I'm about six or eight hours into this little project, now. I've actually worked on it a lot more hours than that, but most of it has been out of the hoop and not using this method I'm trying to learn, so I'm not counting that. :)
I had to switch to an ordinary sewing needle because even the size 8 betweens were too small for me to manage. I'm clumsy enough as it is and between the thimble and the rubber fingertip protector, I'm a mess! :D
The straight stretches are getting fairly easy, but going around curves, I can only do two or three stitches at a time.
I'm getting the hang of the "tripod" hold on the needle and the motions required for stitching, but Lord have mercy, my stitches are BIG!
I'll bet if I had used the low-loft poly batting that she recommended instead of the low-loft cotton, I would be getting smaller stitches. I was in a hurry to get started, though and this was something I had ready to go for FMQ practice.
This is just a couple of squares of muslin about 20-22" with a cotton batt inside. I drew a feather wreath in the center and filled the rest of the piece with gridded lines.
I might not even finish it - I had to take it off the hoop to do the outside edges, and those are long, straight lines - exactly the kind of design suited for practice with this method and this hoop. I'd rather get back to working on the method than finish this particular project, which is not going to be terribly successful at this point, even if I were to miraculously catch on. ;)
And one last point was that I ordered the 16" hoop because I thought I'd be stopping less frequently to move the quilt - but 16" is a bit large. If I had it to do over, I'd get the 14" hoop. There's a reason that's their most popular size. ;)
I will say that there is nothing painful about this method - even with arthritis in my fingers and shoulders and carpal tunnel in my wrist, I seem to be able to work on the hoop for a long time and none of the usual pain issues bother me. This is a huge deal - trying to learn regular hand quilting is very painful for me. Even doing applique or sewing on bindings for more than an hour or two at a time can prevent me from sewing at all the next day, so "no pain" is really a gift! :)