Here's my completed "Hawaii at Home" quilt using the "cheater" panel "Matisse's Seaweed" from spoonflower.com (see my post March 3, 2016 for more details about Jeni's panel). Also included are 4 patch blocks with actual Hawaiian print fabrics. There is also a Hawaiian print fabric on the back of this quilt.

Here are two blocks from the panel showing quilting details.

I used this quilt to test a number of different needles to see which produced the best free-motion stitching with my Bernina 440 QE sewing machine. I tried Schmetz 90/14 and Superior titanium 90/14 top stitch needles--both skipped stitches fairly frequently. I also tried the Janome purple needles which friends tell me do a great job preventing skipped stitches on Janome machines. Sadly, I had skipped stitches with them on my Bernina.

I had good results with ball point jersey needles but lots of sources I read stated they should not be used for quilting.

The needle giving the best stitch quality without skipping on my particular machine was the Schmetz 90/14 Quilting Needle.

Every sewing machine is different so this may not be the best needle for you. However if you are having problems with skipped stitches and your machine is clean and you have tried everything you can think of, it's worth making a sample quilt sandwich and testing a variety of needle types and sizes to see what works for you.