Quilting Question of the Week

Sharon from Vroomans' Quilts proposed a question of the week for the May for Me Hosts.  
"If you could,  as a May For Me treat to yourself, have any one designer or teacher come to your home for a personal 'one-on-one' class - Who would it be and why?"


I would choose Terry White.  I had the privilege several years ago to be able to take a class on Thread Painting from her at a Sewing Expo in Southwestern Wisconsin.  She taught how to thread paint on your regular sewing machine.  I learned on the regular machine, but it is quite different than quilting on a long arm machine.  On the long arm quilting machine, I move the machine like a pencil to quilt and on the regular machine you more the fabric to quilt. Now I thread paint exclusively on my long arm machine.
I would choose Terry, because I love her creative embroidery thread painting.  I would like to expand my knowledge of stitches to be able to create with a variety of free style embroidery stitches.  I love all the textures in her designs.


This is the piece I stitched in the all day class.  This is an original design by Terry White. But I stitched things a little different than it was suppose to be. I'll explain why.

Here's an up close photo of the piece.

I struggled with keeping the stitches even.  That is why I love thread painting on my long arm with the regulated stitches.  Everything comes out even. The leafy things were suppose to be quite different, but I couldn't get the hang of moving my fabric under the regular sewing machine, so I changed them to pine needles and did straight stitches.

I am very thankful that I was able to take Terry's class and I continue to enjoy the skill she shared with me.  I love thread painting.
This was the second piece, I tried to stitch on my regular machine.  I never finished it and I never will.

It was my own design based on a photo from a friend. On the left side you can see my pencil lines where I was to stitch next.  I will keep both of these thread painted pieces as a memento of my first attempts at thread painting.
This was one of the next quilts, I thread painted on my long arm machine. I love the scaly details of the fish.

Recently, I finished another Ball Jar Flower quilt. This pattern and the fish are from Patch Abilities.  Julie has some wonderful little wall hangings that I love to make and thread paint.

I love adding the little details to the flowers and leaves.

 I flipped this one over so you can see the stitches are even when I quilt in the long arm machine, because it has a stitch regulator.

 My First Bloom Quilt is my own design, based on a photo of the first bloom of the summer, last year.

Click here for the link to that post - shows how I created it.  I added my variation in detailed stitches in the flower and with the wood grain. I used several colors of greens and blues in the leaves.

Last week, I shared my Connectivity Quilt.

I thread painted on the wires and I quilted tiny circles in the background. Click here for that post. I shared links on that post to several of my thread painted quilts.  My post about my Garden Inspiring my Thread Painting shares many thread painted quilts. I designed Blooming Beans too.

I recently quilted another fall table topper quilt.

Well, actually two fall pumpkin table topper quilts!

The two quilts were made by one of my customers, using these two patterns and combining the ideas from both.  I quilted (Thread Painted) both of them - one is hers and one is mine!

My Imaginary Barn Quilt shares more detailed thread painting with lots of variation of items to stitch. This is my original design and I created it for Project Quilting.

I still have much more to learn about thread painting. I am really enjoy stitching all the details.  I feel like I am a kid again... coloring with my quilting machine!


Thanks Terry for inspiring me to thread paint! Hop over and check out her website www.threadpaint.com.  Tell her Marcia sent you!


Hop over and check out the posts about the teachers the May for Me Blog Hosts would choose to invite into their homes for their May for Me Wish of the week!
Tonya at Hillbilly Handiwork

Sharon at Vrooman's Quilts

Snoodles at Lily Pad Quilting


Enjoy your day! Enjoy everyday in May!
Marcia
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Linked with:

Pieceful Life: Little Quilts Monday

Sew Happy Geek: Manic Monday

Sew Chatty: Made with Love Link up

Quilting by the River: Linky Party Tuesdays

Quilt Story: Fabric Tuesday

Linky Party at Our Delightful Home
Freshly Pieced: WIP - Work In Progress