Tag: Blog Hop

Lines by Design Quilts by Debbie Grifka – Blog Hop

157 Comments

I’m still recovering from the awesomeness that was QuiltCon 2016 and one of the amazing quilts I fell in love with was Clerestory by Debbie Grifka of Esch House Quilts. FYI I hadn’t heard this word before, so I looked it up. It’s an architectural term that refers to a section of wall that contains windows. Since many modern quilt designs are inspired by architecture, the name makes total sense. 🙂

clarestory

Clerestory – 64″ x 74″

Well, today, I’m excited to let you know that you can get the pattern for this awesome quilt, plus 16 others in Debbie’s brand new book, Lines by Design Quilts.

cover

Fault Line – 52″ x 52″

I have always admired Debbie’s original quilt designs, and now I really like the premise of her new book book: patterns that explore the clean lines often found in architecture, furniture and clothes.

Lines by Design Quilts is organized into four pattern sections: squares and rectangles, diamonds and hexagons, circles and curves, and pictorial. I think the pictorial section is my favorite! Just look at a couple of the dynamic designs patterned in that part of the book:

deep_blueDeep Blue – 36″ x 45″

In the book Debbie explains how she uses bias tape applique to “draw” some of the shapes in her book. That is such a clever idea for those of us who are lacking certain artistic skills!

cureall

Cure-All – 30″ x 30″. I imagine some yummy hot cocoa as a cure-all for myself!

Lines By Designs Quilts has a nice mix of both pieced and applique quilt patterns – something for everyone! I love how Debbie encourages you to either make these quilts as given in the book, or to use them as a jumping off point to create something new and unique.

The book  includes plenty of clear illustrations, full size applique patterns and well written text, along with beautifully styled photography. I can totally imagine each of the quilts from this book in my home!

Your chance to win!

Each of the bloggers on Debbie’s book tour will be featuring  a different quilt (or 3) on their stop, so be sure to view them all. You’ll also be able enter for your chance to win a copy on each stop (hard copy for US winners, digital for non-US).

Wed, Mar 2     Christa Watson         (You are here)
Th, Mar 3        Casey York      https://studioloblog.wordpress.com/
Fri, Mar 4        Heather Jones http://www.heatherjonesstudio.com/blog/
Mon, Mar 7     Kate Colleran  http://seamslikeadream.com/blog/
Tues, Mar 8     Rossie Hutchinson      http://www.rossiecrafts.com/blog
Wed, Mar 9     Amanda Jean Nyberg http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/
Th, Mar 10      Amy Ellis         http://www.amyscreativeside.com/blog/
Fri, Mar 11      Lynn Krawczyk            http://smudgeddesignstudio.com/blog/
Mon, Mar 14   Debbie Grifka  http://eschhousequilts.com/blog

Then leave a comment below telling me if you’ve ever done bias tape applique before. I haven’t, but now I’m inspired to try! Winners will be chosen on March 14th, at the close of the hop.

Don’t forget to pick up your copy of Lines by Design Quilts!

New around here? Sign up for my email newsletter and get my exclusive PDF pattern for free!

My Stop on the Sister Sampler Quilts Blog Hop

102 Comments

Welcome everyone, to my stop on the Sister Sampler Quilts blog hop tour! If you are new around here, be sure to sign up for my email newsletter, and get a free PDF quilt pattern. 🙂

Today I get to share my thoughts and sample blocks from AnneMarie Chany’s brand new book, Sister Sampler Quilts.

Sister Sampler Quilts Book Cover
Sister Sampler Quilts: 3 Modern Sampler Quilts with Paired Sister Blocks
By AnneMarie Chany
Fons & Porter/F+W; $19.99
http://www.sistersamplerquilts.com

So what are sister sampler blocks you ask? They are two of the same block within a quilt that make a visually interesting design when they are arranged within the sampler setting. Each time you make a block, you learn about color and fabric placement, value, tone, scale, etc.  By making two of each block, you can play, improve upon your selections, or try out something different.

Here are a few examples from the book:

Susannah

grandmother's frame

schoolgirlpuzzle

Sister Sampler Quilts contains 3 samplers of 25 interchangeable blocks given in 2 finished sizes. All sampler blocks are made in pairs so that you make 2 of each block instead of just one. The block pairs can be the same or different, allowing you to explore different ideas within the same block!

My favorite sampler from the book is the modern Vice Versa Sampler shown below. I’m not usually a big fan of traditional sampler quilts which is why Sister Sampler Quilts really appeals to me. All blocks are traditional blocks with fun modern layouts.

ViceVersa

My favorite sampler from the book – Vice Versa

I chose to make a pair of Rising Star blocks because I love the inverse design that’s created when you swap the fabric placement. I used some scraps from my  Kona designer palette to make my blocks and I loved being able to whip up two blocks at the same time!

star_blocks

9″ finished Rising Star blocks – these were so fun to make!

I simply love the fact that AnneMarie also chose to include plenty of quilting suggestions and closeup details of her machine quilting. I don’t know about you – but I when I spend my money on a book, I want to think about finishing the darn thing, not just making another top, LOL!! This book is a great value because it’s 126 pages long and priced under twenty bucks (or less when you buy it from Amazon).

back_cropped

 

Win a copy of Sister Sampler Quilts

Have you ever made a sampler quilt? Leave a comment below and tell me all about it. Plus, you can share pics of your sampler quilts, or blocks made from this book in my facebook group: Quilt With Christa. I’d love to see!

Be sure to stop by all of the stops below for additional chances to win a copy of Sister Sampler Quilts. Winners will be chosen at the end of the hop.

Sister Sampler Quilts Blog Hop Schedule
Monday, January 18  
AnneMarie Chany / Gen X Quilters – Introduction
Sara Lawsom / Sew Sweetness
Tuesday, January 19 
Leah Day / Free Motion Project
Brenda Ratliff / Just A Bit Frayed
Wednesday, January 20
Faith Jones / Fresh Lemons Quilts
Angela Pingel / Cut To Pieces
Thursday, January 21
Lynne Goldsworthy / Lily’s Quilts
Amy Friend / During Quiet Time
Friday, January 22
Christa Watson / Christa Quilts — You are here!
Violet Craft
Monday, January 25
Lee Heinrich / Freshly Pieced
Melissa Corry / Happy Quilting
Tuesday, January 26
Karen Lewis / Karen Lewis Textiles
Amy Gibson / Stitchery Dickory Dock
Wednesday, January 27
Sherri McConnell / A Quilting Life
Melissa Mortensen / Polka Dot Chair
Thursday, January 28
Amy Ellis / Amy’s Creative Side
Heather Valentine / The Sewing Loft
Friday, January 29
Cindy Wiens / Live A Colorful Life
AnneMarie Chany / Gen X Quilters – Wrap Up

 

Free-Motion Quilting Idea Blog Hop

150 Comments

New to my website? Be sure to sign up for my email newsletter and get a free pattern!

You all know I’m a sucker for machine quilting and I love it when others helps spread the message, that yes, you CAN quilt your own quilts! 🙂 Prolific quilter and author Amanda Murphy has just released her latest project, The Free-Motion Quilting Idea Book.

coverIt’s chock full of ideas on how you can apply specific motifs to actual blocks. It includes over 150 step-by-step designs that are sure to jump start your creativity! Just take a look at these two ideas from the book:

fmqmotif_1fmqmotif_2

I love it that the book is organized so that you can look up the motifs by quilt element or design family. But what makes the book extra special is that you can apply these ideas to your quilts whether you are a stand up long arm quilter, or a sit-down machine quilter. Amanda started off as a domestic machine quilter (like me) and she’s now the spokesperson for the new BERNINA long arm, so of course I think she has great taste in machines!

Here’s Amanda, in her own words, describing why she wrote The Free-Motion Quilting Idea Book:

“I wanted to write an idea book to help people figure out how to quilt their quilts by breaking them down into a series of steps.  Each quilt element featured in the book has multiple designs but all are based on the same basic allover designs featured in the front of the book – so it is easy to create a cohesive look.  For instance, there are several designs for quilting flying geese, and they work well with other designs that feature the same families.  There are also coordinating borders, sashing, and stand alone designs.  There is a simple table runner design included to get you started.”

FMQIdeaSampler_Cover_SM

As an added bonus, Amanda and her publisher have teamed up to offer a companion to The Free-Motion Quilting Idea Book. It’s called the Free-Motion Quilting Idea Sampler and is available as a PDF download which gives you loads of block patterns to piece and practice on!

FMQIdeaSampler_1318_SMSampler Quilt for Free-Motion Quilting Idea Book

Giveaway

Leave a comment telling me your favorite free-motion quilting motif. (Mine is swirls!) Contest is open to everyone through the end of the week. US winners will receive a hard copy of the book; international winners will receive an e-copy.

Blog Tour

Check out the rest of the stops on the hop for more inspiration, and your chance to win a copy of The Free-Motion Quilting Idea Book:

Book Recommendation – Sew Adorkable

2 Comments

I get to wrap up this week by telling you about the adorable and hilariously funny Samarra Khaja who recently wrote the book Sew Adorkable. I mean, the tongue-in-cheek title really says it all!

Samarra first came to my notice when she became known as “The QuiltCon Artist” – photoshopping herself into other people’s QuiltCon pictures and then posting them on Instagram, when she couldn’t attend the event herself. (Just go to instagram and search #quiltconartist to see what I mean.)

cover

Now I normally don’t do 3-D sewing (clothes, bags, accessories, etc.) but if I did, I would for sure pick one of Samara’s projects to make. They are just so fun! Just check out some of these adorable (or adorkable) ideas (all photography courtesy of C&T). I think my favorite is the “Pencil Skirt” shown on the cover. Get it? (Get it??)

Masculine Tooth Fairy Pillows

stapler_pillowStapler Pillow

“Trawzers”

Typewriter Tissue Box – Everyone needs one of these!

Samarra also included some delightful quilt patterns in her book. Take a look at these:

odd_socksOdd Socks – That’s where they went to!!

8 bit birds8 Bit Birds

11114_007.tif_SK1Braille Alphabet Quilt

candy_dotsCandy Dots – Love those added illustrations!

One of the most delightful things about Sew Adorkable is Samarra’s illustrations which are included throughout the book, like in the photos above. Her sense of playfulness is really evident throughout the book.

So if you are looking for that unique gift this holiday season, pick up your copy of Sew Adorkable and stitch up one of 15 fun projects!

coloringbookBut Wait There’s More!

PS – if you like her illustration style, Samarra also has her very own coloring book! It’s called Off the Bookshelf and it just released this week!

Book Recommendation – Wanderlust Quilts

81 Comments

I recently learned the most important thing about Amanda Leins (aka Mandy or Mandalei Quilts). You pronounce her last name like LIONS. Got it? Good! 🙂 The second most important thing about Mandy is that she’s just written an amazing book with the incredibly appropriate title of Wanderlust Quilts.

cover

So what are Wanderlust Quilts you ask? They are quilts inspired by the art, architecture, and history of ancient civilizations and the objects made by human hands that remain behind, made to gain a fuller understanding of the people who lived in that time and place.

In her book, Amanda presents 10 beautifully original patterns, along with photographs of the places and events that inspired those designs. Her background is in archaeology, so it’s a natural fit that she’s inspired by her previous work and life experiences.

My Favorite Quilt

Eggs-and-DartsEggs and Darts, pieced by Sue Bishop and Quilted by Amanda Leins, won first place in the Modern Category at NQA Quilt Show in Little Rock, AR earlier this year.

My favorite quilt from the book is Eggs and Darts. The quilt design is stunning and I love the expansive negative space which allows for copious amounts of machine quilting. I had the pleasure of viewing this stunning quilt close and in person earlier this year at the NQA quilt show.

bookshow

I’d award a Best in Show ribbon to Wanderlust Quilts if I could.

In fact, I love going to quilt shows because they inspire me so much. I’m such a big advocate of showing your work, not for the glory or ribbons, but simply to share your artistry with the viewer. I never really understood the phrase “art moves me” until I began viewing quilts as art when hung in quilt shows. I can stare at them for hours and imagine all of the possibilities if I were to make this quilt my own.

Here’s a better view of the luscious detail quilting of Eggs and Darts:

eggsndarts_quiltingIn addition to being an amazing pattern designer, Mandy’s quilting will knock your socks off, too. (Photo by Nissa Brehmer)

egganddart_detailEgg and Dart detail – photography courtesy of C&T.

I also love that along with beautiful quilt photography, each quilt includes a photograph of the architectural details that inspired it. Here’s a closeup of a facade of the Pantheon, showing a small egg and dart row. I learned this fun fact from Mandy’s book: historically, the egg and dart motif was used as a very small detail on a temple, or as a bit of a border between features.

Wanderlust Quilts Giveaway

Mandy’s publisher, C&T is very generously giving away a book to one person at each stop along the blog hop. To enter, please leave your comment below telling me where you would love to travel to find your quilting inspiration. I’ll keep the comments open until November 15th, the last day of the hop.

aquaductsAquaducts, another favorite of mine. Photography by Nissa Brehmer.

Be sure to visit Mandy’s blog for the full blog hop schedule so that you too can be taken along an imaginary journey into far off places.

I have to end this post with this fun little image I noticed when looking for Mandy’s book on Amazon. It made me smile. 🙂

ourbooks

New to My Blog?

Be sure to sign up for my email newsletter and get a free PDF pattern!

DIY Block Design By Alyce Blyth

4 Comments

Ready to go on another blog hop? My friend Alyce (pronounced Elise, not Alice), from Blossom Heart Quilts has just released her first e-book – hooray!! It’s called DIY Block Design and is all about teaching you some of the math principles that go into designing your own quilt blocks from basic geometric units. What a fun concept, right?

DIY Block Design coverAlyce includes some handy charts and exercises that will walk you through the steps of block design including learning how to break down a block design into its basic grid structure.

For the hop, Alyce has rounded up several designer friends and a few designer newbies who will share some of their tricks and tips of their design process. For me, I always start with a basic block. I draw my designs in EQ7 but you can use simple graph paper, too!

My #1 Tip

When I’m dealing with design I don’t worry about the math until the end. For example, I’ll finalize my block design, then set it into a layout. Once I’m happy with the way everything looks, I’ll tweak the size of the block until it’s the size I need for the quilt I want to create. In DIY Block Design, Alyce shows you how easy it is to resize the block you want into the size you need.

DIY Block Design inside peekAs part of the fun, Alyce will also be hosting an Instagram challenge where participants will be able to share their design progress each week this month and enter to win prizes! The book is not required to participate in the weekly instagram giveaways, but it will help with your design process. Enter your blocks and be inspired by everyone else’s with the hashtag: #mydiyblockdesign. And here’s a bonus – you can get DIY Block Design at an introductory price until October 7th!

Be sure to check out all of the stops on the hop below for more fun and inspiration! And then get started designing your own quilt blocks!

October 2
Heidi @ Fabric Mutt
Christa @ ChristaQuilts      You are here!
Angie @ Gnome Angel

Week 1: Inspiration

October 7
Ros @ Sew Delicious
Leanne @ Sewn By Leanne
Amy @ And Sew We Craft

October 9
Jennie @ Clover & Violet
Jane @ QuiltJane
Melissa @ My Fabric Relish

Week 2: Sketches

October 14
Jen @ Faith And Fabric
Beth @ Cooking Up Quilts

October 16
Sandi @ Crafty Planner
Anne @ Play Crafts
Jess @ Elven Garden Quilts

Week 3: Making

October 21
Joy @ Quilty Joy Joy
Linden @ Vine Lines Quilting
Cassie @ Cassandra Madge

October 23
Keera @ Live Love Sew
Janice @ Better Off Thread
Michelle @ Factotum Of Arts

Week 4: Finishes

October 28
Kelly @ A Place Of My Own
Abby @ Color Bar Quilts

MQWS Blog Hop Wrap Up and Winners

11 Comments

What a great blog hop this has been! Thanks to all of you who participated by leaving comments and voting for your favorite quilt. Also – huge hugs to those who participated on my blog hop and helped spread the word about my debut book, Machine Quilting With Style. And now, the results of the most popular quilt that will be my selected for my quilt along is January is…….

survey_graphic

The Quilt Along Winner Is….

Facets! With Rain and Color Crystals coming in at 2nd and 3rd place. Be sure to stay tuned as I announce more details with the exact quilt along dates a little bit later. Now that I know the winner, I’ll start planning the quilt along.

Don’t forget to grab your copy of Machine Quilting With Style so you can join us in January!

MQWS_facetsFacets – Quilt Along coming in January 2016!

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner…..

And now I owe you a couple of winners! Congratulations go to Debra R. from Kentucky who won the box of Aurifil Thread and Denise W. from Pennsylania who won my Fat Quarter designer bundle! Both of you have been emailed. Those of you who won ebooks will be notified by the publisher in the next week or so. Those than won additional sponsored prizes will be contacted by the bloggers directly for your prizes!

A few of the giveaways are still open – be sure to check the individual hop stops for details.

giveaway prizes

A Bit More…

And now for some exciting news – I’ve just finished writing my second book, with a very special co-author. I’m not going to say too much about it yet because I don’t want to overshadow the first one. But if you are so inclined, you can pop on over to Amazon for a sneak peek of the cover and place your pre-order. It’s due to be released in April of 2016.

Again, a huge thanks to all of you amazing readers for your continued support in this fun journey. Now – it’s onto the next quilt!

MQWS Blog Hop Day 12 – Focal Point

6 Comments

I can’t believe today is the last day for my Machine Quilting With Style blog tour! When I finished up the book earlier this year, I went into withdrawals for a day or two, not quite knowing what to do with myself. Now I feel the same way, what will I share next?!

On Monday, I will do a quick recap of the tour and announce the winners of my 2 giveaways. I’ll also announce the results of the Quilt Along Survey. Plus, I’ll have an exciting new announcement to share, so stay tuned!

Focal Point – The Background Story

focal_pointFocal Point 45″ x 45″ by Christa Watson. Photography by Brent Kane.

One of my modern quilting heroes, Jacquie Gering, gave me the best advice when I was trying to learn how to make my quilts look more modern. She told me I should always try and include a focal point in my quilts. So in a way, I named this quilt to honor her.

center_spiralMy continuous spiral is perfectly imperfect and adds just the right amount of texture to the quilt!

I love quilting large continuous spirals and think they look terrific on both modern and traditional quilts. They add incredible texture to a quilt. However, for many people, quilting a smooth center can be a little tricky. After a little bit of trial and error, I figured out a way to quilt the whole spiral with a walking foot, with a nicer looking center.

Just remember, don’t knock yourself out trying to achieve perfect quilting. Opt for perfectly imperfect quilting instead. Once you back away from your quilt, all you will notice is the allover texture, rather than the individual stitches!

A Bit More and a Bonus Giveaway

I took copious notes about what makes a quilt modern during a presentation from Heather Grant at QuiltCon 2013. It’s taken me a couple of years to let these design principles sink in, and I’m still discovering more of what I like about modern quilts. I remember Heather saying something along the lines of wanting to encourage more design that looks liked it’s been cropped from a larger piece. That’s sort of the look I was going for with this quilt, and I’m pleased with the results.

Focal Point - Chic Neutrals no linesFocal point with swatches of Chic Neutrals by Amy Ellis for Moda

For my version of Focal Point, I used Amy Ellis’ Modern Neutrals fabric from Moda. Amy’s new line is called Chic Neutrals, so decided to play around in EQ7 and recolor it in the newer line. Isn’t it fun? Amy’s generously giving away a bundle of Chic Neutrals to make this quilt.

Pop on over to Amy’s Creative Side to see her fun things and enter to win!

amy_ellis

Elements that make this quilt modern – neutral palette with high impact, hard edges that create high contrast between the pieces, off-center design, focal point, geometric quilting done with a walking foot.

Time for me to complete – 15 hours from start to finish.

More Inspiration from Amy garro!

13_spoolsAmy Garro from 13 Spools is another inspiring friend of mine. She recently wrote her first book, Paper Pieced Modern. It’s pretty awesome, and I’m so glad the timing of my book worked out for her to catch her breath, and then make another quilt! You’ve got to check out her version of Focal Point – it’s amazing. I always encourage everyone to change up my ideas to make it their own, and Amy did just that with her version. She includes lots of eye candy and some fun commentary so be sure to check it out!

Be sure to  enter Amy’s giveaway to win an ebook of Machine Quilting With Style.

 

Giveaway from Pellon Products

pellonPellon was another great partner – they donated several battings for me to make some of the quilts in this book. One of the things I did was try to use a different batting for nearly every quilt, just to give them a try. My favorite? Hands down, it was the cotton/soy blend, which is the batting I chose to make Focal Point. The batting was soft and supple, drapes well, and hangs well with no creases after it’s been folded. It was easy to quilt through, and I’m going to be using this batting in a lot more of my quilts in the future.

Thanks to Pellon for sponsoring a generous giveaway for this hop. Head on over to the Pellon blog for your chance to win some of the same batting I used – I think you’ll love it!

Click here for the complete blog hop schedule.

Click here purchase your autographed copy of Machine Quilting With Style.

MQWS Blog Hop Day 11 – Facets

224 Comments

If you love the fabrics in Facets, be sure to sign up for my weekly email newsletter, and get a free pattern showing them in a different way. (Of course you can choose your own fabrics, too!)

Facets – The Background Story

Facets_KonaFacets 63″ x 70″ by Christa Watson. Photo courtesy of Robert Kaufman.

I love coordinated scrappy quilts and improvisational piecing, yet I’m more of a “structured improv” kind of gal. I like to randomly sew together a bunch of scrappy goodness, then create order and structure from the chaos. For Facets, I chose 28 Kona Cottons in warm reds, oranges, and yellows, with some green thrown in for good measure. The palette reminds me of crisp juicy apples!

facets_stripsIt was such fun to cut up these fabrics into smaller chunks to play with!

It was very liberating to create my own crazy-pieced fabric to work with:

crazy pieced yardageRandomly sewing bits of fabric together is very therapeutic!

I really went to town with the machine quilting on this one. I used both walking-foot quilting and free-motion techniques when quilting Facets. Whenever I quilt, I like to think about the logical sequence of steps I take before starting. That way, it doesn’t seem too overwhelming.

facets_quiltingUsing my “scrunch and smoosh” method for dealing with the bulk while quilting. There’s an extra table under there which helps hold up the weight of the quilt.

I love quilting swirls, and combining them with switchbacks really creates a lot of movement.

Finals B1324.inddPhotography by Brent Kane.

A Bit More – and a Bonus Giveaway!

I was stoked when Robert Kaufman decided to add this grouping to their designer palette series this fall. Coming in October, you’ll be able to get your hands on the Christa Watson Designer Palette in fat quarters, ten squares, charm squares, and roll-ups! You can create a quilt just like mine, but of course it will still be different because of the improv element. 🙂

What makes this quilt modern – offset grid layout, improvisational piecing, geometric design with high contrast and graphic impact, exclusive use of flat solids, bold, bright color palette, design goes all the way to the edges, organically quilted machine quilting.

Time for me to complete – 47 hours from start to finish, including the improv piecing.

How would you like to get your hands on a fat quarter bundle of my designer palette?

Christa Watson Designer PaletteThe Christa Watson Designer Palette – available at quilts shops everywhere in October!

To enter the giveaway for a 28 piece fat quarter bundle of my favorite Kona colors, just comment letting me know whether you’ve ever tried improv piecing and what you think about it. I’ll draw a winner at the end of the day on Sunday and announce their name on Monday, Sept. 28th.

And remember, don’t forget to vote for your favorite quilt for my QAL in January! Since I know you are dying to ask – yes, Facets is MY favorite quilt from the book. 🙂

Quilting Inspiration from kristy daum

kristy_header

I think my favorite part of this blog hop is seeing all of the amazing quilts from my talented friends! Kristy Daum from St. Louis Victorian and I have been online friends for awhile and finally got to meet up at QuiltCon earlier this year. You may remember Kristy’s amazing pixelated quilts featuring David Tennant as Dr. Who and the lovely Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock.

Now Kristy has knocked it out of the park with her version of Facets. I really love it when others really take an idea and make it their own! It was fun watching her instagram sneek peaks, and her final reveal today will take your breath away.

Pop on over to Kristy’s blog to see her version of Facets.

Teri’s Take

teri_header

The amazing Teri Lucas from Terificreations shared a sneak peak of some Facets blocks on the Generation Q website earlier in the week. She chose to use solid pieces of fabric and did some killer quilting on them! Like me, she prefers to quilt on a home-sewing machine and she is one talented lady!! She’s one of those that I can talk quilting with all day long!

So far we’ve only met in person once, and I can’t wait to see her again at the next event. She’s always so thoughtful and encouraging – just the type of quilty friend you want in your corner. Teri is offering a book giveaway on her site. While you are there, be sure to browse around, and check out her amazing quilting!!

Head over to Teri’s blog to enter her giveaway.

Visit The Quilting Gallery

quiltinggalleryMichele Foster is the brilliant name and voice behind the highly popular website the Quilting Gallery. We first met online when I was an advertiser on her site, many moons ago. We have turned that business relationship into a really great friendship and I hope someday soon that we can meet up in person. I mean, if you are like me, you can always use another BQF (best quilting friend), right?

Michele blogs and shares so much inspiration about what’s happening in the quilting community, and she’s has written very nice things about my book over on her blog today. She even scored extra points with me by saying that Facets is her favorite quilt, too! In addition to being a prolific quilter, Michele is an amazing designer and hosts lots of fun clubs on her site. As part of her stop, she’s generously including a fun giveaway of her own. 🙂

Visit the Quilting Gallery blog and enter to win a membership to Michele’s mini quilting club!

Click here for the complete blog hop schedule.

Click here purchase your autographed copy of Machine Quilting With Style.

MQWS Blog Hop Day 10 – Lightning

2 Comments

Today’s stop on the Machine Quilting With Style book tour is full of inspiration and giveaways! Be sure to stop by all of the blogs listed below to get in on the prizes. And be sure to go back and visit the earlier stops you may have missed. Many of those giveaways are still open. 🙂

Lightning – The Background Story

LightningLightning 72″ x 96″ by Christa Watson. Photograpy by Brent Kane.

I love taking traditional design ideas and then tweaking them with a bit of the unexpected. You may recognize Lightning as a simple rail fence variation, but with a modern twist! I’m realizing I love to do scrappy, but with more of a “controlled scrappy” look. As I have said before, why choose one fabric when 20 will do! And why cut straight strips when you can make them a bit wonky instead, right? I decided that the ziz-zag streaks looked like they were piercing through a cloudy sky, hence the name Lightning!

lightning_topHave sewing machine – will travel and quilt, even while on vacation!

I actually pieced this quilt last summer while on vacation. I brought along my Singer Featherweight and was able to set up a makeshift sewing area in a small space. I used the hotel floor as a design wall and took pictures with my phone so I could keep the layout oriented correctly.

lightning_quiltingQuilting in progress – you gotta love a good stipple!

This quilt is rather large, but I had no problems quilting it on my BERNINA. In the book, I share my best tips and tricks for how to deal with the bulk of the quilt when quilting on a sit-down machine. Just remember, you only need to deal with a small amount of the quilt under the needle at any time. 🙂

A Bit More

lightning_backingBacking in progress – a great way to use up fat quarters!

As I love to do, I made a scrappy backing for Lightning from my fat quarter stash of black and white prints, with some pops of green. I had originally wanted this included in the book, but was sad when it had to be cut for length. However, the folks at Martingale have generously decided to include it as a free pieced backing tutorial on their site – so yay! (See more below.)

What makes this quilt modern – graphic color scheme, wonky blocks based on tradition, zig-zags create a focal point with a bright pop of color, block design goes all the way to the edges.

Time for me to complete – 44 hours from start to finish, including the pieced backing.

More from She Can Quilt, Martingale, and Riley Blake

shecanquiltLeanne Chahley from She Can Quilt is one of those people whose work is easy to admire! I fell in love with an award winning quilt of hers at the first QuiltCon and I’ve been her stalker friend ever since! I love her take on Lightning done with scrappy pinks and scrappy quilting. She used the designs from the book as sort of a sampler for machine quilting. Leanne quilted her version of Lightning on her long-arm, showing how versatile these designs can be!

Head to Leann’s site to see her fabulous version of Lightning and enter her giveaway!

martingaleMartingale/That Patchwork Place is simply the best publisher anyone could ask for! Yes, I may be a bit biased, but writing this book has been a fabulous experience from start to finish (just like making a quilt)! After writing this book, I would definitely partner with them again! When you purchase your copy of Machine Quilting With Style from the Martingale site, they’ll throw in the ebook for free. Double bonus!!

Machine Quilting With Style

Martingale has a lot of content on their site today: you can see more quilty photos from the book, check out a little video from my quilt market demonstration last spring, and enter for your chance to visit their giveaway. (When you watch the video, you’ll get to see how fast I really talk in person!)

Go to Stitch This – the Martingale blog to get the free backing tutorial and enter their giveaway!

riley_blake_logo

Riley Blake Designs has been a terrific partner. Not only did they provide me with fabrics used in some of the quilts in the book, they are offering a fantastic giveaway to go along with the hop!

riley_blake_giveawayPop on over to the Riley Blake blog and enter for your chance to win!

Click here for the complete blog hop schedule.

Click here purchase your autographed copy of Machine Quilting With Style.