencils out of cardboard or plastic material and I use everything I find in my kitchen like plates, cups, glasses etc. For this blue quilt I only used one stencil (the fan), all the other patterns are drawn with things like this and of course a long ruler. The small circles are marked around a spool of thread...I also do some freehand quilting and marking and this is a lot of fun.
My favourite book on hand quilting and wholecloths is "The Essential Quilter" by Barbara Chainey and I have also learned a lot of "That Perfect Stitch" by Roxanne McElroy. There are some others written by Elsie Campbell, Cindy Walter, Diana Leone, Pepper Cory and Alex Anderson that are really helpful. I think every quilter has to find her/his own way to hand quilt and find out the best techniques by practicing.