Category: Sew and Tell

MQWS Blog Hop Day 11 – Facets

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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_KonaFacets 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!

facets_stripsIt 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:

crazy pieced yardageRandomly 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.

facets_quiltingUsing 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.

Finals B1324.inddPhotography 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?

Christa Watson Designer PaletteThe 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

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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

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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

quiltinggalleryMichele 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

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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? 🙂

Finals B1324.inddStatic 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!

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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.

static_quiltingQuilting “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!

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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!

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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!

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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!

IamgenqI 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

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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.

Finals B1324.inddSquare 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.

detail quiltingQuilting 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.

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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

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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.)

square_sneak_peekHere’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?

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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.

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(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 5 – Ripples

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Are you enjoying the roundup of quilts from my new book? I’ve shared 5 so far, with 7 more to go! Be sure to order your signed copy of Machine Quilting With Style and I’ll pop it in the mail right away. I can’t wait to see how you make these designs your own. 🙂

Ripples – The Background Story

ripplesRipples 66″ x 88″ by Christa Watson. Photography by Brent Kane.

Who doesn’t love a good Log Cabin design? When it comes to choosing fabrics for a quilt, my philosophy is “more is more.” I mean – why use just one or two fabrics when 20 will do? I had fun picking out tons of aqua and grey fabrics from my stash, and I think this quilt would look stunning in any color combination.

cutting_stripsIt was so much to choose fabrics and cut strips for this quilt!

Although the structure of the quilt is easily recognizable as a Log Cabin variation, I used a technique I call “Structured Improv” on several quilts in the book. The basic idea is to liberate the piecing by using irregular shapes and fabric widths while constructing the blocks. I sew my blocks slightly oversized, then trim them down, making sure they all fit together in the end.

If you look closely at the wonky log cabin blocks, you will notice that the strip widths vary, and there aren’t always an even number of strips on either side of the block. Also, I didn’t strictly use all lights on one side and darks on the other like you would for a traditional log cabin quilt. This makes the whole design pop, and making these blocks was SO. MUCH. FUN!

quilting_textureI love adding lines of quilting texture with a decorative stitch. It was very a meditative process.

I quilted Ripples completely using the  IDF (integrated dual feed)on my BERNINA with a decorative stitch. This is liking having a walking foot built into the machine! Of the 12 quilts in the book, 5 use walking foot quilting exclusively, 4 have extensive free-motion quilting, and the other three combine both techniques in the same quilt. As people buy the book and start sharing their versions with me, it will be so fun to see how the machine quilting designs are used in different ways!

A Bit More

piecing_backingThe pieced backing of Ripples – you could make this as scrappy improv front!

I was thrilled when the publisher agreed to included the pieced backing for Ripples as a bonus project in the book! I literally took all of my extra fabric chunks that I pulled for the quilt and used them up on the back. I love back art – don’t you?

Elements That Make This Quilt Modern: Low volume fabrics, on-trend color scheme, improvisational piecing, skewed block assembly, asymmetrical design, transparency, inspired by tradition.

Time to Complete: 47 hours from start to finish including the pieced backing. (It’s big!)

Quilting Inspiration from Melissa Corry

happy-quilting-blog-headerMy dear friend Melissa from Happy Quilting is one of those prolific quilters that can bust out a quilt in no time. Can you believe that she made 52 quilts last year? And she loves the quilting part as much as I do – which gives her extra credit in my book. 🙂  She’s pretty great at keeping secrets, too. I didn’t get a chance to see the final reveal until today and it is so good I can hardly stand it. The color combo is fabulous and the arrangement she and her MIL chose is just divine! Be sure to pop on over to Melissa’s blog for some more quilty goodness!

Melissa is a fellow Martingale author who released her first book, Irish Chain Quilts, earlier this year. I had the pleasure of being on Melissa’s blog hop this past summer, and I’m so glad she returned the favor!

More from the Art of Home and Blue Nickel Studios

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The very talented Jacquelynne Steves from The Art of Home crafts a beautiful e-magazine 4 times per year, once each season. She recently interviewed me for her next issue which will be published in October. And the best part? It’s completely free! Click here to sign up so you don’t miss a thing! Then hop on over to Jacquelynne’s blog for her stop on the tour. She wrote a very kind book review. 🙂

Jacquelynne is also hosting a sew-along day coming up pretty soon and I’m throwing in a prize for that. So be sure to check it out! Then for some bonus content be sure to check out her roundup of holiday sewing tutorials. 🙂

Scott Hansen from Blue Nickel Studios is not only a talented quilter, he’s a great writer as well. He writes the “I am Gen Q” profiles for the magazine of the same name and recently chose to interview me for the next issue. (You’ll hear more from Gen Q later in the hop.)

I thought it was amazing how he could turn my dry answers into an interesting and witty read! For Scott’s stop on the hop he decided to try out one of the free motion quilting designs from the book and I think he did a fantastic job.

Pop on over to Scott’s blog to check it out – and he has a fun little giveaway, too!

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

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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

Finals B1324.inddPearl 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.

pearl_gray_quiltingMy 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!

Binding at the BeachI 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

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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

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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_pearlsMini 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.

Machine Quilting With Style Blog Hop Schedule

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I am so excited to kick off the blog hop for Machine Quilting With Style on Monday! Each day over the next two weeks (excluding Sundays) I will share a different quilt from the book, including some behind the scenes info and a few extra tidbits.

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Schedule of Special Guests

The schedule below shows which day I will showcase each quilt, plus links to friends’ blogs who each remade their favorite quilt in their own way. You are going to love seeing all the variations!

Plus, there will be additional stops on the hop from the awesome people listed below. They will be sharing their insights including book reviews, interviews, sample blocks, and other interesting content you won’t want to miss.

Prizes

Of course, there are going to be prizes! I mean, c’mon – what’s a blog hop without prizes, right? I’m not going to tell you who’s giving away what – you’ll just have to check out all of the stops for yourself.  But trust me, there are some amazing prizes, so it’s well worth the hunt!

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Quilt Along

I’m going to do another quilt along in January and YOU get to vote for your favorite quilt. Whichever quilt receives the most votes is the quilt along I’ll do. Won’t that be fun??

Click here to vote for your favorite quilt along choice!

Quilting Podcast

If that’s not enough fun already, be sure to tune into Pat Sloan’s Podcast – American Patchwork and Quilting Radio – on Monday afternoon, September 14th. I’ll be her guest for two segments, talking about the book and some tips for machine quilting success.

Click here to listen in!

American Patchwork Quilting Pocast episode 276 Christa Watson

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

My Weekend at QNNtv

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This past weekend, I flew to Handi Quilter headquarters in Salt Lake City to film 3 video segments for QNNtv.com. I’ll be a guest on Quilt It – The Longarm Quilting Show, coming up next spring. Although I am NOT a long-arm quilter, I was able to share tips and tricks for free-motion quilting using the sit-down Sweet 16 machine. In addition to talking about many of the machine quilting designs from my book, I was able to let the viewers in on some other fun surprises, including details of the quilt right behind me. (Don’t worry – I’ll spill the beans on that one soon….)

qnn_ontvA lot of work goes into producing a video segment. Thank goodness for the professionals!

I must admit, it was pretty nerve-wracking, since I’ve never filmed anything before, but Jodie Davis, the host of Quilt It, put me right at ease. The film crew were great, the Handi Quilter gals were fun, and they took great care of us!

dinner_crewDinner with some of the gang the night before filming. Food calms all nerves!

The whole crew went out to dinner the night before my scheduled filming day and it was a great way to meet everyone and get out all the butterflies about what to expect.

It was fun to meet some of the other Quilt It “Stars” including Joe Cunningham (aka Joe the Quilter) and Kelly Cline, who does stunning work on traditional quilts and vintage linens. Plus, it was super fun to hang out with Rebecca Bryan and Stephanie Palmer since they were filming the same day as me. I love life’s little moments like that.

qnn_guestsFrom Left to right above: Joe Cunningham, Kelly Cline, Stephanie Palmer & Rebecca Bryan. There was a huge “green room” where we could stack our quilts and prepare for filming.

We took turns being silly, cheering each other on and calming each other’s nerves. It was so reassuring for them to tell me I looked and sounded great, while my heart was thumping hard inside my chest!! I’m sure they felt the same way, and from my vantage point, they rocked it!

Personally, I think QNNtv is pretty cool. It’s a monthly subscription service that gives you access to hundreds of quilting shows on demand, anytime. My episode is slated to air next March (I think) and if you are interested in checking it out now, you can Subscribe to QNNtv here.

Now it’s time to get back to my regularly scheduled quilting life!

Christa’s Soapbox – On Destashing…

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I surprised quite a few followers on Instagram recently when I posted a picture of what my current stash looks like. After 20 years of quilting I’ve dejunked, destashed and cleaned out my space to the point that I finally realized that I am just not a fabric hoarder.

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Now to be fair, the bottom shelves (shown empty in the pic above) are filled with a few WIP’s, but not many – only enough that I can count on one hand, and mostly stuff that I can’t show in public yet. I’ve opined on my minimalist tendencies before and have to say this wasn’t an overnight process. And, I do have a small personal stash of precuts in another unit. But scraps? Overflowing bins? Not happening!!

precut_stashMy precust stash – waiting to be made into quilts!

I started with about 2 storage units worth of piles of fabric, which by some standards, still isn’t a ton. I pared that down to 1 storage unit about a year ago, and then recently whittled it down to about half of a cabinet for fabric, half for wip’s, and then the second cabinet for tools, supplies, thread, magazines, etc. And a whole empty shelf that makes me proud!! I need negative space in my storage, too, it seems!

The reason I can live this way (nearly stash-less) is mainly because of the way I create. First, I design the projects I want to make in EQ. Then I import fabric swatches or colors I want to work with. Once I’m finished with my design, then I shop for fabric. I’ve tried it the other way around, trying to come up with a plan around a specific fabric and it just doesn’t work for me. I know this will invariably mean that by the time I’m ready to make a quilt, the fabric I want may not be available. But that’s okay, there’s always something else that will work, right?

precutsPrecuts in my garage workspace – awaiting shipment to Amazon.

Now I know some of you will say, “but that’s not fair – you have a whole store full of fabric!” Well, yes, that is true, but we don’t store it here. We process it when it comes in and then ship it off to the Amazon warehouses for storage.

The bottom line is, I realized that I would rather have the space than fabric that just sits on my shelves languishing. But don’t worry – I’m not trying to encourage others in my minimalist tendencies – it’s just what works for me. I’m just as happy to get excited for my friends when they show me pics of their amazing stashes because you know what? It works for them! 🙂

How do you like to store your stash? I’d love to see pics – please share them on my facebook group at Quilt With Christa!

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Introducing My Very Own Kona Designer Palette

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I have exciting news to share today! I’ve been working with Robert Kaufman to curate my very own Kona Cotton designer palette in my favorite shades of red, orange, yellow and green.

Christa Watson Designer PaletteChrista Watson Designer Palette – Kona Solid Precuts Coming Soon!

I chose these fabrics for the  Facets quilt from my book Machine Quilting With Style. You can see a sneak peek of the quilt in the photo above.

Christa Watson Designer PaletteI never thought I would see my name on precuts – such a dream come true!!

My precut palette will include 5″ charm squares, 10″ ten squares, 2 1/2″ wide roll ups and a 28 piece fat quarter bundle. They will be available for purchase in quilt shops everywhere this fall, including my precut store.

Probably one of the best things about having my own precut bundle is being able to explore the possibilities. I already have two additional quilts I will be making, and I will share my progress with you – so stay tuned!

Things to Read While I’m Hiding out in my Studio

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When I’m busily working behind the scenes without much to show, it’s a great time for me to share a little bit about what my blogging friends and colleagues are up to. So in no particular order, here are a few things you might be interested in:

Check out some great tips on blogging from Yvonne at Quilting JetGirl, as part of the 2015 New Quilt Bloggers blog hop. I love how she dissects several Pain Points when it comes to blogging and how to overcome them!

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The always lovely Pat Sloan is hosting a sew along for one of the patterns in her new book Teach Me to Applique. To join, just buy a copy of her book and head on over to her blog and facebook group for all the fun!

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Abby Glassenberg from While She Naps is running a feature on her blog this summer entitled, “The Pattern That Changed My Life” and it’s a very inpsiring series. She hosted it last year and it was so successful that she’s repeating again this year. In fact, she’s invited me to be one of the contributors in August and I can’t wait to share that story with you!

 

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I think good thing come in threes so I hope you enjoy those recommendations. If you are an avid blog reader like me – what other interesting things have you been reading? I’d love to know!