Giveaway- shadow trapunto patterns and quilts

I promised a shadow trapunto pattern. A lot of people ask for it… and it is finally ready…
My friends Mary, Lynn and Teodora tested it and reviewed it so I can offer you the best pattern I can make. Mary even made a little quilt. You can see it here.
Thank you, my friends !

It contains all I know about shadow trapunto, all the experience I gained in two years of hard work. You can see the complete description of it here on my website.

Actually, it is a shadow trapunto e-book named “Passion for Feathers ”.
It contains complete instructions for learning shadow trapunto technique and how to make a pillow, as well as patterns for … not one, not two… but SIX projects !

Yes, I spent a lot of time thinking which patterns from my collection could be included in this e-book. And I could not choose only one or two of them... I chose six... and I changed them from a week to another... But finally I decided (look on my website to see all the details) .

The first pattern - for a pillow

and a complementary pattern (for another pillow or a wall hanging)
New to trapunto ? You could try this simple design :

I couldn't help myself and I made for it this pair:

This design is smaller than the others (it can be quickly made)

And this is a large one ( to impress your friends :)

I hope you like them !I tried to make designs that are easy enough for beginners and quick and fun for advanced quilters !

I also promised a GIVEAWAY !
Well, to celebrate the launch of my ebook I am going to actually have TWO GIVEAWAYS, with SIX prizes, so make sure you read carefully ...

GIVEAWAY 1

This giveaway will be for all the people who order my pattern until July 20, 2009 (midnight, Romanian hour) .
There will be three prizes for three winners. All the partcipants will go into a draw. I will randomly choose the winners.
Here are the prizes: these three little quilts.

PRIZE #1
17" x 17", 43 x 43 cm

PRIZE #2
17" x 17", 43 x 43 cm

PRIZE #3
14.5" x 14.5", 37 x 37 cm

GIVEAWAY 2
The second giveaway is open to everyone who leaves a comment at the end of this post until July 20, 2009. Please assure there is a way I can contact you.

There will beTHREE copies of my shadow trapunto e-books as prizes. Look on my website to see details:

Additional entries/ separate comments
Get more chances to win a prize by getting extra entries through one of the following:

1. Write about this giveaway on your blog .
Leave the link to your blog in your comment so I can visit your blog, too.

2. Add a link to Geta’s Quilting Studio on your blog or website.

3. Become a Geta’s Quilting Studio follower by adding yourself to the follower group on the sidebar. I would love to have you as a blog friend and reader !

Each entry needs its own comment! Post a separate comment for each extra entry - if you entered all entries you would leave 4 comments.

The winners will be picked by random.org and announced on July 21st on a blog post. I will contact all the winners via email. If a winner fails to respond within three days, a new winner will be chosen.

And because we will have only six winners, I am working on a gift for all the other participants (it’s not about shadow trapunto) … I have been dreaming about it for weeks …please come back…

Thank you all for helping me spread the word about my patterns !
Good luck to everyone !

Machine stitched binding

I hate to stitch by hand so I usually stitch the binding on my quilts using my sewing machine.

For most of my quilts I cut strips 2.25" wide.
For bed quilt or if I use a thick batting or heavier fabrics I cut strips 2.5" wide.

Fold the binding on the back of the quilt and pin.

Stitch in the ditch using a walking foot.
Match the color of thread with the background fabric.
I used invisible thread.

The binding on front of the quilt

The binding on back of the quilt

Don't stitch by machine the binding on back if you want to enter a quilt in a competition ! The judges don't like this !

I renew my stock of sewing machine needles. This time I bought them from Romania !
(de la acest magazin din Sibiu http://www.florencetech.ro/).

I had such a good experience with Topstitch needles ! I use them for quilting.
Topstitch #90/14 for the majority of threads (including invisible or metallic),
Topstitch #100/16 for heavier threads.

And these are the needles for my future bags :)
They are great to stitch and quilt through heavy fabrics or multiple layers of fabrics.

Win this quilt !

Enter the contest hosted by Michele Foster on Quilting Gallery.
One of the prizes will be this shadow trapunto quilt I made a few days ago.

It measures 14.5" x 14.5"

Enter and Have fun !

Some of my old quilts

I didn't make too many bed quilts in my quilting adventure.

This pineapple quilt was made in my first years of quilting. I used 18 fabrics to make it. I rarely use so many fabrics in a quilt. I was so proud of my fabric collection !
I am proud of the borders too, because usually I am too lazy to add borders to quilts...
And it is not paper pieced...

From the same fabrics I made even a small quilt. I hope one day I will make a miniature using pineapple blocks.

This quilt was entirely made from batiks. It is such a pleasure to use batiks for piecing.

And me with long hair... a picture of long ago ...

Roomy tote bags

The break from making bags didn’t last too much !
I spent most of the week making these totes. Because of this I am behind with my shadow trapunto pattern ! Actually, the pattern is ready but I am still working on a few surprises. I hope all will be ready in ten days.

Back to the totes: I made them using different fabrics. I am glad I found out a way to use those pretty fabrics which aren’t suitable for quilts !

The totes are really roomy (14” x 22” x 5 “).

But they can become smaller, with just a simple trick ! And they get another shape !
Look at these pictures :

I love the new shape !

We have a winner !

Thank you so much to everyone who entered my giveaway. I was so happy to read your enthusiastic comments !

The lucky winner of this little quilt is…

Nancy from Calgary !

Congratulations, Nancy ! Please send me your address !

If you're not the lucky winner, please come back soon ! There will be other chances for you !

My evolution in quilting

A few months ago I saw on Mary's blog an interesting article on this theme.

Since I am working on a few projects but I can't post about them yet...here are a few pictures that illustrated my way in quilting, started eight years ago.

At that time, I did not know anything about quilting, did not have quilting friends, did not have Internet on my computer !
After a few months I bought my first quilting book but I didn't understand too much at first !

So, here it is my adventure in quilting,
from this quilt ....................... to this !

The quilt below is the first quilt I ever made. It is 20" x 20" and is made of 400 squares of 1". I used scissors to cut all the patches. I didn't know that I could stack multiple layers of fabric so I drew every single square on fabric.
It has no batting (at that time adding batting between the two layers of fabric was a strange thing for me) !
It was made using polyester fabrics. Every patch was becoming smaller after every touch of the iron so it was a nightmare matching them.

But I was very pround of my design drawn on paper with colored pencils !

The second experience was a little better - I used a heavy cotton canvas ! But I pieced diamonds ! No batting again !

How about these "Y" seams ? I tried them, too ! And I sewn every seam at least three times (using my sewing machine, I am a machine quilter ) until I was content with the result!

I was in heaven when I made my first order at a quilting store in USA. What a challenge to choose from hundreds of fabrics !
Special fabrics need a special pattern so I made a Mariner's Compass ! I used templates (from a Fons and Porter book). And I added batting, but I ironed the final quilt ! What a mistake ! But the quilt was OK !

It was a pleasure to make this Christmas quilt, with different stars ! Here it is a picture before quilting ! At that time I was thinking I have to bind the quilt before quilting !

This one below is the only quilt I quilted by hand. It' s only 40" square but I quilted on it for one long week. Then I understood that hand quilting is not for me !

In the first months of my quilting adventure, I spent a lot of time working together with all my three sisters. They all helped me with piecing. What a wonderful time ! We would have worked day and night ! Here are a few of those quilts:

And this is the first bed quilt I made. I used scissors to cut all the 1300 pieces. Pieces were sewn and unsewn because the center of the stars didn't lay flat (due to over-ironing). I did all the ironing on a glass table. The glass was so thick so I though there will be no problem :) But finally I broke it !

5 people worked for 5 hours to make the sandwich for quilting ! I think this was the hardest work my family did for my quilting !

Now, after eight years of quilting, I didn't have enough patience to make another Mariner's Compass or to sew "Y" seams ! I like to make simple things and quick and easy quilts !
But I still have patience to make my shadow trapunto quilts. I will never be bored of making them.

This is the most challenging quilt I have ever made.

This is the quilt I love the most

One of the thing I love at shadow trapunto technique is the contrast between
the white of the batting and the background color.
This is one of my first shadow trapunto quilts.

I don't know where I will be after other eight years, but I hope I will still make quilts !

Love and Peace, Always and Everywhere

Christian The Lion

Perhaps half of the world already saw this video because it was on Oprah Show.
I saw it just a few days ago and I was so touched !

Giveaway Day

This giveaway is closed now. Thanks to everyone who entered. I will choose the winner in a few hours, using a number random generator !
Have a great week,
Geta

Today is the Giveaway Day on blogland. Visit Sew Mama Sew blog to see the big list of participants.


And here it is my gift for you. A shadow trapunto miniature quilt.

15.5" x 15.5 " (38 X 38 cm).

Unlike an usual quilt, this one has two additional layers: the top layer is organza and under it there are white motifs made of batting.

If you want to win this little quilt, please leave a comment at the end of this post. You will be entered in a drawing. I will randomly peak a winner on 1st of June.
Please assure there is a way I can contact you. And I would like to know where you are from !

The giveaway is open until May 31 for readers from all over the world.
Good luck !

PS. Come back in a week for a big giveaway ! I am so excited about it !

The last bag (at least for a while)

I made three flowers until I was happy with one of them.

Come back on Wednesday for another surprise for you ! I work again shadow trapunto quilts.

Mary's shadow trapunto quilt

My friend Mary stitched this quilt a few days ago. She was so kind and tested my shadow trapunto pattern. She did a wonderful job ! Thank you, Mary !

I made for her a simple design so she can finish the quilt quickly.
It is 18" square and she worked on it for about 6 hours (including hand finish of the binding). I love it !

Today was supposed to be one of the happiest day of my life ! But I am sad !
My dream for three years of seeing Depeche Mode again in a concert is still a dream. They cancelled their show in Romania (and in other countries) due to Dave Gahan's illness.
I hope the prayers of millions of fans will help Dave to get well soon.

A Depeche Mode concert is an incredible experience ! If you will ever have the chance to go and see them, don't miss it ! It's heaven on earth for music lovers !

Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence - Paris 2001