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 usually use just white to piece..or natural. Have never used Aurifil thread..so many talk about how awesome it is tho…would loooove to win your give-a-way! Thank you for the chance! :0
I love ALL colors and use them. But my go-to are white and light gray.
Congrats on the thread kits!! I love them!
Love neutral threads–especially grays because they blend with everything.
Grey is my go to color but do go to other colors depending on the project. Aurifil threads are the best!
For piecing I use a off white mostly and I use all the colors for quilting. I have a large collection of Isacord from my embroidery days so I can always find a color that works. I am starting to build a Aurifil collection now too!
For free motion quilting I use a lot of pale gold or a pale blue grey, I love your idea of only one kind of thread , I can only imagine how nice and tidy my thread drawer could be!
My go to thread color is gray. I use more gray than all the other colors combined.
I always love the way you turn a quilt into another quilt with a few tweaks! My favorite threads are cream and dove.
I love the colors of your thread. I use a lot of grays too.
My go-to colors are always the neutrals, and usually grey. Thanks for sharing the giveaway!
I use the neutrals cream and light grey most often for piecing. Silver for quilting on my domestic machine drhodes9@cox.net
Congrats on a great set of Aurifil colors, Christa! They are all colors I would surely use in quilting and sewing. My go-to colors are white, natural and a light gray. They seem to go with everything!
Congratulations on your new thread collection! My colors are neutral for piecing and for FMQ as I am still getting my confidence level up. I do like to match thread to fabric on my wall hangings and Aurifil certainly makes that easy with their array of colors.
I love Aurifil thread. I use the neutrals when piecing and have just started using them for quilting. I need more colors than I have thouh so these would fill my gaps nicely! Great choices.
I love Aurifil thread. I keep a cone of beige by my machine for most piecing and have been using silver for lots of machine quilting.
I tend to use white and gray.
What a great win this would be. Aurifil has been a great thread to work with on my machine. Believing, but happy for who ever wins.
Usually off white or black are my go to colors.
My go to colors are off white, gray and black for piecing and I’ve a lost used a lot of light blue and pale gold for FMQ.
I tend to go for white or gray!
Piecing is my favorite part of machine quilting
Love machine quilting with Aurifil threads. So fast and smooth.
For piecing my prefered colors are light gray & ecru.
I’ve never tried aurafil but it seems like I should start. My go to color is white because I like white and bright colors!
I love seeing the same quilt in different colors and I love Aurifil thread. Neutrals are my go-to colors: white, black, gray, cream, and tan. Thanks!
Love your colors, they really accentuate your patterns! I usually use 2600, but have been branching out to 2000 for fabrics that are less bluish and have more off white, yellow undertones!
Congratulations, love your thread collections! My go-to aurifil threads are white, dove, oyster, and black. Thanks for the giveaway.
I like the grays, beiges.
I only have a couple of spools of Aurifil, but I love them! Of the ones I have, my favorite is dove gray!
I am a white 2024 gal for most of my sewing! I do love a variety of colors for binding and when sewing clothes.
I love using the neutrals. 2021, 2400, and 2600 These are my basics.
Silver, white and cream are my go to neutrals for most piecing. Congratulations on your new thread collections!
Silver gray is my go to color for most piecing. Congratulations on your new thread collections!
Gorgeous piece! Go to for most of my piecing is lt gray or lt/med tan. Love Aurifil for pueving!
As always, beautiful work, Christa. I would love to make the version using Chic Neutrals. My go-to thread is Aurifil 50wt. Dove (#2600). I have a huge cone that I use for everything! I just tried their 12wt. Med. Grey on my last quilt and really liked it so will be using more of the heavier weights on future projects.
My go to color’s are gray tones and crème tones…and I love aurafil threads.
My go-to thread color is always, always, always gray. (Except when sewing black or white fabric.)
Your quilts are beautiful Christa! My go-to color is light gray.Thanks for all the inspiration on your blog!
I love these neutral colors. My favorite go-to color is a warm beige or off white for piecing and a lot of my machine quilting. I absolutely love Aurifil thread. You, Christa, told me about it a few years back and I haven’t used anything else since. Thanks for these great collections.
Love these quilts! I’m learning to enjoy the neutral color combinations.
My go to colors are white and beige but I look forward to experimenting with more color as I tackle more modern and free motion quilting projects.
I love all the colors and of course Aurifil thread. You first told me about Aurifil. Thank you!
I usually use off white.
I just bought my first spool of Aurifil thread and OMG my machine is in heaven!
I use a light to medium gray with cool colors and something in the natural, beige or camel range with warm colors.
This is a great quilt and it looks nice in all of the colorways. I used to use off-white thread for most of my piecing, but I as I’ve gone more modern I love to use Aurifil in the palest grey. I often use Aurifil from start to finish, because it’s a great all-around thread.
Thanks for sharing your quilting secrets and your amazing quilts.
My go to piecing thread colors are Aurifil’s light gray and light gold. They go well with cool and warm colors. Love your new thread collections!
My go to thread colors are white, ecru and light gray. They play well with whatever I am making!
Thanks for the chance to win!
Aurifil 50-weight is my go-to thread, and I use mostly white and silver-gray. I can’t remember the numbers off the top of my head! But the thread is fantastic. Congratulations to you for being a designer, and thank you for the chance to win this generous giveaway!
My go-to piecing color is 2600 (Dove), and beyond that I try to use a bit of everything!