Hello and welcome to the board. First of all, hope your husband is ok. Second, love the helpers. Third, you sound like a very busy woman.
The only "rules" about projects are the ones you impose on yourself. I personally don't like having more than 2 or 3 projects going on at once. Some on this board have a dozen or more. Others only do theirs one at a time, start to finish. That being said, my wife and I agree that we quilt for fun and relaxation. If something gets too intense or ceases to be fun, we would have no problem passing the project to someone else, tossing the unfinished work in the scrap bin, or throwing it out. Space is also a consideration. If you have "quilter ADD" and store a bunch of unfinished objects (UFO's) you may run out of space for your fun stuff. You are the only one who can decide.
I will say that doing everything by hand would be terribly monotonous to me and I would tire of the project. If I were in your shoes I would look for a machine and use it to get this top finished. It sounds like you are nearing the end of your patience with it and it would be a shame to get so discouraged that you might not try again.
BTW, I saw your fabrics on the other thread and didn't think they were ugly at all.
Enjoy!
Darren