Focal Point was such a fun design to both piece and quilt! I made it specifically for my book Machine Quilting with Style as part of my quest to go more modern with my designs. I remember attending a lecture by Heather Grant at the very first QuiltCon in 2013. She gave us several great tips on how to go more modern. Two of my favorites used in this quilt are asymmetry and cropping your design. Later once I got to know Jacquie Gering, she reminded me to make sure my modern quilts always had a “focal point.”
Christa with Focal Point at QuiltCon 2016. Quilt Measures 45″ x 45″.
I was thrilled to be able to share Focal Point at QuiltCon earlier this year and of course, I had to take the obligatory “here’s the quilt from my book pic!”
More Neutrals
I used Amy Ellis’ fabric to make the original version of the quilt. Her debut line was called Modern Neutrals which I thought was so appropriate for the quilt. When her next line, Chic Neutrals came out around the same time as the book I thought it would be fun to recolor it using those fabrics. (She’s since released a third line which I think would be just as fab!)
Focal Point recolored in EQ7 with Chic Neutrals by Amy Ellis for Moda
For another color idea, I thought I’d take you behind the scenes a bit. Many times when I’m designing, I’ll go through tons of different color iterations until I find the one that’s just right. Focal point actually started out in this icy blue colorway, before I applied Amy’s fabrics to it:
Focal point in classic blue and white.
I once heard it said that you know you have a good design on your hands when it can look good in any fabrics. Hopefully that’s how you all will feel when making the quilts from my books! 🙂
A Secret Revealed and a Giveaway!
It’s always fun to reveal secrets when sharing my books and patterns. Now I have another big announcement I can finally share. I’m an Aurifil thread designer! This week, Aurifil debuted my brand new line, The Piece and Quilt thread collection.
It’s a line of 24 threads in 50 weight cotton: 12 Neutrals and 12 Colors. These are my favorite threads that I use for every part of quilt making: piecing, quilting and binding! In fact, the light gray that I used to quilt Focal Point is included in the neutrals collection.
To celebrate the one year birthday of my first book, and now my debut thread collection, you can win them before you can buy them!! To win a 12 pack of the neutrals, leave a comment here at my site, letting me know what your go-to thread colors are.
To win a 12 pack of the colors, head over to the Auribuzz blog and follow the intructions over there. Due to shipping limitations, this giveaway is open to all of my US friends. Be sure and ask for these by name at your favorite quilt shop – they’ll be arriving soon!
Last Week’s Winner
Last but not least, I’d like to congratulate Zina C. who won a copy of EQ Mini. I’m sure she’ll be able to put this software to good use!! Next week is quilt market so I won’t have another book post. But come back in 2 weeks for another winner and another re-imagined quilt!
Click here to purchase a signed copy of Machine Quilting with Style.
Click here to see all of the quilts from the book.
Christa Quilts 
I use Aurifil thread in beige, gold, and grey shades for piecing my quilts. I use fabric matching thread colors for the quilting.
I tried Aurifil for the first time in my last quilt. Love it!
My favorite colors for quilting are light beige and light gray. Congratulations on your collections.
Christa, like you, I love Aurifil thread. My go-to is grey #2600, though I also use beige #2000 a lot and have recently fallen in love with that almost-black you like, #4241.
Usually light gray or dark gray depending on the quilt. I am using a light pink/beige for a quilt I’m working on now.
My go to is white but I’m falling in love with grey a little bit more each day! Congratulations on your success
My go to threads are white, cream, light grey and dark grey. Congrats on being an aurifil thread designer.
Congrats on your new line. I use light and dark gray and beige for the majority org piecing and quilting.
My go-to thread colors are light grey, cream, white, and dark grey, probably in that order. These neutral threads look great!
Aurifil 2600 dove and 2021 natural white. It just depends on the project and the day…
I love Aurifil and have been piecing with neutrals. I use it in the bobbin for quilting in my BabyLock Tiara (sit-down) and after finishing two lap quilts last week, I’m running low so I’d truly love to win the thread assortment.
Greetings this morning from Bally’s Las Vegas where I’m spending a long weekend with a group of friends. Would love to meet up with you, Christa, but I don’t have “wheels” and I expect you’re busy getting ready for Quilt Market. Have fun there! Happy quilting!
I piece with a light gray, a greenish gray, light beige,or a creamy white. I did use black on an Amish Quilt but that was hard on the eyes. I haven’t quilted many quilts but usually blend with fabrics used. I do have a couple of tops that I plan to use a gold tone on.
Congrat’s! My go to color is white. I’ve tried branching out from time to time but I always come back to white.
White or cream for piecing. Light gray to black for quilting..
I have been using Aurifil thread for several years now. My go to colors are 50 wgt. white, light beige and light grey. These three match about all colors of fabric. Yaaaa for Aurifil thread.
I don’t have specific “go to” colors. I use a huge range, depending upon what I’m sewing.
My go to thread is Aurifil 2000–a light beige. I’ve recently added a medium gray.
I almost always go gray or beige. Thanks for the chance!
I use white and cream colored thread the most. Recently, I tried Aurifil for the first time and can see why it is so popular! Your neutrals collection is great. Thank you for this giveaway offer!
I’ve been using a lot of light gray recently, but pale taupe is another favorite
Love aurafil, sort of new to quilting, it takes guess work out of choosing thread!
Unless I am piecing dark fabrics, I use Aurifil 2021 for both piecing and most of my quilting.
I am a gray girl. Pale for lights, medium for darks. The quilt is wonderful!
Love those neutral colors in your new collection. My go to is a beige.
I like using a very pale gray thread. It blends well on so many colors.
I use white, grey and beige a lot.
Really enjoy reading about your adventures. My colors are cream, grey and black.
I use a cream/white for piecing, but when quilting, I love bright colors that coordinate. I use a lot of bright pink.
Congratulations. Your quilt star is certainly shining bright with all you have going on. Keep being creative.
My fave quilting colors are the Aurifil light gray and beige.
tushay3 (at) yahoo (dot) com
Congratulations on being an Aurifil designer! How exciting!
My got to colors are cream, black, and white, but I love to use royal blue as well!
Congrats all the way around! Awesome!
Neutrals work so well with so many colors! I love using grays!
I typically use a medium grey for piecing and very often for quilting. LOVE your designs!
Congrats on the Thread Box!! Whoop, whoop to you!!
I am a neutral thread gal, but I’d find space for those beautiful brights.
How exciting to be working with Aurifil!!! Congratulations. Well, as a newby, I have not strayed from quilting with white…I’d love to try the colors and work with Aurifil. Fingers crossed!
Happy Birthday book! My go to colors are my grays, the light to medium gray, especially. A neutral color for my favorite fabrics.
I use ivory by far the most. Love the neutral colors!
I use a light to medium gray as my go to thread colors. Works for most colors except the darks, then I try to match.
I adore these bright colours and can already think of many possibilities especially focal stitching
I always have neutrals on hand, but I find that I use ivory and dark grey the most
My go to color is creamy white for lights & a taupe/grey for darks. Love the threads in your groupings.
I almost always use light or medium gray. It seems to blend in with most colors.
Wow! Love your basic colors! Great selection! I use a light grey on many projects!
I seem to use the light Gray the most. Love this thread!
My go to colors are light and dark grey, tan and light brown. Congratulations on your one year birthday of your first book and your new Aurifil collection.
congradulations on being a new thread designer!! my go to colors are black, grey [dark and light], and beige.
Go to colors in Aurifil 50# are white, black, cream and gray. With cones of these I can piece and quilt just about anything.
Congrats on being an Aurifil thread designer! Thanks for the giveaway; my go-to colours are white, light grey, and light beige.
favourite colour…dove. unfortunately its everyone else favourite too, and there is apparently none left in Australasia. At least, not as of a couple of weeks ago.
My go to thread color is an aurafil silver.