I prefer to hand quilt as I find it relaxing. However if I need to finish a quilt faster then I machine quilt. Hand quilting does take longer but I do enjoy the process and look.

My girl friend brought mesome squares she started hand quilting yrs ago, its a quilt as you go so ill be learning both real soon!!

It really makes me sad to read this - but I recently made a similar experience. I was invited by a group of quilters to demonstrate hand quilting at their biannual quilt show and I always love to do that. There were around 200 quilts on display and I think only 10 or 15 were hand quilted.
I am a passionated hand quilter and I do wholecloth quilts, no piecing at all ( I only have to sew together lengths of fabric for the top and the backing and I also do this by hand). Hopefully the big quilt shows keep their categories for hand quilting in the future!

I hand piece and hand quilt. I find both very relaxing, no rush to finish, just one step at a time. My stitches aren't perfect but I try to be consistent. Just enjoy the process. If you can't enjoy without worrying about the size of the stitches, you probably need to find another hobby.

If you're getting your thread at JoAnn's - possibly look at Gutterman thread - it's a glazed cotton and goes thru the eye of the needle w/out fraying. The Coats & Clark is a poly thread and personally, I don't like it as well - it also knots easier. Although, running the thread thru the beeswax should minimize that.

Another hand-quilter....Cheaper than therapy!!! And enjoy the process!!

I am stricting a hand quilter and have done it for many many years , don't like the flatness of machine quilting or LAQ.

I enjoy hand quilting and the look of the finished piece. I don't machine quilt.

yes, I hand quilt -- fun to do while watching tv, especially ball games this time of the year

I do both handquilting and FMQ. I like both. I ALWAYS have a handquilting project going. I handquilt at night when I'm watching tv. I also have a handpiecing project that lives in my purse (for YEARS) that I work on when I'm in "waititng mode" at the Dr's office etc. It's a GMFG and I MAY be able to finish piecing it before I die...maybe. If I do finish it before I die (hopefully not soon), then I will handquilt it. I think there's room in the quilting world for both handquilting and machine quilting. It's all a matter of personal choice...as it should be.

I use YLI for hand quilting. It works really well and doesn't tangle a lot. You can probably find it at your LQS.