Tag: Machine Quilting With Style

Facets Quilt Along Week 1 – Gather and Share Your Fabrics, Start Cutting

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Thanks for joining me on a fun journey while we make the Facets quilt from my book Machine Quilting With Style. This QAL is broken into weekly steps which you can refer to in the introductory post. (If you are new to my blog – jump in at any time!)

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Gather and Share

This week’s assignment is to gather your fabrics (detailed materials list in the book on page 90), then share pictures of your fabric pull on instagram (#facetsqal), on your own blogs, or in my facebookgroup at Quilt with Christa.

Here are a few gorgeous bundles that some of my facebook group members have shared so far. It’s so fun to see all of the different variety and really, the sky’s the limit when it comes to fabric selection for the blocks. As long as you have a highly contrasting background fabric, you are good to go!

carol_b

I love Carol’s combo of prints, solids, and tone-on-tones. With the help of my facebook group, she was able to narrow down her choices!

Lind-BLinda is using these gorgeous gradations for her quilt. She gets bonus points for photographing it with the book!! 🙂

Daisy_fDaisy’s quilt will look stunning in batiks and scraps!

Homework – Start Cutting

Start cutting your block fabrics or scraps into random strips and chunks to prepare for improv piecing next week (see what we are working towards on page 93). Don’t be scared – just dive right in and cut. It will be very liberating, I promise!

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I cut my pieces into various width strips and chunks with wonky angles.

Yes, you have my permission to make this quilt your way. Although I don’t have the math figured out for any other sizes or alterations, you are welcome to change things up if you like. This is your quilt so the choice is up to you! And yes, you can work ahead if you like, or take a little more time if needed.

sherri_s_scraps

Sherri is cutting her pretty purple pieces into hunks and chunks. It will be fun to sew the scrappy chaos into something pretty!

Questions?

I’m here to help! Be sure to share your progress in my Facebook group Quilt With Christa and ask for any trouble shooting help there. It’s a fun supportive bunch and we are all eager to cheer each other on!

The Quilts from My Book – All in One Place

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I wanted to make it easy for you all to see all of the quilts from my book, together in one place.Here you can find pictures of all of the quilts from my book, Machine Quilting With Style.

If you have made one of the quilts from my book, or are currently making one, I’d love for you to share your progress in my facebook group: Quilt With Christa.

Machine Quilting With Style

13 friends each remade the 12 quilts + 1 of the backings. I have included their versions, too. Photography of my quilts courtesy of Martingale and Brent Kane. Here’s the order in which they are presented in the book:

ripplesRipples, made by me.

ripples_melissa

Ripples, made by Melissa Corry and her MIL Barbara

mqws_rainRain, made by me

rain_drizzle_cheryl

Drizzle, made by Cheryl Brickey

color crystals.Color Crystals, made by me

colorcrystals_vicki

Color Crystals, made by Vicki Ruebel

technicolor_backing

Technicolor backing made by me

technicolorbacking_ida

Urban sunrise, made by Ida Ewing

Little Man's FancyLittle Man’s Fancy, made by me

littlemansfancy_tina

Little Man’s Fancy, made by Tina Guthmann

staticStatic, made by me

static_quilt_lee

Static, made by Lee Heinrich

square in a squareSquare in a Square, made by me

squareinasquare_stacy

Square in a Square, made by Stacy Cooper

focal_point

Focal Point, made by me

Focal Point - Chic Neutrals no lines

Focal Point, recolored in EQ7 using Chic Neutrals fabric from Amy Ellis

focalpoint_amy

Focal Point, made by Amy Garro

Lightning and backing

Lightning, made by me, bonus backing tutorial from Martingale

lightning_leannePink, made by Leanne Chahley

Candy_PopCandy Pop, made by me

candypop_linda

Candy Pop, made by Linda Hungerford

BrokenVBroken V, made by me

brokenv_sharon

Broken V, made by Sharon McConnell

Facets_Kona

Facets, made by me

facets_kristy

 

Facets, made by Kristy Daum

Finals B1324.inddPearl Gray, made by me

pearl_gray_alyce

Pearl Gray, made by Alyce Blyth

I hope you enjoyed looking at all the quilting eye candy presented here.

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You can purchase your copy of Machine Quilting with style from these locations:

 

Facets Quilt Along – Intro and Fabric Requirements

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I’m ready to start my next quilt along featuring Facets, from my book Machine Quilting With Style. This is the quilt you all voted that was your favorite, and I’m so excited because it’s my favorite, too!

Facets_Kona

Facets by Christa Watson 63″ x 70″

The quilt along is a little bit different than the other quilt alongs I have shared in the past. You will need a copy of my book to participate. But that’s no problem, because I know that many of you have purchased your copies already (or received them as Christmas gifts).

Where to Purchase My Book

Machine Quilting With Style

Those new to my blog can pick up a signed copy of Machine Quilting With Style directly from me, or grab it here on Amazon for a super low price! It’s starting to show up in many local quilt shops, too, so check yours for availability. If you’d like to get a combo e-book + hardcopy, my publisher has a great deal over on the Martingale website.

Materials Requirements

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  • 28 Fat Eighths of your favorite fabrics (or grab a fat quarter bundle of the Christa Watson palette if you want to make yours in the same colors as mine!). Or 3 1/2 yards of scraps.
  • 2 7/8 yards of background fabric (white in my quilt)
  • 1 1/8 yards for accent and binding (red in my quilt)
  • 4 1/2 yards backing
  • Twin Size Batting
  • Your favorite thread for machine piecing and quilting (I prefer Aurifil 50 wt.)
  • Creative Grids Rulers – Triangle Squared and Perfect Rectangle rulers. (Be sure to get this brand as other rulers are not the right size.)

creative_gridsThe book includes templates if needed, but the rulers are easier to use!

Facets Quilt Along Schedule

Here’s how it will work: each Friday I will post an update with your “homework” here on the blog. You can share your progress anytime, in my Facebook group at Quilt With Christa. If you are not on Facebook but still want to share, you can email me a picture of your progress and I’ll share it in a roundup photo.

Because we are working through the book, no directions will be given here on the blog. However, I will share behind the scenes of the making of Facets and I’ll be your cheerleader to help you out as well as lay out your goals for completion week by week.

All links below will be clickable once that post has been published.

There Will be Prizes!

Each week you share your progress in my Fb group (or email pics to me), I’ll enter your name into one of three grand prize drawings at the end. So the more weeks you share, the more chances you have to win!

Three lucky participants will win the Grand Prize Pack – all three prizes per winner!

  1. A signed copy of my next book, The Ultimate Guide to Machine Quilting, which releases April 19th. (And yes, I’ll get my co-author Angela Walters to sign it for you, too!)
  2. A charm pack of my Kona Designer Palette.
  3. A 1300 meter spool of Aurifil 50 weight cotton thread, in the color of your choice!

Ultimate Guide to Machine Quilting

You don’t even have to finish your quilt to be entered into the grand prize. However, everyone who shares a picture of their finished quilt by March 31 will be entered to win the BONUS prize – a jelly roll of their choice from The Precut Store.

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And because I don’t want to leave anyone out, all participants who share at least one picture will win a PDF pattern of their choice from my pattern shop!

Sharing is Caring

If you’d like, you can save and share this badge on your blog or other social media and spread the word about my quilt along! You can share the image only, or link it back to this post.

Share your work in progress on Instagram with the hashtag #facetsqal

FacetsQALbadge

So who’s ready to join the fun? Grab a copy of my book, your fabrics and start sharing your pics!

Quilt Market is This Week! What I’m doing and Where I’ll be.

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International Quilt Market, the twice yearly industry trade show is this weekend in Houston, Texas, from Friday-Monday. I’ll be there of course, purchasing the latest and greatest for our precut store.

But perhaps even more exciting (and nerve-wracking) is that I’ll also be there on behalf of Martingale/That Patchwork Place, promoting my book Machine Quilting With Style. I’ll be participating in three promotional  events for my book, so if you are attending I invite you to come see me!

quilting_buttonsMeet me at Quilt Market and choose your favorite button!

Schoolhouse Schedule

On Friday, during the Schoolhouse Series, I’ll be giving a 30 minute presentation and showing the quilts from the book. The point of this presentation is to educate quilt shop owners on why they want to carry my book in their shops and how to sell it.

martingale_schedule

Why carry my book? – it’s the perfect machine quilting reference for 18 different designs, using both walking foot and free motion quilting techniques. Quilters always want to learn more tips and tricks on how to quilt their own quilts! It’s also great lesson manual for teaching how to make a complete quilt from start to finish.

How to sell it – bundle it up with a kit purchase, include it on the supply list for at least 15 different classes (12 piecing classes, 3 different machine quilting classes); for sewing machine dealers – offer it as a “freebie” with any sewing machine purchase.

Machine-Quilting-with-Style-demoDemos and Giveaways

Then on Saturday, I will be presenting two demos in the Martingale booth, one at 11 AM and then again at 3 PM. The purpose of these demos will be to show shop owners how they can create a fun customer experience around my book and how to encourage add-on sales. I’ll be showing how shop employees can demo improv piecing, how to use a few of my favorite rulers for precision cutting of the blocks, and how to get their students comfortable with quilting by practicing daily free-motion sketching.

It’s sure to be a whirlwind of a time and I plan to share tons of live play-by-plays on Instagram and Periscope so be sure to follow me there @christaquilts!

MQWS Blog Hop Wrap Up and Winners

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What a great blog hop this has been! Thanks to all of you who participated by leaving comments and voting for your favorite quilt. Also – huge hugs to those who participated on my blog hop and helped spread the word about my debut book, Machine Quilting With Style. And now, the results of the most popular quilt that will be my selected for my quilt along is January is…….

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The Quilt Along Winner Is….

Facets! With Rain and Color Crystals coming in at 2nd and 3rd place. Be sure to stay tuned as I announce more details with the exact quilt along dates a little bit later. Now that I know the winner, I’ll start planning the quilt along.

Don’t forget to grab your copy of Machine Quilting With Style so you can join us in January!

MQWS_facetsFacets – Quilt Along coming in January 2016!

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner…..

And now I owe you a couple of winners! Congratulations go to Debra R. from Kentucky who won the box of Aurifil Thread and Denise W. from Pennsylania who won my Fat Quarter designer bundle! Both of you have been emailed. Those of you who won ebooks will be notified by the publisher in the next week or so. Those than won additional sponsored prizes will be contacted by the bloggers directly for your prizes!

A few of the giveaways are still open – be sure to check the individual hop stops for details.

giveaway prizes

A Bit More…

And now for some exciting news – I’ve just finished writing my second book, with a very special co-author. I’m not going to say too much about it yet because I don’t want to overshadow the first one. But if you are so inclined, you can pop on over to Amazon for a sneak peek of the cover and place your pre-order. It’s due to be released in April of 2016.

Again, a huge thanks to all of you amazing readers for your continued support in this fun journey. Now – it’s onto the next quilt!

MQWS Blog Hop Day 12 – Focal Point

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I can’t believe today is the last day for my Machine Quilting With Style blog tour! When I finished up the book earlier this year, I went into withdrawals for a day or two, not quite knowing what to do with myself. Now I feel the same way, what will I share next?!

On Monday, I will do a quick recap of the tour and announce the winners of my 2 giveaways. I’ll also announce the results of the Quilt Along Survey. Plus, I’ll have an exciting new announcement to share, so stay tuned!

Focal Point – The Background Story

focal_pointFocal Point 45″ x 45″ by Christa Watson. Photography by Brent Kane.

One of my modern quilting heroes, Jacquie Gering, gave me the best advice when I was trying to learn how to make my quilts look more modern. She told me I should always try and include a focal point in my quilts. So in a way, I named this quilt to honor her.

center_spiralMy continuous spiral is perfectly imperfect and adds just the right amount of texture to the quilt!

I love quilting large continuous spirals and think they look terrific on both modern and traditional quilts. They add incredible texture to a quilt. However, for many people, quilting a smooth center can be a little tricky. After a little bit of trial and error, I figured out a way to quilt the whole spiral with a walking foot, with a nicer looking center.

Just remember, don’t knock yourself out trying to achieve perfect quilting. Opt for perfectly imperfect quilting instead. Once you back away from your quilt, all you will notice is the allover texture, rather than the individual stitches!

A Bit More and a Bonus Giveaway

I took copious notes about what makes a quilt modern during a presentation from Heather Grant at QuiltCon 2013. It’s taken me a couple of years to let these design principles sink in, and I’m still discovering more of what I like about modern quilts. I remember Heather saying something along the lines of wanting to encourage more design that looks liked it’s been cropped from a larger piece. That’s sort of the look I was going for with this quilt, and I’m pleased with the results.

Focal Point - Chic Neutrals no linesFocal point with swatches of Chic Neutrals by Amy Ellis for Moda

For my version of Focal Point, I used Amy Ellis’ Modern Neutrals fabric from Moda. Amy’s new line is called Chic Neutrals, so decided to play around in EQ7 and recolor it in the newer line. Isn’t it fun? Amy’s generously giving away a bundle of Chic Neutrals to make this quilt.

Pop on over to Amy’s Creative Side to see her fun things and enter to win!

amy_ellis

Elements that make this quilt modern – neutral palette with high impact, hard edges that create high contrast between the pieces, off-center design, focal point, geometric quilting done with a walking foot.

Time for me to complete – 15 hours from start to finish.

More Inspiration from Amy garro!

13_spoolsAmy Garro from 13 Spools is another inspiring friend of mine. She recently wrote her first book, Paper Pieced Modern. It’s pretty awesome, and I’m so glad the timing of my book worked out for her to catch her breath, and then make another quilt! You’ve got to check out her version of Focal Point – it’s amazing. I always encourage everyone to change up my ideas to make it their own, and Amy did just that with her version. She includes lots of eye candy and some fun commentary so be sure to check it out!

Be sure to  enter Amy’s giveaway to win an ebook of Machine Quilting With Style.

 

Giveaway from Pellon Products

pellonPellon was another great partner – they donated several battings for me to make some of the quilts in this book. One of the things I did was try to use a different batting for nearly every quilt, just to give them a try. My favorite? Hands down, it was the cotton/soy blend, which is the batting I chose to make Focal Point. The batting was soft and supple, drapes well, and hangs well with no creases after it’s been folded. It was easy to quilt through, and I’m going to be using this batting in a lot more of my quilts in the future.

Thanks to Pellon for sponsoring a generous giveaway for this hop. Head on over to the Pellon blog for your chance to win some of the same batting I used – I think you’ll love it!

Click here for the complete blog hop schedule.

Click here purchase your autographed copy of Machine Quilting With Style.

MQWS Blog Hop Day 11 – Facets

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If you love the fabrics in Facets, be sure to sign up for my weekly email newsletter, and get a free pattern showing them in a different way. (Of course you can choose your own fabrics, too!)

Facets – The Background Story

Facets_KonaFacets 63″ x 70″ by Christa Watson. Photo courtesy of Robert Kaufman.

I love coordinated scrappy quilts and improvisational piecing, yet I’m more of a “structured improv” kind of gal. I like to randomly sew together a bunch of scrappy goodness, then create order and structure from the chaos. For Facets, I chose 28 Kona Cottons in warm reds, oranges, and yellows, with some green thrown in for good measure. The palette reminds me of crisp juicy apples!

facets_stripsIt was such fun to cut up these fabrics into smaller chunks to play with!

It was very liberating to create my own crazy-pieced fabric to work with:

crazy pieced yardageRandomly sewing bits of fabric together is very therapeutic!

I really went to town with the machine quilting on this one. I used both walking-foot quilting and free-motion techniques when quilting Facets. Whenever I quilt, I like to think about the logical sequence of steps I take before starting. That way, it doesn’t seem too overwhelming.

facets_quiltingUsing my “scrunch and smoosh” method for dealing with the bulk while quilting. There’s an extra table under there which helps hold up the weight of the quilt.

I love quilting swirls, and combining them with switchbacks really creates a lot of movement.

Finals B1324.inddPhotography by Brent Kane.

A Bit More – and a Bonus Giveaway!

I was stoked when Robert Kaufman decided to add this grouping to their designer palette series this fall. Coming in October, you’ll be able to get your hands on the Christa Watson Designer Palette in fat quarters, ten squares, charm squares, and roll-ups! You can create a quilt just like mine, but of course it will still be different because of the improv element. 🙂

What makes this quilt modern – offset grid layout, improvisational piecing, geometric design with high contrast and graphic impact, exclusive use of flat solids, bold, bright color palette, design goes all the way to the edges, organically quilted machine quilting.

Time for me to complete – 47 hours from start to finish, including the improv piecing.

How would you like to get your hands on a fat quarter bundle of my designer palette?

Christa Watson Designer PaletteThe Christa Watson Designer Palette – available at quilts shops everywhere in October!

To enter the giveaway for a 28 piece fat quarter bundle of my favorite Kona colors, just comment letting me know whether you’ve ever tried improv piecing and what you think about it. I’ll draw a winner at the end of the day on Sunday and announce their name on Monday, Sept. 28th.

And remember, don’t forget to vote for your favorite quilt for my QAL in January! Since I know you are dying to ask – yes, Facets is MY favorite quilt from the book. 🙂

Quilting Inspiration from kristy daum

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I think my favorite part of this blog hop is seeing all of the amazing quilts from my talented friends! Kristy Daum from St. Louis Victorian and I have been online friends for awhile and finally got to meet up at QuiltCon earlier this year. You may remember Kristy’s amazing pixelated quilts featuring David Tennant as Dr. Who and the lovely Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock.

Now Kristy has knocked it out of the park with her version of Facets. I really love it when others really take an idea and make it their own! It was fun watching her instagram sneek peaks, and her final reveal today will take your breath away.

Pop on over to Kristy’s blog to see her version of Facets.

Teri’s Take

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The amazing Teri Lucas from Terificreations shared a sneak peak of some Facets blocks on the Generation Q website earlier in the week. She chose to use solid pieces of fabric and did some killer quilting on them! Like me, she prefers to quilt on a home-sewing machine and she is one talented lady!! She’s one of those that I can talk quilting with all day long!

So far we’ve only met in person once, and I can’t wait to see her again at the next event. She’s always so thoughtful and encouraging – just the type of quilty friend you want in your corner. Teri is offering a book giveaway on her site. While you are there, be sure to browse around, and check out her amazing quilting!!

Head over to Teri’s blog to enter her giveaway.

Visit The Quilting Gallery

quiltinggalleryMichele Foster is the brilliant name and voice behind the highly popular website the Quilting Gallery. We first met online when I was an advertiser on her site, many moons ago. We have turned that business relationship into a really great friendship and I hope someday soon that we can meet up in person. I mean, if you are like me, you can always use another BQF (best quilting friend), right?

Michele blogs and shares so much inspiration about what’s happening in the quilting community, and she’s has written very nice things about my book over on her blog today. She even scored extra points with me by saying that Facets is her favorite quilt, too! In addition to being a prolific quilter, Michele is an amazing designer and hosts lots of fun clubs on her site. As part of her stop, she’s generously including a fun giveaway of her own. 🙂

Visit the Quilting Gallery blog and enter to win a membership to Michele’s mini quilting club!

Click here for the complete blog hop schedule.

Click here purchase your autographed copy of Machine Quilting With Style.

MQWS Blog Hop Day 10 – Lightning

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Today’s stop on the Machine Quilting With Style book tour is full of inspiration and giveaways! Be sure to stop by all of the blogs listed below to get in on the prizes. And be sure to go back and visit the earlier stops you may have missed. Many of those giveaways are still open. 🙂

Lightning – The Background Story

LightningLightning 72″ x 96″ by Christa Watson. Photograpy by Brent Kane.

I love taking traditional design ideas and then tweaking them with a bit of the unexpected. You may recognize Lightning as a simple rail fence variation, but with a modern twist! I’m realizing I love to do scrappy, but with more of a “controlled scrappy” look. As I have said before, why choose one fabric when 20 will do! And why cut straight strips when you can make them a bit wonky instead, right? I decided that the ziz-zag streaks looked like they were piercing through a cloudy sky, hence the name Lightning!

lightning_topHave sewing machine – will travel and quilt, even while on vacation!

I actually pieced this quilt last summer while on vacation. I brought along my Singer Featherweight and was able to set up a makeshift sewing area in a small space. I used the hotel floor as a design wall and took pictures with my phone so I could keep the layout oriented correctly.

lightning_quiltingQuilting in progress – you gotta love a good stipple!

This quilt is rather large, but I had no problems quilting it on my BERNINA. In the book, I share my best tips and tricks for how to deal with the bulk of the quilt when quilting on a sit-down machine. Just remember, you only need to deal with a small amount of the quilt under the needle at any time. 🙂

A Bit More

lightning_backingBacking in progress – a great way to use up fat quarters!

As I love to do, I made a scrappy backing for Lightning from my fat quarter stash of black and white prints, with some pops of green. I had originally wanted this included in the book, but was sad when it had to be cut for length. However, the folks at Martingale have generously decided to include it as a free pieced backing tutorial on their site – so yay! (See more below.)

What makes this quilt modern – graphic color scheme, wonky blocks based on tradition, zig-zags create a focal point with a bright pop of color, block design goes all the way to the edges.

Time for me to complete – 44 hours from start to finish, including the pieced backing.

More from She Can Quilt, Martingale, and Riley Blake

shecanquiltLeanne Chahley from She Can Quilt is one of those people whose work is easy to admire! I fell in love with an award winning quilt of hers at the first QuiltCon and I’ve been her stalker friend ever since! I love her take on Lightning done with scrappy pinks and scrappy quilting. She used the designs from the book as sort of a sampler for machine quilting. Leanne quilted her version of Lightning on her long-arm, showing how versatile these designs can be!

Head to Leann’s site to see her fabulous version of Lightning and enter her giveaway!

martingaleMartingale/That Patchwork Place is simply the best publisher anyone could ask for! Yes, I may be a bit biased, but writing this book has been a fabulous experience from start to finish (just like making a quilt)! After writing this book, I would definitely partner with them again! When you purchase your copy of Machine Quilting With Style from the Martingale site, they’ll throw in the ebook for free. Double bonus!!

Machine Quilting With Style

Martingale has a lot of content on their site today: you can see more quilty photos from the book, check out a little video from my quilt market demonstration last spring, and enter for your chance to visit their giveaway. (When you watch the video, you’ll get to see how fast I really talk in person!)

Go to Stitch This – the Martingale blog to get the free backing tutorial and enter their giveaway!

riley_blake_logo

Riley Blake Designs has been a terrific partner. Not only did they provide me with fabrics used in some of the quilts in the book, they are offering a fantastic giveaway to go along with the hop!

riley_blake_giveawayPop on over to the Riley Blake blog and enter for your chance to win!

Click here for the complete blog hop schedule.

Click here purchase your autographed copy of Machine Quilting With Style.

MQWS Blog Hop Day 9 – Rain

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As you are perusing the blog hop each day, don’t forget to vote for your favorite quilt over at Survey Monkey. (Yes, you can totally sneak peeks of all the designs from Machine Quilting With Stile on the Martingale site to help you choose!) Whichever quilt gets the most votes, is the quilt along I will lead next year.

Be sure to grab your copy of the book and join the QAL fun in January!

Rain – The Background Story

As I was contemplating designing a series of quilts for a book back in 2013, my husband thought he’d help me brainstorm a few ideas. So he whipped out is iPad and sketched out this design in about 5 minutes. I fell instantly in love (with him again, and this design)!

rain_sketch

Jason’s original iPad doodle. I like his ideas!!

He originally called his design Meteor Shower, but for some reason, I wanted to call it Rain. I love the stark simplicity of this design, and tweaked it just a bit – making my lines completely straight and parallel for easier construction. I also added in 3 extra rain strips. Can you spot them?

rain-full

Rain 60″ x 80″ by Christa Watson. Design inspiration by Jason Watson.

Rain is the only quilt in the book where I worked backwards to create the pattern. I estimated how long I wanted each piece to be and used a design wall to start laying out the pieces in order, filling in with background fabric to get the spacing just right. I sewed up the top first, then I went back and calculated all of the math afterward.

Rainstrips_wipWorking on Rain prompted me to build a larger design wall for my studio. And get better lighting.

The cool thing about this design, is that even though I’ve given exact pattern directions in the book, you really can change it up to make it your own by using thinner or thicker width strips, changing the number and length of the strips, and varying their placement.

I went out of my comfort zone, choosing highly contrasting thicker weight Aurifil thread to extend the streaks of rain in the colored strips.

rain-closeupSometimes contrasting thread can be used as a design element to great effect.

A Bit more

I’m super excited that Rain was recently juried into the Modern Quilt Guild Exhibit at the International Quilt Festival in Houston this fall. This means it automatically gets entered into QuiltCon 2016 to hang with all of the other amazing quilts. I think Rain is the most modern quilt I’ve made and Jason is very proud – he’s always encouraging me to “go more modern!”

quilt_festival

What makes this quilt modern – simplicity of form; lots of negative space; bold geometry, flat solid colors with high contrast; minimalist design; organic, imperfect machine quilting.

Time to complete – 29 hours from start to finish (including some thinking time…)

Optional Colorway from Cheryl Brickey

meadowmist_designs

Cheryl from Meadow Mist Designs is another fantastic pattern designer and online friend. We met in person at QuiltCon in 2015, starting off as roommates and becoming BQF’s (Best Quilting Friends) by the end of the show.

My deadline to get the last book edit in the mail was the Monday after QuiltCon, so Cheryl got to watch me frantically finish it up after show hours. This meant she also got an early sneak peek of the quilts, and right away, she knew she wanted to recreate Rain in her own way. I love the colors she chose, and her quilting is just too cool. She included a bit of hand quilting along with machine quilting for a stunning combination.

Head over to Cheryl’s Blog to see her awesome version and enter her giveaway.

More from Rebecca Bryan

bryan_house_quilts

Rebecca Bryan from Bryan House Quilts is another BQF who I keep running into! We first met at a Pile O’ Fabric meetup at QuiltCon 2013, got to hang out and have dinner again at QuiltCon 2015 and recently met up in Salt Lake City to film machine quilting segments for QNNtv. I told her each time we meet, there must be food involved! Becca (as I lovingly call her) released her first book, Modern Rainbow earlier this year, and I think it’s pretty fab.

Pop on over to Becca’s blog and she what she has to say about my book!

Click here for the complete blog hop schedule.

Click here purchase your autographed copy of Machine Quilting With Style.

 

MQWS Blog Hop Day 8 – Static

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On yesterday’s giveaway post I asked everyone which was their favorite quilt so far. It was so fun to read the responses! I was a little worried when I wrote the book, that not everyone would resonate with each pattern from Machine Quilting With Style. But I have been overwhelmed by the positive responses. There truly is something for everyone in this book, as evidenced by your answers – so thanks for your input!

Static – The Background Story

Pixelated quilts (those forming an image from tons of tiny squares) have been all the rage in modern quilting circles the last couple of years. Static is my tongue-in-cheek attempt to get in on this trend. Being the non-artist that I am, and not being able to come up with an amazingly complex design – I attempted to recreate “static” – a repeating block pattern that looks like nothing but chaos. I even posed the question – do you see an image in the static? 🙂

Finals B1324.inddStatic 56″ x 64″ by Christa Watson. Photography by Brent Kane.

I really did enjoy picking out the fabrics for this quilt, happy shades of pink, purple and yellow from the True Colors collection by Free Spirit. The quilt contains lots of small squares, but strip piecing made the blocks go together fairly quickly. Although the individual blocks look random, there’s actually a method to my madness when I pieced the quilt!

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Some of my Static strips. I chose 16 different fabrics – such fun!

For the machine quilting, I really had to fight hard to overcome the urge to quilt this one to death! I wanted to have at least one quilt that a very beginner quilter could have immediate success with. It’s quilted completely with a walking foot and I use my favorite method of stitching “near the ditch” rather than in it. The job goes much quicker and is a lot more forgiving this way. I also like the wavy effect that the quilting gives to some of the blocks, even though they are all pieced totally straight.

static_quiltingQuilting “near” the ditch is so much easier than stitching “in” the ditch!

A Bit More

What makes this quilt modern: Although Static is a pretty traditional design, I still chose to incorporate a few modern elements: bold, geometric prints, sharp angles with hard edges, minimal design, walking foot quilting, no borders.

Time to complete: 26 hours from start to finish (mostly piecing and pressing).

A Fresh Quilt from Freshly Pieced

My friend Lee Heinrich from Freshly Pieced can put together fabulous color combinations like no one else! I adore the fabrics she chose for her version of Static, which makes a seemingly simple design come to life. Lee has an eye for color and she’s an amazing pattern designer, too!

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I was so happy when Lee, Katie and Faith released their first book, Vintage Quilt Revival, with much success. Lee wrote me the kindest note ever after I participated in her blog hop. She said she’d return the favor when it was my turn for a book, and true to her word, she’s knocked it out of the park! I love the extra touch she added to the quilt, to truly make it her own!

Head on over to Freshly Pieced for tons of eye candy and quilty inspiration!

Eye Candy from Esch House Quilts and Gen Q Magazine

Another fabulous designer friend of mine is Debbie Grifka from Esch House Quilts. She’s been super involved in the modern movement almost from the beginning, was an instructor at the inaugural QuiltCon and is a prolific pattern designer, too!

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Pop on over to Debbie’s blog for her thoughts on the book (we really do have similar tastes),  and while you are there, you may want to look around for awhile. I mean just look at the sleek, modern quilts pictured in her website header above. Every time I see a quilt of Debbie’s, I’m so inspired to make more!

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Generation Q is one of my favorite modern quilting magazines! It’s a bit edgy and fun and the designs they share in each issue always resonate with me. Plus, the magazine has tons of well-written articles, so there’s more to read and look at than just pretty pictures. I was honored when they chose me to represent “I am Gen Q”  in their latest issue. Be sure to grab a subscription to Generation Q magazine and check it out!

IamgenqI Am Gen Q is written by Scott Hansen, who was an earlier stop on the hop.

Scott (who was an earier stop on the hop) and Teri (who’s coming up later this week) both chose to remake some blocks from one of the quilts in the book. Be sure to pop on over to the Gen Q website to see which quilt they chose. You will be blown away by their versions – so completely different yet amazing in their own way. I love it when designs look great in any fabrics!

Be sure to enter the Generation Q giveaway!

Click here for the complete blog hop schedule.

Click here purchase your autographed copy of Machine Quilting With Style.