I did just the opposite. I started hand quilting a wall hanging, then decided the hand quilting just didn't fit the design, so I pulled it all out and machine quilted it. The thing that saved me was a hint given by another quilter on this board to use a small metal crochet hook to pull the stitches out with. It worked wonderfully, and I didn't snag any of the fabric. Sometimes ya just gotta listen to the quilt.