I love to hand quilt as well. It does take a little time to get the hang of it. I couldn't keep a metal thimble on my finger so switched to a leather one. It has a metal coin on it that helps push the needle through without putting a hole in my finger. And, I bought some finger cots..... look like the ends of rubber glove fingers. I have such a hard time pulling the needle through and was using jewelery pliers until I tried the finger cots. I am self taught so last winter I went to a quilting shop that had some ladies hand quilting a few times a week. They had a quilt stretched on a quilting frame and I just sat and watched..... ask questions and chatted about the problems I'd had with my hand quilting. They were so helpful and watching them made the whole process so much easier. I went back home and got a quilt stretched on my quilt frame and started working. It's probably going to be the best quilting I've done. One thing I've found is that you do need to have some 'give' in your surface. The tighter it is, the harder it is to turn the needle.... and use a thinner batting for hand quilting. Good luck.