Project Linus Charity Drive and Free Quilt Tutorials

April 29, 2014April 28, 20149 Comments

I’d like to help spread the word about the the Project Linus Charity Drive being coordinated by Fave Quilts and Leisure Arts. They are requesting quilts and blankets to be donated to the Chicago, Illinois chapter of Project Linus.

If you are able to send in a quilt or blanket, they are giving away some pretty nice prize packs sponsored by Leisure Arts books. The drive runs through June 23rd, 2014. For complete details and where to send, please click here.

Fave Quilts has been very supportive of my efforts to share my love of quilting with as many people as possible. They routinely feature my free quilt alongs on their website, along with hundreds (possibly thousands) of other free patterns and tutorials. You can check out my profile here and literally spend hours on their site, combing through all the inspiration!

Baby Bricks Quilts by Christa Watson

For the charity drive, I’m sending them the Baby Boy Blue version of my Baby Bricks quilts shown above. I made two versions of Baby Bricks to illustrate how different a pattern can look, depending on the fabrics. I knew I wanted to donate them both, and I was able to give away the pink version to a brand new mom earlier this year. However, I held onto the blue one until just the right opportunity came along. Now I’m glad it’s going to the right place! 🙂

Here’s a full shot of just the blue version:

As you can see, I added more straight line quilting to the original quilt. Here’s a closeup so that you can see that straight lines don’t need to be perfectly straight or evenly spaced! The trick is to add enough lines so that your eye takes in the overall effect of the added texture.

When I quilted this quilt, I marked all of the original straight lines, about 2″ apart. Then I filled in the rows of quilting between the lines using the edge of my foot as a guide. It’s totally not perfect, but I love it and hope it will go to a good home. 🙂

Click here to get the free tutorials for Baby Bricks and whip up your own version for someone you love, or for someone in need!

And remember, pieced quilt backs are a great place to use up all those leftovers, whether they match perfectly or not. 🙂

I love the yummy crinkly texture all that straight line quilting provides!

My Cup Runneth Over…

April 23, 2014April 22, 201470 Comments

I just found out two very exciting pieces of news today, and forgive me if I can’t help but put them out there for all the world to see!

Excitement #1 – Colorful Chevrons Takes 3rd at Paducah!

Thanks to my friend Linda H. for sending me this phone pic. She just happens to be there covering the story for AQ magazine and was able to show me the good news. The funny thing is, I couldn’t remember when QuiltWeek started and had my dates confused. I was thinking I wouldn’t hear anything about it until at least next week!

Colorful Chevrons won 3rd place in the Large Wall Quilts – Modern category.
Click here for a list of all the winners.

Excitement #2 – I’ve Been Nominated for Teacher of the Year!

I’ve been nominated for 2014 Teacher of The Year, presented by the International Association of Creative Arts Professionals. Although I didn’t win, I’m in total agreement with who was chosen. In fact, after reading the email announcing the 8 nominees and the winner, I’m completely awed and humbled to be among those who made the final list.

No, I’m not going to spill the beans and spoil any surprises yet. The winner and all of the finalists will be given coverage in the Spring Issue of The Professional Quilter, and it will be up to any of them if they want to announce it publicly first. 🙂

My cup truly runneth over….

Herringbone WIP – Simple Stipples and FMQ Tips

April 15, 2014April 14, 201427 Comments

Today I’ll share with you how I’m quilting my Herringbone quilt. Just call me the stipple queen. 🙂 I did all piecing and quilting on my Bernina 710 without a stitch regulator.

Herringbone by Christa Watson; free quilt pattern designed for Camelot Fabrics

I spent the first 10 years of my quilting career stippling everything I could get my hands and needle on! Then I took a break due to stipple burnout and starting spending ~~way too much~~ time quilting more labor intensive custom designs on my quilts. However, for Herringbone, I returned to my favorite go-to allover motif: stippling!

Since I wanted the quilting to enhance the graphic nature of the design rather than steal the show, I chose to go with a thin, 50 weight Aurifil thread in both top and bobbin. I tried out several colors to see which would blend in the most with both the yellow and grey fabrics.

Tip: audition thread colors before you begin quilting. The grey blends best!

I ended up going with Aurifil #2600-Dove which I think is just the perfect shade of light grey! It surprised me how well it seemed to disappear into the yellow fabric – providing scrumptious texture, rather than a heavy, “thready” appearance.

For this quilt, I practiced on a few scraps first (like I always do) and tested my machine’s tension. Here’s a quick tip: if your machine has really nice tension when you are sewing regular seams, it shouldn’t need to be adjusted too much for free-motion quilting.

I usually quilt with flat hands forming a hoop – gotta love those Machingers!

Don’t be afraid to experiment a little until you get a pretty stitch! For some reason, the day I quilted it, I was able to achieve more consistent stitches with the feed dogs engaged, but covered with a Supreme Slider. I didn’t fret about why, I just went for it. I’m very pleased with the consistency of my stitching on this quilt and I think slowing down just a little helped, too.

I made a label ahead of time and ironed it to the backing fabric with fusible web before I quilted it. Because I am using a thin blending thread, the quilting stitches will hold the label in place nicely without too much distortion of the writing.

I chose to use a coordinating chevron print from the line for the backing – “sew” fun!

I also tried Soy batting for the first time with this quilt and I really like it. It stuck really well to the quilt while spray basting, and I like the drape and heft of it. I reminds me most of quilting with a nice cotton batting (like Warm ‘N Natural) but with a little more loft to it. Now I need to see how it washes up!

Soy Blend batting given to me by my friend Cory. It was fun to try!

I timed myself like I usually do, and it took less than 4 hours to completely stipple this baby. After spending over 40 hours intricately quilting my last quilt, that was like a speed record for me! (Hmm – I need to seriously quilt more quick and fun allover motifs for the next few quilts….)

Now I’ll go get the binding put on and share the final reveal next time!

Roundup of Machine Quilting Blog Posts I’ve Written:

I’d like to leave you with links to several blog posts I’ve written about machine quilting, both here on my blog and for Craftsy. Some of my tools and techniques have changed slightly and a few things may be repeated, but I’ve covered a lot of basics:

Herringbone WIP – Tips on Working With Directional Fabric

April 11, 2014April 24, 201432 Comments

I finished sewing my Herringbone quilt top this week and I wanted to share with you a few new things that I tried while making it.

Herringbone quilt top, using the free pattern I designed for Camelot Fabrics.

Herringbone is made from a plethora of HST’s (half-square triangles). Usually, the fabric direction doesn’t matter, but in this case, I wanted to figure out how to line up the directional fabrics I was using so that they all went the same way.

I used Gray Matters More fabrics in yellow and gray – so yummy!

I started out by cutting all of the squares like I normally do. My favorite method of making HST’s is to draw a line down the middle on the wrong side of my background fabric, match it up right sides together with the main print, and sew on either side of the line. Cutting the squares apart on the lines will then yield 2 half-square triangles each.

Don’t you just love a stack of yummy HST’s? They look like little triangle sandwiches!

For my “experiment,” I flipped the background squares so that half of the lines were left-diagonals, and half were right-diagonals. I then matched up each background square with a print square, keeping the print squares oriented in the same direction.

herringbone_diagonal_lines

After sewing and cutting apart, I ended up with 4 stacks of HST’s with the prints running in 4 different directions, exactly what I wanted for this pattern. Each half of the squares shown above produced two different orientations below.

I’m very visual, so I had to constantly refer back to my pattern to line up all the pieces in the correct block position. (I’m not sure how the directional shift will look with other HST configurations, but you can test it out and see.)

The fabric shown below is one-way directional rather than two, so I just needed to separate them into 2 different directional stacks, rather than 4. Do any of you math geniuses out there remember what type of asymmetry that’s called? I forget!

I still had to mark and sew diagonal lines going left and right for these 2 piles!

Since I decided to get carried away with lining up the prints in my blocks, I decided to match up my border seams as well. To do this, I cut out strips that were the exact same width, following the same design repeat. I then sewed a seam between the motifs, trying to match up the design as best I could. I trimmed the seam allowance down later.

The picture below is how it looks on the front. The key is to match the print where it will be less noticeable, like in between rows of design motifs.

My final top tip is for joining seams that cross over your triangle points. Sew on the side where you can see the tiny triangle in the seam below. This will help you achieve nice, crisp triangle points. 🙂

It feels great to have a finished top – or as some would call it, a “flimsy.” I love how it looks exactly like my original EQ7 design (minus the design wall wrinkles and bad lighting). Next time I will share with you how I quilted it.

On the left is my finished top. On the right is my EQ7 sketch. I love it when they match!

Christa’s Soap Box – Modern Quilting Validation

April 5, 2014April 4, 201456 Comments

It’s no secret I’ve fallen head over heels for modern quilting and the community that surrounds it. Because of this vibrant movement, I’ve probably made more meaningful quilts in the last year than I have in the previous ten years combined! This weekend my tastes were validated when 3 of my modern quilts took 1st, 2nd and 3rd place ribbons in my traditional guild’s annual quilt show. 🙂

Ribbon winners got to wear these buttons of pride while walking around the show!

I’ve been a member of the Desert Quilters of Nevada going on 18 years now. It’s a lively group, full of encouragement and support. Even though I’m one of the youngest of the 400+ member group (and have been ever since I joined nearly 2 decades ago), the guild has offered me a place to share my quilts, practice my teaching skills, and attend amazing workshops and events.

String of Pearls by Christa Watson, 1st Place – DQN Pieced Category 2014

DQN is very open minded when it comes to the latest happenings in the quilt world. They have a very healthy art quilt subgroup and they’ve even recently started a modern “circle.”

I’m super excited that they’ve invited me to teach String of Pearls at this year’s annual quilting retreat. But I’m even more jazzed that the theme of the retreat is going to be “It’s a Modern World.” I mean, how cool is that??

Modern X by Christa Watson, 2nd Place – DQN Modern Category 2014

At the show it was fun to see people walk by Modern X and do a double take. One gentleman I spoke to, a long-arm quilter by trade, couldn’t figure out where I started and stopped my lines of stitching.

When I told him I quilted long lines from one edge of the quilt to the other on my Bernina, he said you couldn’t really do that type of uninterrupted straight-line quilting on a long arm. (Score one for the domestic quilters!)

Spiraling Out of Control by Christa Watson, 3rd Place – DQN Modern Category

And I have to admit, it was super validating when Spiraling Out of Control took a 3rd place ribbon. This is probably my most favorite quilt to date and one where I really stretched myself doing stuff I’d never tried before. I always try to remind everyone (including myself) that I don’t enter my quilts in shows to win ribbons, but it sure is like icing on the cake when they do!

I have to give a final shout out to this fabulous quilt below which is NOT mine. It was made by one of my students who began it in my Charming Chevrons class last year. I couldn’t have been more proud to see that ribbon hanging on it!

Gray Chevy by Suzanne Mayfield, quilted by Brenda Alcorn, 1st Place – DQN Modern Category

Suzanne kindly credited me in her description as the pattern designer, so in some small way, I even got to be a part of this award-winning quilt, too!

Well, now you know what this means – it’s time to go make more quilts!

EQ7 Mac Migration Kit Now Available

March 31, 2014March 25, 201414 Comments

Did you hear the good news yet? The EQ7 Mac Migration kit is now available! For those of you who already own EQ7 and are running it on a PC (or with Virtual Windows on your Mac), you can now purchase a migration kit to make the switch and run it natively on your Macintosh! Whoo hoo!

We are a Mac family and I’ve always sort of felt like a black sheep using a PC. For a time, I ran parallels on my previous Macintosh so that I could use EQ7. Recently, though, I’ve just been using a cheapo clunker of a PC to get by.

Now I’m so excited that I will finally get to work on the computer I’ve been wanting. This is when having a computer geek for a hubby really pays off. He loves any excuse to buy a new computer and tinker around. So, he ordered this lovely beauty for me over the weekend:

Isn’t that nice? He’s such a keeper! Now I’m just waiting for it to arrive so he can install my migration kit and I’ll be off and designing once again! (Does anyone else get the irony of buying a whole new computer just to run some existing software? That’s kind of how we roll around here!)

For those of you who are current Mac users, but have not yet purchased EQ7, the new stand-alone Mac software will be available soon, so stay tuned!

Ski Weekend and Nature’s Inspiration

March 28, 2014March 25, 20148 Comments

A couple of weeks ago, the family and I had the chance to take a ski-trip with the inlaws. My MIL is a lucky gal, and she happened to run into the owner of a ski resort who was passing out extra lift tickets. So she happily agreed to bring up the extended family for a fun ski weekend!

Ski Weekend at Eagle Point, Utah 2014

We had a great time. Our first day was beautiful with sunny skies! It was our daughter’s first time skiing the “real” slopes and she had a blast. Her 2 older brothers have taught her to be fearless and by the end of the weekend, she had even tried a few intermediate slopes.

But what a difference a day makes! The next ski day was quite different – with raging snow and blowing wind, it was all we could do to bundle up and stay warm.

A much colder day full of snow!

The snow day was still incredibly beautiful. Everything had a fresh dusting of snow and all the trees had a beautiful silvery cast. We even caught individual snowflakes and marveled at how they really did look like snowflakes!! (That’s what we get for growing up in a desert landscape!)

During the weekend, I was constantly inspired by everything I saw and want to turn these all into quilts somehow! The ski tracks on the snow looked like a modern white-on-white free motion quilting pattern.

My view from the Chair Lift

This snow-covered doormat is just itching to become a modern design:

I was even inspired by the clothes a lot of the kids were wearing. This ski outfit totally reminds me of my Spiraling Out of Control Quilt!

You can always look to fashion for graphic inspiration!

I just love these simple, graphic shapes, aka warning signs:

Just imagine the possibilities with these simple shapes!

At the end of the first day, we watched a few advanced snowboarders participating in a “trick” competition. It gave me butterflies just watching these amazing skiiers perform their stunts. What an adrenaline rush it must have been for them!

But when I stop and think about it, this is exactly how I feel whenever I quilt!

Christa’s Soap Box – It’s time to brag about my friends: Cory and Carolina

March 17, 2014March 17, 20145 Comments

I’m so excited that I get to share some cool things my friends are doing. And not just because their names both happen to start with a “C” (though that is pretty cool)! Cory is my rather blogless friend, so I took it upon myself to shout her praises. I keep telling her that if she ever gets a blog, I think she’ll be an overnight success. 🙂

Cory is an amazing long-arm quilter, and one of her collaboration quilts was recently featured in the March issue of The Quilt Life magazine. The quilt is called Northwest Passage, and it’s part of an article titled “Going Dutch” written by Colleen Harvey.

Northwest Passage, Pieced by Diane Johnston, Quilted by Cory Allender

When I first met Cory, she presented a trunk show of her amazing work to my local quilt guild, including Northwest Passage, shown above. Of course I blogged about it, and somehow, Colleen Harvey happened to see my blog post later on. She contacted me to inquire about including the quilt in her article, and I was able to help her get in touch with Cory and Diane. I just love it when things work out like that!

Mini Quilt Math – a Craftsy blog post by Carolina Moore

The other good news I want to share is about my friend Carolina who is a prolific blogger. She was recently invited to be a guest blogger for Craftsy and she’s actually written two posts so far!

Carolina teaches you how to calculate the math for mini triangles, too!

Carolina loves modern quilts and mini’s and she’s created a 2-part series about math for minis. She shows you how to calculate the sizes so that you can shrink down any full-size quilt block into a mini version. How cool is that? Be sure to read part 1 and part 2 here and then give her some comment love. 🙂

How about you? What cool quilting stuff is going on in your life, or that of your friends and family? I am a self-proclaimed quilting cheerleader, so I’d love to give you a virtual pat-on-the back, too!

Tips for Getting Started with Modern Quilt Design

March 14, 2014March 13, 20149 Comments

My latest blog post for Craftsy has been published, and I’m rather pleased with the subject matter. It’s called 7 Tips for Getting Started with Modern Quilt Design and I really enjoyed writing it.

The back of Colorful Chevrons – I think it’s more modern than the front. Tutorial here.

Suffice it to say, I had fun gathering pictures and examples of modern quilting, and emailing their makers to obtain permission to share. It was really just a great excuse to get to know more amazing designers, and this is just the tip of the iceberg! I could have included dozens more if I had the time and space to write about them.

Another “modern” backing I designed. One day I’ll make something like this for the front!

So don’t be surprised if modern quilts are all I can think about for awhile. I have to make up for lost time!

Modern X – A Free Pattern for Modern Quilt Guild Members

March 10, 2014March 10, 201448 Comments

I’m pleased to share with you my latest quilt finish – Modern X.

I made it for the Modern Quilt Guild as a free pattern for their members. One of the benefits of being a MQG member is getting a free pattern with each of their monthly newsletters in 2014. I got selected to be “Miss March.”

Modern X – designed, pieced and quilted by Christa Watson – 56″x 70″

All of the quilts of the month will be shown at a special exhibit at QuiltCon next year, so it will be exciting to see them all presented in one place.

If you are not a member of the Modern Quilt Guild (why not?) I also have this pattern available for sale in my Craftsy Pattern Store. It runs 7 pages in length and also includes diagrams on how to machine quilt it, if you are so inclined.

I used Kona Cotton Solid fabrics for the quilt and it is pieced and quilted using Aurifil threads in 50 wt. cotton. Here’s a detailed shot of some of the quilting:

Be sure to come back later in the week as I’ll share a couple of basting and binding tutorials I put together for this quilt. 🙂