My BFF's new quilting bee at her church is handquilting a rail fence quilt. They are all newbie's at quilting and have been getting their info from the internet.

She emailed me and asked if they are supposed to tie a knot and clip the thread at the end of each "rail".

I don't hand quilt so I couldn't tell her.

All you handquilters...is that true?
Thanks

They can do that, or continue on stitching until they run out of thread... It really depends on the design they want to show on the quilt. There really is no right or wrong on this. :D:D:D

Thanks I'll tell her.

I usually don't. I pass the needle & thread under the top and thru the batting and have it come up at the next place I want to stitch. Of course if your next start place is too far away, don't try this-you can lose the needle in the batting. (Ask me how I know this!)

Knots in hand quilting are supposed to be hidden within the batting. There's a specific technique for doing this. If she ties a knot and clips the thread, she won't be able to hide the knot. Since knots are hidden, there isn't a necessity to end the thread at the end of every rail; it's more common to slip the thread though the batting to the next starting point and quilt until you run out of thread.

Here's a link to the first of 7 Youtube videos that demonstrate hand quilting. I haven't watched these, so don't know how good they are; there may be others on Youtube that are better
.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgNuRW9ycK8

Thanks so much. I think that's what they're doing. They're in a different city so I can't see how they're doing it. I'll let her know.

this is the way I learned.

Great! Thanks -- I sent the link to her.