When I started handquilting, a mistake I made, which negatively impacted my results, was I didn't make BOTH hands work equally. My underneath hand wasn't doing much except deflecting the needle back to the top. And it should be helping more by manipulating the fabric, too. Both hands kind of wrinkle the fabric to help make the stitches. The quilting stitch is made by both the needle taking evenly spaced stitches through the quilt and by the quilt being manipulated to present the quilt to the needle's tip at evenly spaced intervals. The quilt must be loose in the hoop in order for you to manipulate it like that. Once I understood how to make both hands manipulate the fabric, things improved tremendously. Have fun with it!