Hi Sue,
There are many of us hand quilters here. I am also unsure what you mean by go through needles. If you are bending and breaking needles that quickly that makes me think one of two things... you have the quilt in the hoop way too tauntly, this is of course assuming you use a hoop, or you aren't buying a very good quality needle.
I use a lap hoop and I load fairly loosely. When I lay my quilt over the inner hoop I make sure my fabric is fairly loose. Then I put on my outer hoop and before tightening it I run my fist around the entire perimeter of the hoop to give me a bit more slack. Then I tighten. If I lay my hoop down on the table I can easily touch the tables hard surface when laying my flat hand down in the middle.
For needles, I use a Roxanne number 11. It is as short as a #12 between but as thick as a #10 between needle. I usually load up about 7 to 8 stitches per needle full.
One brand of needles that bends and breaks on me easily is Richard Hemming & son. I won't buy those. And I definitely will not use clover brand, ugh. They bend easily and don't needle well at all, like they are dull not at all sharp. Usually I hand quilt with Hobbs 80/20 bat or quilters dream polyester. I have no trouble with batiks, even though they are tightly woven.