Quilting: So Far on the Campfire Quilt

I posted my quilt already stitched in the ditch on my machine, but I decided to quilt it more by hand.  I was so meticulous with the center, using rulers and marking pencils to draw stitching lines.

I auditioned threads and started stitching.  I was really pleased with my beginnings.

I was really admiring the single rows of stitching on the logs, but then the puckering and folds from my not smoothing and pin basting more happened.

As you can see below I have some wonky stripes and the medallion and the rest of the quilt is so NOT SQUARE.  I basically have one more row of hand stitches to add to a white log, and then I wrestle with stitching the borders and making them as flat and less wonky as possible.  I just might match stitch the borders and then slice to make as square as possible.

I'm liking so far how the stitching by machine is going on the borders.  Unfortunately, I started on the wonkier side.  Below is the side that was more square, and therefore a lot more pleasing to my eye.  I really took my time and didn't speed demon the stitching on my machine.