Feather Heart Design

Here is another in my Art&Stitch Practice Series.  Art&Stitch is a digitizing program found here.

Today, I decided to channel my inner froo-froo, girly side.  I call this design my Heart Feather Series:

quilting design by Carla Barrett

First, I see this used in a border:

quilting design by Carla Barrett

Or how about as a wreath design:

quilting design by Carla Barrett

Here’s a block design, too:

Design by Carla Barrett

And, finally, my favorite design- a larger Block Motif:

design by Carla Barrett

Hope you have enjoyed this series of quilting designs I have created using Art&Stitch design software.  More information on this software is found here.  

Which one is YOUR favorite?

 

 

 

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

More Digitized Fun!

I promised I would share some designs drawn in Art & Stitch (ANS) software to practice what I learned in the workshop by Loes and Theo van der Heyden.  

In this class exercise, I started by drawing some feathers in a triangle block, then made a simple block motif by copying 4 times:

design by Carla Barrett

To be honest, it doesn’t ring my chimes yet.  So I decided to see what would happen when I copied more blocks designs together:

Yes, this block works for me now.  I like that you can take a ho-hum block design and turn it into a better design by playing with the program.    Once again, it only took me less than 10 minutes to create the block shown above.  I see lots of fun designs in my future!

Next up on my quilting table will be a lovely modern quilt by my friend Lyn Baker.  Lyn is a wonderful binding instructor and you can catch a class with her at High Sierra Quilters in Placerville, CA.  If you do not see a class on the website, but trust me, she has them regularly.  Contact Doug at the store if you need a binding lesson with Lyn.  Lyn is responsible for my huge improvement in my bindings.

Anyway, I plan to design some fun modern designs for Lyn’s quilt and then digitize them for practice.  I will be sharing my progress as I complete them.

Also, in my next ANS post, I will show you how I traced one of my birdy designs and made a quilting pattern out of the art.  Keep watching!

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

 

 

 

Doug’s Quilt

I am busy working on a quilt for a guy quilting friend named Doug.  Doug owns a local quilt store and he is funny to boot!  He will call me posing as Bill Clinton, and ask me whether the Presidential library should have a condom dispenser in the bathroom or other product?  It helps that his Bill Clinton imitation is spot on.

Doug’s quilt has an overall duck hunting theme.  It also has some lovely applique cattails on the quilt for further visual interest, too.  (I promise to show pictures when finished).  I knew I needed a border design with ducks on it, so I turned to Digitech Patterns to find one.  I eventually found this loon pattern by Denise Schillinger, which fit the bill:

This pattern looks more duck-like than loon-like to me.  Loons swim very low in the water is why I say this.  Anyway, I digress….. here is the finished border design using this design.  Note that I took this picture from the back side of the quilt:

border design

Doug’s quilt has light cornerstones in all four corners, so I wanted to place a related design that would go with the border.  Unfortunately, I could not find one, so it was time to create one using bits and pieces of Denise’s Digitech Pattern design:

Obviously, I still have to add the tight piano keys to the un-quilted side of the block, but I ended up really liking this design and how it looks on Doug’s quilt.  I shared it with him on Facebook, and he was very happy.

Carla Tip: This is my quilting tip of the day- when attempting to locate a complementary design for a quilt, use bits and pieces of an existing design used elsewhere in the quilt- whether it is a stencil design or digitized design.

I am adding some other duck and duck hunter motifs within the body of the quilt, but you will have to wait to see it.  Stay posted!  Hugs, Carla

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

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!

Latest Quilting Designs!

The Feather Practice Series will continue tomorrow for all the feather quilters. 

I wanted to share that Digitech Patterns has just released some more of my quilting designs.  Right now, if you go to Digitech Patterns and click on “New” designs, they are offering them at 50% off for a short time:

Kismet Frame by Carla Barrett

Kismet Panto by Carla Barrett

Swirl Flourish by Carla Barrett

Swirl Flourish Frame by Carla Barrett

Lots more designs are planned to be released in 2013.  Keep watching!

Regards, Carla

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