Tag: improvisational piecing

Modern Logs QAL Part 6: Free Motion Stipple Quilting

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I love it when we get to the machine quilting part of a Quilt Along! I’ve just finished my fourth book on machine quilting so I feel like that is one of my specialties. I’m excited for you to try free motion stipple quilting like I did on my Modern Logs, or another quilting design of your choice.

I made a video with all my best tips and tricks for quilting Modern Logs. Just nine minutes but it’s packed full of help and guidance! Click play below to watch.

 

If you’ve never tried free motion quilting or a stipple (also called a meander), layer up a couple of fat quarters with batting and practice there before you start on your real quilt. You can quilt on this practice sandwich many times over, using it as a warm-up if you like.

I can’t wait to see how you decide to quilt your Modern Logs!

Click here for links to the Modern Logs quilt along.
Click here to get the Modern Logs quilt kit while supplies last.
Click here to purchase Modern Logs quilt pattern – paper version.
Click here to purchase the Modern Logs quilt pattern – PDF version.

Click here to see other people’s Modern Logs and how different and exciting they are!

Modern Logs Inspiration

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The Modern Logs Quilt Along is in full swing, and that means everyone has started to post their blocks, tops and finishes. This is one of my favorite parts! And I want you to explore your own creativity so I’m thrilled when you add stash fabrics or play around with the setting or otherwise add your own special touch.

Click here to get the pdf version of the Modern Logs pattern.

Today I’m sharing a variety of other people’s Modern Logs in different stages so you can appreciate the versatility of this design. I hope you enjoy them! Be sure to check out my facebook group and #modernlogsquilt on instagram for more great examples!!

Modern Logs by Barbara F

Barbara F. used one fat quarter bundle of Good Vibes as she grouped similar colors together in each block. She also chose a straight set instead of the offset design shown in the pattern. Those random bits are fabulous, and I love it when you all make this design your own!

Modern Logs by Laina L

Laina L. used a variety of colors from all my fabric lines.  Isn’t her finish beautiful?


Modern Logs by Michele H

Michele H went for an earthy look with rich batiks that  feel like a gentle autumn morning. Well done!
 
Modern Logs by April S

I often say that prints from my collections over the years work great together, and April S took me at my word. I see Abstract Garden, Gridwork, Modern Marks, Fandangle and Good Vibes for sure. What a lovely mashup!

Click here to shop all of my fabrics!

Modern Logs by Judi H

I love the patriotic look chosen by Judi H for her Modern Logs. Classic red, white and blue with a touch of gold, maybe for a yellow ribbon?! She wondered if they were too wonky, but I think not. The beauty of improv is that everyone’s quilt comes out differently!

Modern Logs by Sharon C

Sharon’s working on her version of Modern Logs made from the Modern Logs quilt kit. You can can choose to orient the rows horizontally or vertically – the choice is up to you!

Although Sharon has used the exact same fabrics as my version below – notice how different they look. That’s the versatility of this design and I can’t wait to see more!

My version of Modern Logs

Shop my Good Vibes fabric collection!

Modern Logs by Jo O

Jo O’s version of Modern Logs really makes me smile. Notice the cats? I can almost see their tails swishing. I love the pops of dusty pink. And the deep gold is heavenly! So much to love right here.

Modern Logs 1 by Ellen A

Ellen went for a graphic quality with bright blues and yellows. It’s a winning combination! And she didn’t stop there.

Modern Logs 2 by Ellen A

She used just four blocks and some ingenuity to create another improvisational design. Both quilts are headed to a NICU. That’s pretty heartwarming!

As you have seen, this quilt can take on any personality. Your stash can make it totally unique, or it looks terrific in my fabrics, too.

My thanks to all the makers above for joining me for the QAL and sharing their work. It inspires me and I hope it does the same for you!

Modern Logs Quilt Pattern

If you still need the pattern:

And remember that the Quilt Along steps will remain up, so you can jump in and sew at your convenience any time.

Modern Logs by Christa Watson
Modern Logs Partial Blocks

Virtual Classes for October’s PIQF

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I’m really excited to be teaching three classes for Pacific International Quilt Festival Online, coming up Oct. 14 to 17. Registration is open and I’d love to have you join me!

Here are brief descriptions. You’ll find more complete information at the links below.

1. Free Motion Improv, Thursday evening 10/15, 4–7 PST

Example of my Free Motion Improv

Liberate yourself from traditional quilting symmetry by mashing up your favorite motifs in a seemingly random way. Combine basic shapes with transitional designs and free-motion fillers to add amazing texture to the negative spaces in your quilts, or create your own unique work of improvisational art. Note: Students should be comfortable with basic free-motion quilting.

Cost: $80, includes $25 kit fee, kit includes your choice of one of my machine quilting books.

Click here for Christa Watson: Free Motion Improv, Price Includes $25 Class Kit (Half Day WS, Thurs, 10/15/20, 4-PST)

2. Free Motion Quilting Designs with Lines, Friday afternoon 10/16, 12–3 PST

Example of my Free Motion Quilting Designs with Lines

Embrace the “hand-sketched” look when you learn to quilt modern geometric fillers that require little to no marking of the quilt. Go beyond the straight line when you learn how to create irregular linear motifs that look great on both traditional and contemporary quilts. Note: Students should be comfortable with basic free-motion quilting.

Cost: $80, includes $25 kit fee, kit includes your choice of one of my machine quilting books.

Click here for Christa Watson: Free Motion Quilting Designs with Lines, Price Includes $25 Class Kit (Half Day WS, Fri, 10/16/20, 12-3pm PST)

Machine Quilting Books by Christa Watson
The kits for these classes include your choice of one of my books.

3. Improv Piecing: Modern Logs, Saturday 10/17, 9–3 PST

Modern Logs is made with improvisational piecing: easy and fun!

Put a modern spin on a classic block while you learn to create improvisationally pieced Log Cabin blocks. Choose two sets of fabrics that have good contrast, such as lights and darks. You’ll need 10 fat quarters of assorted lights and 10 fat quarters of assorted darks to make the 48″ x 54″ quilt. Pattern is included in the kit fee, and the pattern includes additional sizes. Suitable for all skill levels.

Click here for Christa Watson: Improv Piecing: Modern Logs, Price Includes $12 Class Kit (Full Day WS, Sat, 10/17/20, 9am-3pm PST)

Make plans to join me for virtual classes during PIQF Oct. 14 to 17. I’d love to “meet” you!

Modern Logs Quilt Top
Modern Logs made in my Good Vibes fabrics for Benartex. Available on my website, shop.christaquilts.com

Click here to shop for Good Vibes fabrics to make your own Modern Logs quilt!

Good Vibes Fat Quarters
Good Vibes by Christa Watson for Benartex

Click here to buy the Modern Logs paper pattern (not necessary if you’ll be in the class, because the pattern is included in the class fee).

Click here to buy the Modern Logs pattern instantly as a downloadable pdf.

Modern Logs by Christa Watson for Christa Quilts

Maybe you’d like to see a bit of how I machine quilt on my home sewing machine?

Check out this short video on my YouTube channel. It’s not exactly the same thing I’ll be teaching in the classes, but you’ll get an idea of my style!

I can’t wait to meet you and create some amazing things together!

Improv Squares Finish with Machine Quilting Details

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Now that I’ve been blogging again on a regular basis, I’ve realized I haven’t shared about some quilts I made from Modern Marks. And since I’ll soon be starting on quilts from my next line of fabric, I want to make sure I’ve documented my recent finishes!

Improv Squares by Christa Watson, made from Modern Marks

I recently shared a spray basting tutorial for Improv Squares, but here are some beauty shots of the finished quilt, taken in the desert behind our home in Las Vegas.

The inspiration for Improv Squares was a broken wooden fence that I drove by several years ago. I snapped a picture of the fence and kept it in my phone for a long time, until I was ready to do something with it.

Improv Squares Inspiration

The holes in the fence made an interesting pattern that I though would be fun to do something with. I also wanted to further explore the concept of “Structured Improv” – a technique I’ve been playing around with for several years now.

Improv Squares by Christa Watson

The improv part is that you sew a bunch of fabric together randomly. The structured part is that all of the block units are a similar shape  – rectangles. All of the blocks finish the same size so they can be placed randomly in the design, yet no two are the same.

Machine Quilting Tips

Aurifil Vareigated thread

When I’m working with busy prints and I want the fabric to be the star of the show, I’ll try to choose a thread that blends in. Because Modern Marks is so colorful and I wanted to use all of the prints in this quilt, I chose a variegated thread that would add fun layer of texture to the busy prints

My favorite variegated thread is 50 weight Aurifil #3817 Marrakech. It’s fun to see the color changes while I’m quilting, and I love quirkiness that it gives the quilt! It also seems to match any rainbow-colored quilt I make!

Machine Quilting Jagged Stipple

Because I was in a hurry to get this quilt finished, I quilted an allover/edge to edge design on a rather large scale. The quilting is still very dense, but by quilting larger shapes, I was able to cover more area very quickly.

I used one of my favorite designs – a  geometric, jagged stipple rather than a smooth curvy stipple. I was able to complete the quilting on this throw size quilt in an afternoon, rather than several days whenever I do more intricate custom quilting.

Jagged stipple quilting

I love this texture so much, it inspired one of the fabric prints in my second fabric line!
More about that later…….stay tuned!!

Incidentally, whenever I teach machine quilting, I always have the students practice quilting both angular shapes, and curved designs. Some people find it easier to quilt one vesus another, so it’s a good exercise to try and see which type of design you prefer!

As you can see in the detail picture below, the jagged motif gives some interesting texture to the quilt, without overpowering the overall design.

Allover jagged stipple

Improv squares is now available as a pattern, either as a printed version, or a PDF download.
If you make one, I’d love to see it! After all, the fun of designing quilts for others to make is seeing the variety!

Improv Squares quilt

Share your progress wtih me on social media with the hashtage #improvsquaresquilt. You can also share images of any projects you make from my books, patterns or fabric in my ChristaQuilts Facebook group.

Click here to get the Imrpov Squares Quilt Pattern – printed version shipped to you.

Click here to get  the Improv Squares Quilt Pattern – instant PDF download.

Improv Squares Quilt Pattern using Modern Marks Fabric

Improv Squares STATS:

  • Finished Size: 66″ x 80″
  • Fabric: Modern Marks by Christa Watson for Benartex
  • Batting: Hobbs 100% Cotton
  • Thread: Aurifil 50 weight cotton #3817 Marrakech
  • Machine Quilting Design: Jagged Stipple
  • Completed: October, 2017

Improv Squares quilt

Craftsy Discount: Save 50% on Improvisational Piecing, Modern Design

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Do you have a quilter’s crush? I do, and my crush is on Jacquie Gering. Seriously, I love everything this woman does! After viewing her class Creative Quilting With Your Walking Foot, I knew I wanted to go back and watch her first class, Improvisational Piecing, Modern Design.

20141118_improv_piecingThanks to my friends at Craftsy, you can enroll in Improvisational Piecing, Modern Design for 50% off the regular price, making it only $19.99 for this class. What a bargain!  Just be sure you click through this link for the discount to apply. (It’s a special discount I got just for my blog readers because I asked super nicely!!) But here’s the catch – it’s valid for one week only (expires 12/1/14 at 11:59 pm MST) so be sure to sign up quickly.

I love bold “irregular” quilts and I’m warming up to improvisational piecing, which I had never tried before I discovered the modern movement. In fact, here’s a sneak peak of some “crazy pieced” yardage I made for a quilt in my upcoming book.

crazy pieced yardageSome of my Improv Piecing using Kona Solids

If you’ve ever met Jacquie or taken a class with her before, I’m sure you’ll agree that she’s a natural speaker! For those of you who have yet to get to know Jacquie, let me tell you – she’s as genuine as they come! She has a background in teaching so she’s very comfortable explaining her methods and techniques. Her presentation style is very calm and and she puts you at ease right away. She’s sincere and affable and you can’t help wanting to be her best friend. 🙂

In this class, you will learn fun methods such as Jacquie’s signature “slice and insert” technique, her take on stitch-n-flip triangles, and a modern version of crazy piecing.

20141118_jg_swirling_starsDetail of Jacquie’s Swirling Stars Piecing, Using the Flip and Stitch Method

Here’s an overview of the class outline: (I’ve included the time for each segment in minutes so you can see how easy it is to watch this class on your own schedule, at your convenience.)

  • Lesson 1 – Meet Jacquie (2:45)
  • Lesson 2 – Stitch and Flip Technique (18:30)
  • Lesson 3 – Love Knots, a Scrappy Quilt Demo (20:08)
  • Lesson 4 – Swirling Stars with Stitch and Flip (15:40)
  • Lesson 5 – Slice and Insert Improv (16:58)
  • Lesson 6 – The Unparalleled Quilt (19:39)
  • Lesson 7 – Crosscut Quilt with Slice and Insert (16:51)
  • Lesson 8 – Crazy Piecing (15:49)
  • Lesson 9 – To the Point with Monochromatic Crazy Piecing (24:16)

In additional to the lessons presented above, the class includes materials lists and instructions to make 5 of the quilts, plus direct access to Jacquie via the class platform. (In fact that’s one of my all-time favorite perks about Craftsy classes – being able to interact with the instructors by asking them questions which they are usually pretty quick to answer.)

20141118_lime_iceLime Ice Quilt, made by student Lisa H. and shared in the class gallery.

Although Jacquie is best known for making Modern quilts, you can still apply her techniques to fit your style of quiltmaking. So be sure to check out Improvisational Piecing, Modern Design. I highly recommend it!

This post was sponsored by Craftsy. 🙂