Christa’s Quilt Along – Abacus Week 1: Fusing and Cutting

September 24, 2014August 13, 201512 Comments

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Abacus

Welcome to my Fall 2014 Quilt Along – Abacus! Join me as we make a modern applique quilt perfect for the wall, floor, or any place you’d like to add some color! My version of Abacus finishes at 32″ x 32″. Please feel free to tweak the size, colors, and fabrics to make it yourself and make it your own!

Abacus by Christa Watson, 32″ x 32″, made from Kona Solids.

At any time, you can click on the Abacus main page which will has the supply list, the quilt along schedule, and links for all the tutorials as they go live. It took me a total of 3 hours to complete this week’s lesson. This is not a race, so please, work at your own pace. 🙂

Now, let’s get started! All fabrics are based on 40″ of useable fabric width. I recommend washing and starching all fabrics prior to beginning. Wash lights and darks separately with dye magnet sheets such as Shout Color Catchers.

Step 1 – Cutting the Colored Bead Strips (1/2 hour)

1 – 5″ x 40″ strip of 4 different fabrics (solids 1-4 below)
1 – 5″ x 20″ strip of 4 different fabrics (solids 5-8 below)

Step 2 – Cutting the Background Fabric (1 hour)

From the background (grey) fabric, cut: 5 strips, 5” x 42”. Crosscut them into a total of 36 squares, 5” x 5” each. You should be able to get 8 squares per strip. These are cut oversized for now and will be trimmed down later.

Cut a total of 36 squares, 5″ x 5″ each.

Also, from the background fabric, cut 4 strips: 4 1/2” x 42.” Cut these into 7 different rectangles that will form the negative space above the abacus strips.

The measurements are 4 1/2” wide by:

4 1/2”; 8 1/2”; 12 1/2”; 16 1/2”; 20 1/2”; 24 1/2”; 28 1/2”

Cut background strips according to the diagram above.

Step 3 – Fusing and Cutting the Bead Fabrics (1 hour)

Cut 12 strips of paper backed fusible web, 4 3/4” x 15”. (You will get 3 circles per strip.)

Following the manufacturer’s instructions, adhere full and partial fusible web strips to the wrong side (back side) of your bead fabric strips.

Adhere fusible web to the back side of your “bead” fabrics.

Cover strips of fabric with fusible web:

40” of fabric strip 1;
35” of strip 2;
30” of strip 3;
25” of strip 4;
20” of strip 5;
15” of strip 6;
10” of strip 7; and
5” of strip 8.

Cut additional strips of fusible web if needed.

Cut your fusible backed fabric strips into squares approximately, 5” x 5”:

8 squares of fabric 1;
7 squares of fabric 2;
6 squares of fabric 3;
5 squares of fabric 4;
4 squares of fabric 5,
3 squares of fabric 6,
2 squares of fabric 7,
and 1 square of fabric 8.

For Die Cutting the Circles (1/2 hour):

Note, using a die cutter is super fast. If cutting the traditional way by hand, allow additional time. Run the fusible backed squares through your die cutting machine, using a 4” diameter circle die. Repeat to cut all 36 circles.

Use a 4″ diameter circle die if using a die cutter. I used the Sizzix.

Repeat to cut a total of 36 circles.

For Traditional Cutting of the Circles (Time May Vary):

Click the picture below to print off the circle template onto a piece of stiff cardstock. Or print in onto plain paper and trace it onto template plastic, cutting carefully on the line. Use a lightbox or window if needed for tracing. Be sure to print at 100% scaling and measure the diameter to ensure it is 4”.

Circle Template – be sure to click the picture, save it, and print at 100% scaling.

Trace around your circle template on the back of each fused square and cut the circles out on the line slowly and carefully, for a total of 36 fused circles.

Congratulations! You are now ready to assemble an awesome quilt from just circles and squares! Come back next week for block assembly and easy, yes easy machine applique!

Here’s a hint: choose thin blending cotton threads such as Aurifil 50 weight in colors to match your fabrics for quick and beautiful machine applique!

Something new I am adding this year is a parade of quilts! If you finish your quilts by November 10th, you can email me a picture of your quilt (along with a blog link if you have one) and I’ll feature them on my blog on November 12th.

Sharing is Caring

Please share your work in progress in my facebook group: Quilt With Christa . 🙂

I also invite you to share your progress on Instagram with the hashtag #abacusqal, or on my flickr group: Christa’s Quilt Along

Let’s share the love! Please grab a quilt along button and add it to your blog.

<div align="center"><a href="http://christasquiltalong.com" title="Christa's Quilt Along" target="_blank"><img src="https://christaquilts.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/christas-quilt-along-175-2.png" alt="Christa's Quilt Along" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Announcing My Fall 2014 Quilt Along: Abacus

September 10, 2014September 16, 201420 Comments

Ok guys, I’m super excited to bring you another fun quilt along! With my new quilting schedule, I’ve decided I can still fit in a couple of quilt alongs twice a year – one in the fall and another in the spring. As with all of my Quilt Alongs, I will post tutorials for each step of the quilt-making process from start to finish. Abacus features simple machine applique and fun machine quilting that anyone can do!

Abacus, designed in EQ7 by Christa Watson – 32″ x 32″

Below I have listed the supply list, and I’ll post the full quilt along schedule next week.

I’ve also lined up a few sponsors who are going to give away some fabulous prizes. But don’t worry – you don’t have to quilt along to enter the giveaways – they will be open to all followers of my blog. 🙂 Check back tomorrow for the first one!

I will officially launch the quilt along on Wednesday, September 24th, so that should give you plenty of time to start planning your colors and fabrics. If you’d like to help spread the word, please grab the quilt along button below and share it on your blog!

<div align="center"><a href="http://christasquiltalong.com" title="Christa's Quilt Along" target="_blank"><img src="https://christaquilts.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/christas-quilt-along-175-2.png" alt="Christa's Quilt Along" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Abacus Supply List

1 – 5″ x 40″ strip of 4 different fabrics (solids 1-4 above, blue through teal)
1 – 5″ x 20″ strip of 4 different fabrics (solids 5-8 above, burgundy to pink)
1 3/8 yard background fabric (grey above)
3/8 yard fabric for binding (I will probably use the same grey)
1 1/8 yard of fabric for backing
36″ x 36″ square of batting
Thread for machine quilting (I recommend Aurifil 50 weight cotton)
2 yards of 17″ wide light paper backed fusible web. Note: you can use (9) – 9″ x 11″ sheets instead, but there will be a lot of waste.
Sharp Scissors for cutting through paper and fabric
Optional: 4″ circle die cutter (only if you have one – otherwise you will trace and cut out the circles by hand)

Fabrics and Threads Used

Because I know some of you are going to ask, these are the Kona Solids fabrics and Aurifil 50 weight cotton threads I will be working with (going left to right from blue to pink):

Kona Solid 1243 Navy; Aurifil #2785
Kona Solid 1376 Turquoise; Aurifil #2810
Kona Solid 1010 Baby Blue; Aurifil #5007
Kona Solid 1183 Jade Green, Aurifil #4093
Kona Solid 1016 Berry, Aurifil #4030
Kona Solid 1066 Cerise, Aurifil #2535
Kona Solid 24 Petunia, Aurifil #2560
Kona solid 1295 Pomegranate #Aurifil #1100
And the grey background is Kona Solid 1223 Medium grey, with Aurifil #2610

Who’s ready to have some fun?

Blogger’s Quilt Fest Entry – Modern Trees (Home Machine Quilted)

May 16, 2014May 16, 201439 Comments

I’m excited to share another entry into the online Blogger’s Quilt Festival. It’s called Modern Trees. I finished it in December of 2013, and I’ve entered it into the Home Machine Quilted category.

You can view my other entry here.

Modern Trees, 43″ x 50″ by Christa Watson, Home Machine Quilted

Modern Trees was made as one of my free quilt alongs and you can still access all of the tutorials to make your own version of this quilt here.

Because I love to encourage and teach others how to free-motion quilt on their home machines, I’ll tell you a little bit more about the machine quilting on this quilt.

I think free-motion quilting on a domestic machine is super fun and relaxing!

I knew that I wanted to evoke the feeling of snow, but wanted to mix up the background quilting to make it a little more modern. I usually have better results if I plan out my quilting first. Rather than sticking with one motif, I roughly divided the quilt into 3 sections as shown in my diagram below:

The swirls in the top section represent the sky full of billowing clouds ready to burst! The middle section shows snowflakes and snow clusters gently falling to the ground; and the bottom section evokes snowdrifts piling up on the ground. I also decided to throw in a few words just for a touch of holiday whimsy – it’s fun to doodle!

I don’t always stick exactly to the plan, but sketching out my quilting designs gives me a rough guideline to follow.

As you can see, I used a washable blue marker to write the words, and to draw the larger snowflakes and the star. I quilted the rest of it without marking, adding lots of yummy texture and varying the size of the motifs for interest.

Quilting the swirls was definitely my favorite part – they are so fun and forgiving! It’s interesting to see how much “poof” is created when quilting so densely.

Another fun part of any quilt is picking out matching threads for each section. After a couple of years of trial and error and testing on numerous quilts, Aurifil has become my go-to thread for piecing and quilting.

I like to match my threads as closely as possible so you see the texture of the quilting rather than the thread. 🙂 I tried to quilt each tree with a different motif to “decorate” it.

Here’s a closeup of the quilting after the blue marks have been removed – so yummy! (Forgive the lighting – this was taken before I got better lighting in my sewing room!)

And one more, just for fun… (with more bad lighting….)

The quilting on this piece actually went very quickly. It took a total of 13 hours and I only worked on it for a couple of hours a day. I think that’s a reasonable amount of time, considering the density of the quilting and customization of the designs. Can’t you just imagine how tactile all this texture feels?

If you like Modern Trees, you can vote for it in the Home Machine Quilted category, starting May 23rd. Entries will appear randomly each time, so you may need to scroll through to find the picture of Modern Trees.

You can also click here to get all the free tutorials to make your own version! 🙂

Modern Trees by Christa Watson 43″ x 50″

Thanks for stopping by!

Project Linus Charity Drive and Free Quilt Tutorials

April 29, 2014April 28, 20149 Comments

I’d like to help spread the word about the the Project Linus Charity Drive being coordinated by Fave Quilts and Leisure Arts. They are requesting quilts and blankets to be donated to the Chicago, Illinois chapter of Project Linus.

If you are able to send in a quilt or blanket, they are giving away some pretty nice prize packs sponsored by Leisure Arts books. The drive runs through June 23rd, 2014. For complete details and where to send, please click here.

Fave Quilts has been very supportive of my efforts to share my love of quilting with as many people as possible. They routinely feature my free quilt alongs on their website, along with hundreds (possibly thousands) of other free patterns and tutorials. You can check out my profile here and literally spend hours on their site, combing through all the inspiration!

Baby Bricks Quilts by Christa Watson

For the charity drive, I’m sending them the Baby Boy Blue version of my Baby Bricks quilts shown above. I made two versions of Baby Bricks to illustrate how different a pattern can look, depending on the fabrics. I knew I wanted to donate them both, and I was able to give away the pink version to a brand new mom earlier this year. However, I held onto the blue one until just the right opportunity came along. Now I’m glad it’s going to the right place! 🙂

Here’s a full shot of just the blue version:

As you can see, I added more straight line quilting to the original quilt. Here’s a closeup so that you can see that straight lines don’t need to be perfectly straight or evenly spaced! The trick is to add enough lines so that your eye takes in the overall effect of the added texture.

When I quilted this quilt, I marked all of the original straight lines, about 2″ apart. Then I filled in the rows of quilting between the lines using the edge of my foot as a guide. It’s totally not perfect, but I love it and hope it will go to a good home. 🙂

Click here to get the free tutorials for Baby Bricks and whip up your own version for someone you love, or for someone in need!

And remember, pieced quilt backs are a great place to use up all those leftovers, whether they match perfectly or not. 🙂

I love the yummy crinkly texture all that straight line quilting provides!

Hugs ‘n Kisses Quilt Along (Reprise)

January 11, 2014July 1, 201510 Comments

Are you in the mood to create a sweet quilt for that special someone in time for Valentine’s Day? Then how about making my Hugs ‘N Kisses quilt? Just pick up a Jelly Roll of your favorite fabric line and some background fabric and you are good to go!

Since I don’t have any new quilt alongs scheduled for the next few months, I thought I would share this one with you. I’ve had so many new followers join my blog since last year (lots of hugs and thanks to you all!), that many are seeing this quilt for the first time.

Hugs ‘n Kisses Quilt Along by Christa Watson

Hugs and Kisses is an updated version of a previous quilt from 12+ years ago. I made the original quilt in spicy reds, oranges and yellows for my husband who is hot stuff! The newer version in soft pretty pinks (with all x blocks) was made for my sweet daughter.

Hugs ‘n Kisses by Christa Watson

Hugs ‘N Kisses Stats:

Finished Size: 48″ x 64″
Completed: April 2013
Pieced and Quilted: on my Bernina 1630
Fabrics: BasicGrey Kissing Booth and Kona Snow Jelly Rolls (plus scraps)
Piecing Thread: Superior Masterpiece, 50wt Cotton
Quilting Thread: Glide High Sheen Polyester, Cream
Batting: Legacy 100% Wool
Quilting Design: FMQ Flowers in the O’s with Serpentine Lines Quilted Across the X’s with a Walking Foot
Binding: By Hand
Total Sewing Time: 47 Hours

Quilt Along Tutorials – Click the Links Below for Each Step:

FMQ Flowers

Step 1 – Supply List
Step 2 – Fabric and Design
Step 3 – Making the Blocks
Step 4 – Sewing X’s and O’s
Step 5 – Finishing the Top
Step 6 – Piecing the Back
Step 7 – Pin Basting
Step 8 – Stitch in the Ditch
Step 9 – Decorative FMQ
Step 10 – Extra Quilting
Step 11 – Binding

Click here for an EQ7 download of this pattern.

More Modern Trees Finishes

December 18, 2013December 16, 201316 Comments

I just had to share a few more of my followers’ Modern Trees quilt along finishes and some detailed pictures of the quilting. The pictures below were all shared from my flickr group so be sure to hop on over there to see more!

Quilting Detail from NevaCanSew – Fabulous!

EllasCottage Finish – Love that background fabric!

Grammie Q’s finish – so pretty in pink!

JosiesSecret quilting detail – just stunning!

Gooses Bags and Gifts – way to make it “sew” unique!

By the way my MIL was so taken with my version that she’s asked me to make another one just for her. At first I thought I would try to finish it in time for Christmas this year, but on better reflection decided I’d better wait until next year.

So if you are just finding my modern trees tutorial and are inspired to make one of your own but have run out of holiday sewing time, it will still be there for you when you are ready to start!

New Block of the Month for 2014 – For the Love of Sewing

December 10, 2013December 5, 201310 Comments

Since I’m not planning any new quilt alongs for 2014, I thought it would be fun to share what my friends are doing instead! Alyssa from Pile O’ Fabric is hosting a fabulous new quilt along, “For the Love of Sewing” consisting of 15 blocks, finishing at 52″ x 56″.

I participated in Alyssa’s 2013 skillbuilder quilt along which was just fantastic! She covered many of the basics including piecing and quilting and it was a great chance to practice piecing modern blocks. Here are some of the blocks I made for the 2013 BOM:

And here are a couple of my quilted blocks from earlier in the year. Doesn’t this look fun?

Alyssa’s BOM’s are incredibly thorough and detailed. She’ll walk you through step by step on how to piece and quilt each block using quilt-as-you-go methods. New for this year, she’s set up an online “sewing room” platform consisting of video tutorials, downloadable PDFs and all the instruction you need to make this fabulous quilt.

She’s charging a nominal fee of $25 for the entire year which means you’ll have exclusive access to each monthly step! It’s quite a deal if I may say so myself. 🙂

Click here to join the fun and get ready for a terrific new quilt in 2014!

Machine Quilting Inspiration

November 13, 2013November 12, 201313 Comments

I love scheduling two weeks in between quilt along tutorials. That gives everyone time to work at their own pace. It also gives me a chance to highlight a few of the WIP’s that everyone is sharing on flickr and on their blogs.

Susan N – Desertsky Quilting

Today I especially wanted to give a shout out to a few gals who have already begun machine quilting their quilts. I’ll start off with Susan from Desertsky Quilting. She whipped up 4 blocks into this cute quickie table runner. She stitched a simple outline around her trees which shows up wonderfully on the back in the photo below:

Susan’s Quilting Detail

I love Susan’s can-do attitude with her quilt. She said, “The walking foot really helped me, and I don’t know if I’ll go beyond straight lines and wavy lines with that, but it was fun, and I loved how easy it was!” It tickles me when quilters like Susan realize that you really can add extra dimension to your quilts, even with simple quilting!

She made my day with her sweet comments when she said, “Your encouragement gave me the confidence I needed and I loved every minute of it. The quilting is my favorite part.” Me, too, Susan!!

Katie’s Straight Line Quilting

Katie A. did a fantastic job straight-line quilting this adorable baby quilt made from leftover blocks. Don’t you just love the texture her quilting adds? Fantastic!

Mara C’s Swirls

I adore the quilting that Mara (aka Simon Says Sew) is adding to the background of her trees. It looks like a blustery day in the forest, blowing up piles of snow drifts! I think Mara’s made at least 4 different Modern Tress so far. Can we say teacher’s pet? 🙂

Anne J. Loops and Swirls Quilting

Look at those fun loops and swirls that Anne J. has added to her background! Isn’t it great? She’s going for swirling snow and scattered snowflakes. I love it!

There are many more beautiful quilts that everyone is sharing. The fabric choices and color combinations are simply amazing. You can see more fabulous pics here on my flickr group.

My hope with this quilt along is that you will not be afraid to jump in and give machine quilting a try. (And don’t worry – if machine quilting’s not your thing you can still play with us and sew along!)

Background Quilting for Christa’s Modern Trees

Here’s a sneak peek of my FMQ progress. I’ll give some more in-depth tutorials on background fillers when I finish quilting Modern Trees next week!

Bar Graphs Pieced Backing Tutorial

November 4, 2013July 1, 201519 Comments

Bar Graphs is the name I gave to the design of the pieced back I made for Colorful Chevrons. I like my backs to be just as fun and colorful as the original quilt, and many times they end up being even more modern than the fronts!

Strips of Color Backing by Christa Watson

I really like the chunky “bars and graphs” look to this design, so I thought I would share a tutorial with you on how I pieced this backing. After all, it could stand on it’s own as an independent quilt design.

Bar Graphs 72″ x 88″

I started off with some basic measurements. Since my finished quilt size is approximately 64″ x 80″, I needed my backing to measure at least 4 inches larger on each side so that there would be “wiggle room” around the entire perimeter.

I also wanted to make sure that whatever design I chose would look okay once the top, bottom and sides were trimmed up. I designed the backing to be 72″ x 88″ with plenty of blank space on the top and bottom strips for trimming.

I started by sketching long colorful strips in a stair step design, filling in with dark blue solid for the negative space.

I used leftover Michael Miller Cotton Couture solids from the front of the quilt along with more of the dark navy.

The backing is basically a horizontal strippy quilt sewn together in rows. A list of yardage requirement and cutting dimensions are shown below:

Dark Blue Fabric – Approximately 4.5 yards. Cut (18) 8.5″ x 42″ strips. Piece them together to create the lengths shown in the above diagram

Colored Scraps – Approximately 1/4 yard of 9 different fabrics. Trim each piece to the lengths shown above. In some cases you can use a fat quarter where the pieces measure less than 22″ in length.

Bar Graphs Pieced Together – Ready to Baste!

Join together the rectangles with 1/4″ seams to create each strip. Then join the strips to create the backing (or new quilt top). I prefer to press my seams open and I starch the whole piece when sewn together. This is especially helpful if you are making a pieced backing. It will help the quilt glide more smoothly under the machine.

When I basted my quilt, I was careful to line up the strips as straight as I could. I knew that a lot of the blue would be trimmed up from the top and bottom strips and I’m pleased with how it turned out. I used the same dark navy for the binding as well.

Here are pictures of the finished quilt, both front and back:

Click here for detailed shots of the quilting and more about the front.

Whether you use it for the back or front of your quilt, please share pictures of your progress on my flickr group: Christa’s Quilt Along. Remember, you can make it yourself and make it your own. 🙂

I hope you enjoy making Bar Graphs. Click here for the EQ7 download and play around with different colorings, layouts and sizes.

More Modern Trees Inspiration

October 30, 2013October 29, 20136 Comments

While we are in between tutorials for my Modern Trees Quilt Along, I thought I would share some more fabulous WIP’s from Flickr. I’m very pleased to see how everyone’s really taking my pattern and making it their own. That makes me happy. 🙂

Mara C. (aka Simon Says Sew on flikr) is working on several versions including the two below. I love how she added a cute tree fabric for borders and made a table runner with some leftover blocks from another version.

Mara’s Modern Trees

Mara’s Table Runner

I love how desertskyquilts used a green background for her trees rather than cream. You can personalize this design however you like!

Use any background color you like! From desertskyquilts on flickr.

Carolyn (aka sweetboaterchick) chose a completely different layout, offsetting her rows of trees. Isn’t it fantastic?

Carolyn’s Sweet Trees

And who says they all have to line up? Make a forest of trees if you like, just like A. G. Lindsay did. (I was hoping someone would choose this layout!)

A.G. Lindays’ Layout

Want to make it bigger than my sample? Just add more rows and borders like Jody K. from New Jersey did.

Make it bigger with more rows and borders. Made by Jody K.

Or add a touch of whimsy with fun pieced borders, like Lindsey from Inspiring Creations.

Pieced borders by Lindsey.

I’m telling you, this is just a drop in the bucket of all the awesomeness that is being shared in my quilt along flickr group. Join the fun by posting your QAL WIP’s (say what?) or browse everyone else’s for some virtual inspiration. It’s never to late to start this project on your own schedule, sewing at your own pace.

I’ve started quilting my trees and can’t wait to share the machine quilting process with you next week! Yes, you really can quilt your own quilts. 🙂

Click here for the complete quilt along schedule for Modern Trees.