I am not real good at hand quilting either , My stitches are not equal in size or anything but a quilt is not finished until you quilt it and this one needed to be done by hand,with a scalloped binding, will my stitches ever be perfect ?? NO. But I did a Tree of life last year , took me forever to applique and quilt it , My husband thinks it is wonderful, I won a blue ribbon at last years Co fair in Kingman Az. In 2007 I did a grandmothers fan with , the fans were authentic 1930's material, and the sashing and border were Aunt Gracies reproduction material, I won a blue ribbon for it too, Of course our little fair is a podunky little thing , bu I entered them any way for the fun of it, a little competition never hurt any body,I entered my Jouney quilt this year but it did not get judged because they could not find my mailed in entry form, Next year I will send my form by certified mail,