I am over the moon about this. I am a cover girl. Well, really my quilt is, and it looks much better closely cropped than I do. 🙂 My Chevrons quilt is on the cover of the Nov./Dec. 2013 issue of Quilty Magazine.
I was beside myself when the folks at Quilty accepted my submission many months ago. I set to work diligently cutting and piecing this labor of love and giving little hints whenever I could. I was thrilled that someone wanted to publish it. Not that I don’t take pride in my work. It’s just that seeing it in print is somehow a validation of everything I work for.
I pieced it on my older Bernina 1630 and quilted it on my brand new Bernina 710 . (Buying a new machine mid-deadline can be a pretty stressful experience, LOL!)
I practiced on a bunch of scrap pieces before I was happy with the quilt design. I basted my quilt with lots of pins and anchored the rows by stitching in the ditch. I quilted straight lines about 1/4 away from the seams, using painter’s tape to help keep them straight.
Here’s a closeup of the back after all the rows were quilted. This is technically enough quilting for this quilt, but since I tend to go a little crazy when it comes to machine quilting, I decided to add quite a bit more.
I filled in all the Chevrons with straight lines using a blending thread. I added pebbles and echoed lines in the background, leaving some un-quilted areas to create a textural “relief”.
I was unsure how this would turn out, but once I flipped the quilt over to the back side, I was happy with how the texture was looking.
I’m still learning how to photograph my quilts so that the quilting can show, but it’s a work in progress. For some reason, I get better details when the quilt is flat on a table rather than a straight shot. I know it has something to do with the lighting.
The down side is that since I can’t get a straight on shot, you get to see my messy sewing room with ugly chairs, plastic bins, and cords sticking out everywhere, LOL!
Chevrons Front
It took me several years to get the quilting part down. It may be several more before my photography skills catch up to my quilting skills. Be sure to pick up your copy of Quilty so you can see it professionally patterned, styled, and photographed. 🙂
I almost forgot – I owe a huge thanks to the folks over at Micheal Miller who supplied their gorgeous Cotton Couture Solids to me to make this quilt. I simply adore solids!
Chevrons Back
Here’s a shot of the back. I’ve written up a separate tutorial on how to make your own colorful strippy backing here.
Christa Quilts 
It is so lovely! Congrats.
congrats, this is a lovely quilt. I love how the chevrons stand out against the dark blue.
Well done. It must be exciting to be chosen to be a “cover girl” I love the pebble quilting. I will be buying the magazine as I really enjoy Quilty. I have also made a chevron . I did it in a black, yellow and gray pattern . I had fun doing it and am very happy with the result. Maybe in the new year I could do another and try my own quilting. Congratulations.
Thanks Anne! Absolutely you can do your own quilting. It’s not as scary as it seems and can actually be quite fun 🙂
Congratulations!!! It looks lovely!
Congratulations on your cover girl status! Well deserved for sure!!
congrats, that’s awesome!
Love it! Great Job!! Congrats on it being a cover girl.
I am so happy for you! LOVE the darker background – looks like I’m going to have to make another one. 🙂 Of course I need to finish the 2 I’m working on first!! Your quilting is just amazing also, as always. Congratulations! and well-deserved!! Quilty is a great magazine – I’ve picked up all issues so far and the latest greatest will most definitely be coming home with me soon!
Another beautiful quilt!! The dark and light combo is excellent. Great job. And congrats on your first cover.
How exciting for you! It’s a beautiful quilt. Perhaps you can let us in on how you “manage” the quilt bundle as you do your quilting. I find this to be a topic that doesn’t get too much attention and I think it’s the hardest part of machine quilting.
It’s all about the smooshing and the squishing – whatever I can do to take the weight off the sewing machine and the bulk out of the way. Great idea for a future blog post though..
Congratulations! It’s lovely! And now I’m wondering where my subscription copy is; it should be here by now… hmmm….
Don’t worry – I haven’t gotten mine yet either. I found out about this 2 weeks ago and they asked me not to share it until now. You can imagine how hard that was, LOL!!
Congrats, well done! Woot woot!
Congratulations! It is a beautiful quilt worthy of being on the cover of Quilty.
I LOVE that back! Congrats and great job!
Congratulations! The quilting is beautiful.
Looks great!
Congratulations in your cover!
Congratulations, Christa. All those hours! Love the quilting and know how time consuming those chevron areas must have been. It’s a gorgeous quilt and you are so deserving of the recognition.
Hey Christa — Congratulations — how wonderful is this. I remembered my first juried and published article, what a great high that was — enjoy and stay up in the clouds for a while — you deserved this with all the sharing you do and with your talents. I will go out and buy this and say “I knew her when . . . ” Dr. Walker
Congratulations, Christa! That’s quite a coup! Love the pattern and the quilting is beautiful. Yeah for you!!! 🙂
Wow! Yeah for you. The quilt is fantastic and I’m not at all surprised that they wanted to publish it.
Congratulations!
Congratulations Christa! How exciting for you! The quilt is just beautiful?. Woohoo!
Congratulations Christa!! This quilt has just what it takes to be perfect!! Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous !!!
Christa – This is so awesome I am so happy for you. You’re quilting is awesome. I know it will take years of practice to get good at the machine quilting. But so happy you are inspiring me to start and I know I have to start somewhere. Truly thankful that you take the time to teach us what you’ve learned over the years.
Wow. Congratulations . Your quilt and your pictures are awesome. . Cant wait to buy the the mag. I wish I could take a quilting class from you.
Thanks Debi – you are so sweet to say that. Maybe some day in the future…
Congtrats! What an honor to be on the cover of a MODERN quilting magazine. Your pebbles are amazing!
Congrats! It looks fab!
Congratulations! It is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!! You have outdone yourself yet again!
Esther
Congratulations. Love the quilting!
Congrats!!!! Your quilt looks amazing… I can’t believe all the quilting!!!!
Congratulations! So proud of you. Thanks to you I finished quite a few of my old UFO’s this year and one of them won a red ribbon in a local quilt show. I love following your newsletters and can hardly wait to get my copy of Quilty!
Whoo hoo! That’s awesome Carol!
Cover Girl is what I’d give you for such a stunning quilt! Congrats!
Congratulations! Your quilt is beautiful!
Congratulations!!! It is such a beautiful quilt and deserves to be a cover quilt!
Congrats on being a covergirl. Love the quilt!
You stay on Cloud 9 as long as you want…you earned it! I LOVE this quilt!!!
Congratulations! I love the quilt on the cover but even more so in the close up shot. Beautiful!
Congratulations! Love your quilting.
Congratulations. Beautiful quilt!
Love it! Beautiful job!
Woohoo! Congratulations! Gorgeous quilt and the quilting is spectacular!
Looks fabulous congratulations on the publication. Enjoy….
I am over the moon excited for you! Congratulations!!!!!!!! What a beautiful quilt. The quilting is wonderfully done.
Absolutely brilliant quilting. Look forward to buying this issue
Thanks! I can’t wait to get my copy and see what else is in it, LOL!
Congrats on being a cover girl! Love the quilt and beautiful quilting 🙂
Congratulations! I really like the quilting on this one!
Thanks! At first it was a little bit out of my comfort zone but I’m pleased with how it turned out.
Congratulations! Your chevron quilt is stunning! The quilting is gorgeous!
Way to go! That is a beautiful quilt for certain, and your quilting is even more spectacular. I will be picking up this issue of Quilty!
Thanks! It’s quickly becoming my favorite magazine 🙂
Congratulations! Not sure whether I like this one better than I do your first chevron quilt. Maybe I like both equally. =)