Ray Donovan and Hand Quilting

Ray Donovan and hand quilting may not trip lightly off the tongue, but this is what I have been mostly doing this week. It is amazing how well a box set with language, sex and violence warnings goes with hand quilting. When the gory gets too gory or the sex gets too sexy I just get more engrossed in threading my needle and stitching my circles.

Yes, it is three weeks before this quilt has to be on a bed and I have decided to hand quilt it. The original plan was to machine quilt circles within the circles in red thread. The red cotton thread is bought and plan was in my head. I have never quilted circles on my sewing machine, I decided it might actually be less stressful to hand quilt.



I like hand quilting, I like embroidery. It is remarkably relaxing to stitch whilst watching television. Sociable with the husband, yet productive at the same time. Win win!


I have used a red perle cotton thread and used either a plate or my empty coffee cup to mark out the first circle within a circle. I say empty coffee cup because, I am very lazy. When I am lying up on the settee it is just as easy to use the empty coffee cup to hand. When I finish my coffee, my empty cup really is empty. And if it drips, well it is black fabric after all.

Having used this first circle as a guide, I either work inwards or outwards as needed. A bit like the convex concave of last week. Sometimes I have stitched a few circles close together, sometimes further apart, depending on the size of the circle. Hopefully they will all be the same but different. I am also happy with the irregularity of the circumference, I like that in the hand stitching.


I am about two thirds done. So nearly a finish? The goal was to have a Friday finish. That won't happen this week, maybe next Friday. I am more confident of getting the hand quilting finished than I am the directional machine stitching! My biggest decision at the minute is - black or white perle on the red circle? You decide, I have too many decisions to make with the Christmas shopping. One decision I have made, this is no longer the bubbles quilt, it is the circle quilt .



And Ray /Donovan? Very good and not half as gory or as much sex and Game of Thrones. If you have watched Game of Thrones, you can watch anything!

Helen x
linking up with Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts and Lets Be Social
and Beth at Cooking Up Quilts

Comments

  1. I vote black thread on the red circle. I like the idea of it being the inverse of the black circles with red thread. 2/3rds done already? You are making great progress!

    ReplyDelete
  2. It sounds relaxing and productive all at the same time. I hesitate to give you feedback on thread colour. Maybe you could try both and see which one you like best.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Black thread on red. You really are motoring through the hand quilting on the circles.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love your relaxed attitude about getting coffee on the quilt! That sounds like a fabulous three days, and your quilt is lovely.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hand quilting is just the ticket for your circles! I can't watch anything gory or violent on TV or movies, my very active imagination turns that stuff directly into nightmares for weeks :(

    ReplyDelete
  6. I’m going against the majority, white thread on the black so it stands out as much as the black on red. I like the idea of sitting hand stitching in front of the tv, for me it never gets further than a thought though. I did hand quilt circles on my granddaughters quilt a few years ago, just because I didn’t have the confidence to machine quilt them! I’ve never used perle and big stitching, I must try it. What thickness perle do you use?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow -- what a labor of love, and a beautiful one at that! Best wishes on that last third. : )

    ReplyDelete
  8. You're working at a good pace! I too look at my quilting if the tv gets too much for me, though never watched Game of Thrones (I had read the books and decided there was no way I wanted to see literal depictions of what I had read - though of course I'm stuck now, waiting for a book he may never write).

    ReplyDelete
  9. Very interesting blog Thanks for a great explanation.keep up the Good work..

    Best Embroidery Designs>> Embroidery Designs

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thank you so much for your comment, I try very hard to reply to them all.