New Work in Progress

I got the motherload of thread recently.  Creative House gave me some rayon Wonderfil thread to work with.  Sew & Home is selling out of their thread so I went in and got some colors I needed for half price.  Before all this, I had picked up some variegated cottons that were perfect for the fields I was working on from Periwinkle's.  Even before that, I took advantage of a Christmas sale with Connecting Threads.  They had solid cotton sets for 40% off and that just arrived at my door yesterday.  Does this mean I have a problem?  No.  It simply means that I am over the moon.  ; )  This photo is for you Kit.  ; )

two hundred and seventy eight spool.

I topped all of my 12x12 scrapbook bins and I feel like a top chef with a fully stocked kitchen!!  It's an all you can eat smorgasbord for a threadpainter!  lol  I figure that I've stared at this 2010 photo long enough now that I can attempt to pull this one off.

I set my photos in high contrast to help me 'see' the range of color, definition, and texture.

So, here's my 'Work in Progress'...

Fabric colors in place.  no templates needed.

I don't trace or use templates.  I go by sight, and work with my original photo nearby or up on my laptop screen.  It's prairie.  It's straight lines and a few proportions.  This part is a quick process.  Everything goes down onto a stabilizer.  No hoop needed.  I use Lapel Stick to put the general colors in the right places simply because I have a hard time waiting for paint to dry.  This is the way I like to do it.

Next up - set the machine for free motion and away I sew!
...and sew... and sew... until hours later I get something like this:

Free hand machine work nearly done.  Lots of definition yet to be added.

It's at this point when I become quite cross-eyed and unfocused.  I usually stop here for the rest of the day.  On day two, I'll be able to notice new things, and see exactly what needs to be added where.  I was so surprised to notice water in this picture.  I have stared at this photo for nearly 2 years and had never seen the water!  Once I started thread painting, I looked deeper at the yellow in the lower right corner.  It's a flooded ditch or slough with algae floating on top.  !!   Well, that sure makes things more interesting!  Had you noticed the water!??  Go back to the photo and look behind the fat dandelions... I was actually in the process of stitching it when I realized what it was that I was stitching! 

grasses coming up out of the water

After the machine work is done, I take another long break.  After that, I add the things that I feel would look much better done by hand.  (That would be every flower head.)  Flowers just need to be individually stitched I think.

little french knots and seed stitches

There will probably be a couple afternoons of hand stitching to get all the forefront grasses and big dandelions in.  This is my favorite part.  I love handstitching, and i love to see how it brings the work to life.  After that, I'll do one more afternoon to clean it up, sign it, and satin stitch the edges.  For now, this is where I'm at with it.  : )

work in progress, first thread painting of 2012

Linking to The Needle and Thread Network!  : )