Works in Progress- Late November

Thought I would show you what I am working on right now.  First up is the remake of my “Hairy Leg” Quilt.  This fun quilt was designed with my good friend, Lori Seavey-Christian, when we made quilts together.  The name comes from the “hair” I quilted into Lori’s quilt.

work-in-progress by Carla Barrett

Sharp eyes will notice that I still have to quilt in the legs and hair still.  LOL  I plan to use different color thread for this.  Anyway, this quilt is free-handed (meaning it is hand guided) with my A1 longarm quilting machine.

Next up is my Tropical Leaf design that I am using pigment paint to color.  As you can see in this picture, I only have one section/color completed so far:

Digital Quilt Design by Carla Barrett. May be purchased at digitechpatterns.com

I decided I needed some new colors, so I am awaiting my pigment order to finish.  The digital designs of my Tropical Leaf set is available at Digitech Designs.  I do have lots more digital designs waiting to be released in 2013, too.

Because I tend to work in several mediums at once- I am also working on a freeform beaded project for a quilt.  I hope to finish several quilt designs featuring my freeform beaded work on them in 2013!

Your turn- what are YOU working on?  Hugs, Carla

Works in Progress

As always, I am working on several creative projects at once.  I am making progress on the art quilt shown in the post below, plus, I have been drawing quilting designs using my Tablet PC- which will be turned into digitized quilting or embroidery designs.    Plus, here are some other projects in the creative phase:

1.) Tree Overlay, made out of fiber, fabric and other embellishments, for my art quilt.

2.) Freeform Beaded leaves for quilt above.

3) Mokuba Freelace scarf. (I do have a tutorial for this project)

4) Wholecloth Series of Quilts.  I am working on several designs on both silk, cotton, and whatever materials I find on hand.

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I promise to write about each project as it develops.  Plus, I have some design projects in the works, but I can only share about that when they become available for sale.

Baby-wise, dear little Ethan has been getting over roseola, which is a type of childhood virus featuring several days of a high fever, followed by a rash.  Poor little guy, he has been feeling most crabby, but  thankfully, has had no complications.

What have YOU been up to?  Hugs, Carla

Autumn Art Quilt in Progress

Many years ago,  I was asked to design a custom quilt for a client commemorating a Sacramento, California college anniversary.  This quilt was auctioned off, then donated back to the college.  Last I heard, it was on permanent display in the college library behind glass.  I was very proud of my design, which also won a blue ribbon at the California State Fair.

Loved it so much that I decided to create another for me.  Once again, this quilt features a pieced background quilt layer with an overlay of a large autumn tree.  This tree will be different than the original, as I plan to include some cool fiber art techniques, and of course, some freeform beading elements such as some leaves, bark texture, etc.

Here are some pictures of the bottom quilt layer while it is on my machine quilting table.  Note that the 3-D tree layer will be added last:

Here is a close-up of one of the dozens photo transfer images in the quilt:

I am quilting the quilt portion of the project with some nice texture quilting.  Students from my classes will recognize the freeform freehand quilting shown here:

Feels good to be creating again!  Lots of projects planned, so stay tuned!

Before I sign off, here is an image taken for the gardeners reading my blog- or for people who like pretty images.  It is a dahlia in bloom from my front garden:

Have a great weekend!  Carla

Catch Up! And Other Things…

I am pleased to announce that the first online Tablet Design Class was a huge success!  Wait until you see the fantastic homework that was turned in by the students- Wow!!  But, that is a future  post, so I will make you wait.  Here are a  few Creative Exercise samples I drew for the class:

A colored wholecloth quilting design:

A quilting design repeat:

Using colored images to help choose quilt design colors:

Practicing quilting fills:

This is just a sneak peek of a few exercises in the class.  All-in-all, I think I shot and edited over 35 videos for this class!  By the way, the next time I teach it will be in the Fall, 2012.  Post a comment to get on my class interest list.

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Freeform Beaded Necklace-  The long awaited blog prize is almost ready to ship to the lucky recipient!!  This turned out very cool, I now need to make a second one for my own portfolio.

Want to see?

OK, here is the finished view of this freeform beaded necklace.  I named it, “Waves of Color:”

Any comments on this latest freeform beaded design?

More to come!  Now that class is over, my creative spirit is unleased!

Hugs, Carla

 

 

Freeform Beaded Project Started

OK, here is the start of the freeform beading project I am creating for my blog prize winner.  She chose “jewel tone” color palette and I started by creating a 5 color jewel tone “bead soup” mixture.  Here is a photo revealing the first 3 bead soup mixtures created:

I extended the above color palette, and you can see the direction the project is taking:

(click for larger image)

I envision a lovely jewel tone blended necklace, with colors blending from one color to another.  I will continue to add more freeform beading until the main part of the necklace is completed.

The side straps will be more structured, perhaps in a darker color palette so that the focal point is the center section I show in the above photo.   It helps if you are able to “see” the finished project in your head.

I hope you are enjoying the progress of this necklace and seeing the various stages.  I may decide to make myself a second freeform necklace to wear, too.

Take care, Carla

Bead Soup for Freeform Beading

I thought I would share my process for creating a freeform necklace.  This necklace will be for Jeanne, who recently won a Feathered Fibers Blog Challenge.  I asked Jeanne to choose the color palette she wanted and she picked “jewel-tone” palette.

First step is to organize the beads into 5 jewel-tone colors and make a “bead soup” or collection of similar colored beads.  Here are the first three colors- teal, blue and purple:

(Click for larger image)

For this project, I will start with these 3 colors and create freeform beaded sections using each bead soup shown above.  I plan to share more info later on, so stay posted.  You may also subscribe to my blog so you do not miss the progression of this project.

Anyway, I may extend the palette into the magenta range and adding green-ish blue bead soups.  I thought I would just start with the first three colors and see how the piece evolves and whether I keep the palette simpler.

I often work this way, starting somewhere and adding to it until it “feels” right.  This is a very intuitive way to create, but it seems to work for me.  I would like to know what creative projects you all are working on, too.  Please leave a comment and link, if you wish to share.  Thanks!  Carla

Handmade Ornaments

Happy Holidays to you!  Today, I thought I would share my Christmas tree and all the handmade ornaments from past years.  When the kids were little, each year I made them a new Christmas ornament, with their name and date.

Here is my tree.  I have to confess that I still need to add the angel at the top, and ornaments, too.  Plus start wrapping the gifts. Note to self- bring in the ladder!

Here is my favorite ornament, though I did not make it:

   I own a few of these cute sock cows, plus some sock monkeys.

Now for the homemade ornaments:

  This ornament is special as it was made by my crafty grandmother about 30 years ago.

Cookie cutter and painted dough star.

Tin punch ornament using frozen orange juice lid.

Large Jingle Bell- writing using a white paint pen.  Used to have a ribbon bow top, but oh- well.

Beaded Santa.  This was given to me by my MIL.

Ribbon Candy wreath.

  Fabric horse ornament on a dowel.

Potpourri angel with lace and stainless steel pad hair.

  Victorian lace roses.

  Plastic straw ornament.

  Cross-stitch kitty circa 1985 for my daughter Amy.

  Amy made this cute snowman ornament when she was 9 out of painted tin can.

Anyone care to share their homemade or favorite ornaments on their blog, too?  I would love to see yours.  The ornaments above remind me of happy memories of Christmas past.  Hugs, Carla

 

 

Carla’s Free Blog Giveaway!

Having reached the first 1 Million visitors to Feathered Fibers earlier this year, I wanted to offer a free blog  giveaway.  Not only a giveaway, but a custom giveaway!  The winner will have their choice of one of the following, created just for them by me!

Prize Option 1: Peyote Bracelet- you pick the main color!  Here is an example:

or, Prize Option 2: Freeform scarf or bowl- again, you pick the main color!  See examples below:

        

or, Prize Option 3: Custom cartoon- created for you, matted and ready for a 8×10 frame!

or, Prize Option 4: Freeform Beaded Necklace- you choose the main color!  Below are examples of a freeform necklace and a freeform beaded pendant.

 

Entering this Free Giveaway is easy as 1-2-3 :

1. Post a comment under this blog post if you are entering (so I may keep track of  your entry) Share what prize you would want if you win?  If you want, you can copy any photos of the prizes if you would like to share them on your blog. Be sure to leave me your blog address, so I may verify that you followed my 1-2-3 rules.

2. Post a link back to my blog at either http://featheredfibers.wordpress.com or http://www.carlabarrett.com using my birdie art (below):

  (to copy, just right click and save as)

3. Last step- Post on your blog that Carla Barrett is having a free blog giveaway  and that Carla is holding another Quilt Whisperer Class on January 9, 2012, a creative class on quilting design for all levels of quilters.

That’s all you need to do to enter!  I get some exposure for my blog and class- and you may win a custom prize!  Contest ends on noon (PST) January 7, 2012, and the winner will be decided by a random number generator and immediately notified.  I will also announce the winner on my blog here, too.

Please note that the winning item selected will be made custom, so obviously, it will take me time to create. I do promise to be as timely as possible.

Good luck to you all!

Happy Holidays from Carla

Latest Peyote Bracelet

I whipped this up yesterday in between my quilting.  It is a bracelet using peyote stitch, which is an off loom bead weaving stitch.  The undulations are created by using a variety sized seed beads:

If you are interested, I do have a free tutorial HERE.  This is a beginning beadweaving project.  The closure is actually a beaded button.  It looks great on my wrist, too!

I am also working on a larger beading project- but that is for a future post!  Enjoy your day!  Carla

Happy Halloween

Time of the year to share a Halloween cartoon.  This one was drawn a few years ago, maybe I will draw a new one this year.   Look Ma- no copyright watermark on this cartoon either.  Feel free to share it on your blog, just provide a link back to my blog in exchange:

I am happy to report that I finished my freeform beaded pendant yesterday, and now I am beading a strap to match.  I like how it is turning out.

Enjoy your day!  Carla