Something new on the long arm

Thread painting is fun.  I have done it before on my regular Diamond and on my workhorse Janome.  But I was doing a panel for Christmas and I decided to do a little thread painting to see how it worked on the long arm.  I have seen such gorgeous examples on line of thread painting and figured I could never do it.  Well, it is easier than using a regular sewing machine.  I only add a bit of red in the center of a couple of white pointsettas in the panel but it gave a lovely pop.  The thread was Art Thread from Superior.

I find panels fun for two reasons; I can experiment and if it does not work it is no loss of time or money; the second reason as they are great for baby pieces that can be given to charity.  And lastly they provide some colour around the house.  The artists who draw the original panel can do a wonderful job.  In fact they provide a perfect surface to try thread painting.

This particular panel was interesting for not using the traditional green and white of Christmas.  It was complex to quilt because of all the small details and could have easily been quilted 'to death' so it provided that learning of when a little is enough or at least what I think is enough.  Here is the panel and the little bit of thread painting.  Now on to something else which has been sitting waiting while customer quilts got done.  Merry Christmas to everyone who is kind enough to read this blog.  Be safe, enjoy, smile and remember that giving is fun.