Hand quilting tools

I've got two  new hand quilting tools to share with you. The first one is a  quilting hoop for hand quilters. It was kindly sent to me from Harry of Barnett's Laptop Hoops to try out. I use a 14 inch hoop, my arms are quite short really, like the rest of me so this is my ideal size.

At first it took a bit of getting used to but I persevered as it's a little different from using a normal hoop.

This is the bottom part and as you can see, it has a base that you put under your legs to hold it stable. The black knob is to change the angle of the hoop and the metal hardware is actually a magnetic lazy susan. That's the ingenious part of the whole setup. You can very easily rotate the hoop as you work. It rotates 360 degrees and tilts to many angles.

This is the  hoop that magnetically attaches itself to the lazy susan and it just gets placed on and pulled off really easily. The part that I love is having two options for hand quilting, one with the stand and this hoop part that can sit on your lap that you turn manually.

I actually prefer to sit on my leather couch with my feet up on the foot stool because having short legs is such a pain you know. I am a little worried about the base under my legs on the leather but that could be fixed by putting something on the couch first.

I love, love this black knob, so much better than a metal wing nut.

What you didn't know is that I have a lot of pain and fatigue in my left shoulder area and supporting my basic hoop when it has a large quilt in it restricts how much quilting I can do in a sitting. With Harry's hoop, I don't have the same problem as the hoop is supported in my lap.

The other advantage is that when I need to do the odd stab stitch, both hands are free to do that easily.

The only disadvantage is that the base is heavy with the metal hardware which is to be expected and once you have set it up, it's not a problem. I'm still learning about getting the large quilt positioned but I think that's practice and will come with a bit more time.

There are several quilt hoop designs available and I think perhaps the magnetic tilt and frame might have suited me better, just because of the way I work in a hoop. In any case, these are made with a lot of passion, attention to detail and what quilters want.  There are also videos on the website  to see how they work, go check them out.

Have you tried these new clover needles? The price had put me off but I finally buckled and bought a pack. There's only six needles and they cost more than double for my usual pack.
I tried the fisrt one and liked it a lot, I thought they were very sharp at the tip and indeed seemed quite strong. The needle glided through the layers.

I was happily quilting away on my second length of thread when the eye snapped off when I pushed the needle through with the thimble. Could have been a fluke.
Threaded up another needle, didn't even get the thread used up when the same thing happened. Not a fluke, I think I'll keep these ones for hand piecing, the needle is not holding up to the force I'm using.