Grammie Sharon

I just started to make hexies and they are so much fun. I have no idea on how I want them to go together let alone quilt it. Yours is lovely.

dottiequilts

I did a one inch hexie quilt for my niece's wedding gift five years ago. It is hand quilted. I used wool batting and it was like quilting through butter. By the time I finished quilting my stitches were 15-16 stitches per inch and I too used the quilting ladies thimble. These really are heirloom quilts so I think I'd take out the batting and start over. Love your design. Makes me want to start another.

mcgeeca

Love you quilt. It is beautiful. No help with the batting as I am not experienced enough to answer. Working on hexies in between other projects. Can only hope they rurn out as beautiful as yours.

faykilgore

That is AMAZING! Hard choice. I tried to machine quilt a queen-size with "bad" batting. After multiple stitch removals, I decided to unpin the entire thing and change out the batting. HUGE difference. Live and learn. Since you have done so much, and there are solutions, not sure I would do that. Just chalk it up to experience and thank you for sharing it with us so we can learn from your frustration.

CharlottsQuilts

Wow, it's beautiful! I don't think I would have the heart to rip it out. Have you tried a between needle? I like a 7", and I haven't noticed a difference in battings.

KathyC9511

I too pieced a Grandmother's Flower Garden. I knew I wanted to hand quilt it and had never hand quilted before. A good friend in her late 70's taught me how to hand quilt. I did know that the batting I decided to use would be a factor in hand quilting. I was told that Warm and Natural was not a good choice. Several people suggested wool batting. My local quilt show owner gave me a scrap of wool batting and told me to take a sample quilt sandwich and practice hand quilting then compare how it felt instead of the warm and natural. Oh my, what a difference it made. My needle went through the sandwich like butter. So yes, when hand quilting the type of batting makes a big difference.

I did purchase a Roxanne thimble and my needles of choice for hand quilting are Mary Arden of England Sharps #7. I cannot hand quilt with the small needles. I have had great luck with the Mary Arden Needles. They do not bend and remain sharp for quiet along time before I need to change to a new one.

My husband bought me an Ulmer Floor Quilt frame for my birthday and it works great.

Good luck with your project. You may want to consider changing your batting. Hand quilting this type of heirloom quilt should be a pleasing process. Fighting that batting you are using would not work for me!

Inez Ruth

Gorgeous quilt! My hand hurts just thinking about HQ W&N. I use Quilter's Dream with a number 12 between, and a leather thimble. How about this for the batting==pull back the top and backing to a couple of inches from the part you've already quilted, cut the batting, then piece in the new batting.

Gannyrosie

I would just keep going. I do hand quilt, but I can't use a thimble. I've tried. My personal preference is the little leather dots that you stick on your fingers. My left hands fingers get the most wear since you have to feel the needle. I do use small needles which is what I was taught with. I have read and reviewed the Thimble Ladies you tube, but I can't see spending that much when I have now gotten so use to those little pads. For some reason I just find I have the control of the needle with a thimble. I do love your design of the hex's. Mine was just flowers. Took me 9 months from beginning to end, but mine was 1.5 hex's. Hand quilting is very tedious, and it takes practice. Good luck on it's completion.

AZ Jane

I use the Clover silicon thimble with the metal tip. The first one in the list. I have small hands so need to use the small and buy them everytime I see them. Yes they do wear out OUT they stay on my finger!! http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&key...l_58kzof83b7_b

NJ Quilter

Your quilt is lovely. I hand quilt using W&N all the time. You'll love the Thimblelady thimble. I, too, started with the plastic one but have moved on to the stainless steel. I have used her longer needles and do like them but find I have move control with smaller needles. I use Roxanne #11's most of the time. Sometimes #10's and sometimes #12's. If you can only manage 1-2 stitches at a time, there is nothing wrong with that. There's a ton of seams in that quilt and those are painful no matter what. I would persevere with what you have. Just work on it a bit at a time. Quilting shouldn't be a race, it should be an activity that you enjoy the process.