Vacation Postcard – Wish You Were Here!

January 21, 2013March 19, 20133 Comments

This week the whole family is on vacation in Florida touring Universal Studios and Disney World. It’s a much-needed break from our regular routine and a chance to hang out with the extended family in a fun environment. (This was our surprise Christmas present from my husband’s parents that I blogged about last month).

On Saturday we spent the entire day at Universal’s Islands of Adventure.

The Spiderman ride was amazing with special 3 D Effects.

Jason and his sister with the kids.

My son Ryan is a Spidey fan!

They recreated Jurassic park complete with a fantastic water ride gone wrong. Thank goodness we escaped from the T-Rex. It really felt like we were in the world of movies!

We visited Seuss Landing, full of truffula trees and characters from all of the books.

Truffula Trees

Jason and I paused for a minute in front of this cute little store-front window. Hmm, maybe we could use this in a future advertisement for our Grinch fabric collection???

By far, our favorite area of the park was a re-creation of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. (We are huge Harry Potter fans!) We visited Hogsmeade, downed some delicious Butter-beer and took a look at the famous Hogwarts Express.

The kids were thrilled to visit Ollivander’s to buy their own magic wands, and Ryan was chosen to act out a special “wand-finding ceremony” of his own at the famous shop. The best ride ever was a tour and intense motion ride inside of Hogwarts castle (sadly, no pictures!)

I was very pleased to see that the robe-maker’s sewing machine of choice was an antique singer featherweight. Because the individual robes were way out of our price-range (over $100 each!), my kids asked me if I could “quilt” them a Hogwarts robe. I had to patiently explain that quilt-making and clothing design are two entirely different things!

Our family motto is that “we work hard and we play hard.” Because I worked long and hard before we left, all of my regularly scheduled blog posts are coming up later this week: my quilt-along tutorial, sew and tell, and my favorite quilt-links. Thanks for stopping by!

Christa’s Show and Tell – Sewing Every Day

January 11, 2013May 15, 201415 Comments

One of the quilting goals I set for myself was to sew every day. To make this goal actually happen, I had to make sure it was realistic. In order to do that, I set a minimum time limit of just 10 minutes a day of sewing. I also broadened my definition of “sewing” to include designing quilts, reading quilt magazines and watching online quilting classes.

So far so good. Here is what I have been able to accomplish “sew” far this month:

I’ve signed up for several Craftsy quilting classes. I just finished watching Elizabeth Hartman’s free “Creative Quilt Backs Class” and am currently viewing Cindy Needham’s “Design It, Quilt It” class. They are both excellent!

I pulled these lovely fabrics to participate in the Skillbuilder Block of the Month over at PileOFabrics.com. I decided to go with all Kona Solids for this quilt. I haven’t decided on my background fabric yet. I’ll probably choose a shade of Grey.

I used the color wheel when choosing colors and went with an “accented analagous” color scheme. That means I chose red, orange and yellow which are next to each other on the color wheel, then threw in a bit of complementary teal just for fun. I can’t wait to get started!

Today, I paper-pieced this sewing themed block as part of Quiet Play’s And Sew On year-long block-of-the-month series. January’s block is called “Measure Twice” and is available as a free download this month.

Measure Twice, Cut Once!

I also made this block designed by Amy Friend of During Quiet Time. I love the sewing theme so I may have to incorporate it into the same quilt!

Next, I designed this quilt in EQ7 which will be the basis for my next quilt-along as soon as the current one finishes. I found out how to download Moda’s fabric swatches directly into the design program so I can design quilts using the actual fabrics from the quilt. Very cool!

Hugs and Kisses

When I don’t feel up to sewing, or when I’m traveling, and bringing along sewing supplies is impractical, I have a stack of quilting magazines that I am thoroughly enjoying reading.

My favorite magazines are Machine Quilting Unlimited, along with their brand new sister publication Modern Quilts Unlimited. I’ve also been a long-time subscriber of Quilter’s Newsletter, the best source of news for what’s hot and happening in the quilting world.

I think that’s a great start for January! How about you? How are you coming along with your quilting goals?

Holiday Highlights and a Happy New (Quilt) Year!

December 31, 2012March 19, 20132 Comments

We had a fantastic Christmas this year with family and friends. I finally felt like I was ahead of the game so I was able to be a bit more relaxed and indulge in a little creative fun.

Each year, one of our family’s traditions is to dress up on Christmas day and go on a scavenger hunt for our gifts. This year we went as superheros and villains. Our “grand prize” is a trip to Universal Studios in Florida with the in-laws. We just may go dressed this way…..

For a link to past holiday silliness, click here.

We also had a wonderful visit with two sets of friends that came to town. We usually make friends with couples who then move! I guess absence makes the friendship grow stronger…

Janice has a crafty side and she loves jewelry and cross-stitch. I was very happy when she told me that now she wants to make a quilt! Being the good friend that I am, I let her raid my stash as an extra little holiday treat. We have the same taste in fabric, so that was pretty fun.

Jessica is the friend that I credit for turning me on to Modern Quilting.

She’s very trendy and hip and has been making and enjoying modern quilts even before she knew that’s what they were called.

Jessica talked me into ordering the entire Pearl Bracelets line so she could get some of every color for Christmas.

You just can’t put a price on a smile like that – well actually her husband could when he got the bill, LOL!!

(Thank goodness I gave them a pretty hefty discount. 🙂 )

Playing with all of this wonderful fabric makes me really excited for the new year.

I have loads of ideas for quilts I want to make, as I’m sure you do, too.

Here’s to a happy new year of quilts!

You can read my list of quilting goals for 2013 here.

Final Giveaway of the Year – Pearl Bracelets Fabric Winner

December 24, 2012March 19, 2013144 Comments

I am excited to announce my final giveaway of the year! Lizzy House’s fantastic Pearl Bracelets collection has finally arrived – in 26 colorful hues.

I was so happy to get them. I had only seen them previously on random blogs and in books here and there. The scale is a little larger than I imagined – each complete pearl measures about 3.25 inches across – but that just makes them more interesting!

One lucky winner will receive a gift certificate for my store, good for any 8 Pearl Bracelet fat quarters of your choice. To enter, simply leave a comment telling me which color is your favorite.

Thank goodness Lizzy gave them all fun names – their color names are listed next to each fabric picture on my website.

This contest runs through the end of the year, Monday December 31, 2012 at 9 PM Pacific time, Midnight Eastern. I will post the winner’s name here on my blog. Good luck!

Updated 12/31/2012 – We have a winner!

Congratulations to Mara who said,

“Grape Jelly, sounds yummy and looks yummy!”

Well, Mara, you have a lot of yumminess coming your way! I will email you separately so you can pick out your favorite pearl bracelet fat quarters.

Thank you all for your comments and look forward to more giveaways to come in the new year!

Laurel Burch Fabric Giveaway Winners

December 17, 2012March 19, 201370 Comments

I’m continuing my giveaway frenzy through the end of the month! It started at the end of November when I found out about all these great blogs hosting fun giveaway blog hops. The last one ended last week and I was sort of going through withdrawals so I decided to host 2 more through the end of the year.

Today’s giveaway will go through next Monday, Christmas Eve, and then I’ll do a final one through the end of the year. It will be a fun Christmas gift for whoever wins. 🙂

To celebrate the arrival of Laurel Burch’s brand new Fabulous Felines I will give 2 lucky blog followers one of her Fabulous Feline Panels!

They come in two colorways – bright or blue. When I first started quilting I wasn’t quite sure what to do with panels, but they are some of my best sellers because of their convenience and versatility.

Here’s how to enter: leave a comment on this post giving me some more ideas about what you like to make with panels, or any other Laurel Burch fabric for that matter.

I will be accepting comments until December 24th at 9 PM Pacific Time (Midnight Eastern). I will randomly pick a winner at that time and post the name here on this blog post.

And just so no one feels left out, everyone can use the special coupon code below to save 10% on ANY Laurel Burch fabric order from my store, good through 12/31/2012.

Enter code LAUREL12 in the coupon box at checkout for this one-time discount.

I love to see and read about everyone’s creativity!! (In fact if you email me pics of any project you make using Laurel Burch fabrics or any other fabric you got from me, I’ll probably want to share it for show and tell on my blog!)

Good luck and thanks for stopping by!

Updated 12/24/2012 10:30 PM

Thank you for all of your wonderful comments. It was so great to read all of your ideas and suggestions on what to do with these lovely panels. My mind is now full of ideas!!

We have our 2 panel winners!

Congratulations to Beulah who said,

“I’ve honestly never used a panel for a panel…they always end up cut apart. These panels would be used cut apart as well…many possibilities. 1 image would most certainly adorn the back of a denim jacket! Other options: book jackets or journal covers, travel pillows, tea cozy, placemats, reading buddies, wall hangings, gift bags, wall hangings, infinity scarves, art smocks…..”

and also to Barb N. who had this great idea,

“Oh goodness, I’d make a really bright lap quilt using each panel section as the focal fabric with coordinating bright colors all around. It would be a quilt to make you happy! Lots of possibilities with Laurel Burch.”

I will contact both of you immediately via email. I sure hope you make something fun and email me a finished picture of your project!

Artistic Pieced Quilt Backing Tutorial

November 23, 2012March 19, 20132 Comments

As promised, here is a mini-tutorial on how I made my pieced backing for my Charming Chevrons quilt-along. I like to call it “Back Art.”

First, I started with a rough sketch of what I want the backing to look like. I designed it EQ7, but paper and colored pencils work well, too. Next, I measured my finished quilt top and added three inches around the perimeter (six inches total to the length & width) to calculate how large the backing needed to be. I came up with a backing measurement of 54″ x 60.”

The thing I like about pieced quilt backs is that it’s almost like making another quilt top. I know how the pieces will fit together and it’s much easier to assemble from large scraps and chunks I have leftover in my stash.

For my backing above, I cut out three chunks of dark grey and one chunk of light grey, plus some assorted colored strips, all Kona Solids.

Going from left to right and top to bottom, we could label these sections 1-4. In this order, the cut measurements are:

19.5″ x 31.5″ (light grey)
33.5″ x 33.5″ (dark grey)
21.5″ x 27.5″ (dark grey)
31.5″ x 25.5″ (dark grey)

I then cut out several 2 1/2″ strips of color to add a touch of whimsy to the back.

I sewed them to the two opposite corners, log cabin style on either side of a light and dark grey piece.

I was working with some leftover fat quarters so I just pieced enough partial strips to get the length I needed.

Once the light grey chunk was pieced, I added a solid dark grey chunk (#2) to the right side.

I repeated the process for the bottom half of the quilt top also. I sewed 2 1/2″ strips of Kona colors to the left side of a dark grey chunk (#4) and then added the solid piece of grey (#3) to form bottom half. Then I joined the two halves to complete the backing.

While sewing, I made sure to press every seam open and use pins so that my pieces would line up correctly. Because I had a stripe roughly in the center of my quilt, this helped me line everything up straight when it came time to baste the quilt.

I like this technique so much I will probably sew a pieced back for every quilt I do in the future. One more idea I may try on my next quilt backing is to sew a colorful square somewhere on the back near the corner of the quit (but away from the edges). This could serve as a label ready to write on as soon as the quilt is finished!

If you were inspired to create some “back art” of your own, I’d love to see it! You can email your pictures to christa@christaquilts.com.

Yes I’m old school when it comes to technology. I don’t really use Facebook or Twitter very often and I haven’t gotten on the Flikr or Instagram bandwagon yet – sorry!!

Weekend Workshops

October 22, 2012March 19, 201310 Comments

On Friday and Saturday several guild members and I took two fabulous classes from award-winning quilter Deb Karasik. From choosing fabrics to improving my paper piecing and binding skills, the entire weekend was a blast. The best part about it was no traveling!

Friday morning I headed off to class with these two stacks of fabric in tow, an assortment of Fossil Ferns from my stash and a stack of Kona Solid fat quarters, along with some grey.

For the first quilt, I finished 4 triangle segments which will form the quilt center.

I tried to mix in grey with the Fossil Ferns, but as you can see, they just didn’t work well together.

I’m going to take the grey out and swap it for either black or white.

Or I may remake these blocks with the Kona Solids and grey.

What do you think?

For the next quilt, I was feeling more confidant because it didn’t require the use of any backgrounds – just lots of great contrast.

I was originally going to use my solid fat quarters but I stuck with the fossil ferns instead.

I really wanted to modernize these quilts but I’m not sure the block designs have the right “look” for a modern quilt.

That’s ok – it was still a great learning experience anyway!

As you can see, we didn’t get a ton of blocks done, but I did learn that starch is my friend and I’m not afraid of paper piecing.

Deb even did a excellent demo about applying binding with glue first before sewing it down. You can see a wonderful binding tutorial on her website.

Below is a photo of some fellow quilt guild members with a finished block from Friday’s class. They are standing in front of Deb Karasik’s class sample for the day.

And here is a picture from Saturday’s class. I’m the shortest and I get the least done in class, but I still think I have the most fun!! There were about 20 students in each class each day and a few of us took both classes. It will be fun to see everyone’s finished quilts!

A couple of gals laid their blocks down next to each other just for fun. Don’t they look great?

This pattern looks amazing in any colors. Thanks for the great weekend, Deb!

Sew and Tell Friday – Holiday Jelly Roll Quilts

October 12, 2012October 12, 20121 Comment

Linda M. and Martha A. both participated in my first ever quilt-along tutorial and have finished two jelly roll quilts just in time for the holidays! Don’t they look great? I love the stippling they added – it gives the quilts lots of texture.

Linda completed her Meadow Friends quilt and Martha finished her Trick or Treat quilt just in time for Halloween. (Martha has one more quilt to finish, in time for Christmas.)

All three of their quilt tops are shown below.

These two quilting friends love to participate in “strip clubs” and enjoy working with jelly rolls. Nice job ladies!

As my way of saying thanks for sharing a completed project using fabric purchased from me, each of them will receive a $5 gift certificate to my store. They can put that toward their next jelly roll purchase or anything else that suits their fancy!

Mini Quilt Market Shopping Spree

October 9, 2012October 9, 20123 Comments

Today Jason and I went to a local fabric trade show, sort of like a mini “quilt market” (as opposed to a mini-quilt market, LOL!!)

Anyway, we got to meet with many of our fabric vendors to preview the upcoming fall lines and order oodles of fabric! Here I am with one of my favorite sales people, Katie M. from Quilting Treasures.

She’s showing me all the cool Loralie fabric that’s coming out along with the latest Peanuts collections.

The hardest thing about attending Market is having to wait for the fabrics to actually arrive. For example, I ordered Charlie Brown’s “The Great Pumpkin” line, but it’s not even coming out until next Spring! At least that will be in plenty time for next Halloween. In the meantime I’m expecting a delivery of more Happiness is Peanuts & Project Linus fabric any day now…

So what else did we order today?

I’ve been dying to get my hands on some Pearl Bracelets ever since I saw one of the prints in a Modern quilting book. Lizzy House is releasing her brand-new 26 piece line in November, so I bought it all!

Along with fabulous shopping, I got a sneak peak of some upcoming Batik Charm Packs, Layer Cakes, and Jelly Rolls. Hoffman calls them Bali Snaps, Crackers, and Pops. Too cute!

Christa’s Quilt Along 2.5 – Baby Bricks Option 1 Straight Line Quilting

September 26, 2012August 15, 20135 Comments

I finished up the quilting on my boy version of Baby Bricks while I was at a quilting retreat last weekend. I brought along a few items to sell so the weekend paid for itself!

Step 1 – Quilt the Marked Lines

This quilt was so easy to machine quilt. It was just a matter of following the marked lines! I timed myself and it took less than 2 hours to machine quilt the top. Start with a large area for quilting so you have room for the quilt. A drop in table is best but as you can see here, I quilted this just using the surface available on the bed of my machine.

I started on the very edge of the quilt with the first marked line. I scrunched up the quilt under the arm of the machine and used Machingers quilting gloves to grip the quilt making it easier to push through the machine.

I used a walking foot to quilt the straight lines with my feed dogs engaged. I set my stitch to a longer length (4 out of a max of 5), and quilted with 50 weight variegated light blue cotton thread on both top and bobbin. I used a new Topstitch needle, size 80/12 for the quilting.

I quilted about half of the quilt from one direction, turned it around and then quilted the other half. Because my marked lines ran from one edge to the other, I did not have to tie off or bury my threads. The ends will be covered by the binding so they will be secure. I left the basting pins and Pinmoors in the quilt and removed them one at a time as I quilted.

Step 2 – Remove the Markings

I used a spray bottle to remove all of the marked lines. I will soak the quilt after binding to block it and remove any excess marks. (I advocate prewashing all the fabrics first to be sure they don’t bleed. This gives me piece of mind when I completely soak it later.)

It’s all quilted now and ready for binding. Next week I will show how I quilted the pink and green girl version using more advanced free-motion quilting techniques. You can use either option on your quilt, or combine them!