Modern Logs Quilt – Page 2

It’s been a whirlwind couple of weeks as I’ve been preparing not only more quilts for publication and more samples for teaching, but I’ve been invited to share a little bit more about myself and my quilts in a few different places. Here’s a list of what’s currently happening along with what’s coming up. 🙂

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This week my Modern Logs quilt was featured on Sew Mama Sew as part of their month-long series, “My Favorite Quilt” curated by Jessica Skultety from Quilty Habit. And yes, for those of you who asked, I do have the pattern available here.

Modern Logs is now available as a PDF pattern through my Craftsy store.

Jessica asked me a series of really thought-provoking questions about my quilt which was fun to think about and answer. Plus she wrote a really nice intro which made me blush (thank goodness you can’t see that online)! My favorite part of the whole series, in addition to the fabulous quilts that are being shared, is the chance for you to participate!

Sew Mama Sew is running a month-long linkup where you can share your favorite quilts, too! Just write a new blog post and answer the same set of questions I did, then click here and scroll to the end of the page to add your link. There’s even a giveaway as part of the series, so how cool is that?

I’m also in the member spotlight on the National Quilting Association’s website for the entire month of June. It includes a little background of my quilting, a picture (that’s a little too large for my tastes, LOL!!), as well as 17 pictures of my recent finishes, all done in the last couple of years. So I invite you to pop on over and take a look. Most of you who have followed me for awhile may have seen all or most of the quilts already, but it was fun to share them all in one place. 🙂

And finally – pinch me please – the always lovely and talented Pat Sloan has invited me to be a guest on her podcast, American Patchwork and Quilting Radio, next Monday June 23rd at 4PM Eastern Time. We will be chatting about quilting (of course) and go a little more indepth into how my own quilting has changed over time. It should be fun!

Click here to listen to the podcast live as it happens.

You can also listen to past episodes of the show or subscribe via Itunes.

Presenting my latest finish: Modern Logs!

Modern Logs by Christa Watson, 48″ x 54″

Modern Logs was one of my fastest finishes ever! From picking out the fabrics, to stitching down the binding, I finished in just under a week. The folks at Quiltique were kind enough to order the Petal Pinwheels line from Michael Miller for this quilt. It’s the same fabric being used in the Modern Quilt Guild’s fabric challenge. I chose coordinating solids and I was off and running (or should I say sewing)!

Probably the hardest part of the whole quilt was deciding on which fabrics to put together, but of course, that’s also the most rewarding part when it all comes together. I made test blocks, wrote copious pattern notes, and practiced quilting on a sample block so that I could test the thread and batting.

I prefer natural batting when quilting on my home machine – it doesn’t pucker!

I went with Aurifil Dove grey 50Wt. cotton for the quilting (in both top and bobbin) with Quilter’s Dream Cotton in the select loft thickness. I used an elongated ziz-zag stitch – #16 on my Bernina model 710. I adjusted the length and width of the stitch until I was happy with the result.

This is the fourth quilt I’ve made using 505 basting spray and I’m just in love with it! It sticks every square inch of the top to every square inch of the batting and backing – so important to keep things from shifting and bunching while quilting!

This time I put a sheet under my layers as I sprayed and did it indoors with the windows open. My room is large and well ventilated so fumes were not a problem. I sprayed the backing and top, rather than the batting. I also ironed the whole thing when finished to set the adhesive, a tip I learned from machine quilter extraordinaire Ann Petersen.

I created the backing on my design wall by covering up the top with yardage and leftover scraps. I kept going until the backing was big enough. I love fun pieced backs, don’t you?

Here’s a nice angled shot where you can really see the quilting:

Zig zag quilting was super easy and fast to do!

And the back:

I think quilt backs should be as interesting as the fronts!

Modern Logs finishes at 48″ x 54″ and took a total of 24 hours to complete, including binding by hand. Not bad for a week’s work, and much faster than my last MQG challenge!

Modern Logs – designed, pieced and quilted by Christa Watson, 2014

For those of you outside the local area, I will be teaching this quilt as a week-long retreat class at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina, March 8-14, 2015.

I’ll update my teaching schedule when Folk School registration opens later this spring.