Pattern Writing Blog Series

December 15, 2015December 10, 20153 Comments

My friend Cheryl from Meadow Mist Designs is creating a blog series on pattern writing which launches next January. She will walk you step-by-step through the pattern writing process, which can be approached a number of different ways.

pattern_writing_series

Topics to be covered will include: design, pattern basics, text, math, illustrations, testing, and finishing. Cheryl has asked several of her pattern writing friends (myself included) to join her in this journey and share a little bit more of our pattern writing process. I’m game!!

Click here for Cheryl’s Pattern Writing Blog Series landing page, and be sure to follow her blog so you don’t miss any of this important information!

Spiraling Out of Control Pattern Available in MQU Magazine

November 12, 2015January 27, 2016100 Comments

Here’s some great news for those of you who have been patiently waiting for the pattern for my quilt Spiraling Out of Control. It’s now available in the current issue of Modern Quilts Unlimited magazine (Fall, 2015).

Here’s a quick back-story of the quilt. I originally made it for the MQG/Riley Blake fabric challenge in 2014 and was thrilled when it was selected as one of the 10 finalists out of hundreds of quilts. It then went on to hang at AQS in July 2014 nd then at QuiltCon in 2015 where it caught the eye of the Modern Quilts Unlimited editors. (In fact, they also fell in love with another of my quilts at the show which will be patterned in a future issue, so be sure to subscribe!)

I used EQ7 to design Spiraling Out of Control.

Jason jokingly refers to this issue as “my” issue because in addition to featuring the pattern, they’ve also given my book a nice review, and I’m in an EQ ad, too!

Seeing reviews of my book in national magazines makes me giddy!

Spiraling Out of Control is in the Fall Issue of MQU

MQWS Blog Hop Day 12 – Focal Point

September 26, 2015September 26, 20156 Comments

I can’t believe today is the last day for my Machine Quilting With Style blog tour! When I finished up the book earlier this year, I went into withdrawals for a day or two, not quite knowing what to do with myself. Now I feel the same way, what will I share next?!

On Monday, I will do a quick recap of the tour and announce the winners of my 2 giveaways. I’ll also announce the results of the Quilt Along Survey. Plus, I’ll have an exciting new announcement to share, so stay tuned!

Focal Point – The Background Story

Focal Point 45″ x 45″ by Christa Watson. Photography by Brent Kane.

One of my modern quilting heroes, Jacquie Gering, gave me the best advice when I was trying to learn how to make my quilts look more modern. She told me I should always try and include a focal point in my quilts. So in a way, I named this quilt to honor her.

My continuous spiral is perfectly imperfect and adds just the right amount of texture to the quilt!

I love quilting large continuous spirals and think they look terrific on both modern and traditional quilts. They add incredible texture to a quilt. However, for many people, quilting a smooth center can be a little tricky. After a little bit of trial and error, I figured out a way to quilt the whole spiral with a walking foot, with a nicer looking center.

Just remember, don’t knock yourself out trying to achieve perfect quilting. Opt for perfectly imperfect quilting instead. Once you back away from your quilt, all you will notice is the allover texture, rather than the individual stitches!

A Bit More and a Bonus Giveaway

I took copious notes about what makes a quilt modern during a presentation from Heather Grant at QuiltCon 2013. It’s taken me a couple of years to let these design principles sink in, and I’m still discovering more of what I like about modern quilts. I remember Heather saying something along the lines of wanting to encourage more design that looks liked it’s been cropped from a larger piece. That’s sort of the look I was going for with this quilt, and I’m pleased with the results.

Focal point with swatches of Chic Neutrals by Amy Ellis for Moda

For my version of Focal Point, I used Amy Ellis’ Modern Neutrals fabric from Moda. Amy’s new line is called Chic Neutrals, so decided to play around in EQ7 and recolor it in the newer line. Isn’t it fun? Amy’s generously giving away a bundle of Chic Neutrals to make this quilt.

Pop on over to Amy’s Creative Side to see her fun things and enter to win!

Elements that make this quilt modern – neutral palette with high impact, hard edges that create high contrast between the pieces, off-center design, focal point, geometric quilting done with a walking foot.

Time for me to complete – 15 hours from start to finish.

More Inspiration from Amy garro!

Amy Garro from 13 Spools is another inspiring friend of mine. She recently wrote her first book, Paper Pieced Modern. It’s pretty awesome, and I’m so glad the timing of my book worked out for her to catch her breath, and then make another quilt! You’ve got to check out her version of Focal Point – it’s amazing. I always encourage everyone to change up my ideas to make it their own, and Amy did just that with her version. She includes lots of eye candy and some fun commentary so be sure to check it out!

Be sure to enter Amy’s giveaway to win an ebook of Machine Quilting With Style.

Giveaway from Pellon Products

Pellon was another great partner – they donated several battings for me to make some of the quilts in this book. One of the things I did was try to use a different batting for nearly every quilt, just to give them a try. My favorite? Hands down, it was the cotton/soy blend, which is the batting I chose to make Focal Point. The batting was soft and supple, drapes well, and hangs well with no creases after it’s been folded. It was easy to quilt through, and I’m going to be using this batting in a lot more of my quilts in the future.

Thanks to Pellon for sponsoring a generous giveaway for this hop. Head on over to the Pellon blog for your chance to win some of the same batting I used – I think you’ll love it!

Click here for the complete blog hop schedule.

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

MQWS Blog Hop Day 11 – Facets

September 25, 2015September 25, 2015224 Comments

If you love the fabrics in Facets, be sure to sign up for my weekly email newsletter, and get a free pattern showing them in a different way. (Of course you can choose your own fabrics, too!)

Facets – The Background Story

Facets 63″ x 70″ by Christa Watson. Photo courtesy of Robert Kaufman.

I love coordinated scrappy quilts and improvisational piecing, yet I’m more of a “structured improv” kind of gal. I like to randomly sew together a bunch of scrappy goodness, then create order and structure from the chaos. For Facets, I chose 28 Kona Cottons in warm reds, oranges, and yellows, with some green thrown in for good measure. The palette reminds me of crisp juicy apples!

It was such fun to cut up these fabrics into smaller chunks to play with!

It was very liberating to create my own crazy-pieced fabric to work with:

Randomly sewing bits of fabric together is very therapeutic!

I really went to town with the machine quilting on this one. I used both walking-foot quilting and free-motion techniques when quilting Facets. Whenever I quilt, I like to think about the logical sequence of steps I take before starting. That way, it doesn’t seem too overwhelming.

Using my “scrunch and smoosh” method for dealing with the bulk while quilting. There’s an extra table under there which helps hold up the weight of the quilt.

I love quilting swirls, and combining them with switchbacks really creates a lot of movement.

Photography by Brent Kane.

A Bit More – and a Bonus Giveaway!

I was stoked when Robert Kaufman decided to add this grouping to their designer palette series this fall. Coming in October, you’ll be able to get your hands on the Christa Watson Designer Palette in fat quarters, ten squares, charm squares, and roll-ups! You can create a quilt just like mine, but of course it will still be different because of the improv element. 🙂

What makes this quilt modern – offset grid layout, improvisational piecing, geometric design with high contrast and graphic impact, exclusive use of flat solids, bold, bright color palette, design goes all the way to the edges, organically quilted machine quilting.

Time for me to complete – 47 hours from start to finish, including the improv piecing.

How would you like to get your hands on a fat quarter bundle of my designer palette?

The Christa Watson Designer Palette – available at quilts shops everywhere in October!

To enter the giveaway for a 28 piece fat quarter bundle of my favorite Kona colors, just comment letting me know whether you’ve ever tried improv piecing and what you think about it. I’ll draw a winner at the end of the day on Sunday and announce their name on Monday, Sept. 28th.

And remember, don’t forget to vote for your favorite quilt for my QAL in January! Since I know you are dying to ask – yes, Facets is MY favorite quilt from the book. 🙂

Quilting Inspiration from kristy daum

I think my favorite part of this blog hop is seeing all of the amazing quilts from my talented friends! Kristy Daum from St. Louis Victorian and I have been online friends for awhile and finally got to meet up at QuiltCon earlier this year. You may remember Kristy’s amazing pixelated quilts featuring David Tennant as Dr. Who and the lovely Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock.

Now Kristy has knocked it out of the park with her version of Facets. I really love it when others really take an idea and make it their own! It was fun watching her instagram sneek peaks, and her final reveal today will take your breath away.

Pop on over to Kristy’s blog to see her version of Facets.

Teri’s Take

The amazing Teri Lucas from Terificreations shared a sneak peak of some Facets blocks on the Generation Q website earlier in the week. She chose to use solid pieces of fabric and did some killer quilting on them! Like me, she prefers to quilt on a home-sewing machine and she is one talented lady!! She’s one of those that I can talk quilting with all day long!

So far we’ve only met in person once, and I can’t wait to see her again at the next event. She’s always so thoughtful and encouraging – just the type of quilty friend you want in your corner. Teri is offering a book giveaway on her site. While you are there, be sure to browse around, and check out her amazing quilting!!

Head over to Teri’s blog to enter her giveaway.

Visit The Quilting Gallery

Michele Foster is the brilliant name and voice behind the highly popular website the Quilting Gallery. We first met online when I was an advertiser on her site, many moons ago. We have turned that business relationship into a really great friendship and I hope someday soon that we can meet up in person. I mean, if you are like me, you can always use another BQF (best quilting friend), right?

Michele blogs and shares so much inspiration about what’s happening in the quilting community, and she’s has written very nice things about my book over on her blog today. She even scored extra points with me by saying that Facets is her favorite quilt, too! In addition to being a prolific quilter, Michele is an amazing designer and hosts lots of fun clubs on her site. As part of her stop, she’s generously including a fun giveaway of her own. 🙂

Visit the Quilting Gallery blog and enter to win a membership to Michele’s mini quilting club!

Click here for the complete blog hop schedule.

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

MQWS Blog Hop Day 8 – Static

September 22, 2015September 22, 20153 Comments

On yesterday’s giveaway post I asked everyone which was their favorite quilt so far. It was so fun to read the responses! I was a little worried when I wrote the book, that not everyone would resonate with each pattern from Machine Quilting With Style. But I have been overwhelmed by the positive responses. There truly is something for everyone in this book, as evidenced by your answers – so thanks for your input!

Static – The Background Story

Pixelated quilts (those forming an image from tons of tiny squares) have been all the rage in modern quilting circles the last couple of years. Static is my tongue-in-cheek attempt to get in on this trend. Being the non-artist that I am, and not being able to come up with an amazingly complex design – I attempted to recreate “static” – a repeating block pattern that looks like nothing but chaos. I even posed the question – do you see an image in the static? 🙂

Static 56″ x 64″ by Christa Watson. Photography by Brent Kane.

I really did enjoy picking out the fabrics for this quilt, happy shades of pink, purple and yellow from the True Colors collection by Free Spirit. The quilt contains lots of small squares, but strip piecing made the blocks go together fairly quickly. Although the individual blocks look random, there’s actually a method to my madness when I pieced the quilt!

Some of my Static strips. I chose 16 different fabrics – such fun!

For the machine quilting, I really had to fight hard to overcome the urge to quilt this one to death! I wanted to have at least one quilt that a very beginner quilter could have immediate success with. It’s quilted completely with a walking foot and I use my favorite method of stitching “near the ditch” rather than in it. The job goes much quicker and is a lot more forgiving this way. I also like the wavy effect that the quilting gives to some of the blocks, even though they are all pieced totally straight.

Quilting “near” the ditch is so much easier than stitching “in” the ditch!

A Bit More

What makes this quilt modern: Although Static is a pretty traditional design, I still chose to incorporate a few modern elements: bold, geometric prints, sharp angles with hard edges, minimal design, walking foot quilting, no borders.

Time to complete: 26 hours from start to finish (mostly piecing and pressing).

A Fresh Quilt from Freshly Pieced

My friend Lee Heinrich from Freshly Pieced can put together fabulous color combinations like no one else! I adore the fabrics she chose for her version of Static, which makes a seemingly simple design come to life. Lee has an eye for color and she’s an amazing pattern designer, too!

I was so happy when Lee, Katie and Faith released their first book, Vintage Quilt Revival, with much success. Lee wrote me the kindest note ever after I participated in her blog hop. She said she’d return the favor when it was my turn for a book, and true to her word, she’s knocked it out of the park! I love the extra touch she added to the quilt, to truly make it her own!

Head on over to Freshly Pieced for tons of eye candy and quilty inspiration!

Eye Candy from Esch House Quilts and Gen Q Magazine

Another fabulous designer friend of mine is Debbie Grifka from Esch House Quilts. She’s been super involved in the modern movement almost from the beginning, was an instructor at the inaugural QuiltCon and is a prolific pattern designer, too!

Pop on over to Debbie’s blog for her thoughts on the book (we really do have similar tastes), and while you are there, you may want to look around for awhile. I mean just look at the sleek, modern quilts pictured in her website header above. Every time I see a quilt of Debbie’s, I’m so inspired to make more!

Generation Q is one of my favorite modern quilting magazines! It’s a bit edgy and fun and the designs they share in each issue always resonate with me. Plus, the magazine has tons of well-written articles, so there’s more to read and look at than just pretty pictures. I was honored when they chose me to represent “I am Gen Q” in their latest issue. Be sure to grab a subscription to Generation Q magazine and check it out!

I Am Gen Q is written by Scott Hansen, who was an earlier stop on the hop.

Scott (who was an earier stop on the hop) and Teri (who’s coming up later this week) both chose to remake some blocks from one of the quilts in the book. Be sure to pop on over to the Gen Q website to see which quilt they chose. You will be blown away by their versions – so completely different yet amazing in their own way. I love it when designs look great in any fabrics!

Be sure to enter the Generation Q giveaway!

Click here for the complete blog hop schedule.

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

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. 🙂