Time for a Giveaway – Win 8 Moda Charm Packs!

June 19, 2014June 19, 2014624 Comments

Just for some random fun – how about another giveaway? One lucky follower will win this bundle of 8 Moda Charm Packs!

8 Moda Charm Packs by Some of Your Favorite Fabric Designers

Win Them Before You Can Buy Them

The generous folks at Moda sent me a box full of charm packs from their upcoming collections so I could pick and choose fabrics for some future projects. How nice. 🙂 Now that I’ve made my selections, I have a bundle of charm packs to give away to one of you!

These are so new that they aren’t even available yet in my precut store.

Here’s How to Enter:

Leave your comment below letting me know your opinion on my weekly newsletter – would you rather receive it on Mondays or on Fridays?
If you aren’t currently a newsletter subscriber, you can join here.
Giveaway will run through the end of the day on Monday, June 23rd.
I will contact the winner via email and will post their name on my blog on Tuesday.
Giveaway is open to everyone worldwide. International winner is responsible for shipping costs.

A Bonus Instagram Giveaway, Too!

Now that I’ve joined the online community of Instagram, I’ve decided to spread the love over there, too. Just go to my feed @christaquilts for details on how to win an additional bundle over there! It’s a different set of 8 Moda charm packs. 🙂

Super Huge Clearance – Getting to the End!

June 2, 2014May 27, 20146 Comments

Hey guys, I appreciate the support you all have been giving me as I clear out all of my older ChristaQuilts fabric and gifts. We are getting close to the end here and more than half of the clearance items are now reduced to 50% off!

Palm Fan by Kaffe Fassett – such a cool print!

This weekend we just marked all remaining Amy Butler and Kaffe Fassett fabrics to 50% off and everything else is at least 30% off!

Yes, that still includes the free US shipping with reasonable international rates, too.

Buttons by Kaffe Fassett – It needs a good home!

Our plan is to shut down the old website at the end of June while we travel and attend to other things (meaning deadlines) this summer. So shop early for best selection and scoop up some super summertime savings!!

Thanks a bunch! 🙂

Fabric Friday – Shimmer and Blueprint Basics

May 30, 2014May 27, 201411 Comments

This week I’m excited to tell you about some fun new fabrics that are just arriving in the precut store!

Shimmer by Jennifer Sampou – Love it!!

First up is Shimmer by Jennifer Sampou for Robert Kaufman fabrics. Thanks to social media, I learned about this line from fellow bloggers out there, even before my sales reps showed it to me! It just goes to show how word spreads quickly online. 🙂

Shimmer – swatch layout by Jason Watson, (copyright Christa Quilts Inc. 2014)

Shimmer includes a beautiful assortment of neutrals with just a hint of sparkle. Modern geometrics are always a favorite of mine! The precut line includes a 25 piece fat quarter bundle (one of every fabric from the line), a regular size roll up (4o – 2 1/2″ strips), and precut 10″ squares. I just checked my inventory and these guys are selling out fast!

Blueprint Basics by Valori Wells – a perfect set of colors!

Next is Blueprint Basics by Valori Wells for FreeSpirit. I’ve always admired Valori Wells’ work (as well as her mother Jean Wells’ quilts, too). The tagline for the collection is, “a collection of classic modern designs in glorious colors for your adventurous creative pursuits.” I think that’s a great description, don’t you?

Blueprint Basics – swatch layout by Jason Watson, (copyright Christa Quilts Inc. 2014)

Blueprint Basics precuts include half rolls (20 – 2 1/2″ strips), ten squares (layer cakes), charm packs and fat quarter bundles. As of this writing, not all of the precuts have made it to the store warehouse quite yet, so keep an eye out for them in the next couple of days!

Our goal is to add new precuts every week! Which are your favorites?

Fabric Friday – Riley Blake Color Variety Bundles

May 9, 2014May 6, 20146 Comments

I’m super excited about the new Riley Blake color variety bundles! These are precut bundles available as fat quarters, rolie polies, layer cakes, and yardage bundles. They come in a rainbow of juicy colors with modern geometric designs.

I think my favorite bundle, shown below, is Shaded Chevrons – 15 different prints!!

Jason, the sweet man that he is, took pictures of each of the bundles and then put together group images for each set like this:

So when you go to our precut store and click on the Riley Blake variety bundles, you’ll know exactly which prints are in each set. Cool, huh?

Of course my daughter loves the pink bundle:

And you just can’t go wrong with grey!!

Click here to see all of the colors and order your favorites. Remember, it’s free shipping on all orders of $35 or more (and free 2-day shipping if you are an Amazon prime member).

Fabric Friday – Get the “Skinny” on New Kona Roll Ups and Dots!

April 18, 2014April 17, 201412 Comments

For Fabric Friday, I’m happy to feature some colorful new precuts from Robert Kaufman. I adore working with solids and was pleased to see the addition of more solid colored Jelly Roll bundles (Kaufman calls them Roll-Ups) – 2.5″ strips of all one color!

Some of the new Kona Solid Roll-Ups. Aren’t they yummy?

I stock every new color they have: Parchment, Purple, Riviera, Bahama Blue, Blue Grass, Lipstick, and Coal. Along with basics (snow, white, black, etc.), this makes for a great base of colors from which to choose!

The new colors, along with many of the previous colorways are also available in precut skinny strips (1.5″ wide) and charm packs.

Get the “skinny” on these brand new Kona solid precuts!

Along with boxes and boxes of Kona solid precuts, I also got in the latest Kaufman geometrics – an awesome assortment of dots! They are “Spot On” scrumptious.

Spot On – Primary Perfection Colorway by Robert Kaufman

Spot On comes in 6 different colorways: Dress Up, Holiday Glitz, Prep School, Primary Perfection, Shadow Play, and Summer Lovin’. Click here to see them all! Personally, I love Shadow Play (below) because I never get tired of black, white and grey. 🙂

I love the fact that Robert Kaufman is working hard to bring more and more precuts to market. It’s my somewhat lofty goal to eventually carry every precut there is. So if you see a current bundle out there that I don’t have – please leave me a comment and I’ll try to pick it up!

Fabric Friday – Featuring Riley Blake Yardage Bundles

April 4, 2014May 15, 20148 Comments

I’m really excited about today’s Fabric Friday Feature. You know, I’m still clearing out all of my bolt fabrics and notions on my ChristaQuilts website. When we made the switch to selling precuts, I thought I wouldn’t sell any more yardage, but I’m pleased to say that’s not the case!

Mod Studio yardage bundle by Riley Blake

Thanks to unique bundles put together by Riley Blake, I can now offer 1-yard cuts by collection and colorway. Click here to see them all.

Vintage Happy by Lori Holt of Bee in My Bonnet

So far, I’ve ordered all of the available Riley Blake yardage bundles and more are on their way! The bundles usually range between 6-8 yards each, from a specific collection.

Treasure Map by Lesley Grainger

Just look all of these delectable bundles! The cool thing is that each of these collections are also available as fat quarter bundles and rolie polies.

Roundup by Sandra Walker

The fat quarters and rolie polies usually include one of each piece ranging from about 18-21 in the group. The yardage bundles are divided up by colorway; so a 21 piece collection would feature three different 7-yard bundles.

Rocket Age by October Afternoon

Now I’m hoping other fabric manufacturers will follow suit!

Christa’s Soap Box: Please and Thank You – Those are Magic Words!

March 24, 2014May 15, 201410 Comments

I wanted to share several thank you’s to those of you who read my blog, support my store, and encourage and inspire me!

I’ve reached a milestone with the number of people who follow me, and I couldn’t be more pleased that so many of you enjoy reading what I have to say. I started blogging 4 years ago as a way to express my feelings about quilting and record my works in progress. Over the years, it’s grown into so much more.

When Jason and I started working together full time, our website was our focus and the blog was just an extra way to reach out to people. But now I spend more time blogging than I do selling and that’s just fine with me! Because of the support of so many of you, I’m able to spend more of my time doing what I really enjoy: writing, teaching, designing, and of course quilting.

Now here’s where the please comes in. I still have about 500 items left in my webstore that I’d like to clear out as fast as possible. It’s all on sale and we are just waiting for it to move out so we can reclaim some much needed space. So please, can you give these items a good home?

Click here to see all items on sale.

Christa knew that “she who dies with the most fabric wins” but just couldn’t help cutting into her “stash.”

We are still selling precuts and thread but have been clearing out everything else over the last several months because frankly, it’s too labor intensive to manage. There are so many other fabulous full-service quilt shops that do a wonderful job, so we’d rather support them instead!

So thank you again for being the reason I blog! Many exciting things are in the works and I’ll continue to share them with you every day, as they happen. 🙂

Fabric Friday – Featuring Fat Eighths

March 21, 2014May 15, 201434 Comments

I’m excited to bring you another version of Fabric Friday to get you inspired (and to try and encourage those of you on a fabric diet to break your fast – just kidding!!)

Sphere Fat Eighth Bundle by Zen Chic

Today I wanted to showcase bundles of “Fat Eighths.” These are like smaller versions of fat quarter bundles. Each piece measures approximately 9″ x 22″ which is half of a fat quarter.

April Showers Fat Eighth Bundle by Bonnie and Camille

Fat Eighths are very user friendly and are a little easier on the pocketbook, especially when you are looking to buy an entire line. They also make a gorgeous sewing room decoration, tied up in a pretty ribbon like that!

Sewing Box Fat Eighth Bundle by Gina Martin

Aren’t they just scrumptious? My String of Pearls quilt features fat eighths for the center squares. Just a small pop of color in the right place goes a long way!

String of Pearls by Christa Watson

Have you ever made a quilt from a fat eighth bundle? If so – tell me about it!

Fabric Friday – Moda Preview

March 7, 2014May 15, 201428 Comments

For Fabric Friday I usually like to share what’s new in my store. However, this time around I thought I’d do something a little different. I just met with my awesome Moda sales rep. this week and she showed me all the super yummy deliciousness that will be coming out over the next few months. So I thought I’d share a few sneak peaks of what we ordered.

See that mess below? This is what working from home looks like! 🙂

Sonja, my Moda sales rep., scanning orders for me as fast as I can place them!

The latest line from Pat Sloan is called One for You – One for Me and is due out in August. She’s combined prints with batiks in this fun bright combo and I’m getting all the precuts from both groups.

Here’s a better closeup. Aren’t these great?

We have a very “scientific” way of determining how many precuts to order from each line. Each group falls into 1 of 3 categories: “Good”, “Awesome” and “Super Awesome.” Jason and I think Pat’s new collection is super awesome, so we have ordered tons! Let’s hope everyone else thinks it’s super awesome, too!

Next, we decided to scoop up precuts from Momo’s latest line called Avant Garden. I love her contemporary-modern aesthetic and her medium to large scale whimsical motifs. Moda is starting to add cotton/linen blends to the mix, so we grabbed a few of those to try. The cottons and linens are both due out in July.

See those coordinating solids? Those are linens!

We ordered some of the Linen Mochi Dot fat quarters last time Sonja came to visit, and those are available for purchase now. I haven’t tried any linen in my own quilts yet, but I keep hearing great things about it!

Linen Mochi Dot fat quarters are available now. Click here to purchase.

Jason and I are now focusing exclusively on precuts and thread (while clearing out all of our older yardage, kits and notions). We are pretty much trying to carry all the precuts we can. It’s a tall order, but the process sure has been fun!

BasicGrey is out with a new selection of 20 almost-solids. We picked up a healthy amount of fat quarters, layer cakes, jelly rolls and charm packs of these beauties which should arrive next month. If these do well for Moda, they will consider making them a “basic” which means they are indefinitely restockable. Let’s keep our fingers crossed!

I ordered about half a dozen more new groups, but only managed to get a picture of a few of them seen below. We were so busy chatting, I forgot to take more pics!

Native Sun by Abi Hall, shipping in July of this year.

Lulu by Chez Moi, due out in July.

Milk Cow by Mary Jane, also coming in July.

More of the Moda precuts we ordered earlier in the year are finally listed in the store. It’s so fun to order new fabrics, but so hard to wait for them to arrive!

Two of the new groups include April Showers by Bonnie and Camille plus Vanessa Christensen’s Color Me Happy. Doesn’t fabric just make you happy?

Fabric Friday – Tonga Treats

February 7, 2014February 9, 201432 Comments

I’m excited to continue my Fabric Friday series, sharing my love of fabric with you every other week! Today I’d like to put a little spotlight on Tonga Treats – precut batiks from Timeless Treasures. I love the convenience of precuts, since most of the cutting is already done for you!

Tonga Treats come in a nice variety of precut sizes including 5×5 charm packs, which they call “Mini’s,” the standard 2.5 inch wide jelly rolls known as “Strips,” 10 inch layer cakes called “Squares,” and popular 12 piece fat quarter bundles which are simply known as “Quarters.”

The one precut I haven’t carried yet is their “6-pack” – 6″ x 44″ strips of 20 different batik fabrics. Has anyone tried these out? If so, what do you think of them? I’m considering adding them to my store if they will sell.

While some people wouldn’t consider batiks when making modern quilts, I personally think they have a lot of potential to create knockout quilts. The newer Tonga Treat Packs come with a free pattern, which I think is smart of the company to include.

Free “Shutters” Pattern Included with most Tonga Treat Fat Quarter Bundles.

Sometimes it’s hard to think of what to do with these yummy treats so it’s nice to get those creative juices flowing and whip up a quick and easy quilt without too much planning.

Timeless Treasures does a great job naming their collections with descriptive titles like Lace, Sugar, Sea Glass, Rockport, Mocha Kiss, and more. Which color scheme is your favorite?