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 tend to piece with black or off-white – need to try to use more gray!
I like to use Aurifil 2000. It seems to blend in with everything.
I use light grey to do most of my piecing and Aurifil is by far the best! Thank you for your generous giveaway!
I use Aurifil’s light cream 2000, medium brown, light gray and medium gray. Yours are amazing and I would love to include these neutrals in my collection! Thanks!
I use aurifil light, medium and dark grey for almost all my sewing.
I love using Aurifil’s Dove. I’m interested in finding a nice linen shade, but I can’t find Aurifil locally. I’d love a thread card for matching.
White thread is what I piece with most often. For the few quilts that I have quilted myself, I have used white, gray, and light blue. Thanks for the opportunity to win some awesome Aurifil!
I love to piece with thread in a ‘champagne’ color. It blends in with lights and darks. I have a spool of Aurofil on my featherweight now! Thanks for the opportunity. Hope I’m the lucky girl.
Congratulations on your new Aurifil collection! And thanks for the great giveaway…your colors are fantastic, and we all love Aurifil!
My fave go to use up fast and buy more regularly colors are neutrals: white, beige, ivory, gray, taupe… those colors. Especially beige 2314. And gray 2615.
I love Christa’s new Aurifil thread sets! The colors are all colors I like, and will use. As she said, all colors of the rainbow! This is the only brand of thread I use, and would love to win!.
my go to thread colors are Aurifil neutrals! I would love to win your collection. Thanks for a chance to win!!!
I love Aurifil and would love to win this set! Light grey or beige are my go-to colors.