So basically ladies you are telling me mom 'is' always right. I know I'm slowly heading to smaller needles for the reasons mentioned, but I'm really not a fan of Dritz needles Patrice. Those are what I started with, and though sturdy, they don't slide through fabric well (at least in my hands). Mom is just happy to find size 7's though so maybe going online and ordering up a variety of the ones mentioned would be cool. She doesn't do much hand quilting, but I think now that she's seeing what I'm doing it may encourage her. A lot of her reluctance I know is time, but her arthritis doesn't help either. If I'm not careful she'll be handing me pieces to quilt!
I think I should go back and read the post Patrice did on needles, and see if I can get more ideas.
Thanks, you all are great!