A Little Thread Sketching

Snyder's Flats II
by Ilene Atkins  14" x 14"

I'd been working on this one for quite some time, It is a print of my own photo, and thread-painted quite intensely. I mounted it on the grey background for a bit of extra.

If you enlarge the detail photo, you can see the stitching I put into this. There are many, many colours and brands of thread. I try to blend the thread colours, working paint-by-number style, and reference my photo on my laptop. It is all free-motion stitched. My photo printed fabric is fused onto a stiff interfacing to keep it from distorting.

Snyder's Flats II detail
by Ilene Atkins

This one was accepted into Threadworks, currently on exhibition at the Wellington County Museum, and travelling to other locations for the next three years.

Quilt Season

Spring time means being able to see a lot of quilts, and the Waterloo County and Area Quilt Festival has begun. There are many venues in the area, and many quilts to see. Grand National earlier in the week, yesterday Threadworks at the Wellington County Museum. View the Threadworks pieces here. I especially liked the Crabapple Branch by Tracey Lawko, and the Tree Mandala by Marilyn J. Arms. Three Leaves, by Gordana Brelih, was very impressive, obviously many hours of stitching, and very beautiful.

It always amazes me how people put different colours and fabrics together, create an interesting layout, add stitching in their own unique way, and create a piece that is amazingly beautiful. I just get so moved to see the creativity of other fibre artists.