I enjoy all the phases of creating my art quilts, but I particularly enjoy the very beginning of the thread painting.  This is the stage where shapes are becoming more clearly defined, taking on a new personality.  The process, always very meditative for me, is made more so by the patter of the rain I’m hearing on this late June day.  I’m using a DMC 50 wt. cotton. 

As the stitches are applied, a converation begins about the next layer of design.  At this close viewing, the effects of the rice and salt are more completely appreciated.  I want to enhance the primary design of the fern frond but I don’t want to lose the serendipitous secondary design achieved by the rice and salt treatment.  Ahh, the chat continues.