Sunday, April 15, 2018

In The Hoop

 Bohemian Roosters has been in the hoop for awhile.    I  did have it in my large wooden hoop but found that for some reason whenever I use it my carpal tunnel flares up.  I took a break from hand quilting for a bit and decided to switch to my square pvc hoop. I never seem to have problems when I use it so I guess even though I have to move it a lot more than something in a big hoop I'm fine with that if it prevents problems with my hand and wrist and sometimes neck and shoulder. 

Anyway...you can't see it very well but I'm now quilting the center of the Sunbursts. 
 I'm using this flower stencil. I chose it because it has eight petals like the sunburst and each petal extends just a little bit into the sunburst.   Since those Boho Roosters in the center  circles are so busy I had a difficult time figuring out how to mark the stencil for quilting. I tried several things I had on hand for marking and finally decided the blue chalk showed up the best.   I'm using some blue-green thread I had on hand for the quilting. 
Before I started on the center circles I stitched about 1/4 inch (eyeballed) inside and outside each sun ray and then 1/4 inch (eyeballed) inside and outside the circle in some yellow thread I had on hand. 

I'm thinking I'll make a template of one of the sun rays to trace around in order to quilt some rays into that large area (in orange here) between rays.  I'm using Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 batting and the recommended maximum quilting distance is 3.5 inches and the distance between rays is more than that. 


Then in the space where the blocks meet I'll probably again use that flower stencil. 

After that I will probably stitch in the ditch around the large circles and call it good.  Time will tell. 

11 comments:

Elaine M said...

Love the big bursts of color. Will be wonderful when done.

---"Love" said...

Lots of good hints in your pictures; thanks for those. I doubt I'll ever be hand quilting again, but who knows? It's always fun seeing what you are working on. ---"Love"

Julierose said...

Interesting that the square hoop doesn't bother you like the usual one...maybe the area is smaller and you don't end up reaching over or out so much. I have trouble with any sustained quilting activity by hand also..I don't hoop anything..so my quilting is wild and free hahaha hugs, Julierose

Linda said...

Great choice of stencil. Hope the square hoop continues to do the trick for your carpel tunnel difficulty.

Deb A said...

Love hearing of the process and how you decided on things. So glad you found a hoop that works for you.

Quilter Kathy said...

Interesting to hear that different styles of hoops affect carpal tunnel differently!
Thanks for sharing your stitching design ideas!
Such a fun hand quilting project!

Kathy's A Quilter said...

stop the presses, I love both Roosters and Hand Quilting. ♥ Your roosters really are the boss of colour in your quilted barnyard.

Pamela Arbour said...

Congratulations for taking on the hand quilting. It will add so much character to your quilt (which already has a lot of character!) Looking forward to the finish.

cspoonquilt said...

I love this quilt! It's great that you are hand quilting it!

gayle said...

I love this quilt so much! All my favorites in one quilt! (Chickens and sunbursts and colors, oh my!)
I bought one of those PVC hoops, but couldn't get it to clamp onto my quilt. Too thick? Must go do some research...

Kaja said...

I've been thinking about my handquilting (I use a biggish hoop - about 23" across). I think I end up varying the angle of my stitching, in order to do as much as possible before I move it around: so I mostly quilt towards myself but will then go left to right, and even sometimes away from myself too. I'm thinking each of these must use slightly different movements. In any case, I'm glad you've found a way to carry on hand quilting.