Book Review and Blog Hop – Vintage Quilt Revival

January 15, 2014January 18, 20146 Comments

Today I would like to tell you about some fabulous friends of mine who put their brilliant minds together to create an amazing quilting book that actually has something to say!

Dinner in Austin, TX, 2013
From Left to Right: Katie, Christa, Faith, Holly, Lee

At QuiltCon last year, I got a chance to chat about quilting over dinner with Vintage Quilt Revival authors Katie Clark Blakesley, Lee Heinrich, and Faith Jones (plus their fantastic friend Holly who’s on the hop later in the week).

Even though I didn’t know they were writing their book at the time, their passion for modern quilting was quite contagious! In fact, when I arrived home from QuiltCon last February, I was ready to take on the modern quilting world, in part due to their enthusiasm for it!

So let me tell you a little bit about their book, Vintage Quilt Revival. In addition to an extremely well written volume that is beautifully illustrated, they have included mini history lessons for each block, plus design notes and tips throughout.

It’s a whopping 159 pages full of creative inspiration and instruction including sections on tools and techniques, new settings and color approaches, and re-imagined blocks that will take your breath away!

The book is organized block by block, with instructions on how to make each of the twenty 12″ finished blocks, followed by a full-sized project to make from each and every block.

Sugar Snow Quilt by Lee – one of my favorites from the book!

And this is where the creativity really comes in. Adapted projects include fun accessories like totes and pouches, to full sized quilts using a variety of settings. The icing on the cake is the included sampler quilts, made by each of the authors showcasing a different way to combine all of the blocks!

Faith’s Sampler Quilt – I absolutely love this setting!

Many of the blocks utilize paper piecing techniques, and the book comes with a CD so that you can print out as many full-sized foundation templates as you need. They’ve thought of everything!

I also give Katie, Lee, and Faith extra credit points for quilting a vast majority of the quilts themselves, including tidbits of inspiration on how they chose the quilting designs. I love it when authors show that it is possible to make amazing modern quilts yourself from start to finish. 🙂

Katie’s Cut Glass Baby Quilt – I got to recreate a couple of these amazing blocks!

Vintage Quilt Revival is worth reading and perusing as a coffee table book, even if you never make a block – but make a block I did! Each of the 20 bloggers on the hop got to construct a different block from the book using our own colors and fabric choices. Such fun! My block was the Classic Geometric Star Block – the one Katie chose to make her Cut Glass Baby Quilt, shown above.

My version of the Geometric Star Block

Even though this particular block was listed as an “advanced” skill level block. I had no problems following the clear-cut instructions to make my block.

Just for fun, I also made another block with the points going the opposite way and added a little sashing border around it, to demo how fun it can be to mix things up!

Geometric Star Variation, with Border

I’m very touched that the authors have chosen to incorporate all of our sample blocks into charity quilts which will be revealed at the end of the hop. It will be fun to see how they all come together.

Updated – See The Finished Charity Quilts!

I was so thrilled to see the three charity quilt finishes put together by Katie, Lee and Faith. I am impressed with how they were able to take all of the blocks and combine them into three cohesive quilt designs. Remember, the participants had free reign when it came to fabric and color choices. Aren’t they just wonderful?

Katie’s Charity Sampler

Lee’s Charity Sampler

Faith’s Charity Sampler

To see more Vintage Quilt Revival inspiration, be sure to check out the entire blog hop schedule below. I feel truly honored to be included among such talented people!

January 13th (Monday):
Crazy Mom Quilts – Amanda Jean
Don’t Call Me Betsy – Elizabeth
Film in the Fridge – Ashley
Happy Quilting – Melissa
Noodlehead – Anna

January 14th (Tuesday):
I’m A Ginger Monkey – Katy
Quilting Is My Therapy – Angela
A Quilting Life – Sherri
Sew Mama Sew – Kristin
Tall Grass Prairie Studio – Jacquie

January 15th (Wednesday):
Christa Quilts – Christa
Diary of a Quilter – Amy
Quilting Gallery – Michele
Sew Take a Hike – Penny
V and Co. – Vanessa
West Coast Crafty – Susan

January 16th (Thursday):
Bijou Lovely – Holly
Don’t You Know Who I Am – Sukie
Lily’s Quilts – Lynne
One Shabby Chick – Amber

January 17th (Friday):
Swim, Bike, Quilt – Katie
Freshly Pieced – Lee
Fresh Lemons Quilts – Faith

Christa’s Quilt Links – QuiltCon Edition

March 2, 2013February 11, 20153 Comments

This is my last post about QuiltCon for the week. I think I blogged about it more days than I was there, LOL!

For today’s list of blog links to check out, I am going to share with you links to a few of the bloggers I met at QuiltCon. It was quite the fun friendship frenzy with everyone meeting up (many for the first time in person), swapping business cards and chatting. Enjoy the ride:

Carolyn Friedlander and Ellen Rushman

Carolyn Friedlander is a fabric designer for Robert Kaufman. Her project, The Local Quilt was one of the QuiltCon award winners. (I really need to get Architextures!)

Ellen Rushman presented the findings of her research study into Modern Quilting for her college thesis. She basically confirmed what everyone has been saying – Modern Quilting is part aesthetics/part attitude.

Both of these creative women were a joy to meet!

Latifah Saafir

Latifah Saafir is one of the board members of the Modern Quilt Guild.

She also moderated a lecture/panel discussion on how to get one’s work into magazines.

The info I gained in that one lecture was worth the entire trip to QuiltCon!

Heather Jones

Heather Jones presented a lecture on Everyday Inspiration in Modern Quilts at QuiltCon. It was the first lecture I attended upon arriving and it really set the tone for the weekend.

She showed numerous beautiful examples of how she took pictures of the world around her and interpreted them into breathtaking graphic quilts.

I wish I had taken more pictures of her work, but fortunately her lecture and several others from the show are available for free on Craftsy – so check it out!

Vicki Anderson, Christa Watson, Amy Gibson

Here I am, standing in between two lovely people, Vicki Anderson, CEO of Meander Publishing, and Amy Gibson from Stitchery Dickory Dock.

Vicki was part of a panel that talked about Publishing Your First Book, and Amy did the wonderful free Craftsy 2012 Block of the Month series.

I am surrounded by awesomeness!

QuiltCon – Award Winning Quilts Part 2

February 23, 2013February 26, 201313 Comments

I just finished my second day at QuiltCon and I can’t even begin to tell you how amazing it is. I have enough pictures and notes that I could literally write a book about it, LOL!!

Today, I will share with you more amazing award-winning quilts. You can see Part 1 here, and Part 3 here.

Improvisation, Large 1st Place – Pantone Circles by Elizabeth Brandt
Holland, Michigan

Improvisation, Large 2nd Place – Unraveled by Kati Spencer
Taylorsville, Utah

Improvisation, Large 3rd Place – Love Will Tear Us Apart by Denise Gonzalez-Walker
Austin, Texas

Improvisation, Small 1st Place – Red Concentrate by Lavialle Campbell
Studio City, California

Improvisation, Small Honorable Mention – Sea Glass on Sand by Felicity Ronaghan
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Miniature 1st Place – Modern Challenge by Catherine Redford
Naperville, Illinois

Miniature 2nd Place – Analysis of Variance by Charlotte Newland
London, United Kingdom

Miniature 3rd Place – Shirts by Carolyn Friedlander
Lake Wells, Florida

Piecing, Large 1st Place – RonQuilt: The Ron Swanson Quilt by Monica Solorio-Snow
Astoria Oregon

Piecing, Large 2nd Place – Autumn Jewels by Krista Fleckenstein
Anchorage, Alaska

Piecing, Large 3rd Place – Don’t Blink by Caro Sheridan
Everett Massachusetts

Piecing, Small 1st Place – Flock of Starlings by Terri Carpenter
Moraga, California

Piecing Honorable Mention Piecing, Small Honorable Mention – Frost Bank by Claire Jain
Austin, Texas

I must say, I am quite impressed that most of the quilts here were quilted by the makers themselves. My favorite part of quilt-making is machine quilting, so I appreciate it when quilters are reaching beyond what is comfortable to quilt their own works.

And She’s Off!

February 6, 201317 Comments

I got my Charming Chevrons quilt shipped off to QuiltCon today. Making the quilt was fun. The bag to store it in however, was another story!

We were required to enclose our quilts in some sort of drawstring bag.

The only bags we have around here are small ditty bags (for holding misc. board gaming pieces) or larger nylon bags that hold our backpacking gear – hubby wouldn’t be too happy if I took those over.

So, I improvised. I took out a piece of string from a pair of my comfy-cozy pants (they stay up anyway) and grabbed a hunk of fabric that I thought would be big enough. It totally doesn’t match my quilt but I’m going for utility here. 🙂

With a bit of folding, ironing, pinning and sewing, I was able to sew up the sides and make a casing for the drawstring which I inserted with a safety pin and “fished” around to the other end to close. I had to remember not to sew the openings closed. This is why I don’t make totes or “crafty” items- it’s hard for me to make it all line up when I’m working in 3D, LOL!!

In the future, I’ll stick to straight flat quilts instead and buy or trade for the rest. 🙂 At least the hanging sleeve was a breeze to make following Jacquie Gering’s wonderful tutorial.

My final touch was to add a label. I don’t like adding labels (call the quilt police now!) mostly because I haven’t found a “pretty” way to make one. I first tried free-motion embroidering my name in colored thread, but that didn’t turn out so well.

Next, I tried printing text onto some fusible backed white fabric. I was afraid the glue from the fusible would either melt or harm my laser printer, but it actually turned out ok. I used a sheet of Light Steam a Seam 2 which has paper on both sides. I took off one side of paper, ironed it to the back of some solid white fabric, trimmed it down to 8.5 x 11 inches and ran it through the printer. So far so good!

I was able to print off two labels on one sheet of paper, a larger one for the bag and a smaller one for the quilt. I machined sewed the bag label and hand sewed on the quilt label.

I’ve never shipped a quilt to a show before, but I’m hoping the combination of wool and cotton batting I used will help relax the fold lines once it’s hung and give it a nice drape.

At least I can check that off my list for the week. Now for the next thing on my “to do” list…

Christa’s Quilt Links, QuiltCon Intro and More

February 2, 2013March 19, 201315 Comments

I’m linking up to a couple of different posts today. Then I’ll tell you about more fun linkups at the end! Warning: this post is heavy on words and light on pictures! 🙂

The Modern Quilt Guild is hosting a linky party for those of us attending QuiltCon in just a couple of weeks. It’s a fun way for us to share pictures of ourselves so we can recognize each other when we meet in person. I’m also introducing myself for the Thinky Thursday linky party. Here are 5 things you may not know about me:

Here’s Christa!

1. I signed up to go to QuiltCon all by myself with no roommate or traveling buddy. No, I’m not a loner. It’s just when I first heard about QuiltCon in August, I had never met or talked to any modern quilters before so I didn’t know a soul. I just knew I had to go to QuiltCon and make some modern quilts. In the few months since, I have met many online friends through their blogs, gotten one of my quilts juried into QuiltCon and now officially consider myself a modern quilter!

2. I’ve been quilting since I was 20, (a year after I got married) but sometimes feel like I’m still a beginner. It took me about 10 years to figure out stippling and another 10 to finally give starching a try. But this is the year I make up for lost time, LOL!!

3. I turn 40 this year. I had to put that in there because sometimes I feel a little “sandwiched” in between the younger modern crowd, and the more experienced ‘quiltie ladies’ from my guild as I call them, (some old enough to be friends with my grandmother). But I love them all!

4. My husband and I work full-time from home running our online quilt shop. We also homeschool our 3 kids. Yes, we get in each other’s way and step on toes quite a bit so it’s kind of a crazy lifestyle. But we are in charge, so we love it! (We both used to be accountants so we know that a hard day at home is better than a great day at the office!)

Hubby and Kids

5. I hated writing papers in college but I love to blog about quilting! Ok, that one is sort of cheesy but what it really means is that sometimes I can be a little long-winded. That’s the beauty of written thoughts. I can write pages and pages of blog thoughts and then edit them down to one or two simple posts. And yes, this is the shortened edited version, LOL!!

So now that I’ve shared where I’m linking up, I wanted to include the following linky parties that I have come across in my blog travels.

They are all sewing and quilting related, and I can spend hours browsing through them and finding tons of inspiration. Just click the images to go that blog and enjoy!

Monday Linkups:

Tuesday Linkups:

Wednesday Linkup:

Thursday Linkups

And Sew Thinky Thursday Hosted by Mommy’s Nap Time

Friday Linkups

And Finish It Up Friday Hosted by Crazy Mom Quilts

Weekend Linkups:

If you have any other fun quilt-related linkups you participate in, just let me know!

QuiltCon Here I Come! Charming Chevrons Juried-In

December 28, 2012March 19, 201369 Comments

I just got the best news ever! I just found out that my Charming Chevrons quilt was accepted into QuiltCon, the modern quilting conference taking place in Austin, Texas in February.

I am practically speechless and beside myself with joy! I am already registered to attend the conference, and in fact just booked my plane ticket today. This is like icing on the cake! 🙂

Here is the front of Charming Chevrons (you can click to enlarge):

And here is the back (which I think is just as much fun as the front):

One of the quilting goals I made for the new year was to get a quilt accepted into a major show. Well, now I can cross that one off the list. (Or maybe I should say I’ll add to it?)

I will update the goal to read, “Win a ribbon at a major quilt show.” I’m sure this new goal will take much more than a year to accomplish, but I believe anything is possible with enough patience and perseverance!

Sew and Tell QuiltCon Entries

December 7, 2012December 28, 201223 Comments

For Sew and Tell this week I thought I would share with you the quilts that I submitted for entry into QuiltCon. This was a scary step for me as I’ve never tried to enter a big show before. But it’s one of my quilting goals – so here’s hoping at least one of them gets in!

Charming Chevrons is the first quilt I knew I wanted to enter. After the time-consuming (but fun!) amount of quilting I did on it for my tutorial, I thought it deserves a shot. You can read the text I submitted with the entry below.

What is more traditional than a half square triangle? What is more modern than solid colored chevrons with irregular pebble quilting? My quilt, Charming Chevrons, is a marriage of both. Inspired by a couple of colorful Kona charm packs and the desire quilt the heck out of something, I experienced pure bliss in designing and making this quilt. I used 18 different colors of thread for the pebbles.

Next, I emailed them a picture of my Busy Hands quilt which I’ve already blogged about a few times before. But here it is in its entirety. (I didn’t even bother counting how long it took for the FMQ – I would probably need to declare myself insane if I did!!)

Although I’ve been a quilter for quite a few years, this is my first modern quilt. I discovered this eclectic style earlier this year and have been thoroughly smitten! “Busy Hands” embodies everything I love about modern quilts: bright clear colors, bold geometric shapes, and clean lines with lots of negative space for detailed quilting. Making modern quilts is a great way to keep my hands busy! I did all of the quilting my regular home sewing machine.

And finally, just for fun I included my Baby Bricks in pink. I was able to submit 3 quilts so I figured more quilts would increase my chance of at least one getting in! (Yes I will be sad if none make it into the show, but no matter what, it was an amazing experience to at least try.)

Baby Bricks

I designed Baby Bricks as a way to piece a quick modern quilt with simple shapes. I took a classic stacked bricks design and modernized it by adding negative space between the rows. This allowed me to showcase some fun fabrics while balancing the straight lines of the quilt with whimsical double loops. I love the way the batting poofs up in the areas that are not over-quilted. This gives some extra dimension to the piece.

Updated December 28th – I’m in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so thrilled I can hardly speak (or type). I just found out that my Charming Chevrons quilt above got juried into QuiltCon. This is so exciting!!!!!! I’ll post more later in a separate followup post. Yay for me (giving myself a big hug and pat on the back….)!!

Modern Quilt Musings and QuiltCon

September 3, 2012March 19, 2013Leave a comment

I have recently jumped on the Modern Quilting wagon big-time! I was trying to figure out why this latest quilting movement is so appealing to me and here’s what I’ve come up with:

1. I love all the negative space! Machine quilting is my first love (even more than piecing) and with modern quilts, there is more room to show off intricate FMQ. Plus, it’s easy to add texture with lots of simple geometric quilting.

2. Many modern quilts are based on traditional patterns with a twist. Have you seen wonky log cabins and not-your-grandmother’s flower garden hexagons? How about pinwheel remix? To me, modern quilting is different than abstract art quilting (though of course it can include that, too!) I love the traditional roots with an anything goes attitude of modern creativity.

3. Fresh, clear colors with simple designs are very appealing to me. Much of the modern aesthetic is inspired by fashion trends and home decorating. That means most modern quilts are made to be used and loved but that doesn’t mean they are just slapped together. Good workmanship is still an essential part of the quilt-making process.

4. Can we say solids??? There are so many tutorials and inspirational photos out there using solids by themselves or in tandem with other fabulous designer prints. And I love the flexibility of combining different lines of fabric from different manufacturers. Modern quilting is all about getting away from being too “matchy-matchy” and instead, pursuing more eclectic combinations that actually work.

These are just a few things I like about modern quilting; I’m sure I will discover many more.

This weekend I signed up to attend QuiltCon, the first international modern quilting conference, presented by the Modern Quilt Guild in Austin, Texas next February. It’s a little out of my comfort zone to travel that far by myself but I know it will be worth it.

I will be taking Angela Walters “Quilting Negative Space” class and am looking forward to lots of informative lectures like “Publishing Your First Book” and “Publishing Your Work in Magazines”. I am excited to meet many of the modern quilting “celebrities” that have made a name for themselves in this industry.