Another Craftsy Class Giveaway – Fresh Applique Techniques

November 10, 2014November 8, 201412 Comments

It’s time to wrap up my giveaway series that coincided with my Abacus Quilt Along. (For those of you who quilted along – be sure to email me pics of your progress and I’ll share showcase them here on Wednesday.)

Since the quilt along was all about easy applique, I thought you may want to learn more about this fun technique. My friends at Craftsy are giving one lucky reader the online class, 20 Fresh Applique Techniques with Amanda Murphy. You may remember not too long ago I fell in love with Amanda’s book on color. As much as I love quilting books, video classes are even better!

In this class, Amanda walks you through 4 fun applique projects that cover a total of 20 different techniques. The class is divided into 7 lessons that run about 20-30 minutes each. As a bonus, she even includes tips on free-motion quilting and trapunto.

Here’s an overview of the class agenda:

Lesson 1 Swirls Quilt: machine applique techniques with concave and convex turns
Lessons 2-3 Garden Runner: learn about fusible web and tips on using a lightbox
Lessons 4-5 Flower Power Pillow: work with bias tape and variety of stitches
Lesson 6 Hawaiian Table Topper: practice trapunto techniques and yo-yos
Lesson 7 Emphasis Your Applique with free motion quilting techniques

Check out her Swirl Quilt below, where she demonstrates one of my personal favorites for machine applique – the blanket stitch.

Swirl Quilt by Amanda Murphy

Amanda’s style is whimsical and fun, her manner is easy-going and she has a soothing voice, which is always nice to listen to!

All patterns and templates for the projects are included in the class materials and she goes over some of her favorite fusible products, stitches and threads. The Q&A section (off to the right) also has a wealth of information including suggestions for troubleshooting as you sew.

Here are details on how to win this class:

Click here to be taken to the Craftsy site to register or log in
Contest is open to all readers of my blog, both in the US or Internationally
Giveaway will run through Wednesday, November 12th at 5 PM PST
Craftsy will draw one winner’s name at random

Craftsy Winner! And a Quilt Along Reminder

November 1, 2014October 31, 20142 Comments

A quick congrats to Kathy H. who won the Craftsy Class, Finishing School: Edges and Bindings with Mimi Dietrich. I’ve got one more Craftsy class giveaway scheduled in the next couple of weeks, so be sure to stay tuned for details!

That reminds me – for those of you participating in the Abacus Quilt Along, be sure to email me pictures of your progress by November 10th and I will highlight them here on the blog on November 12.

They don’t even have to be finished! The more people who email me at christa@christaquilts.com, the more I’ll have to share! You can also post them on instagram #abacusqal or share on flickr at ChristasQuiltAlong.

Craftsy Giveaway – Finishing School: Edges and Bindings

October 27, 2014October 26, 201416 Comments

As promised, it’s time for another Craftsy class giveaway – whoo hoo!! Since my quilt along tutorial on binding your quilt is coming up later this week, I thought it would be perfect timing to give away the Craftsy class Finishing School: Edges and Bindings with Mimi Dietrich. But first, let me tell you a little bit about this fabulous class.

Although I pretty much bind my quilts the same way every time, Finishing School teaches you how to do several fun techniques such as prairie points, scallops, piping, ruffles, and more! There’s even a bonus section on the often overlooked finishing touches like adding sleeves and labels to your quilts.

The class is broken down into six easy to swallow lessons, each about 30-45 minutes:

Using Backing as the Binding
Making New Bindings from Scratch
Adding Trims
Rounded Corners and Scalloped Edges
Prairie Points and Ruffles
Sleeves and Labels

There are lots of options for beautiful bindings!

Whenever I check out a Craftsy class, I always love reading the students’ comments and questions to learn more. Seeing what my fellow class-mates are making is super fun, too! Check out the cool coasters and trivets by craftsy member Pam in New Zealand. She was able to bind a project with more than 4 edges after taking this class! 🙂 (And her machine quilting is pretty awesome, too!!)

Coaster and Trivet set by craftsy member Pam in NZ

Here’s how to enter:

Click here to be entered to win Finishing School: Edges and Bindings by Mimi Dietrich.
Contest is open to everyone, through Friday, October 31st at Noon Pacific.
Craftsy will pick a winner at random on Friday, and I will announce the winner’s name on Saturday, here on the blog.

Good luck and thanks for reading! This post was sponsored by my friends at Craftsy.

Craftsy Class Winner

October 18, 20143 Comments

Congratulations to Sue A. who won the Craftsy Class, “Creative Quilting With Your Walking Foot” by Jacquie Gering. Thanks to all of you who participated! My friends at Craftsy told me that 407 of you entered so that’s quite impressive. Sue – they will be in touch with you shortly with the free link to claim your class.

If you are new to my blog, be sure to check out my review of Jacquie’s class here. And for those of you who have yet to check out what Craftsy has to offer, my recommendation would be to try a free mini class and see what all the excitement is about. 🙂

Have a happy quilting weekend!

Win a Craftsy Class: Creative Quilting With Your Walking Foot

October 13, 2014February 12, 201714 Comments

For this week’s giveaway, you get a chance to win one of my favorite Craftsy Classes: Creative Quilting With Your Walking Foot by Jacquie Gering.

I love to encourage others to quilt their own quilts and so does Jacquie! Along with an excellent introduction and overview of the basics, in Creative Quilting With Your Walking Foot, Jacquie provides step by step instructions on working with decorative stitches, radiating designs, quilting with curves, turning designs and quilting with text. She also demonstrates her signature matchstick quilting which looks amazing on modern quilts!

Winning this class will be a perfect complement to those of you doing my Abacus quilt along (although the giveaway is open to everyone). I used walking foot techniques to quilt a series of gently wavy lines that add such rich texture and are extremely easy to do!

My machine has built-in dual feed which acts just like a walking foot.

It’s so fun to explore all the possibilities with straight, or gently curving lines. Whenever I teach machine quilting to a group of students, I always start them off with walking foot techniques so they can get comfortable and achieve success right from the beginning. It helps build up their confidence for more finicky techniques down the road.

Jacquie Gering is one of my modern quilting heros!

One of the things I love best about Jacquie’s class is that you have her right in front of you, sort of like a personal tutor. You can ask her questions via the Craftsy interactive platform and she’s really good about responding quickly. You can also pause or rewatch sections of the class over and over as many times as you like. That is the beauty of online learning!!

I used decorative stitch quilting on Modern Logs – all done with the walking foot!

Here’s How to Enter the Giveaway

~~Click this link to be taken to the Craftsy Giveaway page.~~
This is an exclusive Craftsy giveaway just for my readers (both US and international).
Craftsy will pick a winner at random this Friday, October 17th at 5 PM Pacific Time.

Good luck and happy quilting! Post sponsored by Craftsy. 🙂

Save

Save 50% on Angela Walter’s Machine Quilting Craftsy Class

September 29, 2014September 24, 20145 Comments

One of the perks I love about partnering with Craftsy is getting to pick and choose which Craftsy classes I get to watch, and then sharing information about those classes with you. But what I’m also super excited about is getting to offer exclusive discounts just for my blog readers! Whoo hoo!

For one week only, you guys can save 50% off of Angela Walters’ latest craftsy class, Machine Quilting: Small Changes, Big Variety. If you’ve read my blog for any length of time, you know how much I love machine quilting. I also love how well Angela’s designs work on nearly any quilt, no matter what type of machine you use to quilt them.

Meeting Angela at QuiltCon in 2013 – I’m a huge fan of her work and teaching style!

I’ll tell you a quick story then get onto the review. When I met Angela for the first time at QuiltCon in 2013, I told her how much I loved the design aspect of her quilting and how I would enjoy incorporating some of her techniques into my domestic quilting. She responded by saying, “You get it! The type of machine you use doesn’t matter – it’s the design that counts.” Ever since then, I’ve been a big fan-girl. 🙂

The fact that Machine Quilting: Small Changes, Big Variety is demonstrated on a sit-down domestic machine is just icing on the cake!

Angela at QuiltCon – she can rock a feather like no other!!

Machine Quilting: Small Changes, Big Variety focuses on six basic quilting designs that anyone can learn:

pebbles
swirls
squares
feathers
clamshells
ribbon candy

By applying small changes to these “staple” designs, you really can creative a big variety of unique quilting textures. Each of the six lessons runs about 20-25 minutes each, which is the perfect amount of time for me to watch a segment while taking a break from work and eating my lunch. 🙂

I also enjoy the format of this particular class in that each of the lessons is independent of the others, so you can watch them in any order. Say for example, you want to skip pebbles for now, and get straight into watching the section on feathers or ribbon candy; you can totally do that and you won’t be behind!

One of my favorite techniques that Angela encourages is the idea of combining designs. I’ve done that before when I quilted pebbles and swirls into the background spaces of my String of Pearls quilt:

I call this combination of designs, “Swirls and Pearls” – it’s so effective!

Although I love being a teacher myself, I also enjoy being a student, especially when I can learn from such a warm and friendly person as Angela Walters. She’s very engaging and is also quick to respond to questions and comments during the class.

In fact, the interactive platform is one of the things I love best about Craftsy classes. The first thing I usually do when watching a class is read through all of the comments and questions that others have left before I begin each section. It gives me a good idea of what is coming up, and I can easily add to the discussion if I feel so inclined.

Detail of gorgeous quilting posted by one of the students from class, Dana R.

After watching Machine Quilting: Small Changes, Big Variety, I’m sure you will be inspired to add all sorts of small changes to your quilting that will result in a big variety of textures and designs! Just imagine the endless possibilities. 🙂

Oh, and be sure to click on the “projects” section of the class to see what your fellow students are making. It’s full of delicious eye candy!

Remember, the 50% class discount is only valid for the next 7 days, so sign up now, before you miss it!

Craftsy Class Review and a Free Class – Creative Quilt Backs

September 22, 2014September 22, 20146 Comments

I’m so excited to partner with Craftsy and kick off my fall roundup of online classes to share with you. For starters, why don’t we start with a free class? As of this writing, I counted 35 free “mini” classes offered by Craftsy and my favorite has to be Creative Quilt Backs by Elizabeth Hartman.

This class was the first one I watched when I first discovered all that Craftsy has to offer and I became a huge Craftsy fan right away!

In Creative Quilt Backs, Elizabeth walks you through the basics of how to calculate the size needed for various types of pieced backings. She includes very detailed step by step directions that help you get comfortable with the dreaded “quilt math!”

She also gives great tips on how to use large scale prints, and how to use up those leftovers by making a secondary composition on the back. I love making scrappy back art, and here are just a few of the fun quilt backs I’ve made since watching this class:

The Back of Modern Logs

The back of Colorful Chevrons

The back of String of Pearls

Craftsy’s free mini classes are very similar to the regular paid classes with well produced step-by-step videos from some of your favorite teachers. They are just a tad shorter and don’t include the back and forth teacher communication, but they are a great way to check out the Craftsy Platform.

Be sure to check out Creative Quilt Backs with Elizabeth Hartman and jazz up your finishes!

Exciting News – Craftsy is Now an Official Christa Quilts Sponsor!

August 23, 2014August 19, 201416 Comments

Lately I’ve been approached by a few different companies wanting to sponsor my blog. In staying true to my mission to support and promote the art of quilting, I am only saying yes to those companies whose products or services I actually use (and who I would promote anyway, but I might as well say yes if they want to throw a little $$ at me!!)

With that said, I’d like to welcome Craftsy as an “official” sponsor. What this means is that a couple of times a month I will blog about Craftsy pretty much as I have been doing in the past: with class reviews, exclusive giveaways, freebies and discounts on classes just for my followers, etc. The difference is that these posts will be clearly marked as “sponsored by” Craftsy. But they will still be my own true opinions.

I’ve always believed that writing good content will pay off in the end; so it feels like a nice pat on the back that they’ve noticed my Craftsy love and are now wanting to partner up with me. 🙂 Let the good times roll!

Craftsy mini quilt pattern by Right Patterns

It’s Time for Another Fabric Giveaway – One from Me, One from Craftsy

August 18, 2014August 27, 2014410 Comments

I usually don’t promote companies who sell fabric since that’s an integral part of my business. However, when it comes to Craftsy, I don’t mind singing their praises. They’ve been very good to me in helping get my name out there via their blog, so I don’t mind returning the favor whenever I hear about something cool they are doing. 🙂

I’m kind of partial to the Blue Garden kit, myself!

From now through August 27th, you can win a Craftsy quilt kit (including backing) from one of the two choices above. Craftsy is holding this giveaway on their website, so be sure and click here to enter.

And now, just to sweeten the pot, I’ll add my own giveaway to the fun! I have a heaping pile of hunks and chunks leftover from ends of bolts when I used to sell fabric by the yard. I have a mystery box full of at least 20 yards of premium quality brand new fabric fabric waiting to go to one of you!

Just leave a comment below telling me which Craftsy class is on your “to-watch” list. Pretty soon, I will get back to my habit of regularly reviewing their online classes and I can’t wait. I have quite a few to watch in my queue!

To recap:

Enter the Craftsy Kit Giveaway here
To win my mystery fabric giveaway, leave a comment below telling me what’s on your Craftsy bucket list.
Both giveaways are open to US/Canadian addresses only (sorry – that darn postage gets me everytime!!)
Both giveaways end Wednesday, August 27th at Noon PST (or slightly later)
Craftsy will notify their winner; I will notify mine via email.

Updated – Thank you – we have our winners!!

Craftsy Sale – Save up to 50% off All Classes

August 8, 20141 Comment

Ok, guys and gals it’s really killing me not to be able to have time to share as many fun things on the blog as I am used to. I really look forward to getting back to my regular blogging pace in September!

Craftsy mini quilt pattern by Right Patterns

But in the meantime, I can quickly share fun news and announcements that are happening in the quilting world, like this one: from now through Monday, all Craftsy classes are on sale up to 50% off!! Whoo hoo!

In the past I’ve written up several reviews of classes I’ve personally taken myself. Below are my top 4 picks for machine quilting classes. Click each link to read the review, then sign up while it’s on sale!!

Creative Quilting with Your Walking Foot by Jacquie Gering (50% off)

Start Free-Motion Quilting with Elizabeth Dackson (33% off)