I know it’s been a minute since I posted but I have lots of exciting behind-the-scenes stuff happening right now. But I had to come up for air to let you know the fabulous news that my Confetti Crosshatch fabrics are now back in stock.
These are my most popular prints of all time and you can see why – because they are the PERFECT grays that go with just about anything!!
And there’s even more great news to share – my Color Weave quilt kit is now back in stock, too. This has been my best selling kit and pattern EVER!! I’m not sure if it’s the rainbow effect that folks love, or the magic of the piecing, but it’s one of my favorites, too!!
In case you missed it the first time around, you can learn how to make this quilt from start to finish by checking out my step-by-step Color Weave Quilt Along. The quilt along itself is free – all you need is a copy of the Color Weave quilt pattern to follow along.
I’ve invited Nancy to come on the blog to tell you more about this fabulous quilt in her own words…..
From Nancy Messuri:
I am honored Christa gave me the opportunity to guest blog as I am a huge fan all her fabric lines, books, and easygoing teaching style, so I was very excited when she asked me to guest post, as there is lots to share about this quilt!
Hypnotica started off as a study in black and white and I had no intention of making it into a quilt. It was simply a personal design challenge in Electric Quilt 8 (EQ8). After playing with some initial coloring though, I found the design quite interesting. I saw it had potential to be very striking. My geometric quilt designs often mesh with Christa’s sense of line and color, so I placed a few of her fabrics into my design. And wow, did it ever come to life!
I started thinking about possibly piecing Hypnotica, but the fact that all 34 wedges meet at the center point was daunting. However, I continued playing with fabric placements in EQ8 using Christa’s fabrics. When I found a grouping that really stood out I decided I had to give this quilt a try.
Construction of the quilt center was actually easier than I expected it to be. The entire circle is made up of only two different wedges which alternate around the quilt. I printed patterns for the foundation paper pieced wedges from EQ8, then did a few test runs of sewing patches into wedges and sewing wedges together.
After I felt confident with the tests, I was ready to use Christa’s beautiful fabrics and pieced together the two semi-circles. I quickly learned not to sew too fast over multiple layers of fabric as wedges were added; especially when nearing the center of the quilt. Hypnotica is definitely a “slow and steady wins the race” kind of quilt!
The two background pieces are sewn to each semi-circle before sewing the two halves of the circle together. If you are new to curved piecing, this is an easy curve to start with as the seam is sewn in a long, gentle curve. A few test runs of curved piecing with scrap fabric can give lots of confidence!
The moment of truth arrived; matching up all the points of the two halves while dealing with all the layers meeting up at the center point. I listened to my own advice and sewed very slowly and I am happy to say I nailed it on the first try! (There may have been a happy dance or two after that.) At that point, I knew a pattern had to be created for Hypnotica.Click the image above to enlarge. Click here to order Hypnotica Quilt Pattern.
I would love to see your interpretations of Hypnotica on my Facebook page, Nancy Messuri Designs! The pattern is available on my website, NancyMessuriDesigns.com. There are new patterns in the works, so I hope you pop in from time to time. Or better yet, sign up for updates so you won’t miss a thing!
Thanks so much Nancy for sharing your beautiful quilt!! Now I can’t wait to see what she creates next. 🙂
It’s a new month, so let’s have a fabric sale!! As our minds turn toward cooler temps and we start thinking about new snuggly projects to sew, I want to make that easier for you! So I’ve reduced the price on all of my Abstract Garden fabrics by the yard, while supplies last. Stock up on these bright, cheerful fabrics for borders, backings and more. And the best part is – there’s no coupon required!
Here’s another deal that’s automatically applied to your order – just pay $5 shipping to the US, no matter how much you buy. International orders are also discounted by $5 and any excess shipping charges will be promptly refunded.
So stock up now on Fandangle fabrics, my other collection that’s currently on sale for less than $10 bucks a yard and be sure to keep in touch to let me know what you are making!!
Why you are shopping, be sure to check out my entire sale section for great prices on my books, my Aurifil thread collections, and a few of my patterns on sale. My hope is to inspire you with lots of fun projects to make without breaking the bank!
I’m thrilled to introduce a brand new quilt to you today! It’s called Interlinked and was a design I came up with a couple years ago when playing around with some modern design ideas.
Interlinked Quilt by Christa Watson, 64″ x 80″
Made from neutrals of Fandangle, Geo Pop, and Gridwork
I love making all kinds of quilts and most of my designs fall on the “Modern Traditional” side of things. But with Interlinked, I wanted to get out of my comfort zone and really embrace modern principles like “minimalism” and “negative space.”
Interlinked Beauty Shots
I’ve also been having fun taking some styled shots of my quilts. there’s something about surrounding a stark neutral quilt with some earthy color that makes it pop, don’t you think?
The most fun part about making this quilt was combining white and gray prints from several of my fabric lines. After releasing my first fabric line, Modern Marks back in 2017, I realized I needed to add more backgrounds and neutrals to work with in each of my succeeding lines. So this one includes white & gray from Fandangle, Geo Pop and my newest line, Gridwork.
When I shared sneak peeks of me making this quilt a few months ago, I immediately got requests for kits once the pattern was available. So I’m happy to announce that kits are now in stock and ready to ship over in my online store at shop.ChristaQuilts.com.
The PDF pattern can be found in my Etsy shop and it includes a couple of bonus options such as adding borders, color ideas and even a coloring page.
The quilt is actually really quick and easy to make and you can have fun with the quilting just like I did. I quilted a different geometric design in each fabric of the quilt and it was so fun putting this one together. It’s the first time I’ve made a quilt from my fabrics where I’ve used more than one collection and I really enjoyed the freedom of doing that!
Interlinked free-motion quilting detail – click image above to enlarge.
I hope you enjoyed looking at all these fun pics and I can’t wait to see your version of the quilt. When you make it, please use the hashtag #interlinkedquilt on social media so I can cheer you on!
It’s been a few years since I actually sat down and wrote some business goals. But finally feel like I’m catching up and have actually had time to think and plan again, LOL! One thing has really stuck out at me lately, and that’s how much I enjoy blogging (and sharing pretty quilt pics)!
Here’s a recent quilt finish you may have missed. It’s called Surplus Strips made from leftovers or precut strips.
I’ve written several times over the past year about how I’m trying to nail down this social media stuff. I appreciate everyone’s support in ALL THE PLACES and I’m not going to abandon any of them. But no sooner had I decided that I should blog LESS that I realized that’s the wrong answer for me. I actually want to blog MORE!
So I was looking at my stats and I get a healthy number of people who visit my blog each and every day, whether they leave a comment or not. And I LIKE writing lots of words! And sharing lots of pics!
Don’t get me wrong – Facebook and Instagram are great for spur of the moment stuff. But sooo many people don’t see my content because of the 8#!@& algorithms! In fact I would say I have double the number of instagram followers than blog followers, yet my engagement and views here on the blog is about 2-3x higher than on Instagram.
So all of this is to say that going forward I plan to increase my blogging frequency to 3x per week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Now to make this work, I’ll write up and schedule some of the content, like quilt alongs, ahead of time. Other days I’ll write a stream of consciousness “soapbox” post like today (but I’ll still include pretty pics).
I love making pieced quilt backs from leftovers!!
And because this IS my business after all, I’ll still need to sprinkle in the occasional post about my latest & greatest fabrics, books or patterns for sale. But hopefully it will be inspiring content that will get you excited to make (and finish) more quilts!
I’m very data driven and geeky about this stuff, so I’d love to know. And feel free to leave me a comment letting me know what you’d love to see more of in the new year. Here’s hoping you have a fabulous 2020 and that all your quilty dreams come true!!! 🙂
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! This officially kicks off the holiday shopping season, so I figured I’d join the crowd of business owners and get it on the Black Friday frenzy! From now through the end of the month, you can save 20% off all of my fabric lines by the yard, when you use code TURKEY during checkout at shop.ChristaQuilts.com.
It was such a thrill when Benartex contacted me three years ago and invited me to become one of their fabric designers for their Contempo division which features modern and contemporary prints. They told me they loved my work and would love for me to infuse my funky geometric style into fun colorful fabric. Modern Marks was the result and it’s been a wild ride ever since!!
I still have a bit left of each of the 26 Modern Marks fabrics, and most are now out of print. As you can see below, all of my groups mix and match and are a riot of color and texture!
I continued to fill out the rainbow in my fabric stash with this line, and decided I needed not one, but two background grays to go with them. Because Benartex reprints hot selling fabrics, the grays have been printed over, and over, and over again. They are literally, the “perfect” neutrals!!
Fun fact: most people mistake the word Fandangle with “Fandango“, but hey have two completely different meanings. Fandango is the dance, but Fandangle means decorative ornamentation – which is why I included fun fabric names like Beaded Curtain, Triangle Trinkets, and Baubles and Bits. Sometimes naming the fabrics is as much fun as designing them!!
With this group, you can separate them into warm and cool, but as you can see above, each print looks great with every other piece in the line. I have yardage of all 20 bolts of Fandangle available, and with this special deal, you can stock up on your faves!!
Can we say purple?? With each line I create, I want it to stand on its own as a complete color story. But, I love adding new things that will mix and match with what came prior. In Abstract Garden, I made sure to include purple, plus four great pastels that would serve as light, or “low volume” backgrounds.
Abstract Garden consists of 20 prints, many of which are loosely based on some of my favorite machine quilting motifs. The name is a tongue in cheek nod to the fact that I can’t really garden, OR draw floral motifs. Be sure to check out the signature print of the line, “Raised Beds.” It’s little plots of my most favorite geometric shapes!!
With four fabric collections under my belt, I decided I really needed a line of modern basics. This is my largest line yet at 25 pieces, but with only 4 different prints. I’m thrilled that I was able to include more neutrals – plenty of black, white, and gray in this group to go along with the bright saturated colors.
With Geo Pop, you can have fun fussy cutting the geometric stripe, and can create some really cool effects with the eye catching Mosaic Dots print.
Shop, Save, and Share!!
For your viewing pleasure, here’s my stash of all four collections that I’m offering for sale by the yard. I keep these in my overflow fabric room, I mean guest room!!
When you create with my fabrics, be sure to send me pics or tag me on social media using @christaquilts or #modernmarksfabric #fandanglefabric #abstractgardenfabric and #geopopfabric. I absolutely love to see what you create!!
Don’t forget to use code TURKEY at checkout to save 20%! Shipping is a flat $5 to the US, and I’m happy to refund excess International shipping charges, too!!
I’m currently working on a second version of Color Weave using my Fandangle strip roll (2 1/2″ precut strips). This is what the finished layout will look like:
I’m loving how it’s looking so far. Here are my finished blocks in color order waiting for quilt top assembly:
If you are making this quilt along with me, be sure to share your progress on social media with the hashtag #colorweavequilt so I can see what you are doing. You can also share in my ChristaQuilts Facebook group along with many others. Happy sewing!!
Tomorrow I fly out for my next fun event – setting up my booth and teaching a couple of classes to dealers at BERNINA University. BU is an industry event exclusively for BERNINA dealers that’s held in different locations around the country. This will be my third time attending and it’s been great for getting up close and personal with quilt shop owners who carry the brand.
At the show, I’m able to show off my newest line of fabric (which shops can order from Benartex), sell my latest patterns designed to support my fabrics, and talk one-on-one with shop owners.
No matter how huge the quilting industry is, it’s so important to create relationships with shops who carry my products. Many of them have also invited me to come teach at their shops, so I’m looking forward to traveling to new places over the next few years.
Giant BERNINA on display at BU for their 125th anniversary last year.
If you’d like me to visit your local BERNINA dealer – be sure to have them contact me and I’ll be glad to add them to my teaching schedule. I’m currently booked through the end of 2020 but have just opened up my calendar for 2021 and it’s starting to fill.
Be sure to follow my adventures over the coming week on instagram @christaquilts and I’ll continue to share fun things here on the blog, too – so stay tuned!
I was cleaning and organizing my sewing room and realized I have a TON of leftover fat quarters from quilts in progress, bolt ends, and fat quarter bundles from all four of my fabric lines: Modern Marks, Fandangle, Abstract Garden, and Geo Pop.
Don’t they look like colorful candy?? This is just a small sampling of my freebies for you!!
Rather than trying to cram them in somewhere and let them collect dust, I’d rather give them to you!! So from now on, all orders of $50 or more from my little online store at shop.ChristaQuilts.com will get one of these beauties as a surprise in their package!
I’m very much a minimalist, and although I’m keeping plenty of yardage of all my collections on hand for personal use, I have a hard time storing smaller pieces of fabric. So I’m excited to send them your way instead! 🙂
Let’s dive into a summer full of color! In two weeks I’ll kick off my free Quilt Along featuring Color Weave – the perfect quilt that you can work on at your own pace and on your own schedule! This should give you enough time to gather your supplies and be ready for some quilting fun!
This quilt was originally made for the February Quilty Box and they had exclusive rights to it for the first couple of months. Now that the rights have reverted back to me, I was able to release the pattern (in print and PDF) to share it will you all.
Here’s the complete pattern cover front and back. You can change it up and use just 3 colors for a completely different look, and I’ve included backing requirements, too. Click the image below to enlarge.
Color Weave Quilt Along Schedule
Each Monday for the 8 weeks, I’ll write up a post with bonus content and tips on top of what you’ll find in the pattern. Each time a post goes live, I’ll update the links below so you can refer back to it any time you are working on your quilt.
Just like all of my quilt alongs, I’ll guide you through the entire quilt making process from cutting to binding. After all, I want you to have just as much fun making this quilt as I did!!
The fun begins next week, so gather your supplies, and join the fun anytime right here on my blog. If you want to receive a notice each time a new blog post has published, enter your email in the subscribe box (found on the left of the screen on a computer, or scroll down to the very bottom of your screen on a mobile device).
My BU Booth last year when 
Christa Quilts 