Sorry, I'm not sure what you mean... the tension in the hoop? I quilt with a loose tension, so it is easier to move the needle back to the top.

I have started hand quilting 20 years ago and I specialized on wholecloths in 1995 - so you see I have quite a lot of practice.

Do you prefer a certain type of thimble??

I don't use a thimble at all and I don't have sore fingers - I think it is a question of your technique. There are enough calluses on my finger tips.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for your first posting and photos! You have generated so many questions about hand quilting that I am beginning to think there is "life" after quilting machines!!!!!!!!!!!! Especially for us hand quilters. BRAVO!

And I must also add: This is the REAL ART of quilting making!

I try to do my best... :thumbup: It is so much fun and a great pleasure for me to answer all your questions here and I hope I can encourage all hand quilters to go on with our wonderful craft. It is worth to stay alive.

Excellent tip. So ingenious of you..Thanks for sharing.

Perhaps I should explain my postings. Having taught piecing and quilting techniques for many years, I have found that most dedicated piecers can learn to sew 1/4 inch seams and match seams. Not everyone of those can master hand quilting. It takes a LOT of dedicated practice with much discouragement to make small even stitches.

I, too, as I get older (with more ideas and UFOs than I can ever complete) will consider paying to have quilts machine quilted.

Very nice!

I know the curves would be hard to trace with this, but would a tracing wheel work just as good? I don't hand quilt, but when seeing your image, that was the first thing I thought of.

Barb

Thank you for these excellent tips :D:D:D

It's not so difficult to trace curves, even small ones. It is harder with the Hera marker. The tracing wheels I know have little toothed wheels and that leaves quilt big holes in the fabric. I would not use it, it seems to be a little dangerous for the fine woven fabrics.

I love what you're doing here, very nice, even stitches, beautiful work! :thumbup:

You do such incredibly beautiful quilting. You are gifted. - Cynthia

Your stitching is so even and beautiful. Great work.

Me, too.

Very nice work

ditto, superb.

What a great idea, thanks for sharing
Elle

What a great tip! Thanks for posting!

Your work is so beautiful!

I love the hint you gave & hope one day to use it!

Andrea,

A few people have hinted at it, but I want to add my voice and strongly encourage you to make a video tutorial and post it to YouTube.

IF you are not comfortable with spoken English, you could conduct the video in your native language; as long as the video close-ups are clear, most people should be able to understand. I have been able to follow video tutorials in Russian!

Seriously, you have a talent and experience that should be shared more broadly. I hope you will consider doing this.

Respectfully, and in awe,

Jillaine Smith
Bethesda, Maryland, USA

Your hand quilting is so stunning .You have such fine stitches
and beautiful designs and I am so glad you share your talents with us so we might learn thank you so much.

oh yes, that works well. i use a Hera marker. you do wonderful work!!

Your hand quilting looks like machine quilting it is so even, Wish I could make my stitches that consistant!!!

Jillaine,
thank you for posting and your idea of doing video tutorials. I will consider doing this, of course I will. We don't have a suitable camera but I will talk to a friend of mine and maybe he can help me with that.
I really appreciate your kind support, thank you so much!
Andrea

I love to handquilt, used to do it all the time.. now does anyone have a remedy for arthritic joints in fingers, they just popped up there last year over night it seemed. I just finished a twin , handquilting it and I thought I wasn't going to get it finished, some days it hurt so bad. I have the glove, I use Biofreeze, aspercream, 2 tylenol daily, anything else???? I even tried the Vicks salve that some lady posted on the board, nope didn't work... Oh and your work in magnificent...simply beautiful..

Beautiful quilting!

I'm so excited to find this topic about needle marking, and your suggested books on hand quilting. I, too, am not finding experienced hand quilters in my local area and want to hand quilt a king sized grandmother's flower garden quilt that I've hand pieced. Just about everyone I know pays someone to quilt thier machine pieced tops.

I have a question, you said this works well on light fabrics. How do you mark your dark fabrics? I didn't take the time to read all 8 pages of this post, but thought you might add to it. I am also a hand quilter, but we can always get new tips that work for us.
Thanks for sharing.

Your quilting is beautiful....such perfect stitches.

I mark dark fabrics with watercolor pencil. The are available in many different colors and I use one a few shades lighter than the fabric. The pencils have to be sharpened quite often but it helps to put them in the freezer a few hours before using.
Most of the markings rub off during the quilting, when there is something left it will go after the first washing. It's best to test the pencils on your fabric first, so you can see how easy the markings go.

Thank you for sharing,my friend Ann and l are great fans of yours we have just received patterns from America and over the next week we hope to start our marking wow l have so many new idea's to tell her from this chat it is soooo exciting
A BIG THANK YOU FOR YOUR SHARING
Regards Elsie Blight

You are so welcome, Elsie! Happy quilting!

I've done this before too, it works great, and I love using this technique instead of other marking tools because it's so much faster and you don't have to wash out the marker.

That's exactly why I use this method! It just works great for me.

Your work is undescribable!! Just awesome!! Wish I lived near you so you could show me how you do such perfectly spaced little stitches?? Thanks so much for posting! :thumbup:

Hear! Hear!! I most heartily agree.

Thank you so much! This has been such a big help and very educational. Your work is awesome and I know it has to be personally rewarding for you. It sure is a blessing for the rest of us.
GrandPa