I think the hand quilting stitch is the hardest thing in the world to describe adequately. The book that I found most useful initially was 'That Perfect Stitch' by Roxanne McElroy, who describes how she quilted perfect 12 stitches per inch on her first attempt, and all the other women had to get under the quilt to see that she was going all the way through, because they couldn't believe their eyes.
But most people aren't such prodigies. She has the best pictures and descriptions, and is also extremely encouraging and inspiring. You can't believe the photos of these quilts. She is deceased now, but her daughter carries on.
I had to give up on the traditional quilting stitch after a couple of months, because there was too much wrist movement, tension and finger bending, and it aggravated my arthritis. Thanks to the quilting board, I saw someone mention another book, 'Perfect Hand Quilting without Pain', by Liuxin Newman. She is a woman who couldn't get a satisfactory stitch in spite of constant practice, and also she had terrible problems with the finger callous from pricking the underneath finger, so she developed a different kind of thimble and a different kind of stitch, which she calls the folding technique. She has a website (Thimblelady) where you can purchase her thimble -- with deeper dimples and fits down on the finger, rather than on the top -- for about $15 (when I bought it three years ago). It took me a long time to master this technique (it involves keeping a very loose quilt in the hoop, and folding the fabric around the needle rather than rocking the needle through the fabric), but I kept at it, and I can now quilt about 10-12 stitches per inch with no strain at all on my fingers or wrist!! I can't count the number of times I said, 'This is impossible!', but every time, I had only to glance at the pages of her book, each one having a close-up photograph of her amazing quilting stitches, to realize that it was possible. But it takes practice, practice, practice (for most people). The only way to get good stitches is to make lots of them. So it would be better to start on a quilt you aren't planning to give away.
A good needle makes an enormous difference. I couldn't believe how much easier it was to quilt after I ordered some of Roxanne's needles (size 10 betweens), through the Colonial Needle Co. The big problem for me was getting my spaces to be as small as my stitches. Don't worry about how small your stitches are at first. The important thing is to do a lot of stitching. As you get more used to the dynamics, your stitches will get smaller and more even. The principle of even stitches is, the needle has to go through perpendicular to the fabric. If your needle goes through the fabric at different angles, your bottom stitches will be smaller than your top stitches.
Having said all that, I'm sure there are many people here who could also encourage and help you with your machine quilting, if you want to do both. Good luck!
I haven't been part of a quilting guild, but I'm sure it would be very encouraging and instructive.