A to Z Quilt Challenge: B = Basting By Hand

For the month of April, I have taken up Frédérique's Quilting Patchwork and Applique challenge to blog daily (except Sundays) on a quilt topic related to a letter of the alphabet.  

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 Have you ever tried Basting your quilts by hand?

Flying For Cover

High Strung + 2

I have done it twice:  the first time was when I first learned about the technique and wanted to give it a try.  I use the technique by Sharon Schamber which she demonstrates in this updated version of her original videos.  The second time I used it was because I was forced into an extended "hand work phase" during a period when both of my sewing machines were down.  Since I had also planned to finish up this holiday quilt at that time, I decided to hand quilt it so figured I might as well hand baste it as well. 

I do like the technique and find it easy to do.  Using this method I have no back puckers and it is easy to remove the stitches as you are quilting. Since I have always table basted (like in this video except I use centering toothpicks only at the table edges), I don't find it any faster than pin basting.  The only limitation is that since you need to be able to spread the whole quilt out width-wise, in my space I am limited to doing it on lap or smaller size quilts.  

Have you ever hand basted?  If not (and you're not totally adverse to hand work), give it a whirl and see what you think!