Back Home From Sailing Adventures!

Been having a great time on our sailboat, but because it is hurricane season, we parked the boat in a safe location and flew home for the summer.  That is a good thing since I have been having withdrawals from my longarm and other art supplies.

I took up photography while we were on the boat, so I wanted to show you a slideshow of few of my favorite images:

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Now I need a good way to organize and stow all the 1,000’s of images I took.  Luckily, my good friends, The Pixeladies, are having an eClass starting soon on organizing all your images using Photoshop Elements.  I am going to take it, and I hope you will join me in this class.  Stay tuned, I will tell you more in tomorrow’s post!

Hugs, Carla

Sailboat Quilt Project

One of the hardest things about going traveling by sailboat is missing your dear friends and family.  Barbara Kiehn is one friend I will especially miss.  She and I have collaborated on many award winning quilts over the years, long time blog readers may remember a few of them:

I decided that Ethan needs a new quilt for his new cabin berth, but time is short, so I asked Barb to help me design and put it together.  Yesterday was our work day at her house, and we were able to finish the sailboat blocks.  Of course, there is more work to do on this scrappy, red, white and blue quilt, so I will work on it whenever I can get a free minute.

Here are a picture of the blocks only, today I cut and fuse the flags at the top of the mast like shown in the top left block:

Barb and decided to make these topsy turvy sailboats, plus there will be scrappy pieced sashings in between each block.  Here is a sample from Barb’s quilt for what topsy turvy setting looks like:

So that is my WIP sailboat project for the boat.  Thank you shout out to Barb for her help, lunch yesterday, and for being such a wonderful friend.   Regards, Carla

Designing Quilts- Jill’s Applique Quilt

Jill Applique quilt “Before”

Thought I would begin a new series on designing quilts for machine quilters, so let’s start with a lovely applique quilt by my friend, Jill.  Jill Rixman, the owner/teacher of the applique pattern business called Artfully Applique, is truly a master applique artist.  She needed a quilt to showcase patterns for sell in her booth at quilt shows, so she brought her quilt to me.

When I first started quilting over 10 years ago, Jill came to me with the first quilt that I quilted for her.  That quilt still hangs in her booth, receives many compliments for her and apparently, sells many patterns.  As a machine quilter, the  first topic to consider is the purpose of the quilt- which in this instance is to sell Jill’s applique patterns.

In keeping with my 2014 goal of drawing (and then digitizing) custom designs for every quilt I work on, I first needed to divide up the quilt into distinct design spaces.  For Jill’s quilt, this was simple.  You have 2 sizes of applique blocks, the inner circle and the negative space between the circle and block.  Then you have the  background fabric space, which will be further divided for interest and to draw the eye inward towards the center.

Let’s start with the center block, which is the focal point of this quilt. Here is my design choice for the center block outside of the circle:

Since this is my main design, all the other designs in the quilt will relate to this design to ensure quilting design cohesion.

Jill has chosen my circular fill for the inside of each circle and around the applique.  I gave Jill several fill options and this is the one she prefers.  Let’s move onto the small applique block design now.

For the smaller blocks, I wanted to design something similar, yet able to fit inside the smaller dimensions.  This is what I eventually came up with:

Notice that both designs frame the applique circles.  By choosing to quilt frame designs in the block, this showcases the importance of the applique work.  I will also pick a thread color that will blend into the lighter spaces.  This is because I do not want the quilting to compete with the applique work, instead, I want the quilting to complement.

Obviously, I will also stitch in the ditch the blocks.

Let’s talk about the proposed background design.   To draw the eye inward towards the center, I will add some linear ray lines with freeform fill.  This will provide some nice texture in the background.  Plus I can also add small motifs into the freeform quilting, including butterflies, flowers, leaves etc. along the quilt’s theme.  Once again, I will pick thread that matches the background fabric, I want to provide interest and texture, not compete with the block applique and piecing.

My frame designs are actually rather clean and simple.  The reason for this relates to the owner’s quilting design preference.  Jill does not like too much quilting, so I wanted to respect this.

Here are a few sketch designs which did not make the cut, including my favorite one on the left  I think Jill would like this design if I removed the cross-hatching fill in detail.

The next design was discarded as looking as too “alien” like in the corners.  LOL!  Don’t believe me?  Look below:

This gives you an idea for how I design for a quilt- and my thought process as I get ready to quilt it.  I have Jill’s quilt loaded, and will start it after Thanksgiving.

Let me know if you have any questions.  Just leave me a comment and I will write back.

Happy Quilting!  Carla

 

 

Around the World Blog Hop- My Turn!

I was invited to participate in the Around the World Blog Hop by two amazing fiber, art quilt and digital artists, The Pixeladies, also known individually as Deb Cashatt and Kris Sazaki.   Years ago, I was asked to do the quilting on one of their art quilt projects, and through this collaboration, we became friends.  Recently, I visited their studio and got to see all their stunning works in progress.  If you are unfamiliar with their incredible work, and art quilts created with fabric text, click now to visit their gallery page.

The format for the Around the World Blog Hop is a series of questions that I answer, so here we go:

What are you working on right now?  I tend to work on multiple projects at the same time.  On any given day, you will find me machine quilting in my studio, then working on my Tablet PC laptop drawing and designing, and finally, working on a freeform beading or crochet project.  So, in that spirit, here is what I am working on currently:

Quilting by Carla Barrett

Machine Quilting- I recently borrowed back the above quilt (previously quilted a few months ago, titled Bold Beauty),  to share with students in Australia. The picture above shows you the back of the quilt. This quilt has won many awards in Montana for the owner, Teddie Egeline, including Best of Show and Judges Choice at the Montana State Fair.  Anyway, while in AU, I noticed a couple of places that need fixing, specifically, color repair of some white marking pen oops previously discussed in a post here.

I realized that to be more archival, I should have heat set the repair.  So now I will go back over the lines with several shades of Inktense pigment pencils and once dry, heat set them.  After this repair, I plan to work on 2 quilts- one by applique artist Jill Rixman, and also one by my friend, Doug Hodder.

 

Freeform Beading and Freeform Crochet- Currently, I have two different projects in progress, though both are freeform.

The first one is a freeform beaded purse, so I am working on the freeform peyote embellishment.  I have just started to bead a 18mm Swarovski crystal, which will be a focal point element of this project.  My color palette is magenta, purple and blue.

My current freeform crochet project is a bit different from my usual freeform crochet work.  I like the combination of my random freeform combined with some more traditional freeform scrumbles, so I decided to take a Craftsy Freeform Crochet class with the talented Myra Wood to learn her process.  Below is a picture of my class homework so far.  These are “scrumbles” in progress as I learn her technique.

Scrumbles in Progress

How does your work differ from others of its genre?  With regards to my machine quilting work, I plan out my quilting lines using a Tablet PC laptop in Photoshop Elements.  This allows me ease of editing and planning, communicating effectively with collaborators, as well as provide me with a road map to follow during the quilting process.  I also will design a special motif, border or fill to use on each quilt using a digitizing software called Art & Stitch.  I also will use my tablet to draw a quilting cartoon from time to time, too.  See more what you can do with a Tablet in this post here.

How does your creative process work?    As mentioned earlier, I use my Tablet PC to sketch out machine quilting designs (like the example above).  I also use my Tablet PC to create custom quilting designs that I can then stitch out on a quilt.  My process is as follows:

Copyright 2014 Carla Barrett

First, I draw with my stylist on my Tablet PC monitor in Photoshop Elements.  Once I like the design, I will import my design into Adobe Illustrator and  Art&Stitch digitizing software, converting the artwork from a raster drawing to vector artwork.

On the left is a custom design drawn for Teddie Egeline’s quilt, Bold Beauty.  This is a screenshot taken of the finished vector art.

In Art&Stitch, I finish editing the art, adding stitches and saving it in a computerized quilting format that my system can read- which for my Intelliquilter is “.iqp.”   The design is next imported to my machine and then I further manipulate the design to fit my border.  Here is a screenshot from my Intelliquilter tablet showing you how I used this design to create an interesting custom border:

I love to leave spaces for freemotion quilting because I love the look of freehand work.  The curlycues in the image above will be filled with my freehand feathers.  Once quilted out and the freehand work added, the finished design and border looks like this:

I also used my Scroll-Heart Design in other areas on the quilt, too:

If you have any questions about my process, I would be happy to answer them.  Just leave your question in a comment, below.  If you would like to know more about buying a Tablet, I do have a 4 part series on purchasing a Tablet for artwork here.  If you would like to know more about working and creating with Art & Stitch software, please see this post.

Before I close, I would like to nominate a very talented machine quilting artist for this Around the World Blog Hop:

Judi Madsen, quilting artist, author, teacher and designer.  During my teaching trip to AU earlier this month, I met Judi a couple of times as my class was ending and hers was due to begin.  Her freehand machine quilting work is young, vibrant, and has a modern vibe.  Be sure to visit  Green Fairy Quilts blog to see Judi’s stunning work.

Take care, Carla

Back From AU!

I had a blast teaching in Adelaide, AU at their Australian Machine Quilting Festival.  I met so many wonderful quilters and artists while I was there!   Here is where Adelaide is, located in South Australia:

I had several nice flights from my home in Northern CA to Adelaide.  Admittedly, it took me well over a day of travel to get there, but arrived safe and sound to my hotel, which was close to the show venue at the Adelaide Convention Center.

What impressed me the most was how incredibly friendly all the students and people I met were.  Judging by my class feedback, they liked me, too!  🙂  It was fun to meet students I had previously “met” online through social media in person.  I loved teaching at this show, and show owners Tracey Browning and Sharon Parkinson were so welcoming, and frankly amazing women for all their hard work on this show.

It was also a blast seeing friends I hadn’t seen in a few years.  This includes Jamie Wallen, Tracey Browning, and her talented sister, Helen Stubbings.   I also met some other teachers for the first time: Cathy Wiggins, Cristyn Merry, Michelle Pearson, Helen Godden, Vicki Jenkins, and Judi Madsen.

More to follow, including photos of quilts I saw.  There was a special exhibit featuring the amazing work of Pam Holland.  I was blown away by her thread play and creativity, plus her lecture at the Charity Gala was quite inspiring!  Stay Tuned!  Hugs, Carla

 

Carolina Lily Quilt

I get lots of mail about this Carolina Lily antique quilt pattern I quilted back in 2007 for my dear friend, Nancy Gwyn, who sadly passed away in 2011.

quilting by Carla Barrett 2007

This was my old photo taken just after I unloaded it and before the quilt was bound. This quilt later went on to win many awards in both California and North Carolina:

Here it won a Best Machine Quilting and a First Place award.  Anyway, back to my mail box.  Since I receive letters asking me about this pattern, I am always on the lookout for a free pattern and instructions.  I finally found one here at Generations Quilt Patterns:

There is only a slight difference between this pattern and Nancy’s quilt, so just change up the flower stem if you prefer Nancy’s variation.

Otherwise, head on over to the Generations Quilt Pattern site for the free pattern and instructions.  The pattern is even on-point like Nancy’s quilt, too.

Here are some more close up pictures for this quilt:

 

quilting by Carla Barrett 2007

quilting by Carla Barrett 2007

Hope this helps!  Happy Piecing and Quilting, Carla

 

Birdie From Barb

My friend, Barbara Kiehn, who many of you know from her wonderful pieced quilts, sent me this adorable birdie, who now resides in my quilt studio.  I was taking pictures this weekend, so I decided to take a picture of this bird:

  Cute, isn’t he?  A huge “thank you” to Barb for her lovely gift!!

Lyn’s Quilt Finished!

I am finally done with Lyn’s beautiful and colorful modern quilt.  Lyn is one of my quilting friends, who taught me to improve my binding technique, so I wanted to do a nice quilting job for her in return.

Here is the quilt hanging on my dining room table:

For Lyn’s quilt, I wanted to maintain the visual impact of her colorful quilt, yet provide some interesting texture quilting in each colored block area.  I achieved this by using some freehand quilting designs of my own, also using some commercially purchased quilting designs, too, and finally, in some areas, I designed and digitized my own quilting designs , too.

In the image above, feature digitized quilting designs by a variety of designers, including one by Krista Withers in the blue area, this design by Jodi Robinson in the gold area, round pearl sashing in the light blue area by Jessica Schick, and the two designs in the red area are as yet to be identified.  I promise to edit when I find the designers for proper credit.

The photo above shows you a wider view of this quilt.  My eye was drawn to the red space with my sprocket design as it is was “poofing” up in the bottom left hand side, then I realized I had forgotten to stitch-in-th-ditch that block, so the quilt went back on my table to fix.  An easily correctable oops.  My fix makes the seam lay down nicely, as shown in this photo below:

SID example by Carla Barrett

I hope you enjoyed following me as I quilted Lyn’s quilt.  I am happy with the finished quilt, and know Lyn will be, too.  It lays very flat, so I was able to maintain my quilt sandwich tension correctly as well.  This means the quilt should hang very straight.

I have already started my next quilt, a lovely wallhanging for Teddie.  I promise to show you her lovely quilt when I am finished.  Meanwhile, have fun with your quilting projects!  Carla

Designing a Modern Quilt

I wanted to talk a bit about my design approach to a color blocked modern quilt by a wonderful person named Lyn Baker.  Lyn is the binding queen and personally responsible for improving my binding technique.  Lyn’s quilt may be purchased in kit form from High Sierra Quilters here.  If interested, call Doug at the store and he will help you.

Modern quilts beg to be quilted with a nice mix of geometric, patterns and fun texture quilting.  I see modern quilts as having a more masculine “feel,” though there are certainly some feminine modern quilts being made.  Here is a good visual for how I approached Lyn’s quilt:

modern quilt by Carla Barrett using both freehand and digitized quilting

With Lyn’s quilt, I wanted to maintain the color blocked areas and simply enhance this quilt with some fun and interesting texture.  I purposely chose the thread to match each colored fabric area, meaning I had LOTS of thread changing as I worked.  The reason for this is to provide texture and let the geometric visual in the piecing and color become the star of the show.  The quilting merely enhances the piecing and provides a layer of interest to the viewer as they see the quilt up close.   If I had chosen contrasting thread, it would fight the piecing- and in not a good way.  Choosing thread with intent is something I love to do.

Many of the designs you see above are also repeated throughout the quilt, too.  Repeating designs is a great way to bring cohesiveness to your machine quilting designs, especially with modern quilts.

All the quilts I do have a nice mix of freehand designs, usually an original design thrown in, and also some commercial digitized designs.  In this quilt are some wonderful modern digitized designs by a variety of artists, including Janet Lee Santeusanio, Jessica Shick, Krista Withers, Jodi Robinson,  and a few others.

quilting by Carla Barrett

Not every area has to be quilted with fancier texture.  Note the simple freehand quilting in the detail photo, above, in the red and blue areas.  There is also freehand quilting in the black area, light blue, and the green area, as well.

Notice that I also varied my quilting density, though the overall quilting is balanced.  This was done for added interest, as well.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing Lyn’s quilt and hearing some of my thoughts behind why I designed it the way I did.  In my mind’s eye, I see the quilt at a distance, with the bright colored blocks grabbing the viewer’s attention.  As the viewer walks up to the quilt, they see the interesting texture quilting designs in each space.   Happy Quilting!  Carla

Pixeladies Live Near YOU!

Many of you know  my good friends, The Pixeladies.  Deb Cashatt and Kris Sazaki are amazing artists, authors, and instructors- and they are coming LIVE to a venue near you in 2014.

To refresh your memory about just how cool these two artists are, here is an example of a recent quilt, which was juried into Quilt National this year, appropriately titled, “American Still Life: The Weight of a Nation:”

by The Pixeladies

Check out this wonderful quilt, titled “But What Does It Mean: The Language of Color 3,”  which is on display at Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center until January 5, 2014:

by The Pixeladies

The Pixeladies extensively use Photoshop and technology in their work.   Now you can learn these same skills from them at a workshop.  Can you imagine spending two, three, or four days learning all the great ways you can use Photoshop in your sewing, quilting, and crafting projects –  and with the best two Photoshop instructors available?  Deb and Kris can translate Photoshop speak so you will get the most out of the class.  

The classes are tailored just a bit for each venue, but I’m sure you’ll find a workshop that’s just right for you. Pick from the following classes:

Kona, Hawaii (Feb. 5-7, 2013)  Designing Fabric with Photoshop Elements

New Smyrna Beach, FL (March 12-14, 2014) Photoshop Elements for Fiber Artists and Sewing Enthusiasts

Lake Tahoe, NV   (Nov. 2-7, 2014) Designing Fabric with Photoshop Elements

You can find more details on their website HERE , plus see more of their amazing text quilts, which is a technique unique to The Pixeladies.