My Experiences From QuiltCon 2015

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QuiltCon 2015 has been the most amazing event! It feels like a grand reunion of online friends who’ve never met! The quilts, lectures and social encounters are unlike any other show I’ve ever attended. I’ve seen the most beautiful quilts, I’ve met the most inspiring people, and I’ve had the most amazing experiences!

The Quilts

The picture below shows a small montage of some of the ribbon winners. Click here for pictures and names of all the QuiltCon 2015 winners.

Winners-MontageQuiltCon is the largest display of modern quilts in the world!

The People

I met and reconnected with many of my online friends from blogging and instagram, just a few of which I managed to photograph below:

quiltcon_people Cheryl Brickey (my roommate) and Amy Garro; Kristy Daum, Gemma Jackson, (me), Yvonne Fuchs, Malka Dubrawsky (Moda designer), Andres Rosales and Cristy Fincher; Daryl from Andover with Chris, The Tattooed Quilter, Leanne from She Can Quilt  and me; Jacquie Gering, and Krista Hennebury.

The Experiences

A Show like QuiltCon is more than about just quilts. Making connections and experiencing new things are all part of the fun!the_experiences

  1. Coming full circle with Marianne Fons, from whom I bought my very first quilting book, and her daughter Mary Fons who published my very first quilt pattern in her magazine 20 years later!
  2. QuiltCon Pin Trading – such a fun way to remember everyone I met!
  3. Getting temporarily tattooed from Sarah Watts of Cotton and Steel. (Permanent tattooing was also a thing – just not my thing!)
  4. Being interviewed to talk about Spiraling Out of Control by the Quilt Alliance project.
  5. Sharing Modern X as part of the special exhibits tour with Bill Volckening.
  6. Being asked to autograph a copy of QuiltCon Magazine in which 2 of my quilts from the show were featured – such a surreal moment!

And many more amazing moments that will live in my memory for a long time! I always say I’ve never met a quilt or quilter I didn’t like. But coming to QuiltCon feels like I’ve found my tribe, and for that I am truly grateful. 🙂

Other Posts from QuiltCon 2015

A Visit With Tula Pink – I Learned a Thing or Two!

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For Valentine’s Day, I got to spend the afternoon with Tula Pink, who came to town to lecture and promote her new Berning sewing machine at Quiltique in Las Vegas.

2015-02-14-Tula_christaTula and me – she’s much taller than I am, but so is everyone, LOL!!

Let me tell you – this gal is amazing, and not just because of her fabrics! She has incredible business acumen, is very clever and articulate, and has a great sense of self-confidence. Although she’s a big name in the industry, she’s very straightforward and down-to-earth, and she took the time to answer everyone’s questions and pose for pictures.

2015-02-14tula_modernitionalHere are some interesting tidbits:

  • Yes, Tula Pink is her real name. 🙂
  • Tula was originally a fabric designer for Moda, then left the company to design for Free-Spirit fabrics when Moda wasn’t ready for her out-of-the box wild colors and splashy offbeat artwork. There’s no drama there though, and she has nothing but great things to say about both companies.
  • She started off in the record industry, creating album cover art for many famous musicians. She was happy to give up goth and skull drawings so she could focus instead on creating pink bunnies, teal horses and purple owls.
  • She draws all of her artwork by hand, working in shades of grey with pencil on graph paper. She designs to scale and thinks in repeat so as to create seamless scenery. To make the most of her “drawing economy,” she’ll only draw half images, if the design is to be a mirror image.
  • She’s incredibly focused – it can take up to 6 weeks just to get the coloring right on her drawings, after she’s spent an incredible amount of time working out the drawing details.
  • She’s a history buff and loves to read all she can about famous women in history – Marie Antionette, Queen Elizabeth, etc. These ladies have inspired some of her most well-known fabric lines.
  • Tula describes her style as “modernitional” – part modern, part traditional. She doesn’t want to be put in a box and simply wants to create what she loves, hoping her art will resonate with her audience.

2015-02-14tula_pink_backDue to popular request, Tula will be offering a line of large scale, wide-backings soon!

She definitely resonated with me and I look forward to seeing more of her work in the future. Tula Pink’s fabric and threads are always a hot commodity in my precut store and I’m in the process now of designing a new pattern using her fabrics.

Book Winner – and Thank You!

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Congratulations to Caryn S. who wins a copy of Paper Pieced Modern from my friend Amy Garro. She has been contacted and the book is on it’s way!

paperpiecedmodern

I don’t know about you – but I am constantly amazed at the talent I’ve seen in the online quilting community. Between social media and the modern movement I feel like I’m chatting with lifelong friends who really get me and my style. I love it!

Also, – a huge thanks to those of you who helped out with my fabric destash.

2015-02-14destashNow I have a nice clean shelf that I will be filling up with all sorts of fun works-in-progress. For those that missed out, rest assured that I will be doing another one in a few weeks (maybe a couple of months). I still have loads of fabrics and goodies to clean out – stuff I just don’t use anymore.

2015-02-16-quiltconbagSneak peak of that quilt backing on the design wall coming soon….

I’m just about packed and ready for QuiltCon. I leave in the morning and will be sporting my favorite bag (made by my friend Vicki from A Quilter’s Mission) and an awesome lanyard that I got from Sewtopia.

Be sure to keep up with me throughout the week on instagram @christaquilts!

Christa’s Soapbox – QuiltCon’s a Comin’!

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This week, I leave for QuiltCon, the the modern quilt show and conference. I’m excited to meet so many of my online friends there, and share my trip virtually with those of you who won’t be attending. I’ll be sure to write up a blog post or two while I’m there, and I’ll have day-by-day action (more like hour-by-hour) live on Instagram @christaquilts.

QuiltConFor those of you who have never gone, be sure to check out my QuiltCon post on Craftsy, for a sneak peek of what to expect. You can also go back and read my original posts from 2013 below. I’ve listed them in reverse chronological order.

Celebrity Encounters from QuiltCon 2013

What I learned from QuiltCon 2013

More Amazing Quiltcon Quilts of 2013

2013 Winning Quilts Part 3

2013 Winning Quilts Part 2

2013 Winning Quilts Part 1

QuiltCon 2013 Sneak Peek

If you will be at QuiltCon, be sure to come say hi and grab a button! Due to a color printing error I actually have twice as many as I originally ordered, so there’s plenty to share!

buttonsThese are the first batch in turquoise – I also have them in teal!

PS: If you enjoy my blog and would like to read about more quilting content, be sure to sign up for Friendly Threads, my weekly email newsletter!

Fabric Friday – The Great Destash of 2015

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Do you guys remember when I did the great fabric destash of 2013? Well guess what? It’s time to do it again in 2015!!

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I spent last weekend clearing off my entire shelf of novelty fabrics. I finally realized that as much as I love a good novelty print, I just don’t use them in my quilts. I’d rather sell them to you super cheap than let them languish on my shelves, unused. So here’s the deal:

destash3I have a total of 12 flat rate boxes, crammed full of novelty prints that I’m offering for just $50 each, shipped to the US ($75 to Canada and $95 international). The boxes have at least 15 yards in them and probably even more. So that makes them under $3.50 per yard – shipped!!

destash4

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Here’s the fine print: these are all quilt-shop quality fabrics that have been prewashed. Some may have edges that are a little raggedy and some may be a little wrinkled. A piece may have been cut out here and there. They are all in excellent condition and sizes range from about 1/8 to 1/4 yard all the way up to 2-3 yard pieces.

destash6Each box will be randomly stuffed with a variety of novelty prints, most of which are shown here. Each box with be different and will include some fabrics from each group of pictures shown, plus a few more that didn’t make it into the pictures.

destash7To claim your mystery box, just leave a comment below indicating how many boxes you want. I will select the first 12 buyers and payment will be via paypal. When you comment, It shows me your email address (but no one else can see it), so I will contact you that way to send you an invoice. So no need to share personal info here online.

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I’m sorry, but I can’t accommodate requests for specific fabrics or smaller amounts. It’s all going to be random, but that will be half the fun of getting your box, right?? These prints are perfect for eye-spy quilts, charity projects and fun pieced backings!

destash8To recap: leave a comment to claim your box for $50 shipped to the US. It will be a random assortment and all boxes will be stuffed with a good variety of novelty themed prints.

Thank You!

Paper Pieced Modern Book Tour & Giveaway!

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You know, one of the things I love most about the online quilting community is getting to know amazing quilters. When one of my virtual quilting friends writes a book, of course I want to tell you about it. 🙂

Blog Hop copyMeet Amy Garro, the brilliant designer behind the book Paper Pieced Modern. (Remember, Amy was also the one who started the Quilty Little Secrets blog meme which made its rounds in blog-land awhile back).

Although all 13 designs from the book are fabulous, today I get to focus on one specific quilt, Apple Stars. Isn’t it stunning?

Apple Stars Flat Shot 2Apple Stars Quilt 50″ x 50″ by Amy Garro. Photography by C&T Publishing.

The blocks are a generous 14″ x 14″ and I love how they float on the background. That’s a great design aesthetic because you don’t have to stress about chopping off your points when piecing!

Here’s what Amy had to say about this specific design:

“I had been looking through Nani Iro’s fabrics and when I saw this spotted one, I just knew I had to use it for this project! It’s a double gauze, which I’ve never worked with before. I found it very tricky & shifty. I starched the heck out of it and really benefited from the paper foundations – they stabilized the blocks as I was sewing.”

Apple Stars Flat Shot 1Image courtesy of C&T

Amy continues,

“The other challenge I ran into with this fabric was the fact that the dots were very sparse along the outer edges of the print. I had to use modified cutting instructions and order extra yardage. I absolutely love how it turned out, but what you probably wouldn’t guess by looking at this quilt is that I spent $100 on just the dotted fabric alone! Crazy!”

Isn’t the quilting scrumptious? It was quilted by Emily Session of Emerson Quilting.

Apple Stars 3Image courtesy of Amy Garro.

 I for one think her efforts were worth it. I love the effect of the white fabric among the dots. Can you just imagine it in other colors? I did, so I jumped on the computer and quickly re-sketched the block in EQ using scrappy Sunprints from Alison Glass.

Apple Stars Alison GlasszWouldn’t this be a great way to use up your colorful scraps?

Be sure to check out the schedule below to see the rest of the quilts from the book. I know Amy is going to QuiltCon (and Apple Stars will be there, too!) so I can’t wait to hunt her down and chat in person. 🙂

And Now for the Giveaway!

paperpiecedmodern

One of my readers will win a copy of Paper Pieced Modern by Amy Garro (hard copy for US addresses, E-copy for international folks). To enter, simply jump through each of the stops on the hop to see of all the quilts from the book.

Then, come back here to tell me which one of the quilts is your favorite! Of course, they haven’t all been revealed at the time of this blog post, so if you want to come back and leave a comment later after you’ve seen them all, that’s great, too!

The giveaway on my blog will remain open through midnight on Monday, February 16th. I’ll draw a winner’s name at random on Tuesday morning.

Good luck and happy hopping!

Valentine’s Quilts

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Today I wanted to quickly share with you a tutorial that I made a few Valentine’s Days ago. It’s still a fun one to make and it includes a bit of fun machine applique (which I just don’t do enough of these days!)

Love Runner

Click here for my Love Table Runner Tutorial

Don’t think you are just limited to making it the exact same way as me. How about making it into a wall banner, or make a square version into a cute little wallhanging or pillow? Here are couple more inspiration images to get you started.

Love SquaredLove Wall QuiltHappy Valentine’s Day and Happy Sewing!

Fabric Friday – New Tonga Treats Batiks

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One of the hottest sellers in my precut store are Timeless Treasures Tonga Treats.

Although I don’t personally use batiks very much (which I hope to improve on), my customers can’t get enough of the luscious vibrant colors. Tonga Treats come in all of the usual varieties: strips, charms, fat quarters, and 10″ squares. Plus they have created an exclusive precut called 6-packs – precut strips that are 6″ wide by the width of fabric.

Here are some of the newest treats:

tonga_carnivale

Carnivale 6 packs – comes in all the other sizes, too!

tonga_hawaiiHawaii Colorway – trendy coral and aqua.

tonga_reefReef Colorway – gorgeous blues and purples!

tonga_cabanaCabana Colorway – so beachy!

Aren’t they luscious??

Click here to see the full collection of Tonga Treats!

Ask Christa – What Would You Like to Know?

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I’m adding a new section to my Friendly Threads Newsletter titled Ask Christa!

ChristaQuiltsNewsletterOne of my new logos as part of my branding re-design. What do you think?

You can send me an email asking a question you’d like answered. It can be anything within reason from my experiences in the quilting industry, to my hobbies outside of quilting (running, hiking, board-gaming), or even questions about quilting in general.

Then, I will pick one or two questions to answer each week in my newsletter. If you aren’t already getting it, you can sign up for my newsletter here.

Go ahead – just ask! 🙂

Button Button – Who’s Got a Button?

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The next step I’m taking in my branding re-design is to change up my logo. My friend Sabrina from Slovly drew this caricature of me a few years ago in exchange for a quilt (of course)! I recently bought the rights from her so that I can now incorporate it into everything I do.

ChristaQuiltsButton_small

My graphic designer Lindsie has taken the artwork and created a series of logos for me which I’ll share more of later. For now, the first thing on the agenda is to order some buttons for pin-trading at QuiltCon. (Check out #quiltconpinswap on instagram to see who’s bringing what!)

Will you be there? If so – I’d love to trade buttons with you! And just because I know you are going to ask, I ordered mine from Cheapest Buttons on Etsy. I went with the 1 1/2″ size. Now I can’t wait to get them!