Machine Quilting with Style Blog Hop

Today I am fortunate enough to share a quilt I recently made from Christa Watson’s new book, Machine Quilting with Style.  I’m very excited to be a part of her blog hop celebrating the release of her first book.

This book is amazing!  She covers everything from thread and batting to quilting designs and everything in between!  It’s the perfect book for beginners as well as seasoned quilters.

The quilt I’m sharing today is called Color Crystals.  Here’s a look at Christa’s version.  I love her color combination and her quilting.  This is the perfect quilt for modern quilters because of the massive amounts of negative space.  My favorite part of the quilting process is the actual quilting so I knew this quilt was perfect for me.  I decided to use some of my favorite Tula Pink prints in place of the solids.  I also chose a lighter background than Christa.  I wanted the quilting to stand out and sometimes it can get lost on dark prints.  Here’s my version.

I had lots of fun going crazy with my quilting in the negative space.  I took a totally different approach than Christa’s original version.  I wanted to create vertical columns that intersect with the color crystals.  I used different quilting designs in each column but repeated them throughout the quilt.

One of my favorite designs is the diamonds.  I freehand quilted the diamonds to be irregular and not perfect.  Then added dense quilting around them to really make them pop out.  I cannot stop looking at this picture.  That texture!  I’m pretty sure this is one of my favorite quilts that I’ve ever made.  I used a single layer of Quilter’s Dream Wool batting and Superior Threads Omni on top and Sew Fine in the bobbin.  I typically double my batting but I decided to use one layer on this quilt because of all the horizontal seams.  Double batting can cause seams to pull and I didn’t want that to happen.  It would’ve been very obvious and I would’ve hated it.

I absolutely love this quilt.  Christa knocked it out of the park with the design.  In fact, she knocked it out of the park with the entire book.  It’s a great resource for all quilters and I highly recommend purchasing Machine Quilting with Style.  You should pop over to Amazon and get your copy of Machine Quilting with Style today!  If you’re local to Las Vegas you should come check out Christa’s trunk show at The Christmas Goose on September 23rd at 6PM.

Christa will be hosting a Quilt Along beginning in January.  The best part is you can help decide which quilt will be featured by clicking here to vote for your favorite.

The next two weeks will be filled with beautiful quilts all made from Christa’s book!  Make sure to check out all the gorgeous quilts.

• 9/14 Start here at Christa Quilts
• 9/14 Color Crystals – Vicki Reubel from Orchid Owl Quilts
• 9/14 Technicolor Backing – Ida Ewing from Ida Rather Be Quilting
• 9/15 Pearl Gray – Alyce Blyth from  Blossom Heart Quilts
• 9/16 Broken V – Sharon McConnell from  Color Girl Quilts
• 9/17 Candy Pop – Linda Hungerford from Flourishing Palms
• 9/18 Ripples – Melissa Corry from Happy Quilting
• 9/19 Little Man’s Fancy – Tina Guthmann from Mod Geometry
• 9/21 Square in a Square – Stacy Cooper from  Farm Road Quilts
• 9/22 Static – Lee Heinrich from Freshly Pieced
• 9/23 Rain – Cheryl Brickey from Meadow Mist Designs
• 9/24 Lightning – Leanne Chahley from She Can Quilt
• 9/25 Facets – Kristy Daum from  Louis Folk Victorian
• 9/26 Focal Point – Amy Garro from 13 Spools

Plus, there will be additional stops on the hop from the awesome people listed below. They will be sharing their insights including book reviews, interviews, sample blocks, and other interesting content you won’t want to miss.

• 9/15 Andover Fabrics
• 9/16 Amy’s Free Motion Quilting Adventures and Leah Day’s Free Motion Quilting Project
• 9/17 Do You EQ? from Electric Quilt and Darlene from Quilt Shop Gal
• 9/18 Jacquelynne Steves’ The Art of Home and Scott Hansen from Blue Nickel Studios
• 9/19 Moda Fabrics – The Cutting Table
• 9/21 Krista Hennebury of Poppy Print and Katy Cameron from The Littlest Thistle
• 9/22 Debbie Grifka of Esch House Quilts and Generation Q Magazine
• 9/23 Rebecca Bryan of Bryan House Quilts
• 9/24 Stitch This – The Martingale Blog and Riley Blake Fabrics
• 9/25 Michele Foster of The Quilting Gallery and Teri Lucas from TerifiCreations
• 9/26 Pellon Projects and Amy Ellis from Amy’s Creative Side

Make sure you check out Christa’s blog.  There will be lots of giveaways associated with the blog hop.

One final tidbit of fun news.  I entered my version of Color Crystals in the Pacific International Quilt festival in Santa Clara, CA.  I found out on Saturday that it was accepted into the show.  I’m so excited!  This will be my first quilt in PIQF.

Now hop on over to Ida Rather Be Quilting and check out her quilt!  I happen to know it is AMAZING!

Vicki