It’s Worldwide Quilting Day – how are you celebrating? I hope you are enjoying the day with a bit of sewing! Or if you don’t have time to sew, maybe a little dreaming!

To mark the occasion, I was honored to contribute a quilt block that will go towards supporting St. Judes’ Children’s Research Hospital. The folks over at Chili’s restaurant chain are putting together a quilt for them in honor of this “unofficial” holiday.

Chili Pepper block by Christa Watson, 8″ x 8″ – machine applique

Last year, Chili’s reached their goal of donating $50 million for the Chili’s Care Center and the kids of St. Jude. I think that is wonderful and I am honored to be a part of a special quilt they are making.

Picking fabrics is so fun! My finished block is a reverse image of the original picture.

I made an applique Chili Pepper block from an image I had saved in my “idea folder” waiting for something to do with it! It was fun to print off the block and find solid fabrics to match.

I also enjoyed rummaging through my ever-growing stash of Aurifil threads to find the right colors for machine applique. Next to designing and quilting, machine applique ranks up there as one of my favorite go-to techniques!

Be sure to visit Chili’s blog to see the rest of the quilt blocks, made by other bloggers around the country. I’m sure you’ll recognize many of their names. Now I can’t wait to see how the quilt comes together!