Sew and Tell – Meet Lisa Sipes

March 1, 2013March 1, 20137 Comments

For show and tell today, I want to introduce you to my new friend and amazing machine quilter, Lisa Sipes.

I was first introduced to Lisa’s work when I attended Road to California last year. Her quilt, BeDazzled really dazzled me. The bright solid colors really spoke to me and this was even before I started using them in my own quilts.

Bedazzled by Lisa Sipes

Fast forward to QuiltCon this year and who won best of show? Victoria Findlay Wolfe and Lisa Sipes with their quilt, Double Edged love. I mean can you see all the detail in that quilting? This gorgeous quilt is a fantastic modern interpretation of the classic double wedding ring quilt pattern.

Double Edged Love by Victoria Findlay Wolfe and Lisa Sipes

And guess who took Viewer’s Choice at QuiltCon? Again, it was Lisa’s amazing quilting along with Alison Glass’ impeccable applique in “Overgrown” that stole the show.

OverGrown – Detail of quilting by Lisa Sipes

I believe it’s amazing quilting like this that is becoming one of the hallmarks of the modern quilting movement. I recently had a chat with Lisa to talk about her inspirational work.

Lisa began quilting near the end of 2008 when her mother suggested she take up long arm quilting as a new career direction (after dabbling in such varied occupations as accounting and bartending).

Lisa Sipes

Lisa does all of her quilting on a Gamill long arm machine. She is a Gamill quilting artist which means she gets to travel with them showing off what these machines are capable of. Her work has been seen in such magazines as American Patchwork and Quilting, Generation Q, and Modern Quilts Unlimited.

She does mostly quilting these days and her friends help with the piecing. Like any good artist, she always has several designs in her head that just HAVE to get made someday (I can relate!) as therapy to soothe the soul.

It takes her anywhere from a few day to a couple of weeks of focused effort to achieve such impeccable results. She doesn’t quilt just for the sake of quilting, but instead likes to have conversations with the quilters to determine how the quilt would best be quilted.

Sometimes she bases the quilting on the name of the quilt or why it was made or for whom. Other times, her inspiration comes from the design of the quilt or fabric. In all cases, she tries to make the quilting tell a story, such as her collaberation with Thomas Knauer for In Defense of Handmade:

In Defense of Handmade by Thomas Knauer and Lisa Sipes

This quilt is the actual barcode representation of a celebrity designed quilt that was mass marketed and sold through department stores. According to the quilt’s artistic statement, “the… bar code becomes a place for color and play… in lieu of the homogeneity of the factory-made.” Lisa’s painstaking quilting, tied off at every single straight line start and stop embodies the meaning of this quilt. It is beautiful hand-crafted work, indeed.

I applaud Lisa for bringing the art of machine quilting to a higher-level. Whether you quilt on a long-arm like she does, or use a domestic machine like I do, I hope you appreciate the artistry and vision that quilting can bring to a quilt.

BOM and WIP Blocks

February 5, 2013March 19, 201315 Comments

I am adding to my list of UFO’s with my BOM and WIP! What in the heck does all that mean?

It means I am starting some more quilts that are quickly becoming Unfinished Fabric Objects. My newest quilt is a Block Of the Month project where I make a couple of quilt blocks each month until it is done. As long as I work on my quilts on a regular basis, they become my Works-In-Progress.

Sound Wave

Magnum

Here are my two blocks that I just finished, following along with the Skillbuilder Block of the Month at PileOFabric.com.

I absolutely love these blocks. I think they are turning out very modern and I am gaining more color confidence in working with solids. I am using Kona Coal Grey as the background and am very pleased with how it looks against the solids.

Modern Block – Not!

A few months ago I tried to make my first “modern” quilt block by adding grey to a paper pieced block I was making from bright mottled fabrics.

The block design was awesome, but it just didn’t work with the grey! I think my blocks above are much better.

In these last few months I have learned that it takes a lot more than simply adding grey to your quilt to make it modern. 🙂

While sewing my BOM blocks, I used lots of starch to keep the skinny strips nice and straight. I also cut the strips on the grain parallel to the selvedge (instead of cutting them WOF – the Width of Fabric). This grain has less stretch and give to it. While sewing, I also flipped my sewing direction on each successive strip so as not to distort the fabric.

It’s amazing how much this block shrinks up due to the seam allowances!

I pressed all of my seams open first with a wooden seam roller (loving this tool!) and then with a dry iron. They are nice and flat!

You can read my previous BOM post about picking fabrics. If you would like to join me, my friend Alyssa and a few (hundred) others making these fabulous blocks, just go to PileOFabric.com and check out her Skillbuilder Block of the Month.

ChristaQuilts Giveaway – Win a $20 Gift Certificate to My Store

February 4, 2013February 5, 20133 Comments

It’s time for another giveaway! But this one is a little different. I am still awarding the prizewinner, but the actual giveaway is being hosted by Lucy from Charm About You.

To enter, visit her blog and leave your comment there. She will randomly pick the winner from all comments at the end of the week. This gives you a chance to visit my store, and her blog. So good luck and thanks for stopping by!

You may leave comments for me here, but only comments submitted to Charm About You will count for the giveaway.

Updated February 5th – More Chances to Win!!

I almost forgot (well I did forget until now)! Faith over at Fresh Lemons is also hosting a giveaway with prizes from 10 different shops and of course one of them is mine. So here’s another chance to score another $20 gift certificate to my shop. Again, to be entered to win, you must leave a comment on her blog.

Good luck again and happy blog hopping!!

Christa’s Sew and Tell – A Few Quilt Along Finishes

February 1, 2013March 19, 2013Leave a comment

Here are a couple of great finishes from followers of my previous quilt-alongs:

Joanne P. finished her version of Baby Bricks featuring some fantastic geometric prints. It looks very modern and makes me want to make another one to try out more fabrics! (I’m still in the the process of adding more quilting to my two baby bricks quilts).

Kathleen W. sent me a picture of her lovely Charming Chevrons finish. Doesn’t it look fantastic in shades of black, white and gray? She did a wonderful job with the quilting, too.

Both of these quilts are posted on my flickr group. I want to see your quilt-along pics, too!

No matter what tutorial step you are on, or which quilt pattern you are making. I hope you’ll join so we can all share in the fun and get inspired!

The link is: http://www.flickr.com/groups/christasquiltalong/

Sew and Tell – Shopping My Stash

January 25, 2013March 19, 201315 Comments

I have a fabric pull that I’m excited to share with you and several “a-ha!” moments. First take a look at these lovely pretties:

I originally pulled these fat quarters from the shelves of my store for the Skillbuilder BOM I’m doing. I love the analagous color scheme of red, orange and yellow. It’s so warm and inviting. There are a few Kona Solids in there, some Kaffe Fassett and Amy Butler pieces, a few older Lily Ashbury geometrics, some Laurel Burch Basics that blend surprisingly well, and of course a few Pearl Bracelets.

Then I started looking through my stash of backgrounds to decide on black or grey.

My mini “a-ha” moment came when I thought – why not all of them?

I could make each set of blocks with a different shade of black or grey and maybe even grab some shades I don’t have yet.

This led to another “a-ha” moment. I really liked the last completely solid quilt I made, so why not do another?

So I set aside my bundle of colorful print fabrics above and instead went with all solids in red, orange and yellow with a hint of turquoise.

This picture isn’t really great but the colors really do speak to me for this specific project.

And my final “a-ha” moment of the week: I gave myself permission to take the print fabric stack above out of my store’s inventory and keep them for myself. After all, they were my original inspiration, so that means means they belong in my stash, patiently waiting for the perfect project to use them in. 🙂

The Finished Quilt That Wasn’t

January 14, 2013March 19, 201317 Comments

I really thought this quilt was finished. But then I realized it wasn’t. So now it qualifies as my latest UFO. I enjoyed making this quilt and I like the quilting on it, but I don’t love it – it’s just not enough. After the last project I quilted the heck out of, I am starting to find my personal quilting style. It’s one that requires a lot of quilting. And I mean A LOT.

So I will add many more lines of quilting to this quilt. The original pass of straight line quilting only took about 2 hours to do and I was so happy to finish it so quickly. But now that it’s been sitting around for awhile it’s calling to me for more. So I will add more.

I decided to fill in the lines of quilting with more lines. I marked all of the original lines about 2 inches apart so I could quilt them neatly with my walking foot. Fortunately the “filler” lines do not need to be marked; I simply used the edge of my walking foot as a guide and can fit exactly 3 more rows of quilting in between each original line of stitching.

After about 2 more hours of quilting I’m about halfway done and I think it’s looking much better. FYI, I used Superior King Tut cotton thread in a variegated blue (in top and bobbin – my stitches seem to balance out better when using the same weight on both sides).

And now for the soapbox part of this post – it’s ok to make a quilt just because you want to. I have no idea what I will eventually do with this quilt. I may give it away. I may keep it as a teaching sample. I may turn it into a pattern. I originally made it as a tutorial and still have a few kits left with the same fabrics.

It was really nice to not have to rush off and send this quilt off somewhere as soon as (I thought) it was done. So that’s why I can “finish” it now – because there are no deadlines and it needs more quilting.

What I enjoy most about this quilt is that quilting it makes me happy. There are lots more quilts out there that I have to make, just because I want to – with no end purpose in mind. And that’s OK. Really it is. How liberating!

Here is the same Baby Bricks quilt design a pink version. And yes, I think it needs more quilting, too…. Any suggestions??

Christa’s Show and Tell – Sewing Every Day

January 11, 2013May 15, 201415 Comments

One of the quilting goals I set for myself was to sew every day. To make this goal actually happen, I had to make sure it was realistic. In order to do that, I set a minimum time limit of just 10 minutes a day of sewing. I also broadened my definition of “sewing” to include designing quilts, reading quilt magazines and watching online quilting classes.

So far so good. Here is what I have been able to accomplish “sew” far this month:

I’ve signed up for several Craftsy quilting classes. I just finished watching Elizabeth Hartman’s free “Creative Quilt Backs Class” and am currently viewing Cindy Needham’s “Design It, Quilt It” class. They are both excellent!

I pulled these lovely fabrics to participate in the Skillbuilder Block of the Month over at PileOFabrics.com. I decided to go with all Kona Solids for this quilt. I haven’t decided on my background fabric yet. I’ll probably choose a shade of Grey.

I used the color wheel when choosing colors and went with an “accented analagous” color scheme. That means I chose red, orange and yellow which are next to each other on the color wheel, then threw in a bit of complementary teal just for fun. I can’t wait to get started!

Today, I paper-pieced this sewing themed block as part of Quiet Play’s And Sew On year-long block-of-the-month series. January’s block is called “Measure Twice” and is available as a free download this month.

Measure Twice, Cut Once!

I also made this block designed by Amy Friend of During Quiet Time. I love the sewing theme so I may have to incorporate it into the same quilt!

Next, I designed this quilt in EQ7 which will be the basis for my next quilt-along as soon as the current one finishes. I found out how to download Moda’s fabric swatches directly into the design program so I can design quilts using the actual fabrics from the quilt. Very cool!

Hugs and Kisses

When I don’t feel up to sewing, or when I’m traveling, and bringing along sewing supplies is impractical, I have a stack of quilting magazines that I am thoroughly enjoying reading.

My favorite magazines are Machine Quilting Unlimited, along with their brand new sister publication Modern Quilts Unlimited. I’ve also been a long-time subscriber of Quilter’s Newsletter, the best source of news for what’s hot and happening in the quilting world.

I think that’s a great start for January! How about you? How are you coming along with your quilting goals?

QuiltCon Here I Come! Charming Chevrons Juried-In

December 28, 2012March 19, 201369 Comments

I just got the best news ever! I just found out that my Charming Chevrons quilt was accepted into QuiltCon, the modern quilting conference taking place in Austin, Texas in February.

I am practically speechless and beside myself with joy! I am already registered to attend the conference, and in fact just booked my plane ticket today. This is like icing on the cake! 🙂

Here is the front of Charming Chevrons (you can click to enlarge):

And here is the back (which I think is just as much fun as the front):

One of the quilting goals I made for the new year was to get a quilt accepted into a major show. Well, now I can cross that one off the list. (Or maybe I should say I’ll add to it?)

I will update the goal to read, “Win a ribbon at a major quilt show.” I’m sure this new goal will take much more than a year to accomplish, but I believe anything is possible with enough patience and perseverance!

Sew and Tell – Contest Winners

December 21, 2012March 19, 20134 Comments

I enjoy sponsoring quite a few blogs, blog hops, weekly giveaways and quilt contests. It gives me an excuse to play and be inspired. This week for sew and tell, I thought I’d share a few of the gorgeous quilts from winners of contests I sponsored recently.

The first quilt was the winner of the Blogger’s Quilt Festival from the home-machine quilted category. Winner Amy Friend blogs at During Quiet Time. I love her quilt because it is so colorful and sew modern. You can read more about her winning quilt, Indie Vibrations.

Next, The Quilting Gallery hosts a weekly themed quilting contest and I sponsored a couple of those this fall.

Marjo B-W from Germany won the Star Quilt themed category with her gorgeous quilt, “Star for Peace.” Isn’t it gorgeous? Check out that fantastic echo quilting!

Bente who blogs at I like to Quilt is also from Germany. She won the paper piecing themed contest. Because I am getting more into paper piecing, that one was fun to sponsor!

Aren’t those fabulous quilts?

Finally, I think the The Quilt Pattern Magazine’s Quilt Kitty Photo Contest is one of the most fun I’ve sponsored yet. The rules are simple: post a picture of your adorable kitty on a quilt. I sponsored 4 winners, show below:

Sophie and Magglio

Sami

Baby

Kimba

Isn’t that the cutest thing you’ve ever seen??

Sew and Tell QuiltCon Entries

December 7, 2012December 28, 201223 Comments

For Sew and Tell this week I thought I would share with you the quilts that I submitted for entry into QuiltCon. This was a scary step for me as I’ve never tried to enter a big show before. But it’s one of my quilting goals – so here’s hoping at least one of them gets in!

Charming Chevrons is the first quilt I knew I wanted to enter. After the time-consuming (but fun!) amount of quilting I did on it for my tutorial, I thought it deserves a shot. You can read the text I submitted with the entry below.

What is more traditional than a half square triangle? What is more modern than solid colored chevrons with irregular pebble quilting? My quilt, Charming Chevrons, is a marriage of both. Inspired by a couple of colorful Kona charm packs and the desire quilt the heck out of something, I experienced pure bliss in designing and making this quilt. I used 18 different colors of thread for the pebbles.

Next, I emailed them a picture of my Busy Hands quilt which I’ve already blogged about a few times before. But here it is in its entirety. (I didn’t even bother counting how long it took for the FMQ – I would probably need to declare myself insane if I did!!)

Although I’ve been a quilter for quite a few years, this is my first modern quilt. I discovered this eclectic style earlier this year and have been thoroughly smitten! “Busy Hands” embodies everything I love about modern quilts: bright clear colors, bold geometric shapes, and clean lines with lots of negative space for detailed quilting. Making modern quilts is a great way to keep my hands busy! I did all of the quilting my regular home sewing machine.

And finally, just for fun I included my Baby Bricks in pink. I was able to submit 3 quilts so I figured more quilts would increase my chance of at least one getting in! (Yes I will be sad if none make it into the show, but no matter what, it was an amazing experience to at least try.)

Baby Bricks

I designed Baby Bricks as a way to piece a quick modern quilt with simple shapes. I took a classic stacked bricks design and modernized it by adding negative space between the rows. This allowed me to showcase some fun fabrics while balancing the straight lines of the quilt with whimsical double loops. I love the way the batting poofs up in the areas that are not over-quilted. This gives some extra dimension to the piece.

Updated December 28th – I’m in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so thrilled I can hardly speak (or type). I just found out that my Charming Chevrons quilt above got juried into QuiltCon. This is so exciting!!!!!! I’ll post more later in a separate followup post. Yay for me (giving myself a big hug and pat on the back….)!!