Thread Painted Flag Quilt

This is the third one of these I have made and it is for a charitable event run by our nephew in Boston to benefit Military Veterans. It is the first on my Prodigy longarm, so there was a little learning curve with the specialty threads but they were all Superior threads and behaved well once I made the adjustments. The only one I really had trouble with was "Halo" so I gave up for the moment and used others. The irridescent thread was tricky, it is so fine and delicate but it looks really pretty. I used it mostly on the flag and top and bottom borders.

Predominantly I used the metallic gold and silver which sews terrific and looks spectacular. The addition of the twenty flashing LED lights really blings it up and I hope it raises lots of money for our brave Military heroes!

On the back you can see how the LED lights are arranged. I used the eyelet stitch on my Bernina 240 then slit the little circular area and trimmed it enough to push the lights through. I also used a thin bead of "Fray Check" on front and back around each of the holes just in case it wanted to fray.The battery case with three AA batteries is secured in a little pocket. I also numbered the holes for the lights 1-20 with a permanent fabric marker in case the lights are ever removed, it might be hard otherwise, to figure out how to get them all back in place!

 Each time I have made one I am surprised at how many hours it takes to "thread paint" a small panel!