I have never hand quilted before. I made the baby pinwheel quilt for my soon to be grandchild and the white fabric used in the border and background blocks stretched. Tried a row of machine quilting and it is terrible. I think the only alternative is to quilt it by hand. What do I need to know? I don't think I have time to do anything more than just outline an X in each block because I made it an oversize baby quilt. Any suggestions for a novice?

Keep your stitches consistent and don't sweat the small stuff! :thumbup:

When you said you tried a row of machine quilting, did you lengthen you stitch? I usually use 3.0 or greater

Hand quilting ~ needs ~ hoop, quilting needles, and hand quilting thread. Most of all you need patience ;)

You can find help from videos on you tube. Just search 'hand quilting'

Good luck

You can also hand quilt without a hoop. You need to make sure it's well basted either with pins or thread. I try to put pins (or thread baste) about a hand-width apart in each direction. Quilting betweens are the needles to use. Smaller the needle number/size = larger needle. I started with a #9 and now use either #11 or #12. I am self taught with the help of Simply Quilts and Alex Anderson on TV at the time. I would agree with checking youtube video's just to get a visual for what people are talking about when you have questions. And yes, a hand-quilting thread is necessary as well and thimbles will be your best friends to not have the resultant pincushion fingers.

You also have the option of tying the quilt if you decide. Use 6 strands of embroidery floss, about 8" in length. Again, about a hand-width apart, take a small stitch through all three layers. Make sure your thread ends are relatively even and tie a knot. Trim ends to desired length as it's a baby quilt.

Good luck and enjoy.

there are many many free tutorials on hand quilting- if you can't find one here (check the tutorials)
there are lots on utube- just do a search for hand quilting

I would think that quilting by hand will allow you to "work it in" as you stitch. I had to do that on a t-shirt quilt that I made. When I machine stitched on the sashing which was woven fabric, it did fine, but when I tried to quilt on the t-shirt sections (which were NOT stabilized), it didn't work -- lots of stretching and distortion. So I hand quiltied within the shirt blocks. It worked fine. Just give it a a good blast of steam (may need to use a press cloth) and you should be ready to go. Good luck. And congrats on the new baby.

Here's a video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgNuR...1&feature=fvwp

Get the book "How to Learn to Hand Quilt in a Day" by Nancy Brenan Daniel"

Thanks everyone for your tips. I was talking to someone at school and she suggested tying the quilt. I think that I could handle that and have it done in time. Perhaps some summer I will try some hand quilting. I am not sure I am patient enough to be successful at it. I think with the tying I won't have so much trouble with the stretching. Have a great rest of the week. I'm looking forward to the weekend so I can get started tying. :-D