I am pleased to say it has been a busy morning getting students registered for the April Tablet Design Class! Registration started today, and I am very pleased with the student reception to my eClass.
Click HERE to register for this eClass at StepOnPins.com and/or learn more about this class.
I am off to edit a video, however, if you have any questions, please feel free to leave me a comment. Thank you! Carla
Last month, I visited a friendly, welcoming guild in Phoenix for a lecture and workshop. The lecture was my Quilt Whisper one, and I love to ask guild members to send me quilt tops pictures to design and include in my PowerPoint presentation.
Here is a lovely quilt by AZ Quilter Janet Grant- who kindly gave me permission to share her quilt and my proposed design with you. Btw, this stunning quilt design is by Judy Neimeyer):
Here is my proposed quilting design for Janet:
Here is a close up of a section:
I hope you enjoyed this Quilt Whispering Example! Have fun! Carla
Hello, today I decided to share how I quilt whispered a quilt as a raffle prize donation. The winner is Margo Clabo, who created this delightful 2010 Block-of-the-Month quilt as a new colorway for The Quilt Show. The designer of the quilt is Sue Garman.
First the picture of the quilt top, then the next picture is of my design suggestions for Margo.
The Quilt Whispering:
I think I like this block design best with the hearts:
You could also alternate the designs for added interest.
This is how I would Quilt Whisper it, anyhow.
Before I go, I wanted to thank you all for your lovely comments left yesterday with the post about the completed Guild Quilt I finished. Such wonderful complements- and I didn’t need to bribe you either. LOL
Here is my thought for today: Do something NICE for yourself! You really do deserve it!
Take care, Carla
This gives you an idea of how I approach quilts with regards to my quilting plan. In case anyone is curious, I sketch in Photoshop directly onto my tablet laptop using a stylist pen.
Step 1: Take a picture of the quilt and import into Photoshop for drawing.
Here is the quilt shown minus any quilting lines:
Step 2: Sketch or draw various quilting ideas right on your digital image of the quilt. For Photoshop or PS Elements users, I create a new layer for each area of the quilt. If you later want to alter it, you may now easily do so by working on a layer.
And here is my rough sketch of the quilting plan:
Note: this sketch is used for reference only.
Step 3: Quilt your plan!
I start quilting at the top and work my way down the quilt, advancing as I go. When you load a quilt, you only see a small portion or slice of it at any time to work on, so you need to know what you quilt on border one, so you may replicate it down at the bottom of the quilt.
This quilt will have no markings, it is faster for me to do freehand. The only tool I will use is a heart shape pattern board for the center heart shape.
The borders on this quilt has some slight fullness issues, so I couldn’t quilt what I really wanted to in the borders. I knew I wanted to quilt some texture in the body of the quilt, but I also wanted to bring some structure to the borders to change it up a bit. I’ve decided to instead quilt the borders using my freehand border quilting- which I know can “quilt out” any extra fullness easily.
Bargello quilts, by their inherent design, have no well defined areas. Instead there is a blending of fabric from space to space. I am using Continuous curve quilting to break up the darker areas and define areas where I will change the quilting. If the quilt had less fullness, then I might decide to quilt in faux borders or lines and visually break up the spaces with the quilting lines.
My goal with the quilting is to “enhance” the quilt, taking advantage of the focal point of the quilt- which to me is the heart shape and center of the bargello heart. By the way, to all the non-machine quilters reading this, the light areas in this quilt is where the quilting lines will most show when I am finished.
I change thread when I quilt, I will use one color for the borders and dark areas in this quilt, a medium tone thread for the medium value areas, and then a lighter thread for those light spots. I do this because I am enhancing the quilt and not trying to change the color or hue on the quilt top. By using similar thread value to the colors used in the quilt, this will allow the quilt top to shine.
My biggest advice to newer quilters is to find what works for you, then go with it!
Happy quilting from Carla
PS: Today I got about half way finished in my quilting. Here is the center:
Hello, I thought I would share with you my current WIP quilt. I am busy working on a watercolor quilt for a friend, Barb. In the spirit of showing you how I work, here is a picture of the quilt top, followed by a picture of my proposed quilting lines:
You might have to click twice on the second image to see the drawn lines. I want to create faux borders, also use a quilting technique called continuous curve to divide the border from the main quilt body, also call attention to the watercolor panels. The panels I will quilt each one individually and the remainder of the quilt will get my Carla Asian floral freehand fill.
Most quilters would choose to quilt an edge-to-edge design on a busy floral quilt such as this. The theory behind that is that the stitching really won’t show, so why go to the extra effort?
“Why do the expected?” I always say. I want to also showcase the back side of this quilt which consists of lovely batik fabric wholecloth. This quilt has lovely colors and will hang in a show next week. Also, I love to give “texture” to any quilt that comes my way. My friend, Barb, is a wonderful and accurate piecer- which I always appreciate.
In addition, I will add three 3-D dragonflies using stitched yarn, thread and some fibers to further enhance the quilt.. My friend, Jamie Wallen, taught me how to do this a few years ago. This quilt really calls for an extra touch of interest.
Regards, Carla
Carla Barrett 