Amy Butler Soul Blossoms

December 22, 2010January 11, 2011Leave a comment

With the release of Amy Butler’s newest line Soul Blossoms, I thought it would be fun to do a spotlight on this prolific designer.

I first met her a few years ago at Quilt Market and was immediately impressed with her persona and her fabrics. (As well as the fact that she is a lot taller than me!!)

Here’s what Amy Butler has to say about Soul Blossoms, in her own words:

“I wanted to create a visual story to share my wonderful experiences while traveling to India. It’s impossible to spend time in such a soulful place and not be inspired by the culture, rich colors, amazing textiles, and ornate architecture.I was instantly consumed by the heartbeat of everyday life and smitten with the beautiful way people expressed themselves.”

Amy continues, “Soul Blossoms is my interpretation of an enchanted, modern passage through the floral delights of India. Dreamy jewel toned prints in multi-hued flowers and designs – uplifting and passionate – weave together my ethnic inspired story.”

“My three color collections; Passion, Joy and Bliss, work in a harmonious treasure box palette for endless exotic combinations. I hope you are as delighted as I am, and that you find your own inspirations to help your creative soul blossom!”

Thanks, Amy! My personal favorites from this line are the Cherry Laurel Dots and Bliss Peacock Feathers. I just have a thing for dots and brightly colored fabrics! The individual fabric pictures are courtesy of Westminster and I love how they display the closeup view in the corners.

Here are a few inspiration images of what you can do with this fabulous material, courtesy of Amy Butler.

The Stockings Were Hung (Not by the Chimney) With Care

December 20, 2010December 18, 2010Leave a comment

Here are the cute Christmas stockings I made for my family. I used a simple stocking pattern and my mom embroidered the names for me.

I let everyone select their own fabric from my personal stash. My oldest son is more traditional while my younger son really loved the monster truck fabric. My daughter’s favorite color is pink so who says Christmas colors have to be limited to red and green?

Since we (sadly) don’t have a fireplace in our home, we hung them on a decorative shelf in our hall that has just the right number of hooks. And of course our little plush Christmas characters will protect them until it’s time for Santa to come fill them up!

Christmas Quilt Guild Party

December 16, 2010March 19, 2013Leave a comment

Yesterday I attended a Christmas party for my local sewing circle and it was “sew” much fun! My mom, also an avid quilter, was in town so she was able to go with me.

I’m not sure what is more fun about Christmas parties – the food or the gifts! My grandmother is here with my mom so she got to come, too. Everyone brought a pot luck dish so there was plenty to eat.

Here’s a picture of Ann, the original founding member of our guild, Desert Quilters of Nevada, picking out her present for our gift exchange. Our guild has over 400 members and we divide up geographically into smaller sewing circles of about 20-30 people each.

My mom received two gorgeous sewn aprons as her gift – one for fall, one for Christmas.

I began to get a little jealous now!

I received this intricately embroidered tea towel with a picture of a Rodeo Grandma. My dear mother, a cowgirl at heart, was very envious. So she swapped me one of her aprons for the towel and we were both very pleased!

Our members are very talented and most everyone brought a handmade gift.

Several of the guests brought little trinkets for each of the partygoers. I gave everyone a Scissor Pal charm for their rotary cutter. In return, I received several adorable fabric ornaments and yummy goodies to take home. What a fun party!

Will Quilt for Art

December 14, 2010December 13, 20101 Comment

I made this quilt for my friend Sabrina, in exchange for all the cute art caricatures she made of me doing “quilty” things like sewing and hoarding my fabric stash.

I used an older collection from Clothworks entitled Sunwashed that is now, sadly, out of print. I’m accumulating a large collection of floral stencils, one of which came in handy for the alternating blocks. I quilted around the flowers in the border with a few looping swirls to make a continuous design.

Fusible applique has become my favorite decorative quiltmaking style. I machine stitched around the edges with a buttonhole stitch in a blending thread color. Here’s a closeup of the blocks showing the background stippling:

This is now one of my favorite quilts. I’m so glad I could give it to such a good friend who appreciates it!

Weekend Chores

December 13, 2010December 13, 2010Leave a comment

I spent most of my weekend washing and folding loads of fabric. I have been accumulating bits and pieces of leftovers from bolt ends and a yard or two here and there of prints I really like. It’s been sitting in a heap waiting for me to “process” so I finally decided to tackle the pile!

The first step is to sort the fabric into colors for washing. Then I throw in one load at a time. I like to wash it on a gentle cycle with little agitation so it doesn’t get tangled.

After the fabric is washed, I hang it to dry – there are fewer wrinkles this way and it cuts down on the ironing. Who needs a laundry line when you have a stair bannister?

Then I lovingly fold each piece and sort it into color groups. If I have enough room on the shelf I’ll make two stacks – one for tone-on-tones and the other for prints.

And finally, the new fabric is put away. After all that folding, I don’t want touch it!

Save 20% On Any One Website Order

December 10, 2010December 10, 20104 Comments

Use the coupon code BLOGCQ on my website at ChristaQuilts.com to save 20% on any one fabric order. This is my way of inviting my website customers to take a look at my blog and reward them for doing so!

It’s also my way of saying thank you to my blog readers for venturing over to my website and exploring all I have to offer there.

Here’s the fine print: coupon code must be entered during checkout. Not valid on prior purchases and only one coupon per customer, please. Coupon expires at the end of the year on December 31st, 2010.

When you get a moment, read through my blog posts and add your comments if you feel so inclined. I welcome all visitors and friends!

Zipper Class

December 9, 2010March 19, 20134 Comments

I’ve been trying to take more non-quilting domestic sewing type classes.

Last Friday my friend Jessica, her mom Judy and I took a little bag-making class where we learned how to put in a zipper. I’ve never even sewn a buttonhole before, so this is all new to me!

First, we stitched together a bunch of 1 1/2″ wide strips (I used a Crazy 8 Honey Bun by Sandy Gervais for Moda).

Then we added some free-motion quilting. This was the fun part for me! I quilted one of my favorite designs – loopy swirls.

Next, it was time to add the zipper – how exciting to use a new foot!

Finally, I stitched the edges closed and trimmed off the excess zipper. The instructor warned us to put the zipper pull in the middle of the bag so we could reach it and not to sew it closed. Thank goodness for those detailed instructions! Then we flipped it out and “fluffed” the edges.

And voila! The finished bag! Isn’t it “sew” cute? I think I’ll make several more of these and use them to store notions and supplies when traveling to future sewing classes.

Here’s a picture of Judy, me, teacher Lynn, and Jessica with our fun finished bags!

Moda’s Lollipop Charm Quilt

December 8, 2010December 10, 2010Leave a comment

I am so proud of myself! I finished this quilt before I sold out of Moda Charm Packs for you to make one just like it!

It uses one Lollipop charm pack by Sandy Gervais plus about 1/2 yard of two different border fabrics. Use the same material for binding or add a darker fabric like I did.

As soon as I got the pre-cuts I knew the Lollipop line would make an adorable baby quilt.

I sewed the squares together super quick and picked two coordinating green and yellow striped prints from my stash for the borders.

I added leftover charms as corner squares.

The basting went pretty quick since I just put one pin in each of the 5 inch squares and a few around the borders.

Now that I am trying to blog on a more regular basis, I have an incentive to hurry up and finish my pile of UFO’s (un-finished fabric objects).

Here’s a closeup of the machine quilting:

There were a total of 36 squares so I quilted 26 letters and ten numbers in the blocks. I added a freehand loop design in the borders. I love how it turned out!

Celestial Dreams by Laurel Burch Has Arrived

December 7, 2010December 7, 2010Leave a comment

Fans of Laurel Burch’s art and fabric will be please to hear that the latest Clothworks line based on her artwork has now arrived at ChristaQuilts.com.

Here are some of the Laurel Burch Celestial Dreams Metallic Prints:

I absolutely love the panel piece and the others are enhanced with gold etching. I think the “goddess” type print above right is kind of funky but definitely unique!

Here are a few of the star coordinates which have so far outsold the jazzier focus prints:

They seem to go with everything! And of course no collection would be complete without a superb quilt kit to go along with it. Don’t you just want to make this one? I do!

Laurel Burch Celestial Dreams Quilt Kit

Many of you know that Laurel Burch passed away in 2007 from a rare bone disease she dealt with her entire life. I’m so glad that her and her family’s wish was for her artwork to carry on after she was gone. What a legacy!

Yet Another Moda Charm Pack Quilt…

December 6, 2010December 4, 20102 Comments

I am addicted to making Moda Charm Pack quilts! They go together so quickly and are the perfect last minute gift for all the baby showers I’ve been going to lately. I usually have less than a week’s notice to whip something up and I can finish a charm quilt in about two afternoons.

For a super quick finish I like to quilt with an allover meander stitch and sew the binding completely by machine.

I stitch the binding to the front then turn it to the back and finish with a decorative stitch.

This striking quilt was made using one black and white charm pack called “Half Moon” from Moda. Since it was for a baby girl, I backed it with pink fabric with the words “Baby” written all over it. I just hope it will be well loved and used!