Thread painting with Aurifil and Island Batik

All products featured in this post were given to me by Island Batik to fulfill my role as an Island Batik Ambassador. 

Today I am sharing my October “Thread Painting with Aurifil” finish. Life has been crazy and the flowers have brought a little sunshine into my life. After last years Aurifil Challenge I’ve realized how much I actually enjoy thread painting and the more I do the easier it is. My thread painting skills haven’t reached the perfection level I would prefer but it’s getting there. Do you have any suggestions to help me along?

Last month you got a glimpse of the stunning new collection Sunset Plumes designed by Kathy Engle and since it was just a glimpse I decided to use it for October as well.  As you can see the collection is perfect for floral applique. If you guessed the background fabric is Rice you would be correct, I LOVE Rice. It reminds me of the sky with scattered clouds with hints of blue peaking out.

Here I am painting the vines.

islandbatik, islandbatikambassador, aurifil, applique

islandbatik, islandbatikambassador, aurifil thread, for the love of geese

This could be a wall hanging or lap quilt because it finishes at roughly 45″ square. I made the blocks large enough to allow for shrinkage and squaring up after all the stitching was complete. Because I used a heavier weight stabilizer than last year there wasn’t as much gathering around the stitches therefor no need to square my blocks but now I wish I had done some trimming to center the design. Wouldn’t each square be a beautiful throw pillow?

islandbatik, islandbatikambassador, aurifil thread, for the love of geese

Here it is fresh off the frame, Enzo hadn’t caught up with me yet. Or maybe he didn’t realize immediately I was going to take photos, either way he claimed it, Enzo approved.

islandbatik, islandbatikambassador, aurifil thread, for the love of geese

I spun the quilt around and stood with the window to my back hoping to show the quilting a little better.

islandbatik, islandbatikambassador, aurifil thread, for the love of geese

And here it is glowing with the sun filtering through the trees and the evening sky playing with the fabric colors.

islandbatik, islandbatikambassador, aurifil thread, for the love of geese

The old truck always brings a smile to my face and I like to think it’s smiling in this photo.

islandbatik, islandbatikambassador, aurifil thread, for the love of geese

The beautiful collection of 50wt Aurifil thread to match my garden. I chose thread colors closest to the flowers and ran a straight stitch around everything. The vines and details in the leaves were done using the 2 shades of green. First I stitched the vines in the darker shade then went back over them with the light green and added the detail to the leaves. Sometimes I’m still a little jerky which tells me I have a lot more practicing to do.  Not in the photo is the Aurifil thread for longarms that I used to quilt the top, yellow cone.

islandbatik, islandbatikambassador, aurifil thread, for the love of geese

This finish, I cannot express the joy it has brought me. So feminine and delicate. This challenge was my favorite so far this year. Thank you to Island Batik and Aurifil for supplying the inspiration.

20 Comments

  1. This is just so pretty and feminine. The thread and fabric colors are perfect for your whimsical design. I’m still in truck envy!

  2. DenisE this is a beautiful feminine project! Very vintage so the truck is the perfect “prop” for it! I’m almost tempted to try thread painting, seeing this treasure!

  3. So, so pretty! I really like the stem work you did in green thread. This is so beautiful!

  4. What really caught my eye were the green vines. I love the idea of quilting the darker value green first, then returning with a lighter value.

    1. I’m really glad I did that. You can’t really see the change in thread in the photo but in person it adds a little depth.

  5. I like both your thread painted vines and your quilting. You are right about the femininity of this quilt. Lovely work.

    1. I agree, it wouldn’t be as lovely if the vines were fabric. Can you imagine trying to cut narrow vines?

  6. Hi Denise! I just love, love, LOVE every single thing about this post. Wow! I sure wish I could see this quilt in person. You did a fabulous job, and seeing this project makes me want to investigate and try a small project myself. Hmm. Thanks for the idea! ~smile~ Roseanne

    1. Awe thank you so much. With the quilting you do on your domestic you would adapt to this quickly. Have a great weekend my friend.

  7. The applique is lovely and batiks always make appliques prettier! Lots of work in this piece.

    1. Thank you so much. They do for sure and I wish batik fabric had been so widely available back when I was doing needle turn.

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