Category: Christa’s Quilts

Quilt Finish – Easy Going in Quilts and More

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I’m excited to share a quilt with you that I had been working on secretly a little bit earlier this year. Here’s a hint: if you follow me on instagram @christaquilts and search the hashtag #secretsewingchrista, you’ll see live updates as to all the secret stuff I’m working on now, for publication later! 😉

Introducing, Easy Going, in the latest issue of Quilts and More magazine, summer 2016.

Easy Going Quilt

Photography courtesy of Quilts and More Magazine, 2016 Meredith Corp. All rights reserved.

I’ve always been a big fan of Hoffman Batiks and am one of those people believes that you can indeed make modern quilts using batiks that incorporate simple striking geometry.

Easy going in Quilts and More

I made my version of Easy going in pretty greens and teals with just a pop of tan, cream and gray to make it sparkle. Seriously, this quilt is so easy you can make it in a weekend! I quilted it using my “boxes” motif from my first book. It’s a super forgiving free-motion design that is actually easier to do than stippling!

Boxes FMQ

Click the picture above to see a larger detailed image of the quilting.

I quilted Easy Going using Aurifil 50 weight in a pretty shade of green.

I love it when magazines test out my pattern in a different colorway. The version below was made by Jan Ragaller using Ombre by V and Co. for Moda. Isn’t it fabulous??

Easy Going alternate colorway

I was also super happy that they chose to include an extra page with some of my machine quilting tips. After all, when I make a quilt, I’m also thinking about the quilting, not just the piecing.

mq_tips

If you can’t find a copy of Quilts and More in your local quilt shop, you can pick it up online.

Quilts and More Summer 2016

 

If you end up making this quilt, or any quilt from any of my patterns, please share your progress in my Facebook group: Quilt with Christa. I love to see what you are making!

The Splendid Sampler Block – Scrappy Happy Heart

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Welcome to my stop on the Splendid Sampler 100 blocks tour! Today is a very special day. Not only because I get to share my special block with you, but it is also my anniversary! 23 years ago I married my best friend and he’s supported my quilting habits ever since! Sharing my heart block with you now has extra special meaning and today I’m dedicating this block to Jason – the love of my life!

scrappy_heart_finished

Scrappy Happy Heart – for Jason –  the love of my life who’s also my #1 fan!

I love the “structured improv” look so I chose to paper piece this block, to contain the crazy pieced chaos. I took some step by step pictures while making this block that can help you with your paper piecing efforts.

Click here for Splendid tutorials on paper piecing.

I was very lucky to get to work with the Little Miss Sunshine collection by Vanessa Goertzen of  Lella Boutique for many of the fabrics. Click here to get the precuts to make a similar block. 🙂

Step 1

Comb through your stash for pretty scraps that work well together.

scrappyheart_1

Thanks to Moda Fabrics for supplying me with such a sweet palette to work from!

Step 2

Cut the pieces according to the cutting chart given in the Splendid Sampler block pattern.

Step 3

Sew the first section of pieces starting with the white background square; press and trim after each piece. It will look somewhat like the hot mess below!

scrappyheart_2

 Step 4

Add the corner triangle to the first section. Remember, all this time you are sewing onto paper following the printed lines on the front of the paper.

scrappyheart_3

Step 5

Repeat the piecing, pressing and trimming process for the second section of the block.

scrappyheart_4

This is what the front looks like – I fold each line I am going to sew next and use an add a quarter ruler to trim off the excess smoothly and neatly.

scrappyheart_5

Step 6

Add the last section of heart in the same manner. It will look so good once it’s all trimmed!

scrappyheart_6

Step 7

Add the last two background corner triangles to complete the heart shape and trim to size. Now the best part – gently remove all the paper!

scrappyheart_7

Step 8

Stop and admire your beautiful handiwork. Now is a great time to start thinking about the threads you will use to machine quilt your beautiful blocks. My favorite thread for both piecing and machine quilting  is Aurifil – 50 weight cotton.

scrappy_heart_styled

All of that mess miraculously turns into a beautifully finished block!

Click here to go to the Splendid Sampler Block Page

Here’s my block in other colorways, made by some of the other Splendid Sampler designers. 🙂

Splendid Sampler Heart Blocks

Made by Pat Sloan, Julie Karasek, Jane Davidson, Lynette Anderson, Joan Ford, Melissa Corry

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The Ultimate Guide to Machine Quilting – Migration

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Angela Walters and I are at Quilt Market this weekend, sharing our new book with shop owners across the country, so it’s time to share another quilt from the book with you. (Click here to see all of the quilts from The Ultimate Guide to Machine Quilting.)

This one is called Migration which features tons of negative space for you to show off your quilting skills! Angela and I quilted our quilts so differently which gives you plenty of ideas to explore!

Migration Quilt by Christa Watson

In my version of migration, I played up the grid work with free-motion quilting.

Free Motion Quilting

We both tried to pack in as many machine quilting designs as possible!

Migration by Angela Walters

Angela quilted her rectangles so that they would look like sparkling jewels!

Click here to see all of the quilts from the book, as they are added each week!
All photography courtesy of Brent Kane and Martingale.

Christa Watson Books

Click here to get your autographed copies of both of my books!

Simple Strips Quilt Along – The Finish

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It’s time to put the finishing touches on Simple Strips with my quick and easy machine binding tutorial that can be found on the BERNINA blog at We All Sew.

Machine Binding

My machine binding method is very similar to my hand binding method all the way until the final finishing step. The nice thing about this method is that you can wait to decide how to finish until the end.

Super Simple Strips Quilt Along

Simple strips was made from Valley precuts from Moda.

I hope you have enjoyed quilting along! Be sure to share your progress in my Facebook group at Quilt with Christa and also on the BERNINA community site.

If you are new around here, click here for the Simple Strips Quilt Along tutorials.

 

Local Trunk Show and Book Signing Events

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If you are in or near the Las Vegas area, be sure to catch my trunk show and book signing events coming up at these two fabulous locations below.

  • Saturday, May 14th, Sew Yeah Quilting, located at 3690 N. Rancho Drive, Las Vegas NV 89130.
  • Thursday, May 26th, at Quiltique, located at 213 N. Stephanie Ste. E, Henderson NV 89074.

Christa Watson Books

My books – The Ultimate Guide to Machine Quilting and Machine Quilting with Style will be available from both shops. I’ll be happy to personally sign them for you!

At Sew Yeah, I’ll be sharing quilts from both books and what makes them modern. Stick around afterward for a fun and free sew-in. Sign up online or call (702) 586-8687.

At Quiltique, I’ll be sharing my quilts along with a hands on free-motion quilting demonstration. Plus, I’m happy to answer your most pressing questions about machine quilting.

I hope to see you there!

So I did a crazy thing this week….. (HMQS 2016)

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Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a type A – plan it like I mean it type of person. I live and sleep by my daily to do lists and am the last person in the world who has time to be spontaneous! But when I got the email earlier in the week, that I had won an award for one of my quilts at HMQS (The Home Machine Quilting Show), I knew I had to drop everything to drive 6 hours to Utah to attend the awards ceremony!

HMQS quilt show

Plumb Lines, 2nd Place Modern at HMQS, from The Ultimate Guide to Machine Quilting.

I’ve had a bit of good luck lately (winning 2nd places at Paducah and MQX), but after gut-wrenchingly replying that no, I could not attend those awards ceremonies, when opportunity came knocking the 3rd time around, I just couldn’t say no!!

So I corralled the troops, hopped in the car and picked up my good buddy Cory Allender on the way, who also received the news that she had won an award. I tried to convince my other friend Vicki Ruebel into going with us since she also won an award, but she had a little more sense of responsibility than I did!

Quilting Room
Mom just moved and showed me her new place – including the biggest sewing room ever!

Thank goodness my mom actually lives halfway between here and the show so we were able to crash at her place for the night and add her to our crew. We got up bright and early the next day to continue the trek to HMQS and got there just in time to check out the show and get a good seat for the ceremony.

And thank goodness for Cory who agreed to drive most of the way there and back so that I could get a little computer work done in the car (including writing up this blog post!)

ontheroad

It’s quite an experience riding in the back seat of my own car. It was quite cozy!

Just before the ceremony started, the anticipation was killing me. I had entered 3 quilts, (all from my new book) in the show, in two different categories, and had no clue as to which one won, or what placement it took. When they announced that Plumb Lines had taken 2nd in Modern, you could have knocked me over with a feather.

Honestly, it was the last one I had expected to place. Not that I don’t love these quilts and pour my heart and soul into them, but this quilt was made in a hurry, and on a deadline, rather than specifically FOR a show.

Plumb Lines 2nd Place

I was so excited to finally be able to collect my award in person at the show!!

My smart friend Cory once told me that you’ll have more fun entering shows if you don’t STRIVE for it, and make quilts that please you, rather than trying to please any judge. Wise words indeed.

Cory Allender

Elizabeth’s Butterflies by Cory Allender, 2nd Place Utah’s Own, HMQS

Probably the most fun thing about this whole experience was being able to walk on stage and say thanks to a wonderful organization that puts on such a tremendous show. That, and being able to tell them that it was my BQF (best quilting friend) who had won 3rd!

Vicki and I have this thing going where we are okay to leapfrog our quilts. She beat me recently at a local show and we have sort of a friendly competition going on here – all in good fun, of course!

Bullesye quilt 3rd

Bullseye by Vicki Ruebel – 3rd place Modern, HMQS

So my whole point in sharing this with you is to encourage you to be a little more spontaneous with your quilting, too. Whether that means going to a show you didn’t plan on, or entering a quilt show, maybe for the first time ever – go ahead and do it. I mean – what have you got to lose?? (Except maybe a little time and sleep!) 🙂

My Other Entries in the Show

HMQS Modern Entry

Directionally Challenged in the Modern Category. Read more about this quilt here.

hmqs entry

Swirling Butterflies in the Conventional Machine Category.
See a better picture and learn more here.

The Ultimate Guide to Machine Quilting – Directionally Challenged

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I have to say, Directionally Challenged was my second favorite quilt to make from mine and Angela’s new book! (Click here to find out which quilt is my favorite – and yes, it’s totally okay to have favorites!!)

This quilt pattern is paper pieced, and it’s probably one of the easiest paper pieced designs you can make – it only looks complicated.

Directionally Challenged by Christa Watson

Christa’s version of Directionally Challenged in blue.

I love combining walking foot quilting with free-motion work.

Directionally Challenged quilting detailIt’s amazing what you can quilt with a simple line!

Directionally Challenged by Angela Walters

Angela’s version of Directionally Challenged in Red.

Ultimate Guide to Machine Quilting

Click here to get your autographed copy of The Ultimate Guide to Machine Quilting.
Click here to see all of the quilts from the book, as they are added each week!
All photography courtesy of Brent Kane and Martingale.

Simple Strips Quilt Along – Machine Quilting

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I have to say, we’ve now reached my favorite part of my Simple Strips Quilt Along – machine quilting! Because I’m sharing these tutorials over on the BERNINA blog at We All Sew, I wanted to really show what these machines can do, and how anyone can have success quilting on a home sewing machine!

BERNINA machine quilting

This week focuses on using a decorative stitch to create incredible machine quilting texture. I also how teach how to achieve this type of look in both of my books. It’s that important to me to spread the word that yes, you can, make a “professional” looking quilt using the machine you currently have. 🙂

Click here for the latest quilt along tutorial.
Click here to share your progress in my facebook group: Quilt with Christa.

Illusions Pattern Now Available in Modern Quilts Unlimited Magazine

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When I first made my Illusions quilt and shared it at QuiltCon in 2015, right away many of you began asking for a pattern for it. Although I was swamped with writing my first book at the time, I had always planned on coming back and creating a pattern for it.

Christa Watson Illusions

Illusions at QuiltCon in 2015. You can see I have a thing for bold, graphic geometry!

Fortunately, the folks at Modern Quilts Unlimited saw it at QuiltCon and asked me to pattern it for their magazine. In fact they also asked me to pattern my other QuiltCon 2015 entry, Spiraling Out of Control, which was showcased in the Fall 2015 issue.

The quick story behind the design is that it comes from a classic optical illusion called “Cafe Walls.” I saw this image many years ago on the back of a kid’s restaurant menu and knew that one day I would turn it into a quilt.

Illusions MQU

Illusions Quilt in the Spring 2016 issue of Modern Quilts Unlimited

It took a little tweaking to get the design and proportions right in EQ7, but once I did, I knew at once I’d be able to make the quilt while still preserving the illusion.

illusions_eq7_sketch

My EQ7 sketch of Illusions – I like to see what it looks like before I make the quilt!

I quilted illusions with “boxes” – a very simple, yet graphic geometric design and I switched thread colors in the black and white areas so that the design would be more subtle.

cwatson_opticalillusion_det

I show how to quilt “boxes” in my book Machine Quilting with Style.

If you are interested in making your own version of this graphic quilt, pick up a copy from Modern Quilts Unlimited today. In fact, I would highly recommend subscribing to their magazine. I can’t give away secrets yet, but just know that I’m highly involved with the next issue as well! 🙂

MQU Spring 2016

The Ultimate Guide to Machine Quilting – Cornered

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Click here to get your autographed copy of The Ultimate Guide to Machine Quilting.
Click here to see all of the quilts from the book, as they are added each week!
All photography courtesy of Brent Kane and Martingale.

Take a look at Cornered – a simple yet striking design that can be used as a table topper, baby quilt, or wall decor. Although Angela and I chose to use solids for our versions, it would look equally beautiful in your favorite prints!

Corned quilt by Christa Watson

Christa’s Version – Pretty in Pink.

I often like to color code my quilts, where each fabric showcases a different quilting design.

Free Motion Quilting Detail

Free-motion quilting detail showing one of my favorite combinations – Swirls and Pearls.

Cornered by Angela Walters

In Angela’s version, she shows you several different ways to quilt the same block!

For the record, Angela Walters quilts on a Handi-Quilter Long arm and I quilt on a domestic sit-down machine, a BERNINA 770 QE. But no matter which machine you choose, our goal is to help get you comfortable with the machine quilting process!

Christa Watson Books

Click here to purchase my machine quilting books and let me be your cheerleader as I guide you to machine quilting success! After all, that’s my favorite part of making a quilt!!