I used to hand quilt...and yes, it was relaxing...but for a couple of reasons, I rarely hand quilt anymore. First, I sew way too many tops and would never be able to keep up hand quilting them...it is so much slower than machine quilting. Second, I had to have hand surgery about 10 years ago, and since then I can only do limited handwork. Mostly now if and when I do hand quilt, I do the "utility" quilting with pearl cotton and a chenille needle. I found I love that look, and it isn't as hard on my hand as traditional hand quilting is.