This caught my attention too. No, it's not, I've made several wool quilts and never had a problem with sliding or slippage. I wonder if maybe the OP is using a wool/silk blend or something. It does take the needle beautifully, though, like a hot knife through butter.

I agree with Cathie, Dunster and Rob. If it's not working, it's time to stop and redo. I never like it any better in the end.

What's "OP"?

Original poster (you!). I think I would take it out and start over. After all, hand quilting is easy to remove, not like machine quilting. Be aware that you may have excess needle marks on the top and bottom - top won't show as you can stitch in the same lines.

I once decided to "unquilt" an antique quilt because I wanted a thinner batting. Stitches were far apart and I thought it would be easy. I soon realized the quilter had done a back stitch about every 3 stitches, so there was no easy pulling out long threads. Oh well.

It's hand quilting.

Would it work to ease up the backing and spray basting spray on it to help with the slippage? I don't hand quilt so I don't know. I agree with others, if it has become a burden to do something, time to rethink and reboot.

Wow! Words of wisdom!

That's a tough call! Wool is my favorite batting, but I send my quilts to a long armer.

If you are really struggling with it, 1/5 is only a small part of what is left to to. I would probably take it out and go back to what I am happier working with - but that is in part because I know that if I hate working on it, I put it aside and am likely to feel it hanging over my head for a long time.

I would say rip it out and start over. I had some batting that I thought was 100% wool do the exact same thing to me and the more I worked it, the more frustrated I got and I stopped and ripped. I'm not one to just throw out batting because it's expensive, so I've been using that batting for other smaller projects and I use it for sandwiches to just practice my FMQing or my ruler work on.

You need to be happy, not just with the results, but the process, too. If it's giving you that big of a fit, rip it out and put something in that you know will perform the way you need it to perform. It's not worth the time, effort or the fabrics in your quilt to keep going if you know in your gut that the end quilt won't be to your satisfaction. Mental health is just as important as every stitch you put into it.

I would definitely remove the wool and put in cotton. This is a special quilt that you treasure and cotton would no only make your quilting easier,.you will enjoy making it and having more. But, if you want it be more in keeping with your great-grandmother, I would be inclined to use whatever she used for batting if you know... unless it's newspaper!