I Won a Viewers’ Choice Award – Thank You All So Much For Your Support!

June 2, 201330 Comments

I just found out the great news – my Charming Chevrons quilt won one of the viewer’s choice prizes from the Blogger’s Quit Festival for Spring 2013. Click below to enlarge:

Viewer’s Choice – Charming Chevrons

Charming Chevrons Backing

This is beyond surreal! Words cannot begin to express the appreciation I feel not only for all those who liked my quilt enough to vote for it, but the generous sponsors, Amy Ellis for organizing the event, and the hundreds of other fabulous bloggers who participated.

Viewer’s Choice – Together in a Friendship World
By Geta from Romania

There were a total of 3 viewer’s choice winners (out of nearly 700 total entries!) with some fabulous prizes. I won a $100 Gift Certificate to Shop Martingale! Just in time, too, as I need to stock up on some quilt books that are on my list!

Geta from Romania won a $75 gift certificate to Fat Quarter Shop for her gorgeous 3-D looking quilt above, Together in a Friendship World. Fabulous, indeed!

Viewers Choice
Daisy a Day by Di from Snippets ‘n Scraps

And Di who blogs at Snippets ‘n Scraps won a Stash Pack of hand-dyed fabrics from Vicki Welsh and a large pack of Mystyfuse. Isn’t her photography lovely, too?

Of course there were a total of 15 other winners who also won fabulous prizes from a variety of generous sponsors. You can see pictures of all of the winning quilts here.

I’m sending out virtual hugs to all who entered and all who were inspired by such lovely quilts!

Las Vegas Modern Quilt Guild Meeting – May 2013

May 31, 2013May 31, 20137 Comments

Last night I attended a meeting of the Las Vegas Modern Quilt Guild. I joined in February, as soon as I returned home from QuiltCon and was inspired to find my local group of modern quilters. I’m sure glad I did, because even though it’s a small group, they have quite a bit of fun! (You can read my previous blog entry about them here.)

Las Vegas Modern Quilt Guild

To start off the evening we worked on a couple of charity projects. There’s a program called Reading for Rover which pairs up kids who need extra reading practice with a cuddly pup to read to. They sit on a quilt at a local library together for some quality reading and pet time.

Regina and Christa sewing a charity quilt top.

Here’s one of the member’s finished quilts that she made to donate to the cause. Isn’t it the cutest?

Reading for Rover Quilt

Another ongoing project the group is doing is making these adorable “Plus X” blocks which will be donated as a raffle quilt to the Candlelighter’s association. I took home a few extra block kits to work on myself. I love these colors! Patti, the organizer, found a wonderful pieced block tutorial from Amy Badskirt’s blog here.

Japanese Plus X Blocks

The group is also participating in a mug rug swap with the Fort Worth Modern Quilt Guild. Here are a few of our completed mug rugs. It will be fun to see what we receive in return!

Mug Rug Swap

Part of every meeting features fantastic show and tell. Sandy shared a colorful Jelly Roll quilt she made.

Jelly Roll Quilt Front

I like the backing just as much as the front. The quilting adds such great texture!

Jelly Roll Quilt Back

I met Nichol for the first time as she debuted this extra large colorful star quilt that she’s going to quilt on her long-arm. As we chatted, we found out that we are close in age and have a couple of boys the same age, too! (Minus the baby so she’s ahead of me there!!)

Nichol’s Star Top

I also met Carolina who’s recently joined the Art Gallery fat quarter gang (can we say – jealous)! She has a “squishable fabric blocks” tutorial up on the Art Gallery Blog that is terrific. I also love her Urban Sprawl quilt she’s working on right now:

Carolina’s Quilt

Here are a couple of other beauties that were shown last night. I love how everyone tried to hide behind their quilts for photos. 🙂 Now I better get crackin’ so I’ll have something to share for show and tell next month!

Hope and Strength back – I missed the front!

Patti’s Baby Girl Quilt

Pink and Black Rag Quilt

There were a few more lovelies that I missed getting pictures of, but the gals in charge will be sure to post more photos on the Las Vegas Modern Quilt Guild Blog.

Charming Chevrons Nominated for Viewer’s Choice – Please Vote

May 29, 2013May 30, 20138 Comments

I just found out Charming Chevrons was nominated for viewer’s choice for the Blogger’s Quilt Festival!

Out of 670 entries, only 24 were selected as viewer’s choice finalists and voting ends May 30th!

You can vote for Viewer’s Choice here.

I am beyond excited for this unexpected honor.

Just entering was thrilling enough and all of the kind words from those who have participated so far have really given me a boost of confidence!

There are a total of 15 different categories in the festival and there will be a winner from each category along with 3 overall viewer’s choice winners.

You can also vote for both of my quilts in their respective categories here:

Charming Chevrons #7 in the Home Machine Category

Roses for Katelyn #3 in the Applique Category

Thanks to all of those that have voted so far. It’s been such a blast to participate myself and see all of the gorgeous inspiring quilts!

Kate Spain Blog Hop Starts June 3 – With Prizes

May 27, 2013May 22, 20139 Comments

Save the date: join me and fellow bloggers on a Kate Spain Blog Hop tour starting next Monday, June 3rd.

Hosted by Alyce of Blossom Heart Quilts, the hop will feature interviews with Kate Spain, inspiring projects from fellow blog hoppers, giveaway prizes, and a chance to link up past or current Kate Spain projects. Did I mention prizes?

For those that participate, you can win prizes for sharing previous projects made using Kate Spain fabric, or quilts worked on during the hop.

Jolly Jelly Roll Kit – In From the Cold

Here’s the project that I will work on during the hop. It’s my Jolly Jelly Roll quilt along pattern redone in Kate Spain’s In From the Cold line. Kits are available here.

Did I mention prizes, LOL?? As an added bonus, I will be giving away one of these kits during my stop on the blog hop tour so be sure to come back and visit me on my blog hop day. 🙂

Here is the tentative blog hop schedule, subject to change:

Monday June 3rd – Interview with Kate Spain at Blossom Heart Quilts
Tuesday June 4th – Jane at QuiltJane
Wednesday June 5th – Christa at Christa Quilts
Thursday June 6th – Kimberly at Fat Quarter Shop
Friday June 7th – Laura at Quokka Quilts

Monday June 10th – Chrissy at Sew Lux
Tuesday June 11th – Lynne at Lily’s Quilts
Wednesday June 12th – Julie at The Intrepid Thread
Thursday June 13th – Kristy at Quiet Play
Friday June 14th – Link up your favourite Kate Spain project!

Monday June 17th – Gemma at Pretty Bobbins
Tuesday June 18th – Heidi at Fabric Mutt
Wednesday June 19th – Melissa at Ms Midge
Thursday June 20th – Jess at The Elven Garden
Friday June 21st – Janice at Better Off Thread

Monday June 24th – Diane at From Blank Pages…
Tuesday June 25th – Alyce at Blossom Heart Quilts
Wednesday June 26th – Kara at Me And Elna
Thursday June 27th – Readers’ Q&A with Kate Spain at Blossom Heart Quilts
Friday June 28th – Link up your blog hop projects!

Blogger’s Quilt Festival – Vote Now Through May 30, 2013

May 24, 2013May 22, 20138 Comments

Have you had a chance to visit the Blogger’s Quilt Festival yet?

Hosted by Amy Ellis of Amy’s Creative Side, it’s a semi-annual celebration of blogging and quilting.

Here are my two entries, Charming Chevrons and Roses for Katelyn.

I’ve already blogged about each one separately and they are entered into the Home Machine Quilted category and the Applique category, respectively. You can click the underlined links to vote for each one.

In fact, you can vote for your favorite quilts in a total of 15 different categories. Not only can the bloggers who entered win prizes, those who participate and leave comments during the festival can win prizes as well, so it’s a win-win!

But prizes aside, the best reason for participating is viewing all of the wonderful quilts and reading the stories behind the quilts. I’m off to vote!

Laura Wasilowski Workshops and a Craftsy Class Discount

May 21, 2013May 21, 201312 Comments

I had the pleasure of meeting quilt artist Laura Wasilowski this weekend. She came to teach a couple of workshops on applique for one of the quilting guilds I belong to, Desert Quilters of Nevada.

Christa and Laura Wasilowski During Class

Let me tell you, she was extremely entertaining. She told us her story of how she got into quilting and gave us the history of how she founded her “infamous” Chicago School of Fusing, complete with song and dance, literally!

Those who attended the workshops got to have a “graduation ceremony” where we ll became “iron – maidens” (get it??)

Fowl Play – Birds Wiith No Egrets Workshop

On Friday, we used one of her bird patterns to create a pictorial scene. Each of the students created a unique piece of art as we learned her methods of fusing and selecting designs.

On Saturday, Laura taught us how to combine shapes and free-form drawing to create our own zen-like quilts. This was definitely appealing to me and I’m going to try to develop a larger applique quilt based upon my fabric sketch I made.

My Zen-Doodle Quilt – “Modern Art”

Laura was so pleasant to be around and very inspiring with her encouraging attitude. She even gave me a special Craftsy offer to share with those of you who are interested in taking the online version of her workshop. Use this link to sign up for Hand-Stitched Collage Quilts and get 50% off the class registration fee. How cool is that??

Here are a few of the beautiful pieces from the rest of the class:

Artwork on Display

Like many class projects, these will probably sit around as UFO’s for awhile, but the hours of classes this weekend were definitely time well spent!

Yvonne’s Aztec Piece

Cactus Doodle

Blogger’s Quilt Festival Spring 2013 – Roses for Katelyn

May 17, 2013May 17, 201313 Comments

I am entering my quilt, Roses for Katelyn, into the bloggers’ quilt festival this spring. I was excited to read that you can enter two categories! (See my other entry here.)

Roses for Katelyn was completely made by me and it measures 36″ x 43″. I used soft edge applique techniques and machine quilted it on my old Bernina 1630.

I am entering it into the applique quilt category and would love your vote!

This is my first time entering something into the festival but after reading more about it in the latest issue of Modern Patchwork magazine I decided to give it a try.

This quilt is very special to me because I made it for my brand-new niece Katelyn.

Roses for Katelyn

My older sister and I have always been very close. When I had children she was such a terrific aunt and I felt so sad for her when she was not able to have children. After several years of trying she finally adopted her first baby boy, who’s now almost 8!

Ethan’s Alphabet Applique

Jacob’s Monkeys

Then she adopted her second sweet son who’s nearly two. Finally, she adopted her little girl just two months ago. I’ve made quilts for all of 3 them and it makes me very happy to visit and watch these little quilts get used and loved. 🙂

Original Quilting Plan

I blogged about Roses for Katelyn as I was making it, so I was able to show a lot of the in-progress work while I appliqued the blocks and decided how to machine quilt it. You can read the last blog entry here which gives links to all of the previous WIP posts.

Actual Quilting

I loved every stitch that went into this quilt and I’m especially pleased that both mom and baby are happy with the quilt and are doing well. 🙂

Roses for Katelyn, by Christa Watson

Blogger’s Quilt Festival hosted by Amy Ellis

May 17 – 24 – Linkys Open & Nominate for Viewer’s Choice

May 24 – 30 – Vote for favorites in each of the categories

May 31 – Winners announced

Blogger’s Quilt Festival Spring 2013 – Charming Chevrons

May 17, 2013October 16, 201340 Comments

Welcome to anyone visiting from the bloggers’ quilt festival this spring! My name is Christa and I’m excited to be a part of this fantastic shin-dig! 🙂

I am entering my quilt, Charming Chevrons, into the home machine quilted category and I would love to have your vote! (You can see my other entry here.)

Charming Chevrons 46″ x 54″
Machine pieced and quilted by Christa Watson

It measures 46″ x 54″ and was pieced and quilted by me on my Bernina 1630. I used a double batting of wool and cotton which helps it hang straight and adds a lot of body to the quilt (though it was a little tough to quilt through!)

Marking the Straight Lines

Quilted Chevron Block

Charming Chevrons was my first “crossover quilt” which got me knee-deep into modern quilting and designing less than a year ago (although I have been a quilter for nearly 18 years).

When I started Charming Chevrons I’d just barely heard of the modern quilt movement and was wanting to go a little bolder with my quilts. I had just designed this quilt for one of my quilt alongs and it has led to some really great things.

Machine Quilting

Since finishing, Charming Chevrons was juried into QuiltCon, received a 2nd place ribbon at my local quild’s quilt show, and inspired me to submit a design idea to a quilting magazine. I’m also going to teach a class on it for my guild’s retreat this fall. I love this little throw!

It took me 5 hours to quilt all of the straight lines in this quilt and nearly 23 more hours to quilt all the pebbles. But you know what – I loved every single minute of it! For me, machine quilting is my zen. I can discard the cares of the world and really get into the rhythm of the stitching, creating wonderful texture on fabric with just thread and the machine.

Charming Chevrons Back

I especially like the back of the quilt. I love how the expansive negative space really showcases all of the colorful quilting. I even considered entering the back side as the main part of the quilt, LOL!

No matter what happens with my sewing in the future, I know that modern quilting will now be a huge part of it!

Charming Chevrons
Desert Quilts of Nevada Quilt Show

Blogger’s Quilt Festival hosted by Amy Ellis

May 17 – 24 – Linkys Open & Nominate for Viewer’s Choice

May 24 – 30 – Vote for favorites in each of the categories

May 31 – Winners announced

Updated – 6/2/13 Thanks so much to everyone for your votes.

It was such an honor to receive a Viewer’s Choice Award for this quilt!

HMQS 2013 Part 3 – More Amazing Quilts

May 14, 2013September 5, 201518 Comments

I still can’t get over how wonderful and beautiful the quilts from the Home Machine Quilting Show (HMQS) were. You can see pictures from Part 1 and Part 2, and today will be my final round of pictures. Enjoy the show!

Dancing Stars by Kimberly Loar
Judges Choice, Quilting Treasures Challenge

Rain Dance by Ann Horton, Redwood Valley, California
Honorable Mention, Embroidery

Riley Blake Fabric Challenge #15
by The Midnight Quilters, Heber, Utah, 2nd Place

Fairy Dust by Judy Woodworth
Gering, NE, Mixed Technique

Fire in the Sky by Alice Kay Arnett and Sherry Reynolds, Laramie WY
2nd Place, Novelty Custom

Fettucci Sunrise by Corinna J. Weir
Salt Lake City, Utah, Theme Category

Elsa’s Knot by Ann Helbling and Clem Buzick, North Dakota
2nd Place, Traditional Custom

Mermaid Dreams by Shelli Ricci, Dee Levgold, Mary Reinhardt, and Page Johnson, TN
3rd Place, Art Innovative

Bell Star by Jo Ann Blade and Kim Diamond, Sedro Woolley, WA
Teacher’s Choice, Computerized Quilting

Me and My Shadow by Gail Stepanek and Ronda K. Beyer
3rd Place, Traditional Custom

Shimmering Symphony by Karlee Porter, Clearfield, Utah
3rd Place, Utah’s Own

Young Women’s Values by Ann Seely, Taylorsville, Utah
1st Place, Utah’s Own

These are simply breathtaking and are only a fraction of the hundreds of beautiful quilts on display. My daughter’s favorites were the mermaid and the seahorse so I included those especially for her. 🙂

HMQS 2013 Part 2 – Modern Quilts

May 13, 2013June 5, 201321 Comments

I was very pleased to see a nice showing of modern quilts at HMQS so I decided to share with you a few of my personal favorites. Most were either part of the QuiltCon exhibit, the Salt Lake City modern quilt guild, or part of the HMQS modern category. A few were entered into some of the other categories, but I still think they had a modern flair.

Click here for part 1 of my HMQS wrap up. I’ll post more amazing quilts tomorrow.