I have been handquilting for 40 years and long ago taught myself to quilt with either hand when using a frame. It took a lot of practice and I am a little slower with the left hand. I was involved in a quilt documentation project in our county about 20 years ago. We brought in experts from the DAR musuem in Washington DC to look over the quilts that were brought to us for the project. They counted the stitches on the front and the back. The size and number of your quilting stitches can be impacted by the type of fabric, the thickness and kind of batting and the thread count of the various materials. For sheer practice nothing beats a wholecloth to improve your stitch. Piecing seams and applique make the quilting stitches harder to be consistant and small.