I have a new respect for hand quilters!
 

I took a hand-quilting class last week at the Worcester Sewing Expo (taught by Holice, who lurks around here too... he is such a hoot... great class!). Anyway, I had never seriously tried hand-quilting before... and wow, I have a total new sense of respect for all of you who do it well. It felt like I had grown a few useless extra fingers in the class, and it hasn't improved much after practicing on my own....LOL... I know it takes a lot of time and I will get there (someday)!

My right hand is going through the motions okay, it's my left hand that doesn't know what it's doing. I just can't get the sense of "feeling" what it's supposed to do underneath the quilt sandwich, and how the needle should be hitting the finger under there and bringing the needle back up. (If you don't hand quilt you have no idea what I'm talking about right now, but that's okay... I'm just rambling!) :)

Right on girl friend. I know what you mean. It does take practice and I have only ONE life time to give to my stash and piecing ! Happy Easter.

Holice is a national treasure!

I stab stitch with my left hand on top and right hand underneath. I simply can't rock the needle and get the small, tightly packed stitches I want. Good job trying though!!

Practice makes perfect. I quilt differently depending on what kind of hoop or frame I am using. In a floor frame I can quilt with either hand which helps immensely. It took some practice and I am not as fast with my left. I use the soft brown leather thimbles and wear one on the thumb of my left hand and the middle finger of my right. Using a handheld hoop or snap frame I can only quilt with my right hand. The trick is to place your none quilting hand under the frame so you can feel when the needle goes through. Make sure you don't have the quilt stretched so tight that you can not gather several stitches on your needle at one time. As long as your work is basted close enough you can even quilt without a frame or hoop. Good luck!

I can't rock the need either so I do what Ranchwife does.....stab-stitch! I am going back and forth between machine quilting and hand-quilting.....but I hope to have a new (to me) long arm quilter within the next couple of weeks. But, I still find the hand-quilting (slow as it is) to be relaxing int he evenings.

I am a right-handed quilter only. I use a ThimbleLady thimble on my middle finger. These are cone-shaped; open-ended thimbles with very deep dimples. I also use Roxanne needles - usually #11's but sometimes #12's. Try loading only 2-3 stitches onto your needle. What I do is have my left hand - pick a finger - positioned underneath where the needle will be coming through the sandwich. Pretty much just as it lightly pricks your bottom finger, I sort of use the thumb of my right hand to help with the 'rocking' part of bringing the needle back up to the top of the sandwich by placing it on the top of the sandwich to kind of make the sandwich a bit stiffer for that few seconds. Not sure that easily translated into words but hopefully it made sense. I also use a rubber finger tip on my index finger of my right hand to help pull the needle through. Sometimes if I load a lot of stitches on the needle I might even need a pair of pliers to help pull the needle through.

One reason I like the ThimbleLady thimbles is that you are pushing with the pad of your finger vs the tip. I find it much more comfortable for longer quilting sessions.

These are all great tips, ladies. Thank you very much! I think I just have to get more consistent with which fingers I am using for what purpose - like, I always seem to want to use my thumb underneath instead of the index finger like I was being taught. But I see someone else does that, so I guess it's whatever works for me and it's okay!

Holice IS a treasure! Unfortunately, and not his choice, he is no longer on QB. I, for one, miss him here.:(

Jan in VA