i love your stitches ,do you use a thimble

@nellie, no not really. I just could never get used to them. I buy those little leather pads that stick to your finger and use my thumbs fingernail when needed. I tried thimbles. But those pads give me so much control, I love them.

I received a pair of Fiskar short pliers from a friend and I love them to pull a needle through. It's fast and needles don't cost that much anyhow, If I ruin one.

Your stitches are beautiful! I use a brass Roxanne's thimble on my thumb, and for some reason it grips the needle and pulls it through. I have also used a needle holder or hemostat (those lightweight medical instruments mentioned earlier), but it's faster if the thimble pulls the needle through, because I don't have to stop to pick something else up and put it back down.

Your stitches
 

are perfect!!!!! Wow, I'm jealous

What beautiful stitches

Great idea! I use a (deflated, obviously) balloon tied to a lanyard that I wear around my neck to help pull the needle through. Lightweight and always nearby. Beautiful stitches!

Wow, your stitches are perfect !!! Good idea for those need something to grip those pesky needles.

I do some hand quilting and can only dream of having such nice stitches!!

OH MAN! I was just getting comfortable with my hand quilting...thinking that I wasn't doing such a bad job UNTIL YOU POSTED YOUR PICTURE! PFFTTT!!
Way to burst my bubble. Wow! What gorgeous quilting. Guess I should not be so confident---I obviously still need lots more practice. Someday I will be able to tell which quilts were my first ones.

You are checking the underside??? Are you supposed to check the underside? OOPS!!! Now I really feel stupid!!

Your quilting is gorgeous! I have several hemostats (medical instruments that weren't good enough for surgery but are good enough for quilting). Guess I had better get them out but not until I get good. Right now I am only doing 2-4 stitches on my needle...works for me so far!!
I remember the whole cloth quilter from Germany on the QB (don't remember her name--sorry) who only does one stitch at a time and her quilting is awesome...so I am a bit faster than that, I think.