All of the hand quilting books I have state that both top and bottom stitches are counted. However, when I Googled I found websites that state that you count only the top stitches. Makes it very confusing for purposes of comparison.
Here's a website that supports what I think was the traditional counting method:
http://www.quiltersreview.com/articl...t/011126_b.asp
Other websites, though, say it is done both ways.