Gail Garber Designs
gail@gailgarber.com
https://gailgarber.com/

Logo: Gail Garber Designs

Gallery of Quilts

Cupcake - Janice Shindeler

Cupcake – Janice Schindeler

 

Sunset Birds Kilauea Lighthouse Wildlife Sanctuary by Edna Ray © 2014

Intra-Galactic Journey – Evelyn Link

 

Jill Monley’s fabulous quilt, based upon the fairy tale, The Princess and the Pea. Jill took my five-day workshop at Empty Spools Seminars at Asilomar Conference Center, on the Monterrey Peninsula in California, in April 2012. The quilt was made for a guild challenge with the theme, fairy tales.

Jill has this to say about her quilt, “Our guild’s quilt show was last month and last night at our monthly meeting the show award winners were announced. The Royal Roost took 4 out of 5 of the prizes…..Best Use of Theme, Best Workmanship, Best Machine Quilting, and also Viewer’s Choice. Wow! I was blown away!!!! I guess I got lucky on this one. ”

Jill's Royal Roost - Jill Monley

Jill’s Royal Roost – Jill Monley

Karen Garth - Las Vegas 2012

Las Vegas – Karen Garth

 

This beautiful quilt was created by Brenda Roach of Bloomfield, Indiana. I love her innovative use of fillers and geese. Here’s what she has to say about it:

“This is my newest quilt: The Other Side of the Rainbow. The idea of it is that the neutral colors ‘above’ the rainbow pass through it and explode into the color below.

Thank you for all of the encouragement and techniques that you have shared with me. I believe that my quilt ‘Time to Fly’ will be featured in a one page article in the July 2012 issue of American Quilter magazine and you are mentioned in that article.”

The Other Side of the Rainbow - Brenda Roach

The Other Side of the Rainbow – Brenda Roach

 

Here’s another great student quilt! I’ll Fly Away was designed by Karen Thornton of Tyler, TX. She took my one-day class in mid-September and, less than one month later, this was the result.The Other Side of the Rainbow – Brenda Roach

I'll Fly Away - Karen Thornton

I’ll Fly Away – Karen Thornton

 

Julie Anderson

Julie Anderson

 

Momma was a superstar by Marilyn Wilson

Momma was a superstar by Marilyn Wilson

 

Peggy Garbers

Peggy Garbers

 

Portrait of Elegance by Anita McSorley

Portrait of Elegance by Anita McSorley

Just Another Day in the Coop by Barbara Hanaburgh, Pine Bush, NY. Barbara took my class in 2010 and has this to say about her creation: Gail, I still haven’t gotten back to the class project, but I loved your take on trees, and did it in this table runner, using applique. Thanks for the inspiration!

Just another day in the coop - Barbara Hanaburgh

Just another day in the coop – Barbara Hanaburgh

 

This beautiful quilt is called Galactic Migration and it was created by Holly Nelson of San Antonio, TX. Holly took my design class in 2003. She brought her finished quilt, Galactic Migration, to show and tell at the Kerrville Quilt Guild for my lecture in February 2011.

Galactic Migration - Holly Nelson

Galactic Migration – Holly Nelson

“Time to Fly”, © 2010, grew from workshops with Gail Garber and Andrea Perejda, and from Margaret J. Miller’s ‘Starry Path’ block from her book Stunning Angleplay Blocks. I wanted to have a block hit an obstacle, explode, and scatter. I drew the quilt on butcher paper and constructed most of it using freezer paper templates. There are Swarovski crystals where the block explodes and in the centers of the circles.

Time to Fly - Brenda Roach

Time to Fly – Brenda Roach

 

Star - Ellen Kay

Star – Ellen Kay © 2010

 

“I was in your design class in Bloomington and loved it. I learned so much about design and using compasses and more and maybe most important, I learned to step out of my comfort zone to try something new. I am sending here a picture of my completed project from the class. I call it “Galactic Journeys”. Thanks so much for the class. It was a treasure.”

Galactic Journeys - Ellen Kay

Galactic Journeys – Ellen Kay

This quilt was a commission for the NM Farm and Livestock Bureau for their donation quilt in 2010, by Donna Barnitz and Colleen Konetzni, quilted by Michele Hymel and Donna Barnitz. This windmill is a depiction of an Aermotor windmill and tower on the Chilton Ranch near Scholle NM. My grandpa, RL Chilton drilled this well around 1955. According to my dad, Lynn, he bought the mill and tower from Glenn Williams at Williams Howe Hardware in Mountainair. The Chilton family has run a Herford and Angus cow calf operation near Abo, NM since 1941. The windmill was created by rusting fabric around an old HiC can wrapped with rusted wire. Then it was dyed in a vat of indigo. These techniques seemed appropriate since most working ranches have an abundance of rusty items scattered about.

Framing the windmill are traditional pieced blocks. These blocks were sewn with reproduction Civil War era fabrics. These blocks were chosen to pay homage to the multitude of women who have made quilts out of necessity or for pleasure.

Windmill Quilt - Donna Barnitz, Colleen Konetzni, and Michele Hymel

Windmill Quilt – Donna Barnitz, Colleen Konetzni, and Michele Hymel

 

I took Gail Garber’s Flying Geese class at Quilting Adventures because I wanted to learn her unique techniques, even though I tend to make more folksy kind of quilts. I struggled with the design phase of the class until I decided to use her techniques with a folk art icon – the heart. Then every fell into place. Originally I wanted to use the heart as a component in a larger quilt – as the stamp on love letter quilt to my husband. But that project proved to big for me. So I turned the cheerful heart into its own little heart shaped quilt. I love Gail’s techniques and am using it now to make a cupcake quilt for my daughter and soon will be designing tomato slice using the flying geese to accompany my burger quilt.

Heart Quilt - Janice Schindeler

Heart Quilt – Janice Schindeler

 

According to some First Nations legends, the raven stole the sun and brought light to the people. With the legend as my inspiration, my quilt lets Raven bring the northern lights. Raven Lets Loose the Light grew out of a guild challenge: design something that flies, with no more than two straight edges on the quilt. I have always been fond of ravens, so the “something that flies” was an easy choice. The quilt is featured in Gail’s book, Flying Colors.

While the quilt was in my possession waiting to be shipped to C&T for photography, I could not resist photographing it with the Hawks Aloft educational American Crow, who is a human imprint — Gail

Raven Lets Loose the Light - Mary Cadman

Raven Lets Loose the Light – Mary Cadman

 

I went through Gail’s second book, Stellar Journeys, and immediately saw fireworks. What better way to display them but above the Harbour Bridge in Sydney, Australia. At first, I designed a too-detailed picture with thousands of pieces, but as the design progresses I downplayed the detail. What fun I had putting colors and textures together! This quilt, and the complete text is shown in the gallery section of Flying Colors.

Fireworks Over Sydney - Sandy Long

Fireworks Over Sydney – Sandy Long

 

As artist-in-residence at Petrified Forest National Park, I had the opportunity to refine my rust dyeing technique. I went with the goal of replicating petrified wood with only rusty cans, wire, saltwater and tea bags and white cotton fabric. Combined with my hand dyed fabrics this is a grouping of petrified wood in the Keystone Arch area of the park.

Blue Mesa, Petrified Forest National Park - Donna Barnitz

Blue Mesa, Petrified Forest National Park – Donna Barnitz

 

This quilt started as a random drawing to which I added different fillers – geese and other variations. I actually ended up sewing it at a time of high stress in my life, including caring for an aging and ill mother and, thus, the title. This quilt is shown in the gallery section of Flying Colors.

Mixed Emotions - Mary Chappelle

Mixed Emotions – Mary Chappelle © 2006

 

I find curved geese designs absolutely fascinating. I was originally hoping to create a quilt with imaginary flowers, but Gail’s class provided the opportunity and challenge of designing my own pattern and learning how to include the elements of free-form flying geese and unique background shapes. Once I got started, it was exciting to see it evolve into a completed quilt.

My Geese Garden - Sue Soetenga

My Geese Garden – Sue Soetenga © 2009

 

I have used random curved flying geese in many quilts depicting birds, flowers, and even a tiger. The geese lend themselves especially well to striped animals. The challenge with Punda Milia (Swahili for zebra) was to construct the entire animal out of alternating black and white flying geese strips. The quilt and complete text are included in the gallery section of Flying Colors.

Punda Milia - Patricia Drennan

Punda Milia – Patricia Drennan © 2009

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