Egyptian Border

I’ve almost finished the first border on this quilt.  Check out my motif and the stylized straight feathers:

I still need a bit more quilting in my cornerstone design.  The gold areas have hieroglyphic quilting in them, quilted after this picture was taken.  You can see my chalk markings, I sketch my ideas right on the quilt top.

I’ll keep plugging away on this quilt.  It’s slow going because I quilt part time nowadays.  Plus I have a lot of straight line and stitch-in-the-ditch quilting to do.  This is called “ruler work,” and I like to take my time and do it right.

The motif in the pictures above was hand drawn by me, then  made into a stencil so I can replicate it on this quilt.  I have developed a new and easy technique for making your own stencils for quilting or other projects.   Hmmm…  guess I had better add that one to my book, right?   LOL!

Hugs, Carla

Handmade Holiday Gifts

This month, I’ve decided to write some more tutorials to celebrate the season.   These will be gifts you can make yourself to give to friends, family, teachers, etc.  My first one is almost finished, all I have left is to photograph the individual steps for the visuals.  All of them will be geared for beginners.

How’s that for a teaser?  LOL  I’ve decided to make some of my gifts this year.  Not only is it economy friendly,  you are giving of yourself to others: your time, effort, etc.

Speaking of gifts, I did finish my first one yesterday.  It is a freeform crochet scarf for someone, and I love the colors in this one:

For new visitors to my blog, I already have a tutorial on how to make this present.  You can also click on the birdy link on the right side for a list of all my free tutorials.

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Quilting Update:  I just ordered some black batting for a number of quilts I need to do.  Since I can’t start the Egyptian quilt until the batting arrives, I’m starting another kimono quilt that looks like this:

That’s all for now!  Hugs, Carla

Next Quilt Up

The quilt I just loaded onto my longarm table is this bargello heart quilt:

I just pieced the backing- which is a medium shade of the salmon color fabric.  I’ve drawn out the quilting plan, but I want to work on it a bit before I start the quilting.  Check back and I will show you my prelim quilting plan for this particular quilt, also discuss design challenges with a bargello quilt such as this and how I overcome them. Carla note: Quilting Plan is HERE.

Been busy making all the travel details for my October Kauai trip.  Thanks to Lori and everyone else who recommended what to do and places to see.  I can’t wait to go!!

So far I like the roomba… it did miss one of two spots, so I will see if it gets those places tomorrow.  So far, so good!!

A big welcome to all the new blog readers- I had a banner traffic day yesterday with about 1700 hits!  That’s a lot of hits in one day for a smaller blog like mine.

Enjoy your day!  Carla

WIP Wednesday

Today, I am showcasing two drawings from a young artist- Amy!  Amy is taking her very first drawing class and here is the b&w study of a bell pepper and a tree, which are class assignments:

She did a fabulous job!!  Can’t wait to see what else she creates!  In case you are curious, Amy is my middle child.

I am working on my “inchie Project” packaging.  Can’t just send them in a plastic bag, so I am making each Inchie participant a special container.  To that end, here it the 2 yard fabric that I quilted, Carla freeform style:

I’ll reveal more later!!

Lastly, thank you for all the comments and emails about my dad!  He is getting out of ICU today finally, which is great news.  It is hard when a loved one is ill and they live so far away.

Hugs, Carla

Sneak Peek Quilting

Just started a heart quilt today, here’s a small peek of this one. Here’s a “before” block where I am doing a small meander fill:

and the after block where I have filled in along the spine. I am working really small here. Some of these feathers are 1/16th of an inch:

I really like the texture of this particular fill. Of course, kudos to Suzanne for her Meandering Magic technique that I have used as my fill in the example above. Next, I have to stitch-in-the-ditch around (and on) all the appliques, plus in between the blocks. Today, I hope to get some good quilting time in.

Yesterday, I gave a private quilting lesson to Mike, who has a lot of talent and potential as a longarmer. I can’t wait to see his first show quilt when it is completed. By the way, it is nice to see more men entering the longarming world!

Regards, Carla

Finished Wedding Ring Quilt

I am happy to say I finally completed this one. It will go home today to the owner, and I have already pre-marked the next quilt for loading. Here are some pictures:

(click on small thumbnail images for larger pictures)

and, of course, the artsy lighting shot:

I used 2 layers of batting for this quilt. There were some slight fullness issues, so the extra batting helped me to keep it as flat as possible.

Thank you for all your nice comments while this project was underway. Your encouragement helped me to stay on task and get the job finished!

Happy Quilting, Carla

Quilting Down Memory Lane

Here are some older quilting pictures to share with you. The following quilts represent a cross section of “regular” quilts which I have had the pleasure to work on. Most of these are client quilts, quilted in the last couple of years.

Anyhow, I thought over the next few days to repost older work- both quilting and fiber art- to my current blog.

First up, a “flurried” asian-fabric quilt by Bev. (Thanks to pal, Jamie Wallen, for his flurry design):

Then some “doodles” and fun fill:

A flower quilt for Jill:

A silk small quilt for Barb:

And some baby quilts:

Hope you have enjoyed my mini- quilt show. I enjoy quilting for others and especially love working with my clients.

Hugs, Carla

Carolina Lily Quilting

My arm aches, my legs are tired, but the quilt is finished!! It came out very nice, a pretty quilt, if I do say so myself. May I present the finished Carolina Lily quilt:

and the corner:

I’m too tired to reposition it for a back view, please use your imagination- LOL! My next step is to trim it, then ship it off to its owner.

In case you are curious, I use 2 batts for the quilting to give it extra loft with the applique and alternating blocks.  The blank blocks I used a stencil pattern by Anita Shackelford. The edge triangle blocks, I simply quilted an undulating freehand feather and the edge border was my Carla freehand fill. No marking, I simply quilt a freehand design as I go. There was a reason I did this- the 4 borders were not even, so I wanted to quilt something that she could trim anywhere and it would still look good.

Onto the next quilt now. Hope you have enjoyed my approach to this quilt. I like doing custom quilts for special people- and this owner is a very sweet, southern lady. I’ll let you know what her reaction is when she receives it.

Enjoy your weekend! Carla