I have handquilted both with and without a stand, and I think the stand is
better. I find it almost impossible to hold a hoop steady without a stand. I
use a Grace Hoop 2 floor stand with a 14" square hoop. I have a 24" hoop
that came with the stand, but I found that 24" was too big to be able to
quilt in just one direction, as I prefer to do, so I use the smaller hoop
(which came with the Grace lap stand). Both the floor and the lap stand
allow me to rotate the hoop as needed. Both were a bit pricey, but they will
last forever, so that actually makes them a bargain, right? There are
cheaper hoops and stands out there that I'm sure work just fine. I know
there are people out there who handquilt without a stand, and even without a
hoop, but I can't imagine doing that myself.

My first thimble was the Nimble Thimble. I liked using it for handquilting,
because it was comfortable, and I found it held the needle just fine, but it
didn't last long at all, and I never found another one that fit right. I
prefer to manipulate the needle with the side of my middle finger rather
than from the end, so I am currently using a ring-type silver thimble I
bought from TJ Lane. I am considering trying the less-expensive plastic
thimble that the Thimble Lady is now selling. She uses a technique you may
want to try; she has a video clip on her website,
www.thimblelady.com/demo-video.html, if you want to take a look. NAYY.

Valerie in FL
My quilts: http://community.webshots.com/user/vjkahler


"Hanne Gottliebsen" wrote in message
news:egiha3$2kn$1@qmul...
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 :-)