Molly’s Quilt

I finished Molly’s quilt for her awhile back, but thought I would share the photos here, too.

This was a sweet garden theme quilt, perfect quilt for the start of spring!  I knew that Molly wanted to enter this quilt in her guild show, so I did some nice quilting for her.  First, an overall view of the quilt on my table:

quilt pieced by Molly Evangelisti and quilted by Carla Barrett

Another view:

quilting by Carla Barrett

quilting by Carla Barrett

Last photo, a close up of my block design you can purchase HERE:

Block design by Carla Barrett and available at http://www.digitechpatterns.com

Now, your turn!  What have you been up to?  Happy Friday, Carla

Announcing Tablet Design eClass- Self Study Option!!

I am excited to try out a new class feature- the ability of students to take my Tablet Design eClass at their own pace and as a self study option!  I have jammed packed so much course content, that doing this just makes sense.

To register, click HERE.  If you need assistance registering, please watch my helpful video located on the bottom of my Schedule & Registration page here.Below is more information about this eClass:

Tablet Design Class-  Self Study**  by Carla Barrett-

Dates: Available Now!  Once you have paid, you will have up to 9 months to complete this course.  Registration starts Now Here

Fee:  $70  (Repeat Students may contact Carla for a 50% discount rate)

Class Description:  This  online self paced course by Carla Barrett teaches you how to use your tablet, pre-loaded with Photoshop Elements, to create a wide variety of designs.  Through online videos, handouts,  and creative exercises, Carla will show you how to plan and design your quilts, your quilting motifs, pantograph designs, wholecloth quilts, and art quilts on your tablet.  This self-paced class is jammed packed with design lessons and creative exercises sure to inspire any student- no matter what their drawing skill level is.

**Prerequisite:  Basic knowledge of Photoshop Elements or Photoshop CS.  Knowledge should include familiarity of tools, how to install program and open it, how to save a file, and working in layers.  If you are not sure, you may contact Carla here.

Here are just a few examples of class projects:

Quilting Design by Carla Barrett

Quilt Design by Carla Barrett

Zen Doodle Design

wholecloth design

and MORE!!!

Supply List

Tablet:  •This class uses any Tablet, Tablet PC, or Tablet Plug-in (ie. Wacom) capable of interacting with Photoshop Elements.  (Please note that this class is not for tablets running Android or Apple iPad OS software.  Why? These type of tablet Operating Systems can only run Apps, and unable to work with a comprehensive full design program such as Photoshop Elements.
Software:  • I currently use Adobe® Photoshop® Elements 10 for all videos in this class. If you already own a previous version of Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, you should be able to use your particular version.
• To view the videos, you need a viewer like QuickTime or Windows Media Player.
• To view the lessons, you need a PDF viewer like Foxit Reader or Adobe Reader.
Class Level-  Previous Photoshop Elements class or basic user knowledge of Photoshop or PSE.
• This class is for Photoshop users who want to learn how to design a variety of quilting applications with their tablet. All the tools and techniques we use in this course are useful for other applications as well, i.e. digital scrapbooking, brochures, graphic design.
• You must have the programs installed on your computer before the course begins.

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Any questions, please contact Carla HERE.

More Carla Digitized Designs Available!

Thanks to Jessica Schick at Digitech Patterns for digitizing some more designs in my Kismet series of designs!  These are for any computerized quilters out there reading this.  Even better, for a short time, Jessica offers the following designs at half off:

CBPANTO05 KISMET BNC

Design by Carla Barrett available at Digitech Patterns.com

I am about 6 weeks into my semester college class in using Adobe Illustrator.  Finished my first big project, we had to illustrate from scratch a common item and make it look realistic- I picked my fancy TV remote.  Here is what  my finished illustration design looks like, well a rasterized version of my Adobe Illustrator file:

rasterized AI file for class

Can you tell I am having fun?  Off to play around some more with learning AI!

Feather Practice- Part 10

In this Feather Practice Handout, Part 10, I wanted to share my whimsical design to use in sashings, small borders, and especially pieced borders.

featherpractice10 (right click to download)

Feather Practice Handout 10 by Carla Barrett

This design is wonderful used on girly quilts, flower quilts, and any double small border or sashing spaces on a quilt.  The mirror design looks great quilted up.  Here is where I used this design on this adorable quilt pieced by Doug Hodder.  This is the back of the quilt showing my design on the minkee fabric:

I will have to add another photo showing you the front of the quilt and how cute it looks.  Keep watching!   Hugs, Carla

Feather Practice- Part 9

In Feather Practice, Part 9, today we are going to focus on feathering small border or larger sashings spaces on a quilt top.

featherpractice9.pdf (Here is the PDF file to download;  you will need a pdf reader to view.)

Feather Practice 9 by Carla Barrett

With practice and growing skill with feathers, you will be able to quilt smaller and smaller spaces.  The blank spaces are for you to practice over and over to gain mastery.

This is Part 9 in my feather practice series.  If you would like to start at Handout #1, please click HERE.

Next lesson is fun and whimsical.   Stay tuned!  Regards, Carla

Feather Practice- Part 8

Here is the 8th part in my Feather Practice Series.  This series of handouts are intended for newer quilters or for anyone wanting to brush up on feather practice.  I happen to love feathers for feminine quilts, and feel that this is a wonderful skill to have in your quilting tool box!

featherpractice8-1 (pdf)

Today, we are focusing on feathering spines or small borders.  Right click to download my PDF file.  Note that you will need a PDF reader to view this file.

Handout by Carla Barrett

The second design in the handout I have used before in my quilting.  Here is a photo from the back of a quilt, but you can see this feather being used:

For Barb Kiehn’s wonderful Egyptian Theme quilt, notice the stylized feathers in the border.  I quilted sashing sized spaces to fill with a variation of sashing #2 in the handout:

Hope this gives you additional ideas for using this feather design on your quilts.  If you use any of my handouts on one of your quilts, I would love to see the results!  In case you missed an earlier Feather Series, here are the links for each part:

Feather Practice- Part 1, Feather Practice- Part 2, Feather Practice- Part 3, Feather Practice- Part 4, Feather Practice- Part 5, Feather Practice- Part 6, and  Feather Practice- Part 7

Happy Feathering, everyone!  Let me know if you would like more of the feather series, too, by leaving a comment.   Hugs, Carla

Cartoon Caption Contest

I do have to say, it was a very hard decision to pick a winner as there were some great captions.  To refresh your memory, I drew a rough cartoon sketch, and had Blog and Facebook friends suggest funny captions.

The winner gets a cartoon ready to frame, once I redraw my final version with their caption.  Here is the cartoon:

cartoon by Carla Barrett

And the winner is…….

Karen Griska from The Selvage Blog!!!  Her winning caption was very quirky, just like my humor:  “Fired from her job as a one-armed paper-hanger, Mary gives rotary cutting a try.”   Well done, Karen!!

I confess to laughing when I read that one!  I even ran it by my local quilt store owner- who has an even quirkier sense of humor than I do.  He laughed, too!  He did edit Karen’s winning caption by taking off the “wall” before the “paper-hanger” as it does flow better.

Karen, will contact you for your address.  I may even have a little fun when I redraw the cartoon and personalize it for you. 

Feather Practice- Part 7

Today, I present the Feather Practice Series, Part 7.  This quilting feather handout shows you four different ways to feather an inset triangle space on a quilt top.  Any of these feathers, quilted in all the inset triangles on a quilt top, will flow visually from triangle to triangle.  It will also draw the eye around the quilt and provide some beautiful texture, too.

featherpracticehandout7 (pdf)  (Right click to download.  You will need a PDF reader)

Feather Practice 7.1 by Carla Barrett

Above are 4 different variations of my inset triangle feathers.  Below is the 2nd page, which is where you will practice drawing on:

Feather Practice handout by Carla Barrett

Note, too, that you can just feather the outer side of the spine for a different look.

quilting example by Carla Barrett

You may also decide to fill the blank space with curved cross-hatching or other fill, too, like I have drawn below:

feather example by Carla Barrett

Hope you are enjoying my Feather Practice Series!  I have enjoyed all the quilters who have taken the time to comment, contact me via email or tell me they are loving it.  I appreciate your kind words!  In case you missed an earlier Feather Practice, here are the links:

Feather Practice- Part 1,   Feather Practice- Part 2,  Feather Practice- Part 3,  Feather Practice- Part 4,  Feather Practice- Part 5, and  Feather Practice- Part 6

Have fun PPP- which means Practice, Practice, Practice!    Now go forth and feather!   Carla

Feather Practice- Part 6

Today, we will focus on circular feathers quilting design and how to neatly curl them into the spine.  Feathering a circular spine is a key skill for all quilters to master.  Plus, it looks wonderful quilted in a large blank area on a quilt top.

Feather Practice 6-1 (pdf)  (Right click to download, need Adobe Reader to view)

Feather practice 6.1 by Carla Barrett

This was how I created this motif shown above the chicken:

cartoon by Carla Barrett

Here are some quilts where I curled my feathers to showcase a quilt space:

Quilting by Carla Barrett, Piecing and design by Barb Kiehn

Look just outside the center of this guild opportunity quilt:

quilting by Carla Barrett

The outermost quilt texture is also circular feathers on this quilt:

quilting by Carla Barrett

Hope you have enjoyed this lesson on Circular Feathers- which is 6th in my Feather Practice Series.    Below are some links to previous Lessons:

Feather Practice- Part 1,   Feather Practice- Part 2,   Feather Practice- Part 3,         Feather Practice- Part 4,  and Feather Practice- Part 5.

As always, leave me a comment if you appreciate my free tutorials and handouts!  Happy quilting, Carla

Cartoon Suggestions Wanted

I thought it would be fun to have blog readers suggest a good caption for this preliminary quilting cartoon by commenting below.  Remember, I have a quirky sense of humor, so bring on the captions!!

cartoon by Carla Barrett

The winner will receive a digital cartoon via mail with their caption.  I will size it so that the cartoon may be printed out and framed.

I have this posted on Facebook, too, so feel free to post either place. Here’s your chance to be creative and humorous!   Carla