Christa’s Soap Box – Teach a Friend to Quilt….

January 25, 2014January 25, 201424 Comments

Teach a friend to quilt… and you’ll have a fabric-friend for life. My longtime friend Janice popped in over Christmas and she asked the best favor that any friend could request – she asked me to teach her how to machine quilt!

Janice and Her Quilt

First a little backstory – Janice and I have been friends since just after I got married and she’s always been crafty. In fact, I’ve mentioned her on my blog before and we’ve swapped a few artistic creations over the years. Way back in those days when I started quilting I told her I’d make a quilter out of her someday… and now that day has finally come!

Janice reads my blog on a regular basis and recently told me she was inspired to learn to quilt because of my quilt alongs. Living across the country from me, she sought out her local quilt shop and signed up for a class. Although her beginner’s class only focused on piecing the top, she proudly showed me her beautiful piece. (Why, oh why, do shops not teach how to make the entire thing from start to finish?? That’s another soap box post for another day!)

Minky on the back is super cozy!

She backed it in soft minky and had the shop quilt it for her in a pretty swirly design. Then she promptly sat me down and asked me for a lesson in free-motion quilting. Yay! 🙂

So I started her off how I usually do when introducing machine quilting to my students, with a paper and pencil, and we set to sketching out some interesting designs.

Doodling on paper is so fun!

First she filled up a page with some simple stipples…

Practice on paper first!

Then we went to town trying all sorts of fun motifs like pebbles, swirls, geometrics and loops. After a few pages, she had the rhythm down and started to make that muscle memory connection between her brain and her hands. After all, the hardest part of machine quilting is knowing where to go next!

Next, it was time to hop on my machine and try out what she’d learned.

FMQ can be fun!

While she practiced, I made sure to tell her all about my favorite FMQ tips and I gave her a mini tutorial on binding by machine. I mentioned that it may take awhile to get the knack for free-motion quilting, but she can feel proud of doing it herself!

(These pictures remind me that I really should pretty up my hands when I quilt, LOL!!)

By George, I think she’s got it!

I fully expect that when Janice comes out for her annual visit next time, she’ll have completed her next quilt completely – from start to finish. I can’t wait for the show and tell!

My Word of the Year for 2014 – Quilt!

January 10, 2014January 9, 201434 Comments

Have you read about this trend of picking a word for the year? It’s been catching my notice recently, but I was finally inspired to pick a word for myself after reading Pat Sloan’s recent blog post about her words for each year.

Christa’s word of the year for 2014 – Quilt! (Duh!)

I thought about many ideas for what my word could be: health, patience, love, balance, organization, timeliness, etc., but finally realized that “Quilt” embodies all of this for me in this new year. “Quilt” really will be at the forefront of my thinking 24/7 as I strive to meet my goals for 2014. I will need to incorporate all of these other words in order to achieve them!

So how about you? What is on your mind for this year? Can you sum it up in a word?

Sewing With Certainty – Designing Quilts

January 8, 2014January 8, 201420 Comments

I’m interrupting my regularly scheduled post for today to bring you a a few of my thoughts on designing quilts. Jessica from Quilty Habit is currently featuring this topic on her Sewing With Certainty series, so I thought I’d jump in with a few words of my own. :–)

First off, I love designing quilts. I’ll either tweak a commercial pattern (like my Baby French Roses Quilt), or design something original if the mood strikes. Next to machine quilting, I think designing is one of my favorite parts of making a quilt because the possibilities are endless. However, that’s also one of the downsides to designing – sometimes there are too many possibilities that it’s hard to stay focused!

Changing up the color placement and tweaking the borders was a fun way to make it my own.

I’ve recently learned that in quilt-making, good design usually trumps good workmanship. Yes, it’s the best of both worlds to have both in a quilt. However, if the resurgence in popularity of modern Gee’s Bend style quilts are any indication, these amazing quilts gained their fame because of their bold and graphic design, not because of their craftsmanship. I will take a well designed quilt over a perfectly stitched one any day! 🙂

Gee’s Bend Quilt, picture courtesy of WhyQuiltsMatter.org

So where do you start when designing? How about with the basics? Say you want to make a quilt from squares. Start off with a any size square you like (charm packs and layer cakes are a great place to start since they are already precut). Set them side by side in a 6×7 grid and you can make a simple quilt that looks like this:

Christa’s Quick and Easy Charm Pack Quilt

This is a quick, easy and fun design that took almost no thought and effort to put together. So how do you jump off from there into making a truly exciting design? Well, what if you took the same idea of using squares, and threw in a bit of negative space? Then perhaps you could come up with something like this:

“Busy Hands” quilt construction, using Bungle Jungle precuts

This is very neat and orderly, but play around the spacing and orientation of your blocks to create a totally different and modern look:

Alternate Arrangement – I didn’t use this one but I think I need to make a similar quilt sometime!

Let’s get back to our simple squares again and go off in a different direction. Try using larger squares connected with sashing and cornerstones:

EQ7 design sketch by Christa Watson

Now, what if you limited your color palette to just one or two colors and put sashing around each and every block? Notice how much of a graphic punch is added when the focal point (the color) really contrasts from the background as in Sea of Squares:

Sea of Squares by Christa Watson

One last thing to try: take your squares, surround half of them with solid frames, and resize the rest to match. Ditch the cornerstones and remove few of the blocks to create more negative space. Isn’t this a fantastic modern design?:

Love Squared, picture by Lindsey Weight and shared with permission

The beautiful quilt above was designed and made by my talented friend Lindsey from Inspiring Creations – and no – she didn’t design it based on my examples. I actually started with her design and worked backwards while writing this post. I pulled examples of my own quilts to illustrate how I would go about designing a quilt like this. Click here for her free quilt pattern!

Now I invite you to play around with other shapes and see what you can come up with. Next on my agenda: playing with HST’s (half-square triangles)!

So many design possibilities… “sew” little time!

Christa’s Soapbox – My Daily Routine

December 30, 2013May 15, 201422 Comments

I’m often asked how I manage to get so much done. The simple answer is that the hubby and kids help out a lot, and I don’t watch a lot of TV (except when I’m hand-binding).

I love hand-binding. It’s so relaxing!

If I were to give advice, it would be to prioritize what you want to do and then go do it! Because working in the quilting industry for me is a full-time business, I try to treat it as a job and stick to regular hours with (mostly) weekends off. 🙂

I am an early riser because I have more energy in the mornings than at night. I thank my 16 year old son for that – he trained the night owl out of me when he was a baby by constantly waking up at 6 AM no matter how late he went to bed. He only started sleeping in when he became a teenager and it was time to get up early for school. But that’s another story…..

Running in Scenic Utah While Attending a Quilt Show

I usually start off the day with a quick bit of exercise. Jason is my workout buddy and even though we have a flexible schedule since he does this with me, I’ve found that if we don’t exercise first thing in the morning, it doesn’t happen. We try to run while on vacation, too.

We have breakfast and planning time in the morning with the kids to get them started on their daily assignments. (We home school the younger two while the older one attends a community college-high school charter program. So we are around each other a lot!)

I work on a laptop next to my sewing machine so it’s a good reminder to finish work on time and start sewing!

My favorite time of the day is mid-morning after the kids are settled. I like to spend a good hour or two before lunch responding to emails, read what’s happening on other blogs, and brainstorming new ideas. I’ll usually start several blog posts ahead of time and jot down my ideas while they are fresh. Then I’ll go back and finish them later on.

The kids are pretty well trained to work independently and come to us when they need help, so our flexible schedule works. Usually once a week I’ll take them to the park for some outside PE time which is a great chance for me to sit and read the latest quilting book or magazine outside in the sun while they play. (Yes – even in December!)

Playing at the Park

The afternoon is usually when I get the bulk of my work done – designing, writing, or processing new precut shipments. I try to finalize the next day’s blog post so it can fire off on schedule, and I usually jot down my schedule for the next day.

My daughter likes to earn extra money helping me bag precuts!

After dinner if there’s nothing else going on, I can plan on an hour or two of precious quilting time. It’s amazing what I can finish if I actually set aside time every day to sew. I will usually listen to an audio book or catch up on quilting podcasts while I sew.

I love to multi-task – machine quilting while listening to quilting podcasts!

We get the kids to bed at a decent time so Jason and I can squeeze in an hour of down time to talk, read, or watch an episode of whatever our current Netflix show is. (We are taking turns watching past episodes of the Biggest Loser, Survivor, Downton Abbey and Arrested Development. It’s an eclectic mix!)

After that it’s early to bed so we can begin the routine all over again the next day!

By the way, this is just our weekday schedule. On weekends – all bets are off and we are all on our own schedules. 🙂

Weekend fun – we love playing board games with the kids!

Christa’s Soapbox – I think quilts are meant to be used.

December 23, 2013December 18, 201354 Comments

I think quilts are meant to be used. I really do. Nothing makes me sadder than when I give a gift of a quilt and the recipient says, “this is so pretty – I’ll put it away so it doesn’t get dirty.” No darn it, please use it! 🙂

I love it when my family uses their quilts!

Now before I get under anyone’s skin during this joyous time of year, I totally understand that some quilts are meant as heirlooms and others are made so as not to be touched. But those are not my quilts. My quilts are made to be used.

Watching a play on the grass atop soft comfy quilts!

I love spending lots of time piecing and stitching my quilts and I enter them into judged shows quite often. However, once they’ve finished the show circuit, and have been seen wherever they need to be “seen,” they come back home to be used.

My sister’s kids and their quilts. I love that they get used!

Because I machine quilt my quilts quite heavily, they really do withstand lots of wear and tear and hold up well wash after wash. I’m so glad my sister uses the quilts I made for her 3 children.

My niece’s quilt, Roses for Katelyn has received a lot of recognition on my blog, and a ribbon at a local quilt show. But I would rather have the baby spit-up on it or stain it rather than keep it pristine under glass. After all, I can always make more quilts, right?

Sewing with Certainty – Yes, You Can Quilt It Yourself!

December 20, 2013December 16, 201340 Comments

I love to encourage others to try their hand at machine quilting. I’ve blogged about getting started with free-motion quilting here and some of my favorite FMQ tips here.

The number one tool I like my machine quilting students to acquire costs nothing, and everyone has one of these if they know where to look:

It’s a “can-do” attitude. 🙂

Before you feel like you need to jump in and quilt elegant feathers or spend a ton of time stitching intricately quilted designs, try these tricks instead for effective, quick results:

(1) Don’t underestimate the capabilities of your walking foot.

You can add amazing texture to your quilts with simple straight (or not-so straight) lines. I quilted Baby Bricks by marking a series of straight lines across the diagonal of the quilt and quilting them with a blending cotton thread.

Baby Bricks Quilt Along by Christa Watson

This was an effective way to quilt this quilt and it’s enough to hold the quilt together so that it’s washable and useable. However, I always like to add more quilting so I went back later and quilted many more rows in between the original lines. I didn’t mark any of the extra quilting. I simply used the edge of my walking foot as a guide.

(2) Try stitching “near” the ditch.

Stitching in the ditch is boring and time consuming, so I came up with a jazzier way to quickly quilt the seam lines while adding a little texture. Use a built-in decorative stitch with your walking foot and quilt across the seam lines so you can see it. Most machines will allow you to change the stitch length or width for a variety of options.

This is such an easy way to quilt, even a child can do it! My daughter quilted her first quilt when she was just 8 years old. 🙂

(3) Try quilting gentle wavy lines with your free-motion foot and the feed dogs dropped.

For my Li’l Rascals quilt, I quilted an unmarked grid with a very thin blending thread. I started by quilting roughly parallel wavy lines all going the same way:

I then turned the quilt and quilted perpendicular to my first set of lines to create an “improv” sort of grid. I love quilting textures that don’t have to be evenly spaced!

(4) Practice quilting on real quilts.

The best way to learn is by actually quilting on a real quilt. Don’t stress too much about perfect tension or quilting designs. Try out your idea, dive in and do it, and then give the quilt away (to charity, or a family member or loved one). The recipient will love it and they will not notice your mistakes, I promise! It’s much easier to push past your mistakes when the quilt will not be around as a constant reminder of your learning.

(5) Remember: the best machine for quilting is the one you have right now.

My friend Lacey is stipple-quilting her very first quilt! I gave her two rules when I agreed to teach her how to quilt. #1 – She wasn’t allowed to use cheap fabrics. #2 She had to quilt her own quilt. 🙂

Lacey is working on her very first quilt. Whoo hoo!

Lacey doesn’t have all the fancy-schmancy equipment or a drop-in table with tons of room. She purchased a very basic, used Bernina from a local dealer and she doesn’t even own a walking foot. In fact, when quoted the price for a new walking foot, Lacey’s reply was, “for that amount of money, it should be called a running foot!” 🙂

Closeup of large stippling, also called “meandering.”

Lacey practiced on a couple of sample scraps to learn the rhythm of her machine, then she jumped right in and gave it a try on her actual quilt. She’s quilting on a larger scale, also known as meandering. She picked a bright pink thread that goes will all the colorful fabrics in the quilt. Doesn’t it look great so far?

(6) Give yourself permission to make mistakes.

The beauty of machine quilting is in the overall texture that quilting stitches add to the quilt. When you step back from your work a few feet, things look much better than when your nose is two inches away from your stitches. And when in doubt, add more quilting! The best way to hide imperfect stitches is with more imperfect stitches. 🙂

Think about it this way – if you are just beginning your journey into quilt-making, then your quilting skills will be at about the same level as your piecing skills. If you challenge yourself to quilt all of your quilts from the beginning, you can improve both techniques simultaneously, one quilt at a time!

Christa’s Soap Box – A Little Blog Planning for the New Year

December 16, 2013May 15, 201425 Comments

Are you a planner? I am. I do well with schedules, check boxes and to-do lists. It’s not that I’m totally obsessed about being organized, it’s just that I often feel overwhelmed with ideas to pursue and tasks to be accomplished. Making a list (and checking it more than twice) helps me keep things under control and prevents me from going into mental meltdown, LOL!!

I like to keep things loose and flexible, but having a framework of what to write about each day helps me prevent “blogger’s block.” (Is there such a thing? You know – like writer’s block?)

About me – a word collage that Jason made for my birthday a few years ago.

So I’ve decided on a general weekly schedule of what to expect for the coming year:

Mondays – I usually like to get up on my quilty soap box and share my thoughts about blogging or quilting or how I’m feeling about the world in general. These are fun posts to write because they usually generate some lively discussions.

Tuesdays – I like to share tools, tips, and book or online class reviews with you. This accomplishes two tasks – it gives me something to write about and it gives me a good excuse to plow through all the books and classes I’ve been wanting to read or take. Occasionally I’ll also share other exciting things I see that are happening in blogland.

Working on my 2013 Pile O’Fabric Skillbuilder BOM

Wednesdays – This is my day to share longer tutorials or blog series. In 2013 I set aside this day for posting my quilt alongs and highlighting some QAL followers’ finishes. For the coming year I plan to do a series of blog posts exploring such topics as the business of quilting and my creative journey. (And maybe, just maybe, I’ll host another quilt along much later in the year if all of my other projects and goals get under control.)

Thursdays – Right now I’ve reserved Thursdays for my year of weekly giveaways. This will end sometime before the end of 2014 so I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Fridays – Friday is fun day. I like to share sew and tells, works-in-process, as well as trip reports and quilt show updates. I’ll occasionally feature what some of my friends are doing, too. I plan on launching Fabric Friday every other week where I’ll blog about many of the fun fabrics and precuts I carry in my store and ideas of what to make with them.

The Weekend – I usually take Saturdays and Sundays off from blogging so I can spend more time with the family and sneak in a little extra down time. However, I may occasionally post on Saturdays if there are so many exciting things happening that I just can’t help spilling over into the weekend. 🙂

The family that hikes together stays together!

Of course none of this is set in stone, and I may periodically skip a day or two or rearrange the week’s schedule to accommodate other commitments. When I first started blogging, my hubby Jason thought it would be a great way for me to organize my thoughts and get them out of my brain and into print. (Translation – he thought I wouldn’t need to talk so much at home, LOL!)

But a funny thing has happened, blogging has actually generated more discussions, more thoughts, and more ideas for me to explore. I know it may seem a little crazy that I utilize this platform nearly every day, but my blog has really turned into my personal quilting journal. As I’ve said before, It’s very therapeutic for me to write.

Christa Quilts – and you can, too!

I want to end this post by thanking all of you who read my blog. Though I don’t get a chance to answer every single comment, I try to respond as often as I can, and I really appreciate the support, encouragement and friendship that you all have given me. 🙂

Christa’s Soap Box – Looking Ahead to 2014

December 2, 2013November 29, 201322 Comments

I set a precedent last year when I listed my 2013 New Year’s goals a month early at the end of the year rather than on January 1st. I kind of go my own way sometimes and realized I’m more likely to achieve my goals if I get a head start, LOL!

An unofficial goal – learning more about lighting and photography.

My 2013 quilting goals were pretty bold and ambitious and I knew I was taking a risk by stating them so publicly. However, I’m happy to say that I was able to accomplish most of them and feel like a lot of the hard work paid off.

And those that fell by the wayside? Well I learned a bunch, even from my failures. Some of the most memorable achievements of the year were getting accepted into Quiltcon, winning viewer’s choice in the Blogger’s Quilt Festival, getting my first quilt published in a magazine, and winning an award at a major quilt show.

Charming Chevrons at QuiltCon

String of Pearls at MQX

So what’s on the agenda for 2014? In three words: Simplify and Focus. I only have two goals for the next year and here they are:

1. Write a book. (Notice that I didn’t say “publish” – that will be later.)

I’ve just submitted a book proposal to a publisher and now I’m waiting to hear back on whether or not it will be accepted. I know most people are usually hush-hush about this kind of thing, but since blogging for me is as important as sewing (or maybe breathing), I’m putting it out there (without revealing any of the juicy details). Besides, what’s the worst thing that can happen? They can say no, and then I’m really no better or worse off than I was before – other than having a ton of new ideas! So I might as well try. 🙂

What we do to stay sane in between projects and deadlines.

The one effect this will have on my blog is that I will probably take a break from my Quilt Alongs while I work on other projects. However, I’ll leave the finished ones up and since I’m used to blogging nearly every day, there will be no lack of content around here!

2. Get back in shape. (Again.)

Gotta run!

I know, I know – this is everyone’s goal, right? Well, after blogging recently about mine and Jason’s trail-running, I’ve decided this is the perfect time to kick it into gear. I just feel so much better when my clothes fit. Plus, I have much more energy to sew when I don’t wake up with a “food-hangover” from the night before! I look to my previous weight-loss journey as inspiration this time around.

So how about you? What’s on your goal list for the upcoming year?

Christa’s Soap Box – A Drop in the Bucket

November 25, 2013November 24, 201322 Comments

Sometimes I feel like I’m not getting anywhere fast; the daily routines just seem like a drop in the bucket of what I’m trying to accomplish. However, I know that in time, those drops will add up and my bucket will be not only be full, it will overflow. (Hopefully this will occur sometime before I actually kick the bucket!!)

Me, Jason and his sister at the start of a very wet and rainy trail race!

Jason and I ran a trail race this past Saturday and it was literally raining buckets! We’ve decided that we want to run a half-marathon trail race next spring, so training begins now.

I took up running many years ago as a way to get fit after having children. I’ve run two marathons and several half-marathons over the last few years, but it was during a period of time where I wasn’t sewing very much.

Once I rekindled my desire to quilt (all the time), running fell by the wayside (and I gained a few pounds…) Now I’m learning to find balance with both hobbies I love – quilting and running.

Peaceful view from the trail. I was trying to catch the next person up ahead in front of me. (I did!)

Even though I yearn to run at the speeds and distances I used to, I know it will take time to once again build up my endurance. Each daily run is another drop in the bucket towards my goal.

I think this is very similar to my goals for quilting, both personally and professionally. Sometimes it seems like it will take forever to design and make all the quilts I desire, and even longer to get them in front of the people who I most want to see them. However, each stitch I take and each quilt I make is another drop in this bucket, too.

Jason at the finish – you got to ring a bell at the end! How cool!

Most of all I’m learning patience. I’m the sort of person that wants it all done now, but I’m slowly coming to the realization that substantial goals are worth waiting for and worth striving for: day by day, step by step, and drop by drop.

Christa’s Soap Box – I am a quilter.

November 18, 2013November 13, 201365 Comments

I am a quilter. Obvious I know, but I’ve been spending the last few weeks and months determining what this really means to me and why I enjoy doing what I do.

It means I love to make quilts from start to finish. I love coming up with a design, choosing the fabrics, cutting them into little pieces and sewing them back together again. I absolutely love the texture that machine quilting adds to a piece, and I don’t even mind basting since that’s a necessary part of the process.

I am a quilter.

I’ve come to enjoy finishing the binding by hand, curling up on the sofa watching a good movie while I do so. I’ve even gotten to the point where I can add a label and a hanging sleeve without too much stress.

Thinking about the quilt-making process has caused me to reflect on what I’m not really into, either. I finally came to the understanding that it’s okay not to do it all. Really, it is. I’m not interested in embellishment. I have no desire to dye my own fabrics. And, as beautiful as machine embroidery is, it’s just not my thing.

My sister’s kids and their quilts. I love that they get used!

Although I love to create original quilts and share them with others, I haven’t become a serious pattern designer. I’m just not good at graphic design. (That’s one of the reasons I enjoy getting published in magazines and why I want to write a book – so I can leave the professional-looking layout to the experts!)

This reflection has caused me to be a little more open-minded. For a long time I had a really hard time wondering why everyone in the world didn’t quilt their own quilts. By the same token, I’m sure the art quilters, embroiderers and graphic designers can’t understand why I’m not as passionate about their hobby as they are. The answer? We each have our own interests and thank goodness there’s room for all of us!

Teaching my daughter to quilt.

So although I will try to convince as many people as possible that they really can quilt their own quilts, it’s okay if you aren’t interested. You can still be my quilting friend and I will continue cheering you on! 🙂