I like the look of the bigger stitch and it probably will be fine for most uses. There is one catch that could occur, however, if the recipient happens to be a "nervous picker". It is a habit that a person usually doesen't even realize they are doing, but any "irregularity" will be found by the restless fingers and then the picking will start.

Thank you all for your comments and advice. As I said, this is my first big stitch and I've only done about twice the area pictured. The blocks are 4" to give you perspective. Maybe I will get better as I go along, but this will be my ''first'' and only. NO--it does not go faster,in answer to Genden--at least not for me right now. And the more I look , the more it looks like one of those from China that we see in big box stores. Well, I will have to ponder on it all when I am finally finished--I am anxious to get it over with. I guess I am just a traditionalist, and everyone to their own taste. Not knocking the looks actually, just the method of getting there. It is simply not 'comfortable' to me, and why would I make myself not enjoy my hobby? That's my opinion--it ought to be yours. LOL

The first time I took a quilting class I was so proud of my hand quilting. We made an Ohio Star block with a heart appliqued in the center. I followed the teacher's directions very carefully and got my heart done during the first class. Our homework was to quilt around the edges of the heart. When she looked at it the following week, she laughed a little and told one of the other quilters -- an experienced quilter with several quilt awards to her credit -- to look at the "toenail grabbers."

I never got over that. I switched to machine quilting, and I've been doing it ever since. It's faster and more durable, and I don't have to worry about grabbing toenails any more.

OMG! How rude of that teacher. She'd have had a piece of my mind. Does she have any awards to her credit? I would've told her "I was following "your" directions". Ok I'll stop the rant. But it was rude of her. [QUOTE=youngduncan;7695263]The first time I took a quilting class I was so proud of my hand quilting. We made an Ohio Star block with a heart appliqued in the center. I followed the teacher's directions very carefully and got my heart done during the first class. Our homework was to quilt around the edges of the heart. When she looked at it the following week, she laughed a little and told one of the other quilters

That's terrible! What a rude and disheartening thing to say to ANYONE , let alone a first time hand quilter!!! I feel for you, though. The first quilting class I ever took (a few years ago) my teacher said something that hurt my feelings in front of everyone. We were using a sampler pattern by Alex Anderson and the teacher assigned X number of "must do" blocks of each block for homework as we went along. For the final week, she said it was "our quilt" so choose the remaining blocks to our liking.

She didn't say they HAD to be like the ones we'd already made. So I made one of my favorites: a pinwheel, and it has meaning in that quilt as well. Well, she was inspecting everyone's quilt tops in class and said of mine, "Nice job, Zo, except why did you make the wrong block here?"

I was in a mood, and told her, "Because you said we could make the rest of the blocks to our liking. I like the pinwheel."

Don't let someone's unkind remark keep you from getting back on that hand quilting horse. Forget the past.

Anyway, that was a side note. Let's not allow anyone to stunt our growth with their tongues!! Or stunt others' with our own.

Someone posted about using Tiger Tape which you can stick along which ever stitch line you want to. You don't have to think about the stitch length then while you are doing it.

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*** I like it and don't see a problem.
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*** I hand quilt and do it my way.
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*** Do not strive for tiny tiny stitches, just whatever is my speed for that day.
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*** No one has refused by quilts sooo far.
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Looks good to me! Don't you mean "toad" strangler???

Did you use regular quilting thread or did you use perle cotton or other thread at 8 or 12 weight?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]561905[/ATTACH]Here's my current ''big stitch'' project ( l'm using 2 strands of hand quilting thread on the ''cables'') ,the rest is my ''normal ''hand stitching...so a combination. I like the look for an accent, but will never do a whole quilt. l too find it difficult to work...having to concentrate on even spacing and same size stitching is NOT relaxing.