MQWS Blog Hop Day 10 – Lightning

Today’s stop on the Machine Quilting With Style book tour is full of inspiration and giveaways! Be sure to stop by all of the blogs listed below to get in on the prizes. And be sure to go back and visit the earlier stops you may have missed. Many of those giveaways are still open. 🙂

Lightning – The Background Story

Lightning 72″ x 96″ by Christa Watson. Photograpy by Brent Kane.

I love taking traditional design ideas and then tweaking them with a bit of the unexpected. You may recognize Lightning as a simple rail fence variation, but with a modern twist! I’m realizing I love to do scrappy, but with more of a “controlled scrappy” look. As I have said before, why choose one fabric when 20 will do! And why cut straight strips when you can make them a bit wonky instead, right? I decided that the ziz-zag streaks looked like they were piercing through a cloudy sky, hence the name Lightning!

Have sewing machine – will travel and quilt, even while on vacation!

I actually pieced this quilt last summer while on vacation. I brought along my Singer Featherweight and was able to set up a makeshift sewing area in a small space. I used the hotel floor as a design wall and took pictures with my phone so I could keep the layout oriented correctly.

Quilting in progress – you gotta love a good stipple!

This quilt is rather large, but I had no problems quilting it on my BERNINA. In the book, I share my best tips and tricks for how to deal with the bulk of the quilt when quilting on a sit-down machine. Just remember, you only need to deal with a small amount of the quilt under the needle at any time. 🙂

A Bit More

Backing in progress – a great way to use up fat quarters!

As I love to do, I made a scrappy backing for Lightning from my fat quarter stash of black and white prints, with some pops of green. I had originally wanted this included in the book, but was sad when it had to be cut for length. However, the folks at Martingale have generously decided to include it as a free pieced backing tutorial on their site – so yay! (See more below.)

What makes this quilt modern – graphic color scheme, wonky blocks based on tradition, zig-zags create a focal point with a bright pop of color, block design goes all the way to the edges.

Time for me to complete – 44 hours from start to finish, including the pieced backing.

More from She Can Quilt, Martingale, and Riley Blake

Leanne Chahley from She Can Quilt is one of those people whose work is easy to admire! I fell in love with an award winning quilt of hers at the first QuiltCon and I’ve been her ~~stalker~~ friend ever since! I love her take on Lightning done with scrappy pinks and scrappy quilting. She used the designs from the book as sort of a sampler for machine quilting. Leanne quilted her version of Lightning on her long-arm, showing how versatile these designs can be!

Head to Leann’s site to see her fabulous version of Lightning and enter her giveaway!

Martingale/That Patchwork Place is simply the best publisher anyone could ask for! Yes, I may be a bit biased, but writing this book has been a fabulous experience from start to finish (just like making a quilt)! After writing this book, I would definitely partner with them again! When you purchase your copy of Machine Quilting With Style from the Martingale site, they’ll throw in the ebook for free. Double bonus!!

Martingale has a lot of content on their site today: you can see more quilty photos from the book, check out a little video from my quilt market demonstration last spring, and enter for your chance to visit their giveaway. (When you watch the video, you’ll get to see how fast I really talk in person!)

Go to Stitch This – the Martingale blog to get the free backing tutorial and enter their giveaway!

Riley Blake Designs has been a terrific partner. Not only did they provide me with fabrics used in some of the quilts in the book, they are offering a fantastic giveaway to go along with the hop!

Pop on over to the Riley Blake blog and enter for your chance to win!