We are making great progress on our new house, but there’s still a ton left to do! Last week, we got several of the rooms painted and started moving things into closets. My daughter is thrilled with her new pink room and now we are just waiting for her furniture to arrive from Ikea. Since she will be the only child living with us once my son Ryan leaves for his mission in China, we wanted to make sure she’d be happy in the new place.
Before and after pics of painting Jenna’s room – she loves it!
My sewing room will probably be the last room to get organized, so I’m continuing to have a different weekly sale to cut down on the amount of things we’ll need to move!
It’s kind of crazy to think that from the time we thought about moving to the time we closed on the house was just 3 weeks, but that’s kinda how I roll. When I’m ready to do something, I usually throw all of my effort into it ASAP!! Fortunately, my schedule doesn’t get busy again until mid February, so for now, getting moved and settled is my full-time focus!!
Please get these exact tools. Anything else won’t be the correct angle for cutting. Tri Recs makes blocks up to 6″ finished. For the Queen size quilt, you will need the Creative Grids Triangle Squared AND Perfect Rectangle rulers that make up to 9″ finished size blocks.
If you don’t have access to these rulers, you can use the full-size templates included in the quilt pattern.
(4) Batting for your quilt size
(5) Basic rotary cutting equipment – mat and rulers, and cutter with new sharp blade.
(6) Basting supplies – either safety pins or 505 basting spray. (I will spray baste)
(7) A “can-do” attitude and willingness to share – this is going to be fun!!
Quilt Along Schedule
The quilt along will run for a total for a total of 10 weeks which includes 3 scheduled breaks to catch up. If you follow along each week, you’ll have a completely finished quilt at the end!!
Once each post has been published, the links below will become clickable so you can navigate to any post you need as you follow along.
As you are gathering your supplies and getting ready to start, please share pics of the fabrics you’ll use – I’d love to see! Also, anytime during the quilt along, I encourage you to share your progress in any of these ways:
On Your own blog – share links in the comments section of any of the QAL posts
On Instagram – use hashtag #bloomingwallflowersquilt so others can see your progress
In my Christa Quilts Facebook group – this is also a great place to ask questions and interact with other quilt along participants.
I’m so excited to get started!! Who’s with me?? As always, it’s totally OK to follow along virtually, or save the blog posts for later and make this quilt any time, on YOUR schedule.
Today’s the day!! We close on the house and get the keys – whoo hoo!! Although we are giving ourselves some extra time to decorate before the big move, I want it to be done like NOW. But last week was very productive. I ordered a new set of couches for the living room – leather in a very pretty seafoam green that will match the blacksplash in our kitchen.
Jason is testing out the sofa while I rearranged the furniture in the store. Fortunately the sales person was very accommodating of our request to move things around, LOL. I grabbed the red pillows from another couch and paired it with a dark leather ottoman from another display, just to see what it would look like. I haven’t settled on the final accessories yet, but we ended up purchasing two of the longer couches to fill up more of our living room space. They are super comfy!!
Right now I currently have bolts of fabric from all 3 of my collections stashed in various places in my sewing room. In the new house, we plan to build shelving to display it and add a pop of color to the room. However, the amount of storage will be limited, so please help me clear out a few of the extra bolts before we move!
Use code MOVE3 at checkout to save $1 per yard. You can order the fabric in 2 yard increments and I’ll cut it into one continuous piece.
First a quick thanks to all of the kind comments I received last week on our new home, AND this week on my QuiltCon entries. It’s been a bit hectic around here so I wasn’t able to respond individually like I usually do, but I so appreciate your kindness and support! And now for the best news: Abstract Garden yardage has finally arrived and is shipping to stores, whoo hoo!!
Soon, I’ll be posting a list of which shops I know of are carrying it. In the meantime, I bought some for myself and some to sell as yardage, precut bundles, and kits. Really, it’s just an excuse to fondle my fabric as much as possible and imagine what you all will make with it!
Of course you can use any fabrics you like for any of my QAL’s and I’m super excited about the extra interest now that the quilt will be hanging at QuiltCon. I had a nice surge in Blooming Wallflowers pattern sales once the news went out, so that definitely made my day!
Don’t forget about the pre-cuts, too. Abstract Garden comes in fat quarters, 5″ charm packs, 10″ squares and 2 1/2″ precut “strip-pies”. I’ve already set aside room in the new house to display my precuts on a shelf, because I’ve finally realized that fabric collecting is its own hobby just like quilting, right???
Thank You Bonus – Score a Free Pattern!
For everyone who places a fabric order with me now through the end of the year, I’ll throw in a bonus surprise pattern as my way of saying thanks. I ordered it all before we decided to move, so needless to say, the more I can ship off before we have to pack up, the better!!
Just a quick note to say that the print versions of my 4 new patterns have now arrived from the printer – whoo hoo! Although they were made to feature my new Abstract Garden fabric line, they are versatile to use any fabrics you like! You can pull similar colors, or mix it up for your own unique take! I’m also offering kits for each, while supplies last.
To give you a quick overview of the quality and layout of the print versions, I made this short one-minute (silent) YouTube video of me thumbing through the pages. They are printed on high quality semi-gloss paper with a firm cover so they’ll hold up while you use them! Click the image below to watch.
And now, to end this post with some colorful “eye candy” here are images of the finished quilts themselves. Coming up soon, I’ll be blogging more about the making of each quilt with some bonus tutorials and tips. And don’t forget, I’ll be hosting a quilt along to make Blooming Wallflowers in January, so be on the lookout for the QAL schedule, coming soon!
I’m back with more fun things you can make from Fandangle, my current line that’s in stores now. Of course these fun containers would look great in any fabrics, but I’m thrilled that my friends from By Annie chose to showcase them with some of my favorite prints!
Aren’t these bags the cutest!! I love how Annie chose to use the cool colorway of Fandangle in different combinations for this set. Howe fun would it be to wrap a small trinket or gift in the smallest bag and then stack them all together by size. It’s as much fun as playing with Matroyska dolls, but for quilters!!
These are absolutely the best containers!! My favorite is the big one made from Baubles and Bits in teal, and the smaller ones are perfect for organizing quilting and sewing notions. It’s on my bucket list to make these for all the nooks and crannies in my sewing room to keep the mess under control!
This functional tote is perfect for organizing your sewing notions on the go. I love how Annie paired up the warm Fandangle prints in red and orange with a touch of gray. It always makes me giddy to see how others combine with my fabrics!!
Although I usually just stick to just making flat “2-D” quilts, my mom loves sewing these functional “3-D” items like containers and totes. I think I’ve just added a few more for her to make!!
Right now I’m currently doing a bunch of “secret sewing” – things I can’t share with you until several months in the future. But instead of going radio silent for awhile, I thought I would fill the time with previous projects that my friends and I have made to keep you inspired.
For starters, I’d like to share with you Beads and Baubles – a quilt that my talented friend Heather Black (from Quiltachusetts) made to showcase Fandangle Fat Quarters. I love how she paired the prints with some soft tone on tone Color Weave prints to create a fun stripe in the background.
She named her quilt after the focus print from my collection, called “Baubles and Bits.” (I think these prints together would make a fun, modern Christmas quilt!)
To further tie in the theme, she quilted it with an allover design that’s similar to the “Beaded Curtain” print from the line. I think it’s the perfect motif for this amazing quilt!
Heather created this design with some simple curved piecing and I love how the oval shapes look like beads. She has released this pattern as a PDF version in her Etsy shop and I’d love to see what it looks like in different fabrics, too!
Heather is so talented and I love her modern design sense! She’s made quilts from my fabric before (click here to see her amazing Pearl Pendants quilt) and she’s got several more designs in the works using my current and upcoming lines, too. I can’t wait for you to see them!
And now I have a question for you – have you ever tried curved piecing? If so – how did it go? Leave me a comment as I’d love to know. I’ve only done it sparingly but I love the look!
I’m so excited – it’s like early Christmas around here! My shipment of Abstract Garden precuts have just arrived, and the yardage should be here soon, whoo hoo! Take a quick peek below:
While I encourage all of you to ask for my fabrics at your local quilt shop, I understand that not everyone has access to a great shop close by. So I always order extras that I’m happy to share while supplies last. Here’s what I’ve got:
This is the second time I’ve featured 20 prints in a line. It’s the perfect amount I think because it won’t break the bank, and it’s enough to make a substantial sized quilt. I do love a good rainbow and I’m excited to see how everyone will mix and match the different prints!
Pair these with a contrasting background (like the greys from Fandangle) and you can’t go wrong! If you need more than a FQ, you can also get these in 1/2 yard or full yard cuts.
Abstract Garden Strip-Pies: 40 – 2 1/2″ x 42″ Strips
You can either pronounce them stripp-ees (rhymes with hippies), or strip Pies (mmm… pie!!). But however you do it, I love the look of them and how they are packaged. They are separated into warm and cool for you by the manufacturer, which just makes me smile!!
Otherwise known as “jelly rolls, pinwheels, roll-ups” etc, these are much easier to ship since they will fit easily into a flat rate envelope. And the best part is, they don’t fuzz up as much!!
These are probably my least used precut, but they are great to cut up when you want to make a really scrappy quilt! I like using them when I want a lot of 5″ squares of the same fabric, since it’s a bit cheaper to crosscut each square in half twice, rather than buying 4 charm packs. They are also fun to slice up when making a pattern like my Improv Squares, and I love whipping up a fun pieced back by sewing all 42 squares together, set 6 x 7.
If you work a lot with 10″ squares (also known as Layer Cakes), please leave me a comment and let me know how you use them. I’d love to know!
Charm packs are the most popular precut because it’s a great way to sample the entire line of fabric at the lowest price. You can quickly whip up a baby quilt from just one pack, or combine packs together for a larger quilt. Because the charm packs include a total of 42 squares, you get 2 of each print in the collection, plus 3 of the main “Raised Beds” print.
Can I say how much I enjoy doing quilt alongs with you all? It keeps me motivated to design and make new things, and nothing thrills me more than seeing all the variety of quilts that are being made, even when we all start with the same basic pattern. So I’m excited to announce the next quilt along which will start mid January!
We will be making my Blooming Wallflowers quilt from start to finish over 12 weeks. Each Friday starting in Janaury, I’ll share a new blog post with inspiration pictures, bonus tips and plenty of cheerleading to keep you motivated. I’ve built in a couple of breaks to the quilt along, so it should be a nice and relaxing pace, and easy to follow along!
Of course, you can use whichever fabrics you like, but I’ve put together an optional fabric kit which includes all the fabric to make the quilt top and binding as shown above: Fat Eights of 12 different Blooming Roses prints, 1 1/4 yards of light blue Tracks for the accent, and 4 yards of Modern Marks Herringbone Navy for background and binding.
I’ll post the complete supply list and schedule on January 4th and will then give everyone a couple of weeks to gather their materials and supplies before we dive into cutting on January 18th. We will wrap up by the end of March and I’ll encourage everyone to post their progress in my ChristaQuilts Facebook group. After all, doing things with friends is a large part of the fun!
So who wants to join me?? Leave a comment if you plan to follow along, either making the quilt – or virtually in your head!!
I just got the best news ever! My Abstract Garden line is shipping a little early and should be here soon! To celebrate, for this weekend only, you can use the code BLACKFRIDAY to get 10% off your preorder of any of the yardage. As soon as it arrives on my doorstep I’ll cut it and get it out the door to you, while supplies last.
Christa Quilts 