I hand quilt on a small rectangular plastic frame that sits on a pillow in my lap. I do the rocking method with a thimble on my middle finger. I have hand quilted pot holders but I used two thicknesses of cotton batting not any special insulated stuff. Because of the thickness the quilt stitches were bigger. I try to keep my stitches even but to be honest it depends on the material I am quilting how straight and even my stitches come out. I love to use oriental material and because that material may have a lot of gold in it it is harder to keep stitches even. I do the best I can and forget it. I am quilting for my pleasure and ease of something to do while watching TV. I am not doing it to be judged in a quilt show. I have done the quilt as you go method hand quilting an it is an okay thing to do. I didn't like having to sew all the pieces together on the sewing machine in the end. I try to avoid the sewing machine as it hurts my back to sit humped over a machine. It just seems like work to me so I try to do everything by hand except the binding.