I have not used red or navy perle cotton to hand quilt, but might have some worry about the excess dye in those colors. My last one was done in a medium rose thread, not perle, and there was no problem whatsoever.

Jan in VA

Oh my, this brings it all back to me! I still miss waking up in the morning to Simply quilts. I did quilt one quilt with petrel cotton and the big stitch, but never finished. This should be incentive!

I think it is called "Utility stitching." A lot of antique quilts have this type of quilting. I suppose the available thread was course and the needles were larger.

Few years ago I bought a pink and brown kit at the local Tuesday Morning Store. Simple pattern for a large throw size. Heard of this large stitching so decided that was the time to try it. Looked for balls of thread but found perle cotton in hanks in variegated colors and I really liked the end result but haven't done any since then. Believe I sent a photo to this forum but that was before the last change.

It's still here, Mornigstar. :) Very nice!
http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...t-t108743.html

I find it very similar to Sashiko. Check out Sylvia Pippen's work (patterns and books) for some ideas. Real eye candy!


http://www.sylvia-pippen.com/order/patterns/

Had to laugh at this, my mom would too. When she was showing me how to quilt.her stitches were so tiny I just gave up the idea
!! Took me years to try again, after she was dead!!LOL

Also check for utility quilting. Years ago quilters used the string ot twine which was used to sew feed or sugar sacks to quilt

This type of quilting is not so new. I grew up in NE PA and that is how we (family) quilted (about 50 yrs ago). It took a while for me to adjust to the smaller thread and needles like what is more popular now. I used a between 5 needle. The eye has to be bigger for the thread. I have a whole box of pearl cotton 100. Inside each spool is an instruction page for crocheting doilies.