I would like to know which is the best way to go. I tried to hand quilt before but I could not get the hang of it

In my opinion ~ there is no right or wrong answer to this. It all depends on the person, project and what is to be accomplished.

I hand quilt, mainly because I'm too chicken to try the machine quilting ~ although that is on my to-do list for 2010.

As for not getting the "hang" of it; practice, practice, practice

I am also a hand quilter. the main thing is to try to keep your stitches the same size.
Machine quilting is also ok. Just which ever you enjoy the most. It takes a lot of practice for the handquilting, but to me it is so relaxing!

I only machine quilt lol
My hands won't allow me to handquilt :wink:

I think it is up to you. Do what you enjoy. My hand hurt to bad when I hand quilt so it's machine quilting for me.

Which is best to use - a frame - or hoop

That too depends on what you are more comfortable with. Certainly you could do a lap or baby quilt with a hoop, but I think a queen or king would be easier on a frame. How much space you have would also be a factor. I use a Grace EZ3 frame.

Whether you hand or machine quilt, in my opinion, if completely up to the person who made the quilt top. I do both and for larger quilts, if I want them machine quilted, I send out to a longarmer... :D

I tie most of my quilts, because I can't get my hands to work any more.

I have arthritic hands also. I hand quilt using my thumb and forefinger, which is far easier and came more natural to me than trying to push the needle with the third finger. Don't use a thimble either, I use my fingernail to push the needle. Hands are very large and nothing fit the finger. After five years I have a pretty big callous on the under finger. Funny thing is I can get pretty good stitches after a warm up period, but have the damndest time trying to write! I told that to a lady at a competition who asked me to sign out the quilts I had entered and she said I wasn't the first to say that. I hand quilt with a group of ladies and each and every one of them holds the needle differently. I tried some machine quilting around Christmas--just a tablerunner-- umm not too successful at that but will try some more. Sending a quilt out to be quilted is far too expensive for me and probably I never will--unless I win the lottery :-D