Judging from all the youtube instructions I found, I thought that using a hoop is the only "right" way to do hand quilting
. So I ordered one online. However, it just didn't work for me, I couldn't work out for the life of me how to hold everything the way they are doing it in the videos... This spring I was finally getting enough from my GFG UFO that was just waiting to be quilted. Worked fine for me without the hoop! Since the GFG, I've only done small baby quilts, but I have a big top almost ready to quilt (waiting for batting and backing to arrive) and I think I will try the idea with the ironing board!