Palm Leaf Quilting Series

Good Day to you!  Today, I have a new group of quilting designs to show you in my Art & Stitch Design Series.  I call the following designs my “Palm Leaf Set.”   If you like it, let me know and I will send it to Jessica to see if she would like to sell it on here website, Digitech Patterns.

First, I drew a single palm leaf design:

quilting design by Carla Barrett

Next, I wanted to see how it would look as an allover pattern:

quilting design by Carla Barrett

I could see the allover design pattern being used on a modern quilt or a tropical quilt.  Next is my favorite- what happens when I turn the Palm Leaf into a block motif?

quilting design by Carla Barrett

I like the above block design and can’t wait to use it when the right quilt comes along!
It took me only a few minutes to create the designs shown here using Art&Stitch program.  It took me longer to copy paste, crop and add the type to the designs using Photoshop.

Can you tell I am having fun?  What are YOU up to creative wise?   Carla

Modern Quilt Design

Just finished a nice modern quilt for Doug, and now I am drawing designs for the next modern quilt- one by Lyn Baker.  I will most likely draw up 4 or 5 designs for her quilt using Art & Stitch program.  Here is my first one- a design for the sashing part of Lyn’s quilt:

mod sashing 1 by Carla Barrett

As you can see, this is a simple geometric design for a smaller border or sashing.  It has a nice modern vibe and will go with other parts of the quilt and designs I will be using.

Art& Stitch is a terrific program, it only took me a few minutes to import my quick sketch from Photoshop, then trace over the design using the Bezier Tool.   I first saved it in the ANS extension, then saved it with the extension used by my machine- an Intelliquilter.

Stay tuned!  Have several quilt images to share with you in the near future!  Carla

Art & Stitch: Designing a Series

As part of my ongoing practice after attending Theo & Loes van der Heyden’s Art & Stitch  workshop, I decided to show you how I drew a doodle and turned it into a series or quilting designs for my quilts.  If you are interested in learning how to do this, be sure to sign up for Theo and Loes workshop, too.

Let’s start with a doodle:

copyright 2013 Carla Barrett

Then you combined 2 blocks to make this design:

copyright 2013 Carla Barrett

Notice there is a cute little critter that emerged once the blocks combined?  I love the randomness of finding surprises like this.  Next, we will combine 2 triangles to make a block design:

copyright 2013 Carla Barrett

Now add 3 more blocks to create a large block design:

copyright 2013 Carla Barrett

We are just getting started!  Let’s make a border design to match the other blocks:

copyright 2013 Carla Barrett

How about a wreath where the critters are looking inward:

copyright 2013 Carla Barrett

Or, critters looking outward:

copyright 2013 Carla Barrett

In order for this design to stitch out without jump stitches, all I needed to do is add a transition design:

copyright 2013 Carla Barrett

Can you tell I am having fun?   By the way, my Birdy Designs are for a future post….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Feather Worksheet Page!

Hello, I have added a new blog page to this site I wanted to share with you.  Regular blog readers know I ran a 10 part series on how to draw/quilt feathers earlier this year.  I had the bright idea to group them all together on their own blog page for easier access.  Did I mention that my lesson worksheets are FREE, too?

Here is a sample feather practice sheet:

Feather practice 6.1 by Carla Barrett

Want to visit this page?  Look at the top of the blog , but under the blog header art.  Look for the words, “Feather Worksheets 1-10″ and click on the words to access the page.  Alternatively, you may all click here to visit this page.

If you did any of the exercises- and are proud of your hard work, not to mention your stunning feather examples, send me pictures of your completed worksheet(s).  If you do not have my email, just click on the contact page and I will respond back.  I will be sharing these on the blog when I get a fair number of them.

Enjoy your week!  Carla

Art & Stitch Workshop

I recently attended a wonderful seminar in using Art & Stitch (ANS) digitizing software for quilting and embroidery design.  I loved this workshop and had a blast drawing designs using this vector program developed  by Theo and Loes van der Heijden.

As an incentive to practice what I learned, I thought I would share fun designs developed using ANS a few times per week.  To begin, the following designs were from a class exercise following directions by Loes.  (Carla note: For students who have taken my Tablet Design class, this is a similar process taught in designing wholecloth quilts).

You start with a triangle doodle design:

ANS example design by Carla Barrett

Repeat 3 more times to create a bock or motif.  For ANS users, you would select and then click on the magic square function in the program:

copyright 2013 by Carla Barrett

Next, you can then create a larger block using 4 of the blocks:

Copyright 2013 by Carla Barrett

Finally, you can also create a large Edge-to-Edge design in ANS, too:

E2E design by Carla Barrett

For those of you interested in the program I am using, Art & Stitch has a free trial download on their website here.

Let me know what you think?   Happy quilting!  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

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

Feather Practice, Part 5

This post is a fifth in my Feather Practice Series, and today, I share how I do my Asian-inspired feathers and spine variations.  These designs work great on Asian themed quilts, tropical quilts, and nature quilts and similar themed quilt top designs.

featherpractice5.pdf   (right click to download.  You will need Adobe Reader to view the file)

Feather Practice 5.1 by Carla Barrett

Feather Practice 5.2 by Carla Barrett

Print out and practice on 5-10 copies. Repetition is how you learn how to draw any feather type.   Practice drawing them and filling a variety of quilt spaces, too,

Freehand quilters: I suggest you mark until you can quilt this design by memory.  Now, when I quilt them free motion,   I will only mark the spine as a guideline.

I hope you are enjoying my Feather Practice Series.  If so, please leave me a comment.  My motivation for providing this free series is to provide assistance to any machine quilters who needs encouragement in their own personal quilting journey.   Happy Quilting, Carla Barrett