Hinterland

Most people quilt towards themselves. I use a floor frame, so I go towards myself and away. I use quilting betweens.

I 'stack the deck' for hand quilting. I prefer to use a batting that isn't needlepunched - my one experience with Warm and Natural was not fun. I use polyester, cotton (Blue Ribbon by Mountain Mist is nice), and I'm looking forward to using wool on my next quilt.

I keep the tension on the quilt in the hoop or frame loose, so it's easier to make stitches. Think of a cat sitting on the hoop - that's how loose it should be. It's harder to do the rocking stitch on the straight of grain, and easier on the bias - there's more flex on the bias. If you're stitching on the straight of grain, loosen the quilt a bit more.

While I can easily quilt batiks on the quilt top, I will not put batik on the back of the quilt - batik backed by batik is like quilting through concrete. I prefer plain muslin for the backing, so the quilt back looks like a wholecloth quilt.

I use a Roxanne and a TJ Lane thimble, using the pad of my finger, not the top. When I'm making the stitch, I start by going straight down through the layers until I can just feel the needle tip. When I feel it, I rotate the needle back until enough of the tip pokes through to make the size stitch I want, then I rotate the needle straight up again....then repeat until I have 3 or 4 stitches on the needle. For quilting away from myself I use a tailor's thimble on my thumb.

It does take practice, but it shouldn't be torture. I hope some of this helps you.

Janet