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Movie Night

8/29/2015

 
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I've noticed that many of the television stations have marathons during major holiday weekends.  It is a chance to catch up on episodes you may have missed or just a chance to revisit an old favorite.

Did you know you can plan your own quilt related movie marathon?  I've uploaded all my videos to You Tube and have set up four separate playlists.  Click on the description for a direct link to the playlist.

  • Electric Quilt Tutorials
  • Art and Stitch Tutorials
  • Other Quilting Tutorials
  • Let's Go Fly a Kite Series

So plan for a movie night (or day) of your own, grab some popcorn and enjoy.

While you are there, please subscribe to my You Tube channel to have quick access to the videos anytime you wish to review a previous tutorial.

Featured Product - Whim Wham Stars

Do you like gazing at twinkling stars on a clear fall night?  You can now put those stars on your bed.  The asymmetrical star used in the sashing will make it appear that the stars are dancing across the quilt.  Quilt may be completed with seven fabrics or may be scrapped using fat quarters.

Available sizes include Small (52 x 68), Medium (68 x 84), Large (84 x 100) or XL (100 x 100).
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Pur/store/p17/Whim_Wham_Stars.htmlchase here.
Happy quilting.

Kari

Sign up for my newsletter to stay current on what's happening in my studio and learn more quilting tips.  As a thank you, I'll send you a FREE pattern for this small maple leaf quilt.
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Farmers Delight

8/22/2015

 
Last week, I showed you how I straightened and edited an image of an antique quilt I found on the Quilt Index.  This week I have been obsessed with redrafting this quilt and knew it needed to be my next Electric Quilt tutorial.
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1880's Farmer's Delight is a quilt pattern specific to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. This fine example was made in the 1880's with a tremendous variety of late 19th century fabrics. It is very well quilted in a clamshell pattern. Measurements are 76" x 88". This quilt was exhibited at the New England Quilt Museum in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1994.
Electric Quilt Tutorial Using PatchDraw
Farmer's Delight Block Close Up
The biggest challenge in drafting this block is the number of triangles in each ring.  The first ring has 27 colored triangles, the second 34 and the third 42.  Patch Draw is limited with 60 spokes and Easy Draw partitioning is limited to 15.  So I couldn't make it work.

I finally decided I needed to adjust the number of triangles for the sake of sanity.  If I make the number of triangles divisible by 4, both Easy Draw and Patch Draw will work a lot nicer.  And my guess is that few would notice that I now have 28, 36 and 44 triangles per ring.

See how I drew my slightly altered Farmer's Delight in my latest Electric Quilt tutorial.  I used PatchDraw within Electric Quilt for drafting the block.
Here is my drafted block from the Electric Quilt tutorial.
Electric Quilt Video Tutorial
Farmer's Delight Block from Electric Quilt Tutorial
Here is the full quilt.
Electric Quilt Video Tutorial
Farmer's Delight Full Quilt Layout from Electric Quilt Tutorial
And for those who are wondering -- I am not planning to piece it.  I was perfectly satisfied with recreating it in Electric Quilt.  I will leave the piecing to another brave soul.

Featured Product:  Modern Maze

Dawn's Quilt Shop in Alexandria MN used my Modern Maze pattern for their feature quilt utilizing the Minnesota Shop Hop fabric.  This quilt has a completely different look than my "solid background" sample.

Stop by the shop to see the quilt in person and to purchase a pattern and the fabric.
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Dawn's Quilt Shop MN Shop Hop Quilt using Modern Maze pattern.
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Dawn's Quilt Shop - Close-up of Modern Maze quilt.
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Dawn's Quilt Shop - Close Up of Modern Maze Quilt
If you can't make it to her shop, you can purchase a pattern here.
Happy quilting.

Kari

Sign up for my newsletter to stay current on what's happening in my studio and learn more quilting tips.  As a thank you, I'll send you a FREE pattern for this small maple leaf quilt.
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Photo Editing for Quilters

8/15/2015

 
Are you a tracer or a drawer?  When I teach Electric Quilt or Art and Stitch, I like to give "tracing" options to my students as it allows them to focus on learning the program.  

However, if I am going to "trace", I need a good picture to work with.  Over the last year, I've been working a lot on my photography skills.  However the reality is that it is hard getting the photos square on with no distortion.  Most of the "free" software that is out there, will allow me to rotate, crop and do some overall color adjustments -- which works most of the time.  My favorite software for this is Microsoft Office Picture manager -- which was included in my Microsoft Office Suite.

However, sometimes my photos need more work.  For many years, I was using a very old version of Corel's photo editing software.  It worked, but it was cumbersome and I had frequent crashes with the software.  When my computer died earlier this year, I thought it would be a good opportunity to update to something from this century.  Since  Adobe's Photoshop appears to be the new "norm", I purchased a copy.  I decided I didn't necessarily need the newest version, but went on Amazon and found something at a reasonable price.  (I ended up spending $70 for PhotoShop and Premiere version 12.  Premiere is their movie editing software.)

Opening any new software, can be a bit overwhelming and frustrating when you can't quickly find the one thing you really want to do.  So I thought I would share with you, how I used the software to clean up a photo.

This is a photo I found on Quilt Index.  I loved this pattern and want to trace the block Using Electric Quilt.
Photoshop Elements for Quilters
Quilt Photo Before using Photoshop Elements
My video tutorial this week is on using Photoshop Elements for Quilters.  The video covers a number of items including:
1 - Straightening a photo
2 - Taking a snapshot of one of the blocks.
3 - Filling in the "gaps".  (See the block spaces at the top of the quilt.)
3 - Doing some minor color adjustments (i.e. painting small sections).
Below is the photo-shopped image.  Note that the original photograph had fairly poor resolution, so there was only so much that could be done to enhance the picture.
Photoshop Tutorial for Quilters
Quilt Photo after using Photoshop Elements
When I did an internet search on "PhotoShop for Quilters", I found a site that teaching PhotoShop for fiber artists.  Have any of you taken any of the classes from Pixeladies?  I'm thinking I might need to check it out.

Featured Product - Come Said the Wind
Are you starting to think about an autumn quilt for your wall this fall.  Now is the time to get started with Come Said the Wind.  The pattern includes two sizes and the verse can be printed directly on fabric, traced or hand embroidered.  You choose.
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Purchase here.

Happy quilting.

Kari

Sign up for my newsletter to stay current on what's happening in my studio and learn more quilting tips.  As a thank you, I'll send you a FREE pattern for this small maple leaf quilt.
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Embroider a Quilt Block

8/9/2015

 
True confessions.  A number of years ago I purchased a Bernina that had an embroidery unit.  Having never done machine embroidery before, I was very challenged in using the embroidery features on the machine.  After a couple of trips to the repair shop, I decided machine embroidery was not for me and eventually sold the machine.

Now that I have Art and Stitch, I really wanted to give machine embroidery another try.  This time I decided to go simpler.  I purchased a used Brother PE 500 machine (which only does embroidery).  I watched a number of You Tube videos on the machine.  I also spent some time at a retreat last weekend, talking to a machine embroidery expert in the group (who was working on embroidery designs on her machine).

I was ready to try again.  I thought I would start with recreating a small quilt block using embroidery.  I am a big Dear Jane fan and thought that one of the Jane Stickle blocks would be a good start.

I selected the first block to get started.
Art and Stitch Tutorial
Jane A. Stickle Block (redrafted by Kari Schell)
Here is the Art and Stitch video tutorial on how I created the embroidery design.  Note that I do not have the "Embroidery module".  This was all done with the Art and Stitch Base version!
Here is my finished design stitched out on my Brother PE500. 
Embroidered Pieced Block Art and Stitch Tutorial
Jane A. Stickle Embroidered Block 2" x 2", created by Kari Schell
The entire process was a lot less painful than I thought.  I think I may try a few other blocks.
Featured Product - Come Said the Wind
Are you starting to think about an autumn quilt for your wall this fall.  Now is the time to get started with Come Said the Wind.  The pattern includes two sizes and the verse can be printed directly on fabric, traced or hand embroidered.  You choose.
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Purchase here.

Happy quilting.

Kari

Sign up for my newsletter to stay current on what's happening in my studio and learn more quilting tips.  As a thank you, I'll send you a FREE pattern for this small maple leaf quilt.
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Playing with Kite Tails - A Custom Quilting Option

8/2/2015

 
Art and Stitch video tutorial
Let's Go Fly a Kite, marked with potential quilt spaces for custom quilting.
I have a fair number of "interesting" spaces to fill on my kite quilt.  So I thought I would play a bit with Kite Tails.  My Art and Stitch video tutorial this week is about drafting a Kite Tail motif and then playing with it as a "motif fill" and on a curvy line as a motif stitch.  This is super simple with a lot of "play" opportunities.
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Kite Motif from Art and Stitch Video Tutorial
Here are the designs from the video.
Art and Stitch Video Tutorial
Kite Motif Fill from Art and Stitch Video Tutorial
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Kite Motif Applied to Line from Art and Stitch Video Tutorial
Here were a few additional designs for the quilt
This was the design we incorporated  last week in the Edge to Edge pantograph (another Art and Stitch video tutorial).  This works great in a custom option as well.  See last weeks post for stitch out instructions.
Art and Stitch video tutorial
Kite Quilting Option.
Art and Stitch tutorial
The above two designs can be laid on the quilt as a point to point design.  Within Art and Stitch, you can replicate it using the Power Copy EE.
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Kite Border Using Art and Stitch Software
Art and Stitch Border Idea
Border ideas.  

For the top border (above), I split the kite from the string and tail and then rotated the string and tail 90 degrees.  Then I connected everything up again.

For the side borders, just make sure the top and bottom points of the kite motif line up.  Then you can stitch out as a continuous pattern.  I will typically place a guideline to assist with this in Art and Stitch.
Art and Stitch tutorial.
Three kites combined. This would work in a triangle block.
I didn't get my top quilted -- so that will have to wait for a later blog.  As you can see, I still have a few decisions to make on how I want to quilt it.

Featured Quilting Pattern
Are you interested in the Edge to Edge Kite design?  This one is available for digital download in all the major quilting formats. There even is a pdf that can be used by those without digital systems.  The pattern is on sale for half price for another week.  Click here to purchase.
Art and Stitch tutorial
Other motif fills for the kites. Should I use a different one for each kite?
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Note:  Instructions for piecing the Kite quilt will be available until August 15th.  Please make sure to print off anything you need by that time.
Happy quilting.

Kari

Sign up for my newsletter to stay current on what's happening in my studio and learn more quilting tips.  As a thank you, I'll send you a FREE pattern for this small maple leaf quilt.
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    Kari Schell

    Electric Quilt Expert and Educator and Pattern Designer.

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On Point Quilter
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  • Blog
  • About
  • EQ Training
    • Tech Know Quilters Electric Quilt 8 Membership Training
    • Shoot for the Stars with EQ8
    • Electric Quilt 8 Sneak Peek
    • Scheduling a Workshop or Lecture
  • Store
  • Card Making
  • Contact
  • Free Stuff
    • Other Video Tutorials