Can you guess that teaching live, in person workshops is my favorite thing to do? For this week’s video, I’m excited to share my 2024 travel agenda with you! I’ll be heading to some bigger quilt shows like QuiltCon, Paducah, and Pacific International Quilt Festival. Plus I will be headlining a few regional events like a really fun Stitchin’ Heaven retreat along with several shops and guilds around the country. I can’t wait!
Please let me know if you’ll be at any of my events mentioned above. It sure is fun to meet and chat with quilty friends in real life! And don’t forget to grab my books to use as your textbook during class. Each workshop will list the specific book and supplies needed, but of course I highly recommend the entire set, LOL!
I was recently checking out my Etsy shop stats and blown away by how many people love the ease and convenience of PDF downloadable patterns. For the record, I offer my patterns in both print and digital downloads. But the nice thing about the PDF versions is that I can continue to offer them, long after the printed versions have sold out.
These are some of my older patterns that are now out of print, as well as a couple of them that haven’t gotten as much love as some of the others. So add these to your bucket list and get started right away!
Bonus Machine Quilting Video Tutorial Featuring Churn Dash Slide
If you haven’t seen it yet, you can watch my tutorial showing how I made my Churn Dash Slide quilt, which is one of the patterns currently on sale. Even if you don’t make the quilt, you can apply the basting, quilting and binding tips to any quilt in your UFO pile! Click below to watch:
First of all, thanks to all of you who chimed in about which quilt along you wanted me to host next. It was close, but Ticker Tape just barely edged out Color Weave. But not to worry, for those of you who voted for Color Weave, scroll to the end of this post. You won’t be disappointed! Take a sneak peek of the Ticker Tape quilt pattern by clicking play below:
So here’s how it’s going to work. Each week, starting on February 6th here on my blog, I’ll share which steps of the quilt you can work on, in order to complete the entire quilt over 6 weeks. You’ll need a copy of the Ticker Tape quilt pattern to follow along, but the quilt along itself is absolutely free! Below is a general overview of the timeline, but remember – you can always work at your own pace!
If you’d like to choose your own fabrics, that’s great too. You’ll just need one standard sized strip roll (40 strips, 2 1/2″ x 42″) plus background fabric to make the double sized quilt shown on the pattern cover.
I actually made a smaller version of this quilt with the dark navy background, and will be making the larger size with the turquoise background along with everyone else. I can’t wait!
Sharing is Caring
Let me know if you plan to quilt along! You can use the hashtag #tickertapequilt on social media, and you can also share pics of your progress and ask any questions you have in my ChristaQuilts group on Facebook.
Now is a great time to gather your supplies so you are ready to roll on Feb 6th!
Bonus Color Weave Video!
I made the original version of Color Weave from an earlier fabric line that’s no longer in print. I filmed a video at the time, so you can still successfully make this quilt any time you wish. Grab the Color Weave quilt pattern, and click below to watch:
And rest assured, I still plan to remake another version of Color Weave using Dazzle Dots, too. So if you had your heart set on making this quilt you still can. I’ll probably start on it after I finish making Ticker Tape, and I’ll still plan to make another video when I do!
Fun fact: whenever I design a quilt made from precuts, I always make sure it works to pull out one of the colors, just in case you want to use that same fabric for background. For me, designing quilts is (almost) as much fun as making them!
I love seeing how the same design looks in different colorways, don’t you? If you make this one, be sure to share pics with me as I love seeing your progress. You can share using #streamersquilt on social media, or post your pics and questions over in my ChristaQuilts group on Facebook.
I love traveling the world and teaching my machine quilting techniques. I have gigs coming up this year from coast to coast and I can’t wait. But for those of you who can’t come see me in person, QuiltCon is offering something new this year. You can purchase a virtual lecture pass to see them all! Even if you *are* attending in person, this is something you won’t want to miss, especially if you are in class during any of the lectures.
Streaming Lecture presales close on February 15, 2024.
You have until March 4th to watch the replays
My in-person workshops sold out the day that registration opened, but I’m also giving 2 live lectures. So if you are going to be attending, be sure to catch those. The auditoriums are large and can accommodate hundreds of attendees so they don’t usually sell out.
If you do plan to attend in person, please let me know. I won’t be having a booth this year, but I plan to do special events in some of the vendors booths, so that should be fun. I hope to see you there in person, or online!
I’m really excited about quilting this year. It’s the first year in awhile that I actually sat down and made some goals for what I want to accomplish in quilting *and* in my business. In my personal quilting I want to push the boundaries more when it comes to modern quilting, and be okay with creating original quilts that don’t need to be patternable. These will be just for fun and will give me more permission to play. I’ve already started creating some improv pieces that have no rhyme or reason to them and it has been very joyful thus far.
Improv color blocks made from scraps of my fabric collections over the last few years.
In my business I want to be a bit more organized. I’ve had ideas for big projects I’ve wanted to execute for *years* and this is finally the year to do it! For starters, I’m committing to creating and sharing new YouTube videos each and every week.
Would you believe I have hours and hours of raw video that’s just waiting to be edited? So starting next week, I’ll be releasing a machine quilting video for each and every quilt that I made from my new Dazzle Dots fabric. These will focus mainly on the machine quilting, with a few bonus tips thrown in just for fun!
Another big project I’m excited about is hosting another quilt along and that’s where I need your help. I put a call out on social media and wanted to drop it here on the blog, too. I’m deciding between 2 quilts I want to make: below is a recolored version of my Color Weave quilt made from Dazzle Dots. See pattern covers above for my 2nd choice of Ticker Tape.
Both are jelly-roll friendly. Leave a comment and let me know which you prefer. The one that gets the most votes will be announced on January 16, and the QAL will begin on Feb 6.
Finally, for years and years, ever since my book 99 Machine Quilting Designs came out, I’ve wanted to do a video series showing how to quilt all 99 designs in the book! My biggest stumbling block was figuring out how to manage that, but I’ve finally got a winning idea.
Starting in May (once I wrap up all of the Dazzle Dots videos I’m planning), I’ll kick off a 16-week video series going over about 5-7 designs each week. Yes, you’ll need a copy of the book to follow along, and I promise that your skills *will* improve if you practice each week. So stay tuned for more details on that front.
By the time we reach September, if I’m not too exhausted, I may even through in another quilt along to wrap up the year. I just may have some new patterns by then, along with perhaps some (cough cough) new fabric. But I’m getting ahead of myself for now. Just know that this is going to be an amazing quilty year for me and I hope it will be for you, too!
Now I want to know – what are *your* quilty goals for the new year?
I hope your holiday was fabulous and you are off to a great start this new year! To kick things off, I’m excited to announce that Dazzle Dots has now officially arrived at quilt shops around the US. For folks that can’t find it locally, I also offer it in my online shop. I created a video showing me unboxing my shipment of fabric and it was quite the fun mess to make. Be sure to take a look below:
Although this is my 9th fabric line with Benartex it’s the first time I’ve made an unboxing video. Let me know what you think and I’ll consider doing this each time I release a new group. It was a little more scrappy than my usual videos but still fun to make.
Well this fall/winter has been a busy time to say the least. I went to market and festival in October, went on vacation in November, and then promptly got sick in December. But the good thing is that I don’t teach in December so I had plenty of time to recover, LOL! (Just a bad cold, nothing serious!) Now that I’m coming up for air, I edited a fun video for you to watch. It’s all about my experiences at market and festival. It runs about 20 minutes, so feel free to click play below to watch!
Dazzle Dots is Here!!
And in case I haven’t shouted it from the rooftop yet, my new Dazzle Dots collection has arrived, whoo hoo!! You can ask for it at your local quilt shop, or get it from me.
I recently updated my free patterns page and realized I’ve written 7 – count ’em 7!! free patterns over the years to promote my fabric lines. I got organized and corralled them in one easy place for you to download below. Now here’s the catch, you’ll need to enter your email to get them but that’s only so my system can automatically send them to you with no further involvement by me. You’ll only be added to my email list once, not seven times, so no worries there, LOL!
So take a look below and snag any that you don’t already have. Some of them even come with bonus videos!! My goal is to help you with every step of the quilt making process – I just love it!
I’m so pleased to introduce you to my brand new fabric collection called Dazzle Dots from Benartex. It will be shipping to shops hopefully by the end of the year. But you can get a sneak peek of the entire line and preorder it now! Click below to see all the fun things I’m making from it!
You can get all your favorite precuts: Fat Quarters, 10″ Squares, 5″ Squares, and 2 1/2″ Strip-pies. I’m also offering 1/2 yard and full yard bundles by colorway. If there’s a particular color you just can’t get enough of, you can get it by the yard, too! Aren’t they so yummy?
I’m excited to be adding 4 new patterns to my lineup. These were super fun to make! Over the next few weeks and months I’ll be sharing more videos showing how I quilted them, so stay tuned!
Fat Quarterly Magazine – an Exclusive from Benartex!
Did you know that Benartex publishes a quarterly magazine? It features patterns to make from their current and upcoming fabric lines, plus a sample swatch pack of a new collection with each issue. I’m thrilled that Dazzle Dots will be featured in the Winter 2023 edition with my pattern “Fancy Gifts” shown below. Isn’t it cute?
One of the quilts that I’m super excited to remake is from my Color Weave quilt pattern. Originally made from an earlier fabric line, I’m planning to whip this one up early next year, but the pattern is available now. It’s made from 1 strip roll of Dazzle Dots plus the light and dark gray backgrounds.
The pattern cover features similar colors and it’s going to be so fun to make. I’ll include a video showing how I quilted it, so stay tuned!
Christa Quilts 