Mindful Stitching with 12wt thread for August's Aurifil Artisan Challenge was the reason to revisit a partially completed project - as this is my theme for the year. I've got so many great starts that deserve a finish.
I chose to alternate between Cafe' au Lait 2340 and Arctic Ice 2625 cotton in a plus pattern to visually blend the Dresden blades with the flying geese.
Because listening to the seagulls squalk overhead while I stitched, they became flying gulls in my mind and the plusses became bird tracks in the sand.
The outer background thread color Sea Biscuit 6722 is all about a subtle texture reading as a tone on tone. I purposely varied things again finding a nice rhythm while stitching “three seed” and deciding on where to position the next grouping, one cluster at a time.
Initially, I auditioned a number of thread colors that all go with the fabric but in the end settled on the three neutrals that would bring out the best in the overall design and not distract from my piecing.
The photoshoot was a little tricky on a bright sunny day and I ended up holding the corner of the quilt up away from the fence to catch the light and reveal the texture. The seagulls would fly in and out of camera range but I wasn't able to catch one in the picture.
I'm so pleased with the end results and for pushing the hand stitching further given my limited experience. The Thread House Virtual Retreat 7 was a lot of fun and it's nice to practice what I learned rather than leave the project as a flimsy. I've had it tacked up on my design wall as decoration so now I'll have to add a sleeve and give it a proper display.
Be sure to check out the other Aurifil Artisan projects - they are as always - incredible.
Happy Stitching
Mindful Stitching with 12wt thread for August's Aurifil Artisan Challenge was the reason to revisit a partially completed project - as this is my theme for the year. I've got so many great starts that deserve a finish. 
