Mandy, Author at mandalei quilts

February 26, 2014 By Mandy 2 Comments

Local freemotion quilting class, Saratoga Springs, NY!

Hi friends, I wanted to share some news with you, especially if you’re local! I’ll be teaching a class series on freemotion domestic machine quilting with Gloversville Sewing Center in March and in May. Each series consists of two classes: The first class centers on design and drawing, and is meant to help students learn […]

February 23, 2014 By Mandy 7 Comments

Quilting Tutorial, Variations

I had meant to put this up around Valentine’s Day, because one of these looks an awful lot like hearts, and it’s probably as close to hearts as I get. In any case, these three variations are based off the earlier tutorial, with the first line being some form of swirl. The simplest variation is […]

February 20, 2014 By Mandy Leave a Comment

Practice sheet for background fill

Look at me, learning how to use the arc tool in Illustrator! Ahem. Celebrate the little things. Anyway, here is a PDF version of the swoopy grid I used in the tutorial below. Print out as many as you’d like. The first one has dark black lines: OnionBackgroundFill And this one has lighter grey lines: OnionBackgroundFillGrey

February 3, 2014 By Mandy 23 Comments

Background fill tutorial, for longarm or domestic quilting

I recently was working on a super secret project, and found I needed a pretty background fill that enhanced the overall design. I wanted something that looked like a budding flower, or opening petals, something organic, easy and consistent since the other details were more like thread painting and I wanted a nice contrast. Based […]

January 28, 2014 By Mandy 1 Comment

And the winner is….

Congratulations, Parm!! I’ll be sending your name and email to Craftsy! For the other commenters, I’m providing a link for $10 off Creative Longarm Quilting, which will be available until Thursday night. Thanks for commenting! I look forward to responding to your comments now that the giveaway is over.

January 24, 2014 By Mandy 7 Comments

Staple a backing to your longarm leaders, now on youtube!

When I was filming for Craftsy in October, we also made some shorter videos about different tips and techniques. One of them was how to staple a quilt backing to the leaders. I think it came out great! And I have a youtube channel! Craaaazy. Let me know what you think!

January 21, 2014 By Mandy 50 Comments

My new class is up on Craftsy, and a giveaway!

It’s my new class, Creative Longarm Quilting! When Craftsy first contacted me back in October, they were interested in finding someone who used their longarm in new and different ways to make a class on … new and different ways to use a longarm. I had to laugh because, for a while, I had taken it as […]

January 20, 2014 By Mandy Leave a Comment

One slot left for quilt finishing at 30% off

Hi friends, one last thing: I have one of the sale slots left at 30% off for the month of March. If you’re interested in having a quilt finished (and can have your top ready by then), see my Longarm Services page for contact info.

January 20, 2014 By Mandy 1 Comment

Cant talk. Secret project. Want some buttons?

I can’t share what I’m working on right now, other than saying it’s a collaborative project which is a new one for me. So fun! But, instead of writing something myself, I wanted to share the work of Augusto Esquivel, an artist who makes the most amazing sculptures from buttons. Mounted unicorn heads! Marilyn Monroe! […]

January 17, 2014 By Mandy Leave a Comment

Quilting from Fashion Inspiration–Roberto Cavalli edition

This dress by Roberto Cavalli, worn by Jenna Dewan at the 2014 Golden Globes got me thinking of how this would really be interesting translated to quilting designs. Wouldn’t it be awesome to have curved crosshatching arcs like those black beads, where they come to that point in the center of a space, and then […]