Christa’s Soapbox – QuiltCon 2016 is NOT Your Traditional Quilt Show

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Today I will talk a little bit about the quilts from QuiltCon. I took a bazillion pictures on the last day of the show, as part of my preparation for a webinar on Modern Machine Quilting (which I’ll be presenting to members of The Modern Quilt Guild in April). However, rather than overloading this post with pics, I’ll just share a few of them here. For a complete list of winners visit The Modern Quilt Guild Blog.

Read my earlier post about why I think that QuiltCon is about more than just quilts.

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Best in Show Winner – Pieced and Quilted by Melissa Averinos – My Brother’s Jeans

First of all, QuiltCon is NOT like any other show out there. While I was at the show and perusing social media, I ran into comments somewhat disparaging the Best in Show Quilt for not being up to par with other national quilt show winners. I also remember some grumbling at QC 2015 and 2013 that some quilts that earned accolades at other traditional shows got nary a ribbon at QuiltCon. My answer is that QuiltCon is QuiltCon – it’s not trying to be like any other show, and for that I am grateful.

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Best Home Machine Quilting – Pieced by Members of the Albuquerque MQG, quilted by Renee Hoffman of Quilts of a Feather

I was so thrilled to see Renee win such a high honor. For me this truly is the epitome of a modern quilt. You can look closely to see that she combined many traditional quilting elements successfully into a modern design. I love it! Yes you CAN combine swirly motifs and feathers in a modern quilt. It’s not always just about straight line quilting! It’s all in how you do it.

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The details on this quilt are so fabulous! I’ll discuss it more as part of my upcoming webinar.

One of the things that excites me about the quilting community is that there truly is something for everyone. If you love to spend 500 hours machine quilting a quilt, you can – and I think that is fantastic! I’ll admire your breathtakingly beautiful workmanship and appreciate the skill, thought and precision that goes into each stitch.

If you pour your heart and soul into a design, and rather than spending a small fortune on having it professionally quilted to perfection, you decide to quilt it yourself so you can take ownership of the entire process, I’ll equally applaud your perfectly imperfect stitches.

In fact, I was able to have a very in-depth conversation about this topic with Annie Smith – host of Quilting Stash Podcast. Click here to listen to our hour long QuiltCon chat, or find it in Itunes.

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Annie and I discussed QuiltCon, my books, and my first ever BERNINA sighting!

Something unique about QuiltCon is that they hire 3 judges with 3 different areas of expertise to judge their shows. There’s a certified quilt judge, a modern quilter, and an artist outside the realm of quilting. So with these 3 combined voices, I think they are able to evaluate each quilt as a whole rather than the individual sum of its parts.

I truthfully do not know whether or not they take the artist’s statement into account when choosing their winners, but I’m pretty sure that overall design trumps workmanship when it comes to picking the winners and I’m okay with that. This is not to say that it’s a blanket excuse for shoddy workmanship, but I’d rather see someone be rewarded for their own best efforts rather than feel like they can’t even enter because their work isn’t “good enough.”

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I love black and white quilts! This one was made by my good friend Christopher Thompson, aka The Tatooed Quilter. He nailed it on the machine quilting, too! He said he was inspired by the wavy lines from my book and created his own version of “organic matchstick quilting”. I love it!

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Detail of machine quilting on Let’s Connect by Christopher Thompson

One of the things that I found particularly refreshing about QuiltCon was that there was so much originality in the quilts on display. As a designer, of course I’m flattered when someone purchases my patterns to make a quilt, but there’s something special about seeing a new work at a quilt show that I haven’t seen a hundred times before.

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I love the design and texture on this piece by Paige Alexander. Her work is always so fresh and inspiring! Both she and Christopher get bonus points from me for doing their own work.

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This was my favorite quilt from the show, Mod Mood by Debbie Jeske from A Quilter’s Table, made from Bee Sewcial bee blocks. I saw this one coming together on Instagram and thought it was something special. I love the retro vibe! It won a 1st place for group quilts.

It’s always thrilling to share my own quilts in any quilt show, whether they win ribbons or not. I was pleased to have two of my quilts from Machine Quilting with Style on display at QuiltCon. Of course I had to grab the obligatory “hey look at the quilts in my book” photo op! 🙂

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 “Rain” was in the minimalist category at QuiltCon. Thanks to Becca Bryan for photography!

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The title of “Focal Point” pays homage to Jacquie Gering who gave me the best piece of design advice when making modern quilts – “always have a focal point.”

One of the things I love about QuiltCon that truly sets it apart from other shows, is the beautiful display of charity quilts. Each local MQG chapter is invited to create a quilt with a specific theme that will be then donated to their local area after the show. You can see a snippet of my guild’s charity guilt – “Home is Where the Heart Is”  in the podcast picture collage earlier in this article.

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These are the most beautiful charity quilts I’ve even seen, with beautiful details and amazing workmanship. The one is my favorite  – Flame of Inspiration by the Seattle MQG.

Jason is always pushing me to go more modern and I learn more about the aesthetic with each quilt I make. I’m sure there will be continuing discussion on what makes a quilt modern as well as what makes a quilt win a ribbon, and I love to be part of the dialogue! Feel free to add to the conversation below, but just remember, this is my space, so please be considerate and thoughtful when you comment.

For more inspiring modern quilts, check out #quiltcon and #quiltcon2016.

Read my other post from QuiltCon 2016 here.

QuiltCon 2016 – Modern Quilting is About More than Just Quilts

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I returned from QuiltCon yesterday and it was such an amazing experience. As I begin to process everything, the thing that sticks out most in my mind is the community aspect of it all. In fact, for today’s post, I won’t even be talking about the quilts. But don’t worry, I’ll get to them later. 🙂

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Lunch on the Steps with Melissa – pictured are Melissa Averinos, Molli Sparkles, Lacy J. Law, Becca Bryan, Violet Craft, Monica-Solario Snow and another gal in the upper left whom I met but sadly forgot her name (if you are out there new friend – please speak up!)

It’s been stated that the modern movement is part attitude/part aesthetic. The modern quilting community itself is a huge part of that! QuiltCon is unlike any show I’ve ever been to and it’s so unique in that you really feel like you are among friends. It’s so fun to meet up with instagram/facebook friends in person and have longer, more in-depth face to face conversations. I think we all love being a part of something and being around others who get it.

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One of the fun things I got to do was take part in a panel discussion on how to stash our fabric. The moderator was Rossie Hutchinson and panelists were myself, Mary Fons and Judy Gauthier. I was able to give Mary a big hug and thank her for giving me my first “big break” in the quilting community (when she selected my Charming Chevrons quilt for the cover of Quilty magazine back in 2013). Chatting with her before the panel began felt like we were old friends catching up.

I love being part of both the local and national MQG community. So many of my local Las Vegas MQG members attended, since the show was only a few hours drive. I didn’t realize what a huge help they would be in helping me set up and break down my classes each day.

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My “roadies” – Melissa B., Ida, Melissa C. and Vicki with our guild’s group entry.

One of my favorite moments at the show was meeting up with Angela Walters and Jennifer Keltner (Chief Visionary Officer for Martingale/That Patchwork Place) for a little chat about our book, The Ultimate Guide to Machine Quilting which releases in April. We have something extra special planned for Spring Quilt Market in May and I can’t wait!

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And finally I love, love, love, my community of students. Teaching is one of my favorite parts of my career as a quilter. That spark of excitement on a student’s face when they get it is one of the huge reasons I do what I do!

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Student work from my class “free-motion favorites for the modern quilter.”

I taught two machine quilting classes while at QuiltCon along with two classes on EQ7. I’m always a little unsure of how the material will be received and it makes my day when a student comes up to me at the end of class and tells me how happy they are with what they’ve learned. Yay! That kind of positive feedback propels me to do more. I love it!

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It makes me happy to see students chatting together before class begins.

And the best news is, for anyone who was unable to attend QuiltCon 2016 – I’ll be teaching again at QuiltCon in 2017, this time in Savannah, Georgia. I can hardly wait!

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Pattern Writing Series – Hiring a Graphic Designer

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I am enjoying being part of Cheryl Brickey’s Pattern Writing Blog Series over at Meadow Mist Designs. Today I wanted to include an extra post as part of the series, on the subject of hiring a graphic designer to help create patterns. In a nutshell, this is the one step that allowed me to make pattern design a reality rather than just a “someday” dream. I previously blogged about hiring Lindsie to do my branding redesign and now I consider her a very valuable member of my team!

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To decide whether you want to enlist in the help of a graphic designer, ask yourself these two questions: How good are your graphic design skills? What is your time worth?

If you are comfortable with graphic design, and enjoy that aspect of pattern design, you may want to go ahead and do it yourself. Likewise, if you want to invest in the time it takes to learn or if you plan to do graphic design for others, it may be worth it to learn.

However, if you are like me and your time is limited, it may be more cost effective to hire that part out.  My graphic designer Lindsie can get done in an hour what I would struggle with for about 4-5 hours, and I can definitely say that her one hour rate is cheaper than my 5 hour rate! (Contact her if you are interested and she can work up a reasonable quote for you.)

DBLlogo2016In fact, here’s a rule of thumb for any aspect of your business – hire out what you don’t like or what someone else can do more efficiently, and save the work that only YOU can do, or that you WANT to do.

Here’s how it works: I send over a rough sketch of what I want, called a “transcript” and Lindsie sends back proofs. We may do several rounds of proofs until everything is just right, then I sign off on it and she sends me the finals, formatted per my printer’s specifications.

Since I’ve now been published in books and magazines as well as self-publishing my own patterns, I’ve learned the pattern process is basically the same: you create 3 separate “piles” – (1) a pile of words, (2) a pile of pictures, and (3) a pile of rough illustrations. Then the graphic designer magically pulls them all together into a beautiful finish!

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Proofing the first set of “piles” for my book Machine Quilting With Style

When I am working with a magazine or book publisher, they edit and publish the work in addition to the graphic design and layout. However, when I am producing my own patterns, I act as editor and publisher. The simplest way to show the graphic design and layout that Lindsie does for me is to show you a few examples of before and after pics.

Here’s the “before” of the very first pattern I designed, Charming Chevrons. With my non-existent graphic design skills, I simply copied and pasted the picture of the quilt onto a blank white piece of paper for the cover. It’s utilitarian but not very exciting, the fonts are boring, and there’s no branding to speak of.

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Here’s the cover that Lindsie designed for me which includes both versions of the quilt I’ve made. Notice the logo, fonts and colors all look great and work with the quilts. It’s much more dynamic and exciting to look at. When we finalized this first pattern, I literally had tears in my eyes!

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Graphic designers usually charge by the hour and it took about 10 hours for her to create the first pattern because we had to establish a template and a cohesive look. However, now that we know what we are doing, my current patterns only take her about 4-5 hours to knock out. It would probably be even quicker, except that I like to see more in-process drafts, and I tend to make a lot of changes as we go. It’s how I roll. 🙂

Here’s my draft of the back cover of Puzzle Box (my free quilt pattern). Notice that it’s very bare bones, with a few notes about formatting. I’ll send over drafts of the images I want to include as a separate file, and we use dropbox to share the files back and forth.

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Here’s the final, jazzed up version:

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Doesn’t this look so much nicer than what I did?? Worth. Every. Penny!

Here are a couple of pages from my Modern Logs pattern. For the piles of “rough” illustrations, I will either send over a jpeg I drew in EQ7, a chicken-scratch drawing on paper, or a photograph.  Lindsie works her magic, explodes diagrams when needed and generally pretties them up so what I envision in my head comes out perfect on paper! Again, notice the cohesive fonts and colors – all part of my branding!

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In addition to creating graphic design and layout for my patterns, Lindsie also helps me whenever I need a logo or any illustration. She recently created the image for my Facets Quilt Along from these instructions: use the photo of my quilt and put the words Facets Quilt Along on it. I liked the first image below, but told her it wasn’t quite right – I wanted to see more of the quilt.

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Below is the final image I am using, and it only took her 15 minutes to create both!

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I’m just barely scratching the surface with this topic, but I hope it’s enough to at least get your feet wet and to assure you that it is well worth the effort to hire the services of a professional, especially if that’s the only thing standing in your way.

Currently I have self-published 4 printed quilt patterns and 6 PDF’s. I have plans to do more, but I have a couple of book projects I need to finalize and get out of the way first!

Facets Quilt Along Week 4 – Complete The Quilt Top

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This week’s assignment is super easy and will allow any newcomers a chance to catch up!

Simply follow the quilt assembly diagram on page 94 of Machine Quilting With Style and lay your blocks in a pleasing arrangement. Then sew them together – easy peasy. Be sure to take a “victory lap” around the quilt top when finished – sew around the perimeter 1/8″ in from the edge to secure the side seams.

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Take a look at my EQ7 drawing of Facets and see how closely it resembles my actual quilt.

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Finished Facets quilt, Made from my Kona Designer Series Precut Palette

I love seeing how different and unique this quilt can look. Be sure to pop on over to my Facebook Group at Quilt With Christa to share your progress and see the other fabulous versions! You can also share on instagram – just hashtag #facetsqal and tag me @christaquilts so I can see!

Here’s just a sampling of the beautiful quilts being made by others who are following along:

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G has made more of my quilt patterns than anyone I know! Follow her on IG @blingnailsbyg

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Michelle is G’s sister and it’s so fun to see them make it a family affair. Her scraps are so pretty!

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Ann is reversing her layout – with mostly plain blocks and a pieced focal row. I love it!

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It’s been so fun watching Jocelyn’s version come together!

Remember – everyone who participates will win a prize  at the end. Click on the starting Facets QAL post for complete details, and to find links to all of the QAL posts.

Register Now for the Panguitch Quilt Walk Festival

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Registration for the Panguitch Quilt Walk Festival is now open! The festival runs June 8-11 in Utah, and I will be teaching 4 of my most popular classes. Scroll down for my schedule.

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my teaching schedule:

  • Charming Chevrons – Wednesday, June 8, 2-5 PM
  • Modern Logs – Thursday, June 9, 8:30-5 PM
  • Machine Quilting with Style – Friday, June 10, 8:30-5 PM
  • String of Pearls – Saturday, June 11, 8:30-11:30 AM

Registration fees are the cheapest rates I’ve ever seen for quilting classes. So even if you don’t live nearby, you could travel here and take my classes for less than it would cost you at some other venues.

Click here to register for the Panquitch Quilt Walk Festival

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I hope to see you there!

Facets Quilt Along Week 3 – Making the Triangle Blocks

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I can’t tell you how much fun it is to watch your Facets progress. So many people are sharing their progress on Instagram and in my Facebook group. It makes me giddy!! If you are just joining us, you can catch up and get started on the Facets Quilt Along here. Be sure to grab a copy of Machine Quilting With Style, if you don’t already have it. We will be following the instructions found on pages 92-94 from the book.

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This week’s assignment is to cut your “made fabric” into triangle shapes using the Triangle Squared Ruler and Perfect Rectangle Ruler from Creative Grids. If you don’t have these rulers, you can cut your shapes from the full-sized templates given on pages 96-97 of the book. You can either make templates from plastic or draw them onto paper and tape the paper to a ruler that’s wide enough to accommodate them.

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You need both Creative Grids rulers for this method to work.

How to use the Creative Grids rulers:

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First, make sure there is fabric completely underneath the triangle shape you are cutting. Next, align the Triangle Squared Ruler so that the blunted triangle corner is on the top of the strip, and the measurement you need lines up evenly with the bottom of the strip. Trim on both sides of the triangle. There will be a little bit of waste, but you can just throw that in the scrap pile for more improv piecing!

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Once you have cut the triangle with the blunted tip at the top, rotate the ruler to cut a triangle with the blunted tip at the bottom.

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Don’t forget to cut triangles from you accent fabric, too! Hint: if you are using directional prints, you may need additional fabric to accommodate cutting your triangles in one direction only.

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You will need to cut the background triangles using the Perfect Rectangle Ruler. Remember to keep your strip folded so that you get a half rectangle for each side of the triangle in a square.

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Don’t forget to cut angled tips indicated by the blunted end of the ruler. These will help line up your units correctly for sewing.

Using the picture below as a guide, line up the background rectangles so that the blunted ends align with the center triangle. The pointed tips will stick out. Trim the tips once the units are sewn.

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I borrowed this image from a previous project using the same method with a smaller sized unit.

Sew the triangle blocks into diamonds where indicated in the book on page 94.

Eye Candy Inspiration

The best part of any quilt along is seeing how others make it their own. Here’s a roundup of blocks being made by followers in my Facebook group: Quilt With Christa and on instagram: #facetsqal. Remember – you can jump in at any time and work at your own pace. Some people have just started and others are nearly finished (which gives me plenty of pics to share for future posts)!

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I love the pop of orange that Gina from Gina’s Custom Creations chose to include!

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Sherri (@snugbear2 on IG) is laying out her pretty purple blocks and sewing them together!

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I love Paula’s pretty piles!

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I know I’m not supposed to have favorites but I really love Jocelyn’s triangles!!

Next week we will sew the blocks together to complete the quilt top.

Click here for the start of Facets Quilt Along

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Christa’s Soapbox – Joining the Modern Quilt Guild Changed My Life

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I guess I could subtitle this – “Sappy Love Letter to the MQG.” Sorry guys – I can’t help it!

As I prepare to teach at QuiltCon, the modern quilting show and conference that takes place in Pasadena, CA, February 18-21, I can’t help but pause and reflect on how much The Modern Quilt Guild has changed my life in such a short amount of time!

Here’s a quick recap: I’ve loved the art of quilting ever since I started this awesome hobby back in 1994. However, for many, many years, I felt stuck and uninspired because I couldn’t find my personal quilt style. I made a lot of quilts that I didn’t really like, just because it was so darn fun sewing them together! When I first heard of the MQG in 2012 and decided on a whim to attend QuiltCon (by myself!) in 2013, it really was a life changing moment.

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The first time I ever entered or attended a national show was at QuiltCon in 2013.

At once, I resonated with the modern quilting aesthetic. The bold colors, clean lines, and graphic geometry appealed to me immensely. Now – I don’t want to go down a rabbit hole about what modern quilting is or isn’t. Neither do I want to discuss the merits of whether or not one should define their style or label themselves as fitting into a particular genre. Suffice it to say – upon becoming involved with the MQG, I instantly knew these were my kindred spirits and this was the style that I had been looking for, but didn’t know where to find it.

The best part of joining such a diverse community is truly connecting with so many people from different walks of life. Let’s be real – I’m probably not going to meet one of my tattooed and pierced BQF’s (best quilting friends) in my conservative church community, and they most likely won’t run into me at a bar – but we certainly do have a lot to chat about when we hook up at QuiltCon in person!

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Returning to QuiltCon in 2015 was even more fun – this time I had more friends!

When I attended QuiltCon back in 2013, I was on fire with excitement! The whole weekend was full of and inspiration and exhilaration. It lit a fire under me to start publishing my work, and I vowed to one day return as a teacher. When I attended the second QuiltCon in 2015, it solidified all the positive feelings I’d had since the first one.

It’s funny – although I’ve always said I’d never be president of anything, I spent last year being president of the Las Vegas MQG. But when the universe moves you to take action, you just can’t ignore it! So yeah, I’m a little bit excited (and a whole lot nervous) to return to QuiltCon again in 2016.

Although I’m not naiive enough to realize that there are both cheerleaders and detractors for any organization, I look forward to the future of the Modern Quilt Guild. Although I’m sure there will be bumps in the road ahead, I’m excited for the journey, because being a member has truly changed my quilting life – for the better!

Facets Quilt Along Week 2 – Improv Piecing

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Welcome to week two of Facets Quilt Along. Last week we gathered fabrics and started cutting. This week we will make our own crazy-pieced fabric. The fun thing about this is that even if you are using the same fabric as me (Kona Solids Christa Watson Palette), your quilt will still look different from mine!

kona_improvA piece of improv fabric made from my Kona Cotton Designer Palette

Follow the instructions page 93 of Machine Quilting With Style to make your fabric pieces. Then share your progress and ask questions in my facebook group Quilt With Christa.

Here are a couple more fun examples:

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A sample piece I made using a bunch of scrappy prints. It looks great in any fabrics!

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This beautiful piece was made by G from my facebook group. She’s sewing along with her sisters!

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Jocelyn from the facebook group chose a more muted, modern palette. I love it!

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Paula’s festive blue and green combo is so fun – perfect for a Seahawk’s fan!

Seeing everyone’s pictures is half the fun of a quilt along. It’s amazing how the different fabric combinations are coming together to create individual works of art. Be sure to pop over to my facebook group to see more amazing improv in process!

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Jan is using lots of leftover scrappy bits – no size is too small!

If you are sharing your progress via social media be sure to hashtag it #facetsqal. Remember, everyone who participates will be entered to win prizes. I just love seeing your progress!

Click here for the complete QAL schedule.

Book Review – Stash Lab by Tonya Alexander

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I’m wrapping up my slew of book reviews (for now) with Stash Lab – Simple Solutions for Scrap Quilts by Tonya Alexander. If you are a scrapaholic, then this is the book for you!

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Stash Lab images courtesy of Martingale. Photography by Brent Kane.

Stash Lab opens with a wonderful introduction on using your stash, with an easy to understand simplified color theory and explanation of Tonya’s 3 “equations” for scrappy success!

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Tonya’s Stash Lab Equations – so clever!

The thing I love about any Martingale/That Patchwork Place book is that the quilts are beautifully photographed from a straight on angle so that you can see the whole quilt. The illustrations are in full color and the book is laid out so that it is very easy to read and follow.

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Sample page with step by step, clear illustrations to follow.

Each quilt in Stash Lab lists dimensions and finished block sizes along with a complete materials list with plenty of helpful tips sprinkled throughout each pattern. The book also includes a very thorough techniques section before you get started making the quilts.

Let’s dive in and take a peek at some of my favorite quilts from the book!

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Kaffe’s Garden at Night, 52″ x 65″

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Sunny Side Up, 76″ x 78″

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Loose Change 48″ x 64″

Stash Lab includes a range of styles from traditional to modern, showcasing a variety of techniques from traditional piecing to paper piecing to  applique. I recently learned a rule of thumb in the publishing industry – if you like at least 3 quilts in any book, it’s worth it to purchase. Well, I can say without a doubt that I could see myself making all 11 quilts from the book!

I recently heard an interview with Tonya on the American Patchwork and Quilting podcast. It was so fun to hear her story about how she fell into quilting. Give it a listen the next time you are quilting, and be sure to pick up your copy of Stash Lab today!

 

Craftsy Class Review – Disappearing Blocks with Precuts

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My friend Angela Pingel recently released her first Craftsy Class and I just love it! It’s called Simple to Stunning: Disappearing Blocks with Pre-cuts.

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You all know I’m a huge fan of working with precuts, so this class is right up my alley! You’ve heard of disappearing 9 patch blocks right? Angela’s class explores that concept in great detail with many other starter blocks besides the simple nine patch.

The class runs just over 100 minutes so it’s a little on the shorter side compared to some of the other Craftsy classes, but it was the perfect length of time for me. I often get excited about a new class, then lose a little steam and don’t make it through the entire thing. Well, that didn’t happen with Angela’s class. She had me engaged from start to finish!

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I watched Angela’s class while working on a secret quilting project. So fun!!

Here’s a breakdown of the six lessons that are included in the class:

  1. Precuts and Disappearing Blocks – Angela introduces you to a variety of pre-cuts. You’ll also get started on your first block and practice cutting and sub-cutting techniques.
  2. Disappearing Blocks with Charms – Create three beautiful blocks: a disappearing nine-patch, a disappearing four-patch and a disappearing diagonal four-patch.
  3. Disappearing Blocks with 10 Inch Squares – Cut triangles, then find out how to sew gorgeous pinwheels and hourglass blocks that look complex but come together quickly.
  4. Disappearing Blocks with Rolls – Learn Angela’s method for accurate strip-piecing as you make a disappearing strips block and a disappearing strip triangles design.
  5. Double Disappearing Blocks – Learn how the addition of more fabric and cutting can transform 5″ squares into incredible, dimensional nine-patch and whirligig blocks.
  6. Designing Your Own Blocks – Angela shows you how to turn your new skills into inspiration for future projects and how to customize pre-cut color palettes.

Here are just  three of the fun blocks that Angela shows you how to make in class:

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Disappearing Strip Triangles

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Disappearing Strip Diamonds

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Disappearing 4-Patch Block

During each teaching session, Angela includes illustrations of what each block would look like when set into an entire quilt. There are some pretty cool combinations that I’m itching to try!

Just like each and every Craftsy class, there are additional class materials to use when making your own blocks, plus tons of teacher support. You can ask questions during class and Angela is very prompt about answering. One of my favorite things in any class is reading through the comments during each lesson. I highly recommend this class and will definitely watch it again!

Click here to purchase Disappearing Blocks with Precuts

Click here to stock up on your favorite precuts! (And thanks for your support!)