While a far cry from being an expert I hand quilt as well. I do use a
hoop but just let it and the balance of the quilt rest in my lap. I
can only quilt in one direction and use a thimble on my upper
(quilting) hand. Like others, can't get used to a thimble or any other
device for that matter on my bottom hand and thus, just walk around
with very sore fingers when I'm quilting. I've managed to be
reasonably successful (at least I think so) without spending gobs of $$
on supplies. Having said that, there are just sooo many neat gadgets
out there just begging to be bought and tried!

As to eyeballing the 1/4" - why not mark it? Realizing that takes a
fair amount of time but it may be worth it. My friend who first
interested me in quilting was a hand sewer. Said she couldn't get used
to using a machine. It always amazed me how well she sewed by hand
because mine was so poor. She then showed me the templates she was
using for that particular quilt. 1/4 wide 'rings' of the appropriate
shape. She traced the outside for cutting and the inside for sewing.
She's much more comfortable with a machine now but like me, enjoys the
hand quilting process.

Good luck!

Kim

Hanne Gottliebsen wrote:
So, having tried my hand at handpiecing (going quite well, if I say so
myself), I'm now thinking more seriously about learning handquilting too.

Where I live there aren't many classes etc, but so far I've learnt from
books, web, you guys etc more than from classes.

Regardless, I need to get some stuff, right? For space and financial
reasons, a hoop seems like a good place to start for me, and I've found
some that look nice that I can easily get when visiting my parents in a
months time. I was thinking to just get the hoop, this guy also does
floor stands and gizmos that attaches the hoop to the table. If needed I
could get one of those later?

But do I need some sort of stand to even get started? And if not, then
how do you balance everything (hoop and using both hands for quilting).

And what about a thimble? I use a nimble thimble for hand stitching, but
I gather that is not suitable for quilting (no little holes for the
needle to sit in).


Hanne in London
PS. The handpieced 9-patches have generally straight seams, but the eye
balling of 1/4" is still work in progress. But as someone kindly said
last week, it is easier to fudge than when machine piecing :-)