roguequilter

i hand quilt. have done some hand quilting years ago using the thick poly batt. i also thread baste all my quilts. with back issues i cannot sit at a frame, i use wooden hoop held in my lap. it's not easy to turn large quilt in lap hoop around & would be, i think, nearly impossible to turn over to check appearance of stitching on backside. arthr in my hands started while in my mid teens. i can do rocking stitch, but frequently resort to stab stitch. the best way to do stab stitch hand quilting & have the back look as nice as the front is to make sure that from top down you hold needle perpendicular to fabric then go straight down. when returning from back side of quilt ..this done same way. since you can't see to insure correct perpendicular approach from back side, use your fingers to feel needle stance, & poke up to check you are in right position before you pull thread though to top. ..it's easy after the first few hours/days & becomes habit. i hope the circles are large tho, cause this will be a lot of slow tedious stitching on such a large thick quilt.
.......and if you're just foolin' with us all ...then please just disregard all the above

mckwilter

Since no one has asked, I will. Why, with 2 layers of poly batting, are you hand-quilting this? Surely it would be much easier to machine quilt it. And if you don't want to do it yourself, I'd suggest finding a long-armer who would quilt it for you.

EdNerd

Sorry for the long delay - things got a bit crazy for a while.

Nope, not putting on anyone about the big (dinner-plate size) circles. But we did find an easier solution than me sitting underneath dodging a doll needle! Just use two threaded needles. Push one down, and then at a stich-length's distance around the circle, push the other one down.

Then you can reach underneath and find the first one, and push it up when the second one came down. Go a stich length and push it down. Reach under and find the other needle, and repeat. Leap-frog around the circle and it's all fairly good. In theory, at least.

As it turns out, though, we were not able to make steady progress on this (fibro gets in the way of everything!), so my daughter took it home with her to finish herself. Not sure how she's going to fair with it (she hasn't yet learned the patience my wife developed from raising four kids!), but it should get done by Christmas -- next year! :8>)

Ed

PS -- The wife says the next one is going to be something simple - like a pot holder or a place mat ....

Peckish

Well that's the most bizarre thing I've ever heard of. I'd love to see what it looks like, if you get a chance to post some pictures.

Good luck to your daughter getting it quilted!

ManiacQuilter2

It is too difficult to quilt thru thick polyester batting. Your best bet is to hand tie the quilt. There is a difference between quilts and comforters. I always have advised people who want the thickness of a comforter, it so make a large pillowcase with the quilt top and use the comforter as the filling.