Category: Quilt Events

It’s Quilt Market Time! My Schedule of Events for Fall 2016

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This week kicks off the “busy season” for the quilting industry. International Quilt Market, the semi-annual quilting industry trade show, will be held in Houston, Texas this coming Friday–Monday.

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Jason meeting with our Moda sales rep at Spring Market. What he ordered then is in stock now!

Jason and I will be attending together although we will have very different responsibilities. My job will be to promote my books, network with other industry professionals, and be on the lookout for future collaborations. His job is to scout out new products for The Precut Store and place orders with vendors for the next 6 months.

angela_christa_bookAngela Walters and I will be promoting our book this fall with a Live Quilting Demo!

Angela Walters and I will be reprising our role as “dueling quilters” to help promote our book, The Ultimate Guide to Machine Quilting. We’ll do two live quilting demos: on Saturday at 11 AM in the Handi Quilter booth and at 3 PM in the BERNINA booth. Angela is a spokesperson for Handi Quilter, and I’m a BERNINA ambassador, so it will be fun to each quilt on
the other company’s machines, as well as the ones we are used to!

dueling_quilters

I will also be presenting a take and teach class on Saturday morning to Shop owners, sharing with them hands on machine quilting demos that they can use when teaching from my first book, Machine Quilting with Style. The class is full (which makes me super happy!) but there are plenty of classes taught by others that you can sign up for if you plan to attend.

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Angela and Christa at Schoolhouse, Spring 2016 Quilt Market

Quilt Market officially opens to buyers on Saturday, but the day before is spent in “Schoolhouse” – a series of 15-30 minute sessions where authors, makers and designers will be sharing their latest and greatest up close and personal.

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Leah Day and I first met in person at Quilt Market in 2014. She’s super fun and knowledgeable!

On Friday at 4:55 in Room 362 D, Leah Day, Stephanie Palmer and I have teamed up to present a session on book publishing for those interested in learning more about the process. Sponsored by Leah’s fabric company Island Batik, we’ll be sharing our varied experiences with both self-publishing and traditional publishing. It should be very informative!

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Stephanie will be sharing her experiences on self-publishing The Quilter’s Planner.

Throughout the rest of the show I’ll be walking the floor, networking with other industry professionals, and meeting with other companies in the industry to collaborate on future ideas. It will be quite a whirlwind of activity, but I know I’ll come home ready to start on the next big idea!! If you happen to be there, be sure to grab me to say hi – I’d love to see you and chat!

Meet my friend Annie Smith

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Vegas friends! My good friend and fellow BERNINA ambassador Annie Smith is coming to town! She’s made up a flyer below with all the details, and my good friends at Sew Yeah Quilting have offered up a special discount! code. Use the code COLOR to get $20 off her two day class. Plus, her Thursday night lecture and trunk show is free. How cool is that?
Annie Smtih Ad-for-Color-Sense-class

If you’ve never met Annie before, she’s such a fun person! She hosts a long-running fun podcast called Annie’s Quilting Stash which is the first podcast ever for quilters. In fact I was a guest on her show back in February of this year. Click here to listen.

Annie also the author of The Ultimate Applique Guidebook which I think is such a definitive work on the subject!

applique_guidebook

Click here to learn more about Annie’s Free Trunk Show

Click here to register for Annie’s 2-day class

If you don’t get a chance to catch her live  in person, she has online videos, too. Click here to go to her blog and find out more about it. Happy quilting, friends!

My Local Teaching Schedule, Fall 2016

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I enjoy traveling around the country at various quilt shows, guilds and events to teach. But I can’t neglect my local friends and fans, so I’ve made sure to schedule a few classes around here, too. If you live nearby, or plan to drop by for a fun Vegas weekend, be sure to sign up for my machine quilting classes this fall, taught at three fabulous quilt shops in town:

Upcoming Machine Quilting Classes in Las Vegas:

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Sept 8, 5:30-8:30 PM at The Christmas Goose
Ultimate Free-Motion Fillers

Learn 12 fun fillers in just 3 hours! This class will walk you through a dozen of the free-motion motifs from The Ultimate Guide to Machine Quilting. This will be a fast paced class, so students should be comfortable working with their machines and have a little bit of experience with machine quilting. Class size is limited to 10 students. Call the shop at 702-877-1158 to register, or stop by the shop at 2988 South Durango #109.

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October 14, 2:30-5:30 PM at Quiltique
Improv Machine Qujilting

Liberate yourself from traditional quilting symmetry by combining your favorite machine quilting motifs in a seemingly random way. Add amazing texture to the negative spaces in your quilts and create your own unique combinations.

The class will cover basic free-motion filler designs such as pebbles, swirls, leaves, paisleys, triangles, and more. Learn how to improvisationally combine them for stunning results. Students should be comfortable with basic machine quilting techniques.

Stop by Quiltique’s class sign up day event in August to register, located at 213 N. Stephanie Street, Suite E, Henderson, NV 89074. Or call the shop after Sept. 1 at 702-563-8600.

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October 15, 1-4 PM at Sew Yeah Quilting
Machine Quilting spirals and swirls

Learn how to quilt modern, geometric spirals and swirls using both walking foot and free-motion motifs. Students will learn how to quilt stunning designs from Machine Quilting with Style, such as large continuous spirals, geometric spirals, and several swirl variations. Spirals can be quilted in different areas of your quilts, or used as an allover design. Combine motifs for even more possibilities! Students should be comfortable with basic machine quilting techniques.

Click here to register online. You can also register in person at the shop, located at 3690 N Rancho Dr, Las Vegas, NV 89130, or call the shop at (702) 586 – 8687.

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November 16, 6-9 PM at THE CHRISTMAS GOOSE
Free-Motion Alternatives to Straight Line Quilting

Go beyond the straight line and use your free-motion quilting skills to their fullest. In this workshop, students will learn how to turn basic shapes into linear free-motion quilting designs. Quilt them as allover designs across the surface of your quilt, or use them sporadically to create custom quilting motifs. Students should be comfortable with basic machine quilting techniques.

Class size is limited to 10 students. Call the shop at 702-877-1158 to register, or stop by the shop at 2988 South Durango #109.

My Traveling Schedule

If you live outside of the Las Vegas area, be sure to check out my traveling and teaching schedule here. My schedule is currently booked through the end of 2017 but I’m now accepting offers for 2018, so I may be visiting a place near you!

My QuiltCon 2017 Workshop Schedule – Catalog Available Now!

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I’m super excited for QuiltCon East 2017 in Savannah Georgia! After having a blast teaching in 2016, I’m so excited to return in 2017! The 2017 Catalog is available now.  Registration for Modern Quilt Guild Members opens June 25th. Public registration opens July 1.

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I am excited to be teaching 2 classes on EQ7, 3 classes on domestic machine quilting, plus a lecture. Here’s my schedule, in order:

(220) Getting Started with EQ7 – Thursday 2/23 9-5

introtoEQ7

In this comprehensive workshop, students will learn the basics of Electric Quilt Software – version 7 for Windows or Mac. Topics include: learning to use the block library, setting blocks into quilt layouts, adding borders, importing fabric swatches, designing simple quilts, calculating yardage and more. This is a hands-on computer class, and students must be comfortable using their own laptops, with their version of the software installed and validated prior to class.

(826) Machine quilting Spirals and Swirls – Thursday 2/23 6-9 PM

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Learn how to quilt modern, geometric spirals and swirls using both walking foot and free-motion motifs. Students will learn how to quilt stunning designs such as large continuous spirals, geometric spirals, and several swirl variations. Spirals can be quilted in different areas of your quilts, or used as an allover design. Combine motifs for even more possibilities! Students should be comfortable with basic machine quilting techniques.

(LE08) Quilting on Your Home Sewing Machine: Tips and Tricks – Friday 2/24 10:30-11:15 AM (lecture)

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There are quite a few differences between quilting on a long arm and quilting on a sit-down home sewing machine. Although many of the same motifs can be quilted on either machine, the techniques on how to approach the quilting are different. In this lecture, I will share her best tricks on how to approach quilting on a sit-down machine. Plus, I’ll answer your questions and share tips on how to become a better quilter.

(223) Designing Modern Quilts in EQ7 – Saturday 2/25 6-9 PM

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Take your modern designs to the next level by learning how to draw and change them in EQ7. Topics will include drawing improv blocks, manipulating borders, incorporating negative space, going off the grid, changing sizes, and designing custom set quilts. We will work at a quick pace, so students should be comfortable with the basics of EQ7 prior to class. This is a hands-on computer workshop, and students must be comfortable using their own laptops, with their version of the software installed and validated prior to class.

(817) Free Motion Alternatives to STraight Line Quilting – Sunday 2/26 9-12

fmq_straight_line_alternatives

Go beyond the straight line and use your free-motion quilting skills to their fullest. In this workshop, students will learn how to turn basic shapes into linear free-motion quilting designs. Quilt them as allover designs across the surface of your quilt, or use them sporadically to create custom quilting motifs. Students should be comfortable with basic machine quilting techniques.

(833) Improv Machine Quilting – Sunday 2/26 2-5

improv_machine_quilting_image

Liberate yourself from traditional quilting symmetry by combining your favorite machine quilting motifs in a seemingly random way. Add amazing texture to the negative spaces in your quilts and create your own unique combinations. The class will cover basic free-motion filler designs such as pebbles, swirls, leaves, paisleys, triangles, and more. Learn how to improvisationally combine them for stunning results. Students should be comfortable with basic machine quilting techniques.

The rest of the time, I’ll be walking the show floor, checking out the quilts, and of course trying to meet as many of you! Let me know if you are planning to attend.

Download the QuiltCon 2017 catalog here.

The Ultimate Guide to Machine Quilting – Migration

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Angela Walters and I are at Quilt Market this weekend, sharing our new book with shop owners across the country, so it’s time to share another quilt from the book with you. (Click here to see all of the quilts from The Ultimate Guide to Machine Quilting.)

This one is called Migration which features tons of negative space for you to show off your quilting skills! Angela and I quilted our quilts so differently which gives you plenty of ideas to explore!

Migration Quilt by Christa Watson

In my version of migration, I played up the grid work with free-motion quilting.

Free Motion Quilting

We both tried to pack in as many machine quilting designs as possible!

Migration by Angela Walters

Angela quilted her rectangles so that they would look like sparkling jewels!

Click here to see all of the quilts from the book, as they are added each week!
All photography courtesy of Brent Kane and Martingale.

Christa Watson Books

Click here to get your autographed copies of both of my books!

My Spring 2016 Quilt Market Schedule

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I’m so excited to attend Quilt Market in Salt Lake City, Utah this weekend. This is the twice-yearly trade show for the quilting industry. Even though it’s not open to the public, you can still feel like you are part of the action by following along via social media.

Quilt Market 2016

I will be attending to help promote my new book, The Ultimate Guide to Machine Quilting with co-author Angela Walters. Our publisher, Martingale/That Patchwork Place has scheduled 3 fun events for us. If you happen to go, please come by and say hi!

On Thursday, Angela and I will present a schoolhouse session for our new book at 4:40 PM in room 255A. We will be going on just before the Moda All-stars book debut so I’m kinda hoping we’ll capture some of the audience who wants to come in early for a great seat! 😉

Quilt Marke 2016

On Friday, May 20th at 11 AM in Martingale’s booth 422, Angela and I will be doing a fun Q&A session. We will answer your most pressing machine quilting sessions and may even show you how we sketch out our designs on paper ahead of time.

Machine Quilting

 

 

Finally, on Saturday, May 21 we’ll cap off the weekend with two live machine quilting events. At 10 AM we’ll be at the Handi Quilter booth and at 1 PM we’ll be at the BERNINA booth, showing how we actually machine quilt in person! We will also have a booksigning at each event, for the first 50 people in line – so be sure to arrive early!!

The rest of the time, I’ll be hanging out with Jason, purchasing new products for The Precut Store. It’s always exciting to see what’s new!

The Precut Store

If you can’t attend, be sure to follow me on Instagram at @christaquilts and @theprecutstore!

Join Me at the Folkschool for a Week of Quilty Fun!

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Please join me this summer at the John C. Campbell Folkschool in Brasstown, North Carolina! From July 31-August 6, 2016 I will be teaching a week-long class: Modern Quilting 101, featuring my Charming Chevrons Pattern.

John C. Campbell Folkschool

Click here to register for the rare opportunity to learn from me for an entire week!

What to Expect

I had such an amazing time teaching last year that when they invited me to return, I immediately said yes! Let me tell you a little bit about what to expect, if you’ve never been:

You’ll arrive on Sunday afternoon and get a chance to meet me and the other students. You’ll receive an orientation to the program along with a yummy home-cooked meal. Then on Monday morning, the week-long event will kick off with the best breakfast you’ve ever had!

Class sessions will run for 6 hours a day Monday-Friday with breaks for scrumptious family-style meals 3 times a day. Seriously, it’s worth it to come just for the food!

Folkschool Fiber Studio

This is the fiber studio at the Folkschool. Don’t you just love the barn-quilt block??

In the evenings, students can choose to spend additional additional free-time in the sewing studio, attend evening performances, or just relax in their rooms after a fun day!

The on Friday night, students will have a chance to present what they’ve made to the other classes that have met during the week. Trust me, seeing the handwork of makers from many different disciplines under one roof is incredibly inspiring!

Folkschool 2015

2015 Modern Logs quilts on stage behind the beautifully handcrafted Windsor chairs

Classes and Registration

I’ll be upfront and tell you that it’s a big investment of time and money to take a week out of your busy life for this amazing event. But it’s so worth it to escape to the beautiful mountains of North Carolina so you can enjoy this magical experience.

Class sizes are limited to 12 students so you will get plenty of personal interaction with me and the other students. (At of this writing there are just 6 spots left – so register soon!) In fact, you’ll meet fantastic like-minded quilters that will most likely turn into life-long friends.

You can also bring along a friend or spouse who can take a different class at the same time. During my week, there will be 14 classes going on at the same time including spinning, weaving, photography, cooking, woodworking, clay-working, print-making, and more!

Click here for the complete class catalog.
Click here to register for my week-long class: Modern Quilting 101.

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The Folkschool offers a variety of lodging packages to suit your budget. My mom was part of my class last time around, and we stayed in this beautiful historic home that has been updated with modern amenities! This year I’m taking Jason along for the ride, and he’s going to take either cooking or photography while I teach. (He can’t quite decide yet!)

Follow the Folkschool

I sure would love for you to join me in this amazing adventure!

Local Trunk Show and Book Signing Events

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If you are in or near the Las Vegas area, be sure to catch my trunk show and book signing events coming up at these two fabulous locations below.

  • Saturday, May 14th, Sew Yeah Quilting, located at 3690 N. Rancho Drive, Las Vegas NV 89130.
  • Thursday, May 26th, at Quiltique, located at 213 N. Stephanie Ste. E, Henderson NV 89074.

Christa Watson Books

My books – The Ultimate Guide to Machine Quilting and Machine Quilting with Style will be available from both shops. I’ll be happy to personally sign them for you!

At Sew Yeah, I’ll be sharing quilts from both books and what makes them modern. Stick around afterward for a fun and free sew-in. Sign up online or call (702) 586-8687.

At Quiltique, I’ll be sharing my quilts along with a hands on free-motion quilting demonstration. Plus, I’m happy to answer your most pressing questions about machine quilting.

I hope to see you there!

Facets Quilt Wins 2nd Place Modern in Paducah 2016!

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This week has been crazy busy and exhilarating! I was packing up to teach at EQ Academy earlier in the week when I got the email notice that Facets had won an award at AQS Quilt Week in Paducah, Kentucky – the mother of all quilt shows! Knowing I wouldn’t be able to attend due to my prior teaching commitment, I lamented the fact that I’d miss the awards ceremony and hoped someone I knew would be able to take pictures for me and let me know how it did.

By the way, when you get these emails from quilt shows, they don’t notify you of placement – they just say you have won “an award.”

Facets Quilt

Facets, 2nd at AQS Quilt Week Paducah 2016 – photo courtesy of Cassandra Beaver.

Then when I heard that AQS would be broadcasting the awards ceremony live on You Tube I was so excited to watch! As I’ve said many times before, I don’t enter to win – I just want my modern quilts to be seen out there in the world wide web of quilters!

To start off the awards presentation, names of all of the Honorable Mentions were rattled off at once. When my name was not listed among this group, my heart skipped a beat and I thought, “OK, this is cool – I’m up a for another 3rd place finish.” After all, I had scored a distinctive yellow, pink, and green dogwood ribbon two years prior for Colorful Chevrons – the very first time Paducah debuted the modern category. At the time I considered it a fluke, thinking the only reason I got the award is that there wasn’t much competition.

AQS Awards Ceremony

Then they announced 3rd place and it wasn’t my name. Say what?? Anyone who’s ever entered or won at Paducah realizes that even a 3rd place finish awards more prize money than many 1st place finishes!! (Enough to pay for many more quilt show entries – the fees really add up fast.)

When my name was announced for 2nd place, I whipped out the iPhone, my hands shaking so badly that I barely managed to snap a dark picture on the computer screen before it disappeared from sight. I completely missed the first place finish because I was still in shock. (Thank goodness for social media so I was able to catch up later in the day).

Modern Quilts at Paducah

Paducah 2016 Modern Winners – From left to right: Facets (2nd), Whole is Greater than the Sum of its Parts by Cassandra Beaver (1st);  Big Love by Sheri Cifaldi-Morrill (3rd).

This win is especially validating because I had entered Facets into AQS Phoenix earlier in the year, with a bittersweet story as the result. Although I wasn’t disappointed that it didn’t ribbon in Phoenix, I was pleased to learn that AQS wanted to feature the quilt in their 2018 wall calendar. However, my excitement was quickly dashed when they had to rescind the offer about 5 minutes later, after learning the quilt had already been published in my first book.

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Machine Quilting with Style features 12 show-worthy quilt patterns, including Facets!

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with entering published quilts into quilt shows of course, but since AQS also publishes books, they didn’t want to feature a competing publisher’s quilt image, even though the pattern wouldn’t have been included.

The audible sigh on the other end of the phone line was followed by a meek, “well….. just let us know…. if you have anything else we can consider…..” (I promptly gave them my email so they could send me details on how to submit a calendar entry, but all I got back was crickets….)

Facets Quilt AQS Paducah

Pat Sloan at Paducah with Facets – I love this pic!!

So yes, getting a ribbon for Facets was extra meaningful to me!! And now the best part of this story comes full circle. The lovely and talented Pat Sloan first invited me to be a guest on American Patchwork and Quilting Podcast back in 2014, shortly after attracting her notice with my first Paducah ribbon. Since that chance encounter she’s become a great mentor and friend. After the news of my win, she sent me this adorable picture of herself standing next to the quilt.

Thanks to social media, I felt like part of the action! Maybe one day I’ll get to go to Paducah. 🙂

Facets Machine Quilting

Facets Quilting Detail – photo courtesy of Kathy Mathews.

New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop – Sign up by April 30

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I love the online quilting community and one of the best ways I got to know people online was by participating in the New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop several years ago. My friends Yvonne of Quilting Jet Girl, Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs, and Stephanie of Late Night Quilter are teaming up again to bring you this fun event. New bloggers can sign up to be on the hop, while more experienced bloggers can join in the fun and find some great new blogs to follow!

New Bloggers Blog Hop

2016 New Quilt Bloggers Participation Criteria

The technical criteria to participate in the 2016 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop is as follows:

  1. If you have been blogging mainly about modern quilting (modern quilting to you is modern quilting to us.),
  2. for less than 2 years,
  3. writing at least 4 posts a month,
  4. are willing to agree to be actively involved in the blog hop through visiting and commenting on the other blogger’s hop posts,
  5. and have or are willing to open a Facebook account to participate in the group discussions.

Please indicate your interest in joining by filling out the registration form.

The goal of the 2016 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop is to provide advice, tech help, and introduce new modern quilters to the online community. Registration is open April 4th through April 30th or until 100 bloggers have registered.

General Timeline:

May: Getting to know the group via Facebook group, Critiques, Editing and improving your blog to get ready for the hop
June and July: New Quilt Bloggers Hop