MQWS Blog Hop Day 7 – Square in a Square

September 21, 2015September 22, 2015130 Comments

Good news for those of you who wish to purchase Machine Quilting With Style on Amazon – it’s now back in stock on their site with plenty of additional copies on the way!

Square in a Square – The Background Story

The title of Square in a Square is my nod to tradition. Although I would consider this quilt very modern in design, the title comes from a very traditional block of the same name. I like the play on design – this quilt features several squares inside of bigger squares, all contained in one large, gigantic square.

Square in a Square 60″ x 60″ by Christa Watson. Photography by Brent Kane.

In addition to piecing a whole bunch of squares, I wanted to carry over the square theme into the machine quilting, too. The blocks are all quilted in a wonky square spiral, using a walking foot. I chose a variegated thread for the square spirals to give it a little extra punch of color.

Quilting Square Spirals is So. Much. Fun!!

The background is quilted using one of my favorite modern textures – boxes. In the book I remind my readers, that not all of the boxes are perfectly square. Crushed boxes happen in life and a few wonky ones on the quilt are okay.

Detail quilting on Square in a Square

A Bit More

Modern elements – asymmetrical alternate grid structure, oversized blocks, simple repetitive shapes, minimalism, bold colors, expansive negative space, modern geometric quilting.

Time to complete – 20 hours from start to finish.

Stacy’s Version – A Modern Halloween Quilt

Stacy Cooper from Farm Road Quilts is my original BQF (Best Quilting Friend). We met at a quilting retreat about 15 years ago and have been returning to the same event together year after year (Check out my recent Instagram feed @christaquilts for pictures from the event this weekend.) In fact, as a true friend, she let me “borrow” her quilt to cuddle up while sewing, when the retreat room got a bit chilly. (Another friend let me borrow her quilted sweatshirt jacket so I stayed nice and toasty while I sewed.)

Here’s a sneak peek of Stacy’s quilt in action!

Stacy created her version as a Halloween quilt. However, when you see it, at first glance, you wouldn’t even know it’s a holiday quilt! She threw in pops of turquoise along with gray, black and orange for a very sophisticated take on a whimsical idea.

Pop on over to Stacy’s blog to see her version, and be sure to enter her giveaway!

The Littlest Thistle (With a Big Heart)

Katy Cameron from the Littlest Thistle and I have yet to meet in person, although we are friends online. However, I hope we’ll get a chance to one day soon, because she’s from the UK which means I bet she’ll have a killer accent!! Not only is Katy a quilter and instructor, she’s also an amazing bag maker and is hosting a really cool event – the Sew Brit Bag Camp in rural England next year. Doesn’t that sound lovely?

Katy also has a big heart when she agreed to review my book on her blog. Head over there to see what she has to say and while you are there, check out her other projects. You just may be inspired!

But Wait, There’s More!

I’ve mentioned throughout the book how much I enjoy using Aurifil thread for both piecing and quilting, so I thought I’d throw in a bonus giveaway! One of you luck readers can win this collection of 10 spools of Angela Walter’s Drift colorway and try it out for yourself.

(Unless you’ve been quilting under a rock – I’m sure you know what an amazing machine quilter Angela is. Don’t be surprised if you hear more from both of us in the near future….)

To enter simply leave a comment on this post, letting me know which quilt has been your favorite so far. I’ll draw a random winner at the end of the day on September 26th – the last day of the hop! And yes, EVERYONE is eligible to win!

Click here for the complete blog hop schedule.

Click here purchase your autographed copy of Machine Quilting With Style.

MQWS Blog Hop Day 6 – Little Man’s Fancy

September 19, 2015September 19, 201510 Comments

I haven’t blogged every day in a couple of years now and it’s been pretty fun getting to write new things each day. Today wraps up week 1 of the Machine Quilting With Style blog hop. I’m taking a rest day tomorrow and will pick up with the hop again on Monday.

Little Man’s Fancy – The Background Story

Little Man’s Fancy 36″ x 36″ by Christa Watson. Photography by Brent Kane

Little Man’s Fancy was inspired by a traditional block called Gentleman’s Fancy, hence the name. (I love a good play on words!) I tweaked the design a little, made it super-sized, and chose blue prints from Zen Chic’s Figures collection and coordinating Moda bella solids in blue and grey. Don’t you think it would look just as cute in pink, for a charming little lady?

I really, really enjoyed quilting this one. It’s all done with the walking foot and the hardest part was knowing when to stop!

A Bit More

Optional layout – included in the book

Just for funsies, I played around with the orientation of the block units, just to see what other designs I could make. The layout above is included in the book and It creates a really cool star effect. If I made this for a little girl, I would choose shades of pink and use this layout, I think.

Another possible layout – which one is your favorite?

Here’s another possible layout – all using the exact same block pieces. I love to create quilts with plenty of options to make it unique. Although the star designs are really cool, I went with my original idea because I really wanted the quilt to read modern, geometric, and masculine.

What makes this quilt modern – oversized block, modernized traditional design, what I like to call a “modern monochrome” color palette, simple but graphic machine quilting.

Time for me to complete – just 10 hours from start to finish!

Check out Tina’s Version

Tina and I in met in Angela Walters’ fabulous class at QuiltCon in 2013. This was my part of my educational journey to discover that I prefer sit-down machine quilting to long arm work. 🙂

I met Tina Guthmann at the very first QuiltCon and we bonded over machine quilting! She blogs over at ModGeometry and is a talented designer as well. She created an adorable line of fabrics on Spoonflower and used those to make her version of the quilt. Click on over to Tina’s blog to see her cute quilt, and enter her giveaway!

Giveaway from Moda

I was thrilled when Carrie Nelson from Moda agreed to be a stop on the hop. She’s recently taken over the social media campaign for this amazing fabric company and I love the wit and humor she is able to show on the blog – not mention some fabulous quilts showcasing their extensive line of scrumptious fabrics!

Be sure to pop on over to Moda’s blog – The Cutting Table to see what they have to say about the book, and enter for your chance to win a fabulous fabric bundle (and maybe a few extra goodies!!)

Click here for the complete blog hop schedule.

Click here purchase your autographed copy of Machine Quilting With Style.

MQWS Blog Hop Day 3 – Broken V

September 16, 2015September 16, 20151 Comment

It’s day 3 of my Machine Quilting With Style blog hop. Are you having fun yet? I know I am! I knew it was a big favor to ask my friends to each remake an entire quilt from the book in their own way, but seeing their “big reveals” each day is such a thrill!

Broken V – The Background Story

Broken V 60″ x 70″ by Christa Watson. Photography by Brent Kane

I can’t get over my love affair with half-square triangle blocks, lovingly known as HST’s. There’s something really calm and meditative about sewing colorful squares together, cutting them into triangles, and then assembling them into another shape as part of a larger design.

I pieced the quilt top while on vacation – a bed makes a great design wall in a pinch!

I chose to go with all solids, using this quilt as a canvas on which to add dense machine quilting texture. I love listening to quilting podcasts and audio books while I sew, and this quilt gave me hours of pleasure to do just that while I stitched!

The is what the quilt looked like after stitching in the ditch and washing. I used a wool batting for loft and decided to add more quilting. What a huge difference that makes!

My “scrunch and smoosh” method of machine quilting in action!

I love simple quilt patterns that are easy to execute in any fabrics. The key to the success of this quilt is the high contrast between the pieced blocks and the background. Although I chose solids, a favorite collection of prints would look just as great in this design!

A Bit More

Although the techniques in my book are written for all styles of quilts and quilters, I enjoyed playing around with modern aesthetics as I designed each quilt. Here are a couple of extra tidbits:

What Makes this Quilt Modern – simple shapes that create a graphic impact, the use of “unmodulated” solid areas of color, asymmetrical design, geometric quilting designs.

Time for me to complete – 38 hours from start to finish, including all that dense pebbling!

Color and Design Option from Sharon

I met Sharon McConnell from Color Girl Quilts while attending Sewtopia retreat last fall. We became fast friends while we chatted and sewed the whole weekend. Sharon is prolific pattern designer and she can put together the most amazing print combinations in her quilts. In fact, she chose to remake Broken V using a majority of prints with just a sprinkling of solids. It’s such an effective design choice, that at first glance, you may not even realize it’s the same quilt!

Be sure to pop on over to Sharon’s blog to see her version. Her machine quilting is pretty amazing, too! And while you are there, be sure to enter her giveaway.

More Machine Quilting Goodness from Leah and Amy

The thing I love best about the online quilting community is getting to know so many great people! Two gals that admire immensely for their machine quilting skills are Leah Day from The Free Motion Quilting Project and Amy Johnson from Amy’s Free-Motion Quilting Adventures.

Be sure to visit Leah’s blog for a behind-the-scenes interview with me, plus tons of inspiring quilting content! She has created literally hundreds of free videos that will help you improve your free-motion quilting skills on your home sewing machine. While you are visiting, be sure to sign up for Leah’s Newsletter! You can also find products to support your hobby at LeahDay.com.

I recently did a review of Amy’s Craftsy class on domestic machine quilting with rulers. I love it when people I know really push the boundaries of what can be done with quilting on a home sewing machine. Amy will soon be opening up a store to sell her favorite rulers, and I can’t wait!

Be sure to pop on over to Amy’s blog to see what she has to say about my book. While you are there, be sure to enter Amy’s giveaway for a chance to win one of two prizes – her Craftsy class, and a set of quilting rulers. How fun is that??

Click here for the complete blog hop schedule.

Click here purchase your autographed copy of Machine Quilting With Style.

MQWS Blog Hop Day 2 – Pearl Gray

September 15, 2015September 15, 20158 Comments

Ready for some more inspiring quilts from Machine Quilting with Style? I have to say, I’ve been working on planning this blog hop from the moment I finished writing the book and am so excited to share more with you today. I don’t consider a quilt “finished” until it has been blogged about so these posts have been a long time coming!

Pearl Gray – The Background Story

Pearl Gray 66″ x 77″ by Christa Watson. Photography by Brent Kane.

First of all, I have to consistently remind myself to spell it Gray rather than Grey. I guess the former spelling is the American way and the latter is the European way. It must be my ancestral roots sneaking in there…

Pearl Gray was inspired by an earlier version of this design, my String of Pearls quilt pattern. As soon as I made the first quilt, I immediately knew I wanted to explore more ideas with this concept. Although I usually work in brights, I wanted to see if I could pull off more of a low-volume quilt and still create the contrast in the blocks. I also enjoy creating secondary designs in the background and I really like the checkerboard that emerges when using two different background colors.

My String of Pearls quilting motif is a modern free-motion alternative to straight line quilting!

Because the quilt has a lot going on, I thought an interesting allover quilting design would be the perfect complement to the piecing. I quilted a series of lines and circles which I named String of Pearls – giving homage to my earlier quilt design. As one idea always leads to another, the String of Pearls motif is the first in a series of modern linear designs that I am developing as a free-motion alternative to straight line quilting. So stay tuned for more on that subject in future classes and books! 🙂

My favorite memory of working on this quilt was finishing the binding while on vacation at the beach. There’s nothing better than a little sea-side quilting in my opinion!

I wish I could bind next to the beach for all of my quilts!

A Bit More

I was very detailed about each of the quilts in the book. In addition to listing the sizes and materials requirements, I also included design notes and which threads and battings I used for each quilt. Below, I’ve shared some bonus info for you guys that is not in the book:

Modern elements – Low volume fabrics, hard edges with strong contrast and clean lines, simplicity of form, repetitive use of basic geometric shapes, scrappy pieced binding.

Time for me to complete – 40 hours from start to finish.

Turning lemons into lemonade – I originally made this quilt for a magazine pattern, but at the last minute (and before it had been seen in public), it was pulled from publication. Yes, I was a little heart-broken at the time, but I was simultaneously working on my book proposal and needed just one more design with a finished project to submit. Wouldn’t you know – this was the final piece I needed, and now Pearl Gray graces the cover of my book. Don’t you just love it when fate works that way?

Color Option and Fabric Giveaway from Alyce

I’ve been online friends with Alyce Blyth from Blossom Heart Quilts for awhile now and was so excited when we recently got to meet in person at QuiltCon earlier this year. I just love how Alyce has interpreted her version of Pearl Gray. She combined three different quilting motifs from the book and it is so effective. Her binding is to die for, too! But rather than spoil the surprise here, you’ll need to head on over to her blog to see what she’s done.

Alyce is also hosting a giveaway on a separate blog post. She has a bundle of fabrics to share from the same line she used for her version of Pearl Gray. Click here for Alyce’s giveaway!

Bonus from Andover Fabrics

I can’t give enough hugs to the folks over at Andover fabrics. Daryl (aka fabrichick) and Guiseppe (aka giucy_giuce) have been super supportive of my work. Head on over the Andover blog and to check out what they have to say. If you follow Andover on Instagram, there’s a special bonus there, too!

Although Pearl Gray would look gorgeous in any fabric line, I’m really itching to make another one using Lizzy House’s Mini Pearl Bracelets. Aren’t they the cutest?

Mini Pearls by Lizzy House for Andover fabrics, a smaller version of Pearl Bracelets.

Click here for the complete blog hop schedule.

Click here purchase your autographed copy of Machine Quilting With Style.

Quick Book Update

September 9, 2015September 9, 20156 Comments

First of all, a huge, huge, thank you to all of you who have purchased a copy of my book so far. The response has been truly humbling! By the end of the day yesterday, Machine Quilting With Style shot to #1 in Patchwork on Amazon and is now ranked the number 1 new release! How exciting is that?? It’s currently hovering between #2-#4 in these three categories: patchwork, quilting, and sewing. I couldn’t ask for a better first-day release!

Several of you have emailed your concern that the book is temporarily out of stock on Amazon. I asked my publisher about that and it just means they Amazon hasn’t received the next shipment of books, but they are on their way. Depending on how long it will take Amazon to receive its shipment and get them into their warehouses, customers are getting shipping update notifications that are going into October. On one hand that is super exciting for me, because that translates to good sales, but on another, that can be frustrating for you to have to wait!

But not to worry, if you want to get the book quicker than that, you can order directly from Martingale. All orders placed through the publisher’s website get a free ecopy to download instantly, so that’s pretty spiffy. Also, you can order a signed copy directly from me. I should be getting my stock of books any day now and will get those out to you as soon as I can! As a little unannounced bonus, I’ll be including one of my Christa Quilts pin buttons with every signed copy I sell.

My Buttons

Thanks again for your support – writing this book has been a dream come true for me and it thrills me to no end when I see you all making your versions of my designs. 🙂

It’s Book Launch Day for Machine Quilting With Style!!

September 8, 2015September 8, 201521 Comments

Today is a special day for a couple of reasons. First of all, it’s my daughter’s birthday and she was able to have a great party yesterday with all her friends, since there was no school. Secondly, my book releases today! Yippee!!

I made sure to keep these very special events separate but let my daughter know how awesome it was that my first book came out on her birthday, so I would always remember the date! I have to admit that it’s been a source of pride when I’ve caught her on the couch reading it. 🙂

Jenna made her first quilt with me when she was 8 years old. Now she loves to draw and write!

My family is super important to me, which is why I dedicated the book to them:

The dedication is the first set words I composed for the book back in 2013.

I am in love with the photography, layout and graphic design in this book. Honestly, the main reason I decided to go with a publisher when writing a book is because of how awesome they are able to make everything look! I about cried, when I opened up the inside cover pages. And it just gets better from there…

Inside cover pages from Machine Quilting With Style, photography by Brent Kane

Here are a few ways you can purchase your copy:

Click here to purchase a signed copy of Machine Quilting With Style directly from me.
Click here to purchase Machine Quilting With Style from Amazon.
Click here to purchase Machine Quilting With Style from Martingale, and get a free e-copy!
Visit your favorite Local Quilt Shop or bookstore.

Blog Hop Coming Soon!

Save the date – I will be hosting a blog hop to showcase all of the quilts from September 14-26. Be sure to check my blog later in the week for details and the complete blog hop schedule.

As a first time author I was a little nervous with how the book writing process would go and I kept waiting for it to get hard or for something to go terribly wrong. However, everything went so smoothly and I’m so proud of the team at Martingale for the work they’ve done to produce this book. I’m happy to say that I enjoyed every step of the process and would gladly do it again!

Bonus Giveaway!

My publisher, Martingale, has been so amazing to work with throughout this whole process. Today, they are hosting a giveaway for an ecopy of the book. Pop on over to their blog to enter!

Four of My Quilt Patterns Are Now Available in Print

August 26, 2015August 25, 20154 Comments

Thanks to those of you who have been with me for awhile, following along with my journey into pattern creation. It has literally taken me 10 years to finally make the plunge into pattern design. I began with 4 of what I thought would be my most popular designs, and started in January to take the necessary steps to get them into print.

I’ve also researched the best ways to get them to you all and here’s what I have come up with:

Print patterns are available individually in my Amazon Store.
PDF patterns are available in my Craftsy Store.
Wholesale patterns are available through Moda/United Notions (or directly through me).

I chose these outlets to start as that’s what I feel I can manage right now. So far, so good. I’m already getting good traction and I’m sure I’ll add more distribution networks as I grow. I’ve received a nice re-order from Moda/United Notions, which means that local quilt shops are starting to carry them, which is super exciting! Of course, I don’t know which shops, so if you see them “out there in the wild” please let me know. Please feel free to recommend them to your favorite quilt shop, too!

Now, the next step is to start on the next batch of patterns. As always, stay tuned!

Paper Pieced Quilt Along #6 – Sewing the Top

June 10, 2015June 13, 20158 Comments

I have a simple method I employ when sewing nearly all of my quilt tops. I lay out my blocks on a design wall, join them into rows, and sew the rows together to complete the top. For this lesson, I’ll share a few tips on how I make that go more smoothly. (Visit my Paper Pieced QAL page for links to all previous tutorials.)

I chose to leave this picture uncropped so that you can see I usually have several things happening on my design wall at the same time.

Step 1

First I throw up the blocks on my design wall. Although I will place the blocks into position, I don’t care too much about the color balance yet. I constantly refer to a picture or printout of my design so I can lay the blocks out in the correct position.

Step 2 (not shown)

After I have laid out all the blocks and background squares, I will play around with the arrangement until it feels right. For this quilt, I had just a few pops of light green and a couple of darker colors purposely out of order to give a little interest. I made sure to balance those out a little when I chose my final layout.

Step 3

Here’s another thrifty hint: I tend to use up leftover colored cotton bobbins in my piecing.

I take a picture with my camera phone and then begin sewing individual rows, two blocks at a time. As I joined the blocks, I pressed all of the joining seams open. I also pressed each row of blocks open to reduce the bulk.

Tip: use the seam line intersections as a guideline when matching points. For the sides of the block, I sewed just a few thread widths narrow of the intersection between the two seams shown above. When matching up blocks point to point, I pinned generously and sewed through the “x’s” that were formed by intersecting seams.

Step 4

I sewed all of the block rows individually, pressed each open, and put it back into position on the design wall. Then I sewed together two rows, pressed them and put them back on the wall.

I made 5 sets of 2 row pairs, then joined those into 2 sections of 4 rows and 6 rows. Finally I joined the rows together to complete the quilt top.

Step 5 – The “Victory Lap”

Once the top is complete, I will secure the perimeter edges by sewing 1/8″ in from the edge of the quilt top, around all 4 sides. Someone jokingly referred to this as the “victory lap” on instagram and I got a kick out of that!

Stay-stitch around the perimeter to secure the edges for basting and quilting.

Now, we are ready to baste! Remember to share your work-in-progress on my Facebook group: Quilt With Christa, or on Instagram #paperpiecedqal.

Copyright and Permission Granted

I am very happy to share my knowledge with you free of charge during this quilt along. However, this information is for your personal use as a loyal reader of my blog. Please do not make copies of any part of this quilt along to distribute it to your friends. If you’d like to tell them about it, simply share my QAL site link with them and encourage them to come on over and join us: ChristasQuiltAlong.com

If you’d like to share links to my site on Facebook or on your own blog, that is great, too!

At the conclusion of the quilt along, I will be happy to edit down all of the content and turn it into a pattern for sale, so that others can use my pattern as a teaching aid in the future. 🙂

Check Out Dear Quilty – and Some Pattern News

June 8, 2015June 3, 20155 Comments

So this is kind of fun. Mary Fons has put together a new compilation book called Dear Quilty which is a collection of the best patterns from the now-defunct Quilty Magazine. She chose to include my Colorful Chevrons quilt in the book and they are even using it in their ad campaign.

Although I don’t get any royalties from the sale of this book, since they already paid me for the use of it when it was published in the magazine, it’s still pretty flattering to be included.

Colorful Chevrons, lower left, is featured in the ad campaign for Dear Quilty

I’ve had great success with this design, which was based on my original quilt of a similar name, Charming Chevrons. Once the rights to the design reverted back to me, I was able to create a PDF pattern for the quilt (in 4 sizes) and most recently I’ve started creating print versions, too!

I love it when I can get a lot of use out of my quilts and patterns and they can be shared with a wider audience!

Charming Chevrons Pattern Makeover – Now Available in 4 Sizes

April 27, 2015April 22, 201517 Comments

Exciting news! I’m updating all of my patterns, and I just finished the first one! Charming Chevrons is now available in 4 sizes: Lap, Throw, Twin, and Queen.

Purchase the PDF version of Charming Chevrons here.

Thanks to the fabulous graphic design work of Design by Lindsie, I’ve checked off something that has been on my to-do list for literally 10 years!!

Charming Chevrons is currently available as a PDF, but as we speak, I’m also getting them professionally printed so that quilt shops can carry them, too! (Just email me for wholesale pricing if you are a shop interested in carrying my patterns.)

I had a certain look I wanted for my patterns, and Lindsie knocked it out the park! She’s busy working on updating my other patterns, too, and I can’t wait! They will all be full-color with plenty of diagrams to help you out. After doing a little research on what others wanted in their patterns, I decided to offer each of my patterns in 4 different sizes. Where possible, I’ve also included extra tips for machine quilting or additional layouts.

Here’s the back cover with the fabric requirements for Charming Chevrons: