Let me introduce you to a wonderful quilter I met on the Quiltsy team on Etsy, Lashonne Abel.
As you can see, her work is exquisitely done and quite beautiful. I was first drawn to her wholecloth quilts, but then discovered that she has crafted much more. Pieces of her work have been shown at the AQS Des Moines Show, the Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza, and the AQS Show in Paducah.
Lashonne has graciously shared some insight into her design process, as well as details of her studio space. I hope you enjoy your visit with our newest artisan.
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| Baby Quilt, Wall Quilt, or Throw |
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| Her Design Process:
For my wholecloth quilts I usually start with large sheets of freezer paper taped together the size that the finished quilt will be. I fold the paper in half, and then in half again, and begin to draw my quilting design from that 1/4 of the paper. Once I am satisfied with the initial design, using my light table, I flip and trace the design to repeat the pattern for the whole quilt top.
After I finish tracing the entire design, I go over it with a permanent marker as this will be my master pattern. When I am ready to create an actual quilt top, I use this master pattern and lay the quilt top onto that pattern for tracing with a blue washout pencil.
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| For my art quilts, I basically start the same way with freezer paper, but I begin to draw my entire design onto the paper and then I usually trace a copy to keep in case I want to create another quilt.
I then number all of the elements of my art quilt and make a tracing of this numbered pattern onto a stabilizer such as Pellon 30 or a similar weight. I use water soluble tape to make the stabilizer large enough. I then cut apart my freezer paper pattern and use those pieces to cut my fabric patterns. I use Steam a Seam2 to iron my fabric pieces to the stabilizer. I then usa a blanket stitch to secure my raw edge applique.
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Lashonne loves all types of quilting, but her overall favorites are the art quilts or wall quilts that she creates. One of her wall quilts has been accepted into the AQS Des Moines show in October of this year.
The art quilt featured on the right went to the Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza in 2007, and was also exhibited at the AQS Show in Paducah in 2008.
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Her Studio:
Lashonne's studio is in what she calls the "parlor" of her 19th century home. It is a huge room (about 25 feet by 45 feet). She has plenty of room for her new longarm quilting machine, her domestic Bernina 440 QE, and her cutting table, which is an antique pool table that someone converted into a large wooden table. She covered the surface with a layer of cotton batting and cotton canvas on top of that to make a fabulous cutting and pressing table.
Her fabric stash is stored in several antique armoires to help cut down on clutter.
Her husband created a design wall out of plywood, which Lashonne covered with cotton flannel, that hangs over the former pool cue stand. Her husband also made a unique light table using tempered glass from an old dining table. He used compact fluorescent lights in the base of the table. It is bright enough and big enough for Lashonne to trace the pattern for half a large quilt at a time.
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| Bright Modern Floral Diaper Bag/Lg Tote |
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| Heirloom Baby Quilt Monogram Couture |
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| Journal Cover Crazy Quilt Style with Applique |
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| You can see more of Lashonne's work and purchase her quilts in her Etsy Store:Visit her websiteAnd check out her gorgeous pillows in her BlondeGirlPillows shop.I absolutely love the pillow pictured on the left!
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