Infrastructure Quilt Along Row 9

November 4, 2019October 31, 20192 Comments

This week we are making the last row of Infrastructure quilt – can you believe it??? Row 9 features simple pieced strips and it’s another great chance to fussy cut the Geo Pop fabric if desired.

First I’ll walk you through the process to piece this row, then you can take a look at the bonus YouTube video I created while making this row.

Cut the Strips

You want to cut nice straight strips according to the pattern instructions on page 6. If you are fussy cutting, you’ll want multiple strips of the same fabric to be cut at the same point so that you can match up the patterns.

For my strips below, I fussy cut the Mosaic Dots print and the Diamond Pop print. The Tiny Hex print was small enough that if the pattern doesn’t match up, it will still look ok.

Optional Pattern Matching

To match patterns, I found the same spot on the fabric and pinned it in place so that I could sew right where the design repeats. In the image below, that darker shadow in the photo is where I’ve folded over the fabric so that the pattern will be continuous.

Once I sew the seam from the backside, it won’t be noticeable on the actual quilt. The seam allowance will be larger on the back when I sew it; I’ll trim it down to 1/4″ after it’s sewn.

Sew in Opposite Directions

When sewing long skinny seams, they can bow or warp out of shape. So I make sure that I switch the sewing direction to compensate. Here’s how I do it. There are 6 rows here, so I sew two pairs at a time. The first pair will have the Grey Tiny Hex fabric on top. The next two pairs of strips will be sewn with the Black Tiny Hex fabric on top.

When I join the sewn rows, I’ll continue to sew with the black fabric on top, and that will automatically switch the sewing direction each time.

Don’t forget to sew with a shorter stitch length and press those seams open! I press each time I sew a seam so that task stays easily under control.

Bonus YouTube Video

I’ve prepared a 4 minute-long YouTube video walking you through the above steps, plus a couple of fussy cutting tips thrown in. Hopefully this will help you cut and sew long strips with ease. In this video, I’m narrating the entire time so you can follow along with what I’m doing. Be sure to subscribe to my channel. If there’s continued interest, I’ll make more videos in the future!

Click the “Play” button below to watch the video on YouTube.

Row 9 Finished

Row 9 is finished and now the entire quilt top is ready to assemble next week. As you prepare to join the pieced rows, check their length. You can use lots of pins to ease in any rows that aren’t exactly the same.

If some of your heavily pieced rows have ended up longer than they should be, go back and stitch wider seam allowances to shrink them up. You don’t have to rip out the original seam allowance to do this. You want all of the rows to be the same size before you sew them together.

GIVEAWAY & HEATHER’S Solids VERSION

Pop over to Heather Black’s blog at Quiltachusetts to see her version of Row 9 made from Benartex Superior Solids. While you are there, be sure to enter the giveaway. One lucky winner will receive some Hobbs batting – just in time to baste your quilt!

I use Hobbs batting in all of my quilts and I’m using Hobbs 80/20 Heirloom cotton/poly for this quilt. It will give me just the right amount of loft I need it doesn’t bunch up when you quilt it.

QUICK LINKS:

Be sure to show us your progress, too! Share on instagram #infrastructurequilt and tag us @christaquilts and @quiltachusetts.

Infrastructure Quilt Along – Making Row 8

October 28, 2019October 28, 2019Leave a comment

This week we are making Row 8 – more Anvil Blocks. This is a great catchup week because this row is cut and sewn exactly the same as Week 6 Row 6, but with different fabrics.

You can follow along in the Infrastructure Quilt Pattern on pages 6 and 13 for specific instructions on making this row.

Here are the cut pieces all laid out and sewn into one Anvil block:

I used the Tri Recs tools to cut the units to make the Triangle in a Square blocks. In case you missed it, I created a YouTube tutorial on how to make these blocks back when we were making Row 4.

Click here to get the Tri-Recs Tools

Once the Anvil blocks are sewn, it’s easy to add spacer rows to the top and bottom of the pieced row. Here’s a tip: measure the length of your row before trimming the long strips.

One more row down, and one to go! It’s been so fun using my Geo Pop prints to make this quilt!

GIVEAWAY & HEATHER’S VERSION

Pop over to Heather Black’s blog at Quiltachusetts to see her version of Row 8 made from Benartex Superior solids. While you are there, be sure to enter the giveaway! One lucky winner will get a 6 month subscription to Make Modern Magazine – one of my faves!!

QUICK LINKS:

Be sure to show us your progress, too! Share on instagram #infrastructurequilt and tag us @christaquilts and @quiltachusetts.

Preorder Bundles of My New Gridwork Fabric – It ships in January!

October 25, 2019October 23, 2019Leave a comment

I’m at quilt market this weekend, showing off my newest fabric collection, Gridwork that will ship in January of 2020. I can’t believe it’s already my 5th fabric line with Benartex, and I’ve been having a blast designing fabrics and making colorful quilts from them.

All 27 prints of Gridwork in 3 colorways: Amethys, Breeze and Citron

This is a larger collection, consisting of 27 different prints in 3 coloways: Amethyst, Breeze and Citron. Of course they mix and match nicely with each other, but it’s also fun to create color-blocked projects with them. Here are some more beauty shots of the individual colorways.

Amethyst Bundle – Pretty in Purple and Pink

Click here to preorder the Amethyst Bundle in Fat Quarters, Half Yards or Full Yards

Breeze Bundle – Calm and Cool in Blues and Greens

Click here to preorder the Breeze Bundle in Fat Quarters, Half Yards or Full Yards

Citron Bundle – Edgy in Black, White, Navy & Citron

Click here to preorder the Citron Bundle in Fat Quarters, Half Yards or Full Yards

Each time I design a new line, I’m thinking about how it can relate to my previous collections but still stand on its own. It was really fun to do a larger line this time will a full range of light, mediums and darks that will make your quilts sparkle.

Click here to claim your Gridwork bundle – It ships in January!

New Quilt Patterns – Block Chain and Terrace Tiles

October 23, 2019October 23, 2019Leave a comment

I’m excited to announce two fun new quilt patterns to go along with my next fabric line that I will be showing at Fall 2019 Quilt Market. Although they patterns feature prints I designed, they will look fabulous with any fabrics you choose to work with!

Block Chain – Charm Pack Friendly

This pattern is based on a design I came out with years ago before precuts were popular. So I redesigned it, tinkered with the math, and came up with a fun way to use up your favorite charm packs! For the throw size shown, it takes 1 regular sized charm pack, or 36 squares.

Most charm packs are 40-42 squares so this gives you some flexibility to pull out any of the prints that are too light or too dark. Pair it up with contrasting black and gray, and you’ve got a dynamic looking design that’s perfect for showing off your favorite prints!

Quilting Suggestions Included

My biggest pet peeve about quilt patterns is when you get to the end and it says “quilt as desired.” If you’ve purchased any of my patterns before, you’ll know that I include quilting suggestions and diagrams with every single one! I want you to have a great time with the piecing AND the quilting and I’m always here to guide you through every step of the process.

For Block Chain, I quilted a series of funky, geometric shapes with 50 weight multi-color cotton thread from my Aurifil Variegated Collection. It was a super fun and fast way to get this quilt done in a hurry. And the best part about my “perfectly imperfect” quilting method, is that it looks great every time.

My secret to successful machine is to hide my imperfections with dense machine quilting. I used Hobbs 80/20 cotton/poly batting for a soft, drapey feel that didn’t get stiff no matter how much I quilted it!

Terrace Tiles – Made From Fat Quarters

Terrace Tiles is also a remake of one of my earlier designs from a magazine. I’ve come a long way since I first started publishing quilt patterns and I’ve tweaked this design so that it’s completely made from fat quarters, including the binding!

This quilt is literally one of the fastest and easiest designs you can make and I loved it so much I just had to make three of them!! I whipped up each quilt top in just a few hours and quilted them each with a different allover quilting design. Terrace Tiles is a great stash buster, and you can go as scrappy as you like with this design. It will look good no matter what!

Check out each of the three versions I made, all using fat quarter bundles of my Gridwork fabric organized by colorway:

Terrace Tiles in Amethyst

I quilted this pink & purple version using a fun swirly design and thread from my Aurifil Variegated collection in pink/purple/blue. I love how it adds yummy texture to the fun geometric prints!

Terrace Tiles in Breeze

For this colorway, I quilted an allover boxes design – one of my faves that looks great on modern and contemporary quilts with a strong geometric vibe. I used the aqua/teal combo from my Varieated thread collection for this one.

Terrace Tiles in Citron

I went a bit out of my comfort zone with this blue/citron/gray colorway, but I love the results! I quilted it with one of my all-time fave designs, “jagged stipple” which is a perfect quilting motif for a guy’s quilt with its edgy geometric angles. It’s quilted using black/white thread from my Variegated Collection.

I’ve included diagrams for all 3 machine quilting designs in the pattern as well as 3 different sizes so you can customize this quilt to suit your needs.

Where to Buy My Patterns

My patterns are slowly but surely making their way to quilt shops across the country and around the globe. However, if you can’t find them locally, you can always order direct from me. I offer full-color versions in printed paper versions, or downloadable digital PDF’s.

Click the links below to see my entire pattern line and stock up on your faves! The PDFs are great if you want instant access on your computer, and the paper versions ship free to anywhere in the US.

If you are a teacher or quilt shop who wants to carry my patterns, please shoot me an email to christa@christaquilts.com for wholesale order info. As always, thanks for your support!

Infrastructure Quilt Along – Making Row 7

October 21, 2019October 21, 20192 Comments

This week we are making Row 7 – the Fence Post blocks. You can follow along with the cutting directions on page 5 and the sewing directions on pages 12-13 of the Infrastructure Quilt Pattern.

This is a simple row to put together and you can choose to fussy cut parts of the design if you wish. I didn’t worry about fussy cutting this row, but simply let the pattern design fall randomly.

Here are all my cut pieces using black, gray and yellow Geo Pop prints:

For speed and efficiency, I like to stack up all of the units in order next to my sewing machine, and chain piece as much as possible. Here’s what it looks like with the units in position. It’s always amazing to me how much a block shrinks up once it’s sewn!

I’m continuing to press my seams open as I sew them, and use a shorter stitch length so you don’t see the thread poking through the seams. Here’s a short bonus video showing how I press the seams open:

Here’s what it looks like once the complete row is sewn. I put it next to the finished row from last week and I love how it’s coming together!

This has been such a fun quilt to put together so far. By just working on it one row at a time, it’s really easy to sew!

GIVEAWAY & HEATHER’S VERSION

Pop over to Heather Black’s blog at Quiltachusetts to see her version of Row 7 made from Benartex Superior solids. While you are there, be sure to enter the giveaway! Two lucky winners will each receive a brand new rotary cutter from Olfa. I use the Olfa brand from all my cutting and I love how their cutters look and feel. It makes the job so much easier!!

QUICK LINKS:

Share on instagram #infrastructurequilt

Here’s how my rows look so far, They are bit wrinkly and wonky on my design wall because I put them up in a hurry, and an un-quilted top is always flimsy and unfinished looking. I can’t wait to sew the top together! Just two more rows to go!!

Come See Me at Fall Quilt Market in Houston, Texas Oct 25-28, 2019

October 17, 2019October 16, 20191 Comment

It’s that time of year again when the quilting industry gears up for its semi-annual trade show for quilt shop owners, designers, and pretty much who’s who in the quilting industry. This year’s fall show takes place in Houston, Texas, October 25-28.

New FAbric coming in January!

I’ll be presenting my next quilt fabric collection (my 5th line!!) called Gridwork from Benartex and I can’t wait! It will ship to stores next January, so be on the lookout for more details soon.

MY QUILT MARKET SCHEDULE

Things kick off on Friday, October 25 with the Quilt Market schoolhouse: a full day of short educational presentations from designers, industry professionals, and quilting companies. They’ll be sharing sneak peeks of their latest and greatest.

Everyone who comes to my schoolhouse session (1:20-1:50 PM Room #370E) will receive a free swatch pack of my new fabric plus brand new quilt patterns!

The show floor will be open Saturday through Monday, October 26-28 starting at 9:30 each day. I will be in my booth #2234 in the Benartex area most of the time. This the perfect time for quilt shop owners and other prospective buyers and industry partners to stop by for an informal meet’n greet.

It’s a great opportunity to touch and feel the new fabric, see my latest patterns and quilts “in the cloth,” and chat with me about scheduling future events. No matter how hi-tech we get, nothing beats in person, face-to-face communication!

On Saturday and Sunday, Benartex will present their “Designer Showcase” – a chance to get up close and personal with all of the Benartex fabric designers who will be at the show. It’s another chance to get more freebies, rest your feet, and be inspired by all of the new fabric and patterns that will be released this season.

On Sunday, I’m pleased to be a presenter at the Inaugural “Threads of Success” event that will take place concurrently with Quilt Market. This is an event geared at those who want to break into the business of quilting.

The hope is that it’s successful enough to become an annual event each year. My topic I’ll be speaking about is titled, “Make it easy for them to say Yes!” and I’ll be sharing tips and tricks on how to work with others in the quilting industry to get what you want.

Last Spring Quilt Market – Geo Pop Booth

Above is a pic of me in my booth earlier this year at Spring quilt market when I introduced Geo Pop. Be on the lookout for more fun and colorful pics next week! Be sure to come say hi if you are planning to attend. If not – you can catch the action by following me on instagram @christaquilts.

It will be a busy time for sure, but I can’t wait!!

Infrastructure QAL Week 6 – Cutting and Sewing Row 6

October 15, 2019October 19, 20191 Comment

This week we are making Row 6 – the Anvil Blocks. This row is super simple because we are making more Triangle in a Square blocks using the Tri-Recs tools. Follow along in the Infrastructure quilt pattern on page 5 for the cutting instructions, and on page 12 for the sewing instructions.

So this time, I’m using the yellow Tiny Hex print in yellow for the anvil blocks and Op Squares charcoal for the background.

Click here to purchase Geo Pop fabric by the yard.

If you missed my video tutorial on how to make these fun and versatile blocks, click here for a refresher when I made row 4 – diamond blocks.

Here are all of my cut out units to make the anvil blocks.

When sewing the units, don’t forget to stitch with a shorter stitch length and press seams open to keep the blocks nice and flat.

The Anvil block is made from two Triangle in a Square blocks with a square in between:

Here’s the finished row!

Watch It on YouTube!

Heres a quick 1 minute youtube video showing the stepouts above plus a little bit of the sewing. I’ve been practicing how to make YouTube videos along with making this quilt. This week I learned how to add voiceover to my videos.It’s been fun to learn a new editing skill each week!

Quick Links:

If you need to catch up, this row goes together super fast and it’s actually the same row repeated again for row 8 – so feel free to work ahead if you want!

Share on instagram #infrastructurequilt

GIVEAWAY & HEATHER’S VERSION

Pop over to Heather Black’s blog at Quiltachusetts to see her version of Row 6 made from Benartex Superior solids. While you are there, be sure to enter the giveaway. I’m the sponsor this week and one lucky winner will get a strip-roll of my Geo Pop + a fun jelly roll quilt pattern: Surplus Strips! You can color block it like I did, or use up your leftover (surplus) precut strips!

Just 3 more rows to sew and we’ll start putting the finishing touches on this quilt – I can’t wait!!

Infrastructure Quilt Along Week 5: Sewing Row 4

October 7, 2019October 6, 20191 Comment

This week for the Infrastructure quilt along, we are sewing Row 4 which looks a bit intimidating, but it really isn’t. True, it does have a lot of piecing, but it’s a great opportunity to play with fun shapes.You can fussy cut your fabric so that the patterns match up if you want, but it’s certainly not necessary. My #1 tip for cutting this row is to use the Tri-Recs Ruler set. The Infrastructure quilt pattern includes full size templates, but honestly, it’s faster and easier to use the specialty rulers.

Click here to get the Tri-Recs ruler set.

Follow along in the quilt pattern on pages 4, 6-7 and 10-11 to make Row 4. It’s sewn from Triangle in a Square blocks, fussy cut squares and background fabric.

Here’s a video tutorial on how to cut and sew Triangle in a Square blocks using the Tri-Recs Ruler set. It’s 11 minutes long and walks you through the entire process, so click below to watch the entire thing. If you’d like more videos, be sure to subscribe to my YouTube Channel!

Full Color step-by-step diagrams with exact measurements to make each row are given in the pattern.

I chose to the fussy cut the squares of green Mosaic Dots, but not the background fabric.

And here’s a closeup of finished row after it’s been sewn together:

This row was a little more cutting and piecing, but the results are well worth it!

GIVEAWAY & HEATHER’S VERSION

Pop over to Heather Black’s blog at Quiltachusetts to see her version of Row 4 made from Benartex Superior solids. Heather is actually our prize sponsor this week and she’s offering 2 lucky winners a Tri-Recs tool set + 2 of her patterns that also use this shape. Aren’t they fab??

Heather is such an amazing pattern designer and longarm machine quilter and I can’t wait until the final reveal of her quilt! After all, she designed both versions of Infrastructure (solids and Geo Pop prints) and I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next!

Heather’s recoloring of Infrastructure using all solids.

Important Links:

Infrastructure Week 4: Pieced Strip Rows 3 and 5

September 30, 2019September 30, 2019Leave a comment

How is your Infrastructure quilt coming along? To recap, so far we’ve finished sewing rows 1 and 2 which included a lot of cutting and piecing. Scroll to the end for links to the previous QAL posts.

If your pieced rows aren’t exactly the same length, don’t worry.
When we join all the rows together in week 10, I’ll discuss how to fix that, so stay tuned!

So this week will be a nice break. We will be sewing rows 3 and 5 which are basically just sewing together long strips of fabric. It’s super fast and easy!

Cutting the Rows

Instructions for cutting and sewing rows 3 and 5 can be found in the Infrastructure Quilt Pattern on pages 4-5, 9, and 11.

The most important thing to do when sewing together long strips of fabric is to measure what the cut size should be, and pining as you join the strips. If you don’t measure or pin, you have a good chance of creating “friendly” strip sets – in other words, long sewn segments that “wave” at you, LOL!! Friendly, wavy strips will make it hard for your quilt to lay flat, so let’s stick with being friendly to each other, not with our fabric, ok??

My strips are all cut from the Infrastructure Quilt Kit.

You can either cut these strips from a larger piece of fabric, parallel to the selvage; or enough width of fabric strips (usually 40″-42″) and piecing them together, then trim to size. When sewing 2 strips together to get a longer length, sew with a straight seam (not a mitered one) so that you’ll have enough length. Also, be sure to measure your other pieced rows and double check that you are cutting your long skinny strips the same unfinished size.

This is the Mosaic Dots print from Geo Pop – my fave!!!
Each circle is about 2″ in diameter.

You can choose to fussy cut the center of row 3 if you want, or let it be random. You can also choose to match up the pattern if you like. It’s not to hard too match the pattern – just pin and sew where the fabric repeats so the seam is less noticeable. Then trim off the extra fabric to 1/4″ seam allowance.

For my quilt, I fussy cut the center of row 3, but didn’t fussy cut any of the other strips since they were much skinnier. Refer to the QAL post from week 2 for tips on fussy cutting.

Sewing the Rows

To keep the long skinny strips for warping or stretching out of shape, sew the seams in opposite directions. An easy way to do this is to sew with the same fabric on top. So take a look at Row 3 below and notice the directions of the arrows:

Sewing directions of each seam to prevent warping or bowing

If you sew with the black strip on top when sewing both long skinny strips to the center, you will automatically switch sewing directions as indicated by the arrows. You can also achieve the same result if you keep the center strip on top instead, sewing sewing both long seams. The choice is up to you!

Use the same technique with Row 5 and sew either with (1) the white strip on top for both seams or (2) the blue strip on top for both seams (even if it’s a slightly different fabric).

Here’s a short, 1 minute video of me sewing the long skinny strips. I always start and end each sewing session with a scrap of fabric to catch stray threads. This prevents making a huge mess of thread on the back when you start sewing.

And there you have it – 2 more rows of our Infrastructure quilt!

GIVEAWAY & HEATHER’S VERSION

Pop over to Heather Black’s blog at Quiltachusetts to see her version of rows 3 and 5 made from Benartex Superior solids. While you are there, enter this week’s giveaway: an Accuquilt Go! Me Kit & Triangle Dies. You can also find out who won last week’s prize and remember, there’s a new fabulous prize each and every week from one of our sponsors!

Relevant Links:

Infrastructure Quilt, designed by Heather Black and Made by Christa Watson

Free Patterns to Make Using Geo Pop Strip Rolls

September 26, 2019September 24, 20192 Comments

Are you a precut lover like me? Now that my next line of fabric, Geo Pop has been released, one of my most often asked questions is – what can I make with a Geo Pop strip roll? So today I thought it would be fun to revisit 3 of my free jellyroll patterns, all recolored in Geo Pop.

Click here to get the Geo Pop strip roll: (40 – 2 1/2″ x 42″ strips)

The Jolly Jelly Roll Quilt

Click here for the Jolly Jelly Roll quilt along.

This was the very first quilt along I published on my blog, waaaay back in 2012! Although I never wrote up a formal pattern for it, you can follow the quilt along links to make this quilt from start to finish. All you need is one Geo Pop roll + 1 yard of Tiny Hex black for inner border and binding. Now I want to drop everything and remake this quilt!!

Beaded Lanterns

Click here for the free Beaded Lanterns quilt pattern.

This is a free pattern I created to promote a previous fabric line (Fandangle), but I loved recoloring it in Geo Pop! I can’t decide which I like best – using the white or black Op Squares print for the background. Which would you choose??

For this pattern jelly roll pattern, it only uses 36 out of the 40 precut strips so that one of the fabrics from the unused prints can be used for the background. All you need is 1 Geo Pop strip roll + 3 yards of contrasting white or black.

Modern Puzzle

Click here for the free Modern Puzzle quilt pattern

I created this free pattern to showcase my first fabric line, Modern Marks. Although the Modern marks strip rolls have long since sold out, you can also make this quilt using fat quarters of either collection. Above, I’ve paired up a strip roll of Geo Pop with 3 yards of light gray background so that all of the colors sparkle! (Hint: this gray is actually from a future fabric line, so stay tuned!!)

Just remember: if you have any questions while making any quilts from my books, patterns, or tutorials I’m always here to help you out! Be sure to tag me on instagram @christaquilts and share pics of your progress in my ChristaQuilts Facebook group. I can’t wait to see them!