Thanks for that Quiltmaniac. I will put in more basting and see how I go. I am using safety pins at the moment and they are getting in my way- back to basics I think.

I am probably a bit too obsessed with having tiny stitches, but I am afraid it won't be "cushiony" if I don't really nail it down!

Moving in different directions is a good idea- I'll try that too.

This doll is going to have a really one-of-a-kind quilt (if I ever finish it....)

where do you get that tiger tape?

When I first started hand quilting, I did ok, but didn't really understand the rocking motion. I went to a quilt show and watched a lady quilting. WOW! That was what I needed, to see someone doing it. I almost instantly was able to do it after that. So I recommend finding a quilter who will let you watch her. You may not even need a class, just a chance to see it done.

I tried the Thimble Lady way. It seemed to work better for me and my shoulders didn't get all bunched up like when I did it the regular way. But I only did my class project. I do my quilting on the machine, so far.

I haven't hand quilted in a while and I never measured the length of my stitches. I find that the most important thing is to have consistency. As long as your stitches are uniform, it will look good. As far as hand quilting at the seams, I found that stab stitching worked best instead of a quilting stitch.

Noveltyjunkie,
Uneven stitches on the back can come from not inserting the needle into the fabric at a 90 degree angle or not rocking it back to ninety on the 2nd or 3rd stitches. Something to try. It just takes practice, you will get it.

I had a few more thoughts (in the middle of the night!)

Since you are re-basting, be sure to baste from the center out - up and down and out to each side, then to each corner. On a large project you will need to baste between these lines, too. If you don't baste from center out you will have a mess trying to line things up at the edges.

Don't try to take too many stitches on the needle at first - just two at a time, then increase it as you become more comfortable.

As many others have stated, it's more important to get your stitches even than tiny.

I feel like I have a lot of support on this one- thank you all.
Someone else might learn from my mistakes, so here goes:

Hoop error: I sandwiched the quilt and then pulled it to get it straight. Because I had not basted enough, I stretched the top more than the other layers, meaning I was building up to an overspill at the edges, (and also working against myself as I want a "cushiony" look). Had fun re-basting to re-distribute what could be lots of puckers! Luckily, one of my fabrics is a cute abstract floral with lots of lines on it, and if I outline many of these, I can use up the puckers (I hope!)

Stitch obsession: definitely letting my idea of the perfect lines of stitches get in the way of learning to do the rocker stitch. (I wish I had more real projects to look at and examine the stitches on- I have a store bought whole cloth quilt and the large(ish) quilting stitches on it really bother me, but I suppose I need to GET OVER IT!)

Batting- definitely not using that polyester stuff again- bits of it keep leaking and leaving me with filaments. Urgh. If I wanted to be cheap, I should have used an old towel as my batting.

Thimbles- lots of issues- feeling the needle coming though but then loosing it as I rock- surely not normal to have to visually inspect the back every stitch.

Obsessive, moi?!!!

Anyhow, I am having fun, and getting better- thank you all again.