Video Review – Why Quilts Matter

January 13, 2014January 6, 20147 Comments

I am extremely pleased to review the DVD series, Why Quilts Matter: History, Art & Politics presented by the Kentucky Quilt Project. I first heard about this series while reading designer Thomas Knauer’s blog and thought it was pretty serendipitous when the folks from Why Quilts Matter contacted me a few months later to share my thoughts about the series with you.

Originally produced by renowned quilt expert Shelly Zegart as a PBS television series, it’s now available as a 2 disc DVD set. This fabulous series has a total running time of just over 4 hours and is broken up into these nine episodes:

Quilts 101 – Antique and Contemporary Quilts
Quilts Bring History Alive
The Quilt Marketplace
What is Art?
Gee’s Bend: “The Most Famous Quilts in America?”
How Quilts have been Viewed and Collected
Empowering Women One Quilt at a Time
Quilt Nation: 20,000,000 and Counting!
Quilt Scholarship: Romance and Reality

This series will truly change the way you think about quilting! Each episode takes you on an amazing journey and gives you a feel for for the scope, depth and influence of American quilting culture.

It features video interviews with some of the most amazing quilting artists in the industry as well as museum curators and quilt collectors. It’s enlightening to listen to their take on the quilting industry as a whole and why they think quilts matter.

Click the video below to watch a preview of the series, and be sure to visit the WQM website for a host of other resources including discussion guides, summaries, and images of quilts from the series. It’s a lot of quilting “eye candy” to explore!

My favorite episode of the series was the one about Gee’s Bend quilts since they are considered one of the major influences of the modern quilting movement. I gained a lot of new respect for these quilts as well as plenty of inspiration to make one of my own!

Be sure to stop by my blog later in the week for your chance to win a copy of this fabulous series!

Hugs ‘n Kisses Quilt Along (Reprise)

January 11, 2014July 1, 201510 Comments

Are you in the mood to create a sweet quilt for that special someone in time for Valentine’s Day? Then how about making my Hugs ‘N Kisses quilt? Just pick up a Jelly Roll of your favorite fabric line and some background fabric and you are good to go!

Since I don’t have any new quilt alongs scheduled for the next few months, I thought I would share this one with you. I’ve had so many new followers join my blog since last year (lots of hugs and thanks to you all!), that many are seeing this quilt for the first time.

Hugs ‘n Kisses Quilt Along by Christa Watson

Hugs and Kisses is an updated version of a previous quilt from 12+ years ago. I made the original quilt in spicy reds, oranges and yellows for my husband who is hot stuff! The newer version in soft pretty pinks (with all x blocks) was made for my sweet daughter.

Hugs ‘n Kisses by Christa Watson

Hugs ‘N Kisses Stats:

Finished Size: 48″ x 64″
Completed: April 2013
Pieced and Quilted: on my Bernina 1630
Fabrics: BasicGrey Kissing Booth and Kona Snow Jelly Rolls (plus scraps)
Piecing Thread: Superior Masterpiece, 50wt Cotton
Quilting Thread: Glide High Sheen Polyester, Cream
Batting: Legacy 100% Wool
Quilting Design: FMQ Flowers in the O’s with Serpentine Lines Quilted Across the X’s with a Walking Foot
Binding: By Hand
Total Sewing Time: 47 Hours

Quilt Along Tutorials – Click the Links Below for Each Step:

FMQ Flowers

Step 1 – Supply List
Step 2 – Fabric and Design
Step 3 – Making the Blocks
Step 4 – Sewing X’s and O’s
Step 5 – Finishing the Top
Step 6 – Piecing the Back
Step 7 – Pin Basting
Step 8 – Stitch in the Ditch
Step 9 – Decorative FMQ
Step 10 – Extra Quilting
Step 11 – Binding

Click here for an EQ7 download of this pattern.

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!

Quilty Article – January/February 2014

January 7, 2014January 6, 201434 Comments

This year is getting off to a great start! The January/February issue of Quilty includes my first feature article. To see my name listed among these other amazing quilting celebrities is a little surreal to say the least. (I’m just glad they shared a decent picture of me!)

Quilty January/February 2014 Issue

Quilty is one of my favorite magazines, so when Mary Fons asked me to write an article about online quilting classes I jumped at the chance! It was interesting to see how they took my words and edited it to fit their magazine style and voice.

I hope you get a chance to read it and let me know what you think. For anyone new to Quilty, you can subscribe to the magazine here and you can read more about my cover quilt from last month’s issue here.

For a girl who absolutely hated writing papers in college, I guess you can say I’ve come a long way. I just needed to find the right topic! 🙂

Guest Posting at She Can Quilt – Valentine’s Table Runner

January 6, 2014January 2, 20143 Comments

Today I’m guest posting with Leanne over at She Can Quilt. I was first introduced to Leanne’s work when it won an award at QuiltCon so her style is really my cup o’tea!

Love by Christa Watson 12″ x 30″

I’m sharing my Love table runner which I machine appliqued and quilted. Developing more machine applique patterns has been on my list for awhile so I figured I would start the year off with a quick and easy Valentine’s Day project.

Be sure to check out all of the tutorials happening this week over at Leanne’s. They are all part of the kickoff for the 2014 Finish Along hosted by Katy from The Littlest Thistle.

Whoo hoo! Get your finish on!

Sew and Tell – Upcoming Quilt Show Entries for 2014

January 3, 2014January 2, 201430 Comments

More and more large quilt shows are adding modern quilting categories to their lineup which I think is simply fabulous! I love to support the art of modern quilting, and I encourage others to enter their work into shows so we can all be a part of shaping this movement.

Two of my recent quilts will be in a couple of upcoming shows this year, so if you are in the area – please stop by and say hello to them for me. 🙂

String of Pearls, 64″ x 64″ Pieced and Quilted by Christa

String of Pearls (above) will be part of the Modern Quilt – Negative Space category at the Road to California showcase in Ontario, California January 23 – 26th, 2014. I will be attending this show, so it will be fun to see in hang in person. (I missed attending MQX last year in which String of Pearls received an honorable mention.)

Charming Chevrons (below) was accepted into AQS QuiltWeek in Phoenix, Arizona February 5-8, 2014. It will be displayed for competition in their Modern Quilt – Wall Size category. I haven’t made up my mind if I’ll attend (it’s a long drive for me), but I’m hoping someone who is there will recognize the quilt and snap a picture of it hanging for me.

Charming Chevrons is such a special quilt to me because it was my first modern quilt. It’s been shown at QuiltCon and has won two awards – both locally and online.

Charming Chevrons 45″ x 53, Pieced and Quilted by Christa

Sometimes I worry that I’m being a little silly entering the same quilts into lots of different shows, but I learned recently that each quilt has an average “show-span” of 2 years in which it can be entered. That means I can make quilts and send them around the country for a couple of years for others to enjoy viewing. Then they can retire and come home to live with me where I can use them and love them!

The reason I never entered large shows before was because I always thought the quilts that were accepted had to be “perfect” or that I had to make a new quilt for each contest. Fortunately, I have now learned that is not the case.

I never expect to win when I enter (though it’s kind of fun when I do), and I don’t quilt for the judges. I just enjoying sharing my quilts in public and getting feedback on how to improve my skills. 🙂

Happy New Year 2014 – Live Long and Prosper!

January 1, 2014December 27, 201313 Comments

Wishing you a happy and prosperous New Year!

Happy New Year 2014!

My husband’s family has this fabulous tradition of dressing up and going on a scavenger hunt each year to find our big family Christmas gift. This year’s theme was Star Trek and we were on a quest to seek out new life forms and new civilizations while solving clues along the way!

Solving clues requires simple logic!

We had to answer trivia questions, solve puzzles and think like Captain Kirk while we journeyed through our quest.

Solving clues is logical, Captain!

What would Captain Kirk do?

Each answer led us to another clue and we really had to work together as a crew to discover our final destination!

Seeking out new life forms on our journey!

At the end of our journey we were rewarded with generous gifts and fun memories from our quest. You can see our antics from previous years here and here.

Christmas – the final frontier!

Live long and prosper!

Craftsy Class Review – Quilting Big Projects on a Small Machine

December 31, 2013December 31, 201319 Comments

Over 24,000 students have taken the online Craftsy class, Quilting Big Projects on a Small Machine so I figured I may as well join them and tell you all about it. 🙂

Award winning quiltmaker Ann Petersen quilts her designs completely on her home machine (yay!) which is a Bernina (double yay!) and her class includes eight lessons which cover five different methods for quilting a big quilt. Total running time is approximately 4 1/2 hours and I enjoyed watching the class one or two sections at a time over the last week or so.

Reflections of a Rising Sun by Ann Petersen 2008 -40″ x 40″
Shared with Permission

I quilt a lot of big quilts on my home machine and try to share the love of machine quilting with as many people as I can. I think the number one issue domestic machine quilters deal with is how to handle the bulk of the quilt under the arm of the quilt. Ann covers this and more in her fabulous class.

I think my favorite section was when Ann demonstrated how she sandwiches her quilts using basting spray and an iron to heat set the adhesive. I’ve never tried this method of basting before, but after watching this class, I’m definitely willing to give it a try!

Curves Again!-35″ x 35″ by Ann Petersen
Shared with Permission

I thought it was very cool that during class, Ann actually demonstrates how to quilt using a real queen-sized quilt. You can see how she moves the large quilt under her little machine, and she shares a few hints on the order of her quilting. (She starts with stitching in the ditch on her borders first to keep them straight – genius!)

I learned a few new tips including why sharp (topstitch) needles are really preferred for machine quilting (rather than ball-point or universal needles). Ann confirmed my experience with polyester batting – it’s really too slippery to use when quilting on a home machine! I also appreciate that she validated another point that I love to teach – where possible, use a blending thread and match your top and bobbin colors to eliminate little “pokies” of thread showing through on either side of the quilt.

In addition to showing how she quilts a full quilt under the machine, Ann also covers several quilt as you go methods which I haven’t tried yet but have always wanted to. I was very intrigued by Ann’s “split-batting” and “split-quilt” methods to deal with the bulk.

Modern Baby Quilt, 39″ x 34″ by Ann Petersen
Shared with Permission

Other valuable tutorials she covers include properly setting up your machine space for quilting, choosing the appropriate threads, and thinking about the quilting designs you’ll use before you begin.

Ann includes downloadable extra course materials as part of this class such as her step-by-step tips for spray basting, favorite tools for marking and steps for blocking a quilt.

Sunshine & Shadow – 2012 – 20″ x 20″ by Ann Petersen
Shared with Permisssion

The questions that are asked during the class (listed on the sidebar while watching) are also very informative. There was a discussion on the best ways to handle quilting with clear polyester thread and I picked up quite a few tips from reading them.

The pictures above are just a few of Ann’s beautiful quilts, which she allowed me to share with you. To see more of her fabulous work and gain confidence with your machine quilting skills, I encourage you to register for Quilting Big Projects on a Small Machine today. You’ll be glad you did. 🙂

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. 🙂