Sharon Schamber (sharonschamber.com) has a good free video to watch on her site, for hand quilting. Personally, I cant seem to do it at all with a hoop, but get on great with it held in my hand. I, like you, did a lot of cross stitch, and just wanted to stab stitch if I tried in in a hoop, and if I had the quilt loose in the hoop, it felt alien, and the hoop superfluous.