December 08, 2017

Free-Motion Quilting Weekend in Portland

I'm thrilled to share a new local class offering I have. And for those of you who aren't local, it would be a great reason to take a trip to Portland, if I do say so myself! I've scheduled a two-day beginner's free-motion quilting workshop in January at my local quilt shop, Modern Domestic.


This class is exactly the way I love to teach free-motion quilting: small class size (we limit to 12), and only 3 hours of class a day so no one gets exhausted. Everyone comes back the next day fresh and full of energy and with the added benefit of having had a night of sleep, which research reveals helps us learn complex tasks; tasks like free-motion quilting!

The staff at Modern Domestic are happy to make recommendations for nearby places to stay if you're thinking of traveling to Portland for the weekend. And I'm happy to advise on local restaurants and sightseeing. It's always fun to have visitors!


If you're looking for a more advanced class, I also have another grid quilting class on the calendar. 

And I'd love to hear what you think of the two-day class idea. I feel like I often see my student's energy flagging around hour 5 in an all day class. Have you ever gotten burned out in a 6 hour quilting class?



December 06, 2017

Quilting Spirals with the Walking Foot


Today I get to share another quilting segment of mine from the TV show Fresh Quilting! This is from episode 203 "Mix It Up" which you can see anytime at www.freshquilting.com.

You know I've been playing with my walking foot more these days, and getting a really even, smooth quilted spiral is definitely a job for a walking foot! See my little trick for getting started on the episode...



December 04, 2017

Preorders open for Wedge Quilt Workshop!


Good things are happening! My first book on the wonders of patchwork, specifically, WEDGE patchwork, is about to fly out into the world on the magical hooves of reindeer and the scent of peppermint. We're so close. So so close. Can you smell the minty freshness? 


And here I am to show you a few pretty pictures (like the quilt above, "Hello Gorgeous") and get you thinking about some of the cool things you can do with wedge shapes. Do you have a wedge ruler? If so, great! If not, no worries, the book has all the patterns and instructions for using them with your trusty old quilting ruler. 


I love the way the diamonds float on the one above. And how about the full view of that cover quilt below? Does it make your eyes go buggy? The circles flash when I look at it!


So I know plenty of you will buy it on Amazon (And probably even leave a review! Thanks!) and many of you will buy it at your local quilt shop (Shopping local, right on!) and some of you will say "But Christina, can't we preorder a copy from you?" And I, intoxicated by reindeer magic and peppermint fumes, will temporarily set aside my impulse to avoid the post office and I will say Why Yes! Yes you can.

And, you may ask, "Can that copy be signed?" Oh ever so much Yes Again!

For you, my fellow wedge lovers, I am taking preorders. Just until the book comes out. And then I will make a single, joyful, and slightly sweaty trip to the post office and then, then...then the spell will be broken, for I will have remembered that I Do Not Like That Place. After that you can still Amazon or Buy Local it and I will be so delighted that you wanted to read my book.


So are you getting in on this not-to-be-repeated post office trip? Are you one of my signed copy preorder tribe? Fabulous! Click this little button below and you'll be ushered over to Paypal  Preorders are in the mail!! No longer taking preorders but please see your local quilt shop or Amazon for the book! 

I'll be sure to show more pictures from the book when it's officially released! I still haven't shown you some of my favorites!


November 14, 2017

Are you Gridding?!


Just a mostly eye candy post to remind you to use your half-off Craftsy discount link on my new class Quilting the Grid, before it's done tomorrow. That discount is expired. 


I can't wait to see what you do with it!


November 07, 2017

Kaleidoscope Free-Motion in the Grid video


What a fun week! I've been enjoying hearing your positive feedback on my new class Quilting the Grid. Thank you, whether you've stopped to let me know on Facebook, Instagram, in the Craftsy class reviews or the comments in the class, it means so much! I'm glad that other quilters get excited about the things I get excited about.

For those of you who haven't been able to join the class yet, I have two things for you. First, my half-off offer on Quilting the Grid is good until November 15th if you click this link.

Second, I made a YouTube video of the new grid design above, which looks just like a Kaleidoscope piecing design. Beginners: you can do this! It's just one simple movement, over and over. You'll get it down quick. Check it out:



This looks great in one color or in two! If you try it let me know what you think!


November 01, 2017

Quilting the Grid is now available!

My new obsession is now a Craftsy class! Quilting the Grid: Structured Free Motion is finally ready to share my freshest quilting design ideas. And I have a great offer to share with the first students to join the class: a half-off launch discount for you (good for the next two weeks). Just click the link above!   That discount is expired.


I'm so intrigued by what you can do when you quilt a grid with your walking foot...



...and then switch to your free motion foot and quilt inside the grid. There are so many ways to get killer geometric repetition with this technique! Below is the same idea done 4 different ways. 


From simple to complex, there is a lot of fun to be had with quilting in grids. It's unquestionably modern, and also incredibly practical. 


The greatest benefit, I think, is for new free motion quilters. You don't have to think about how to move around the space. You don't have to worry about keeping your quilting design the same size. You just do the same thing in each space, one little bit at a time. It's a very relaxing way to quilt.

I can't wait to hear what you think about this class, and see where you quilters take this idea! If you'd like to take the class, be sure to click one of the links in this post. You'll see the discount reflected in your shopping cart on Craftsy once you go to check out. Let me know what questions you have, or if I can help you get started!

P.S. If you learn better in person, consider taking my face to face version of this class in Portland Thanksgiving weekend: sign up here

October 17, 2017

A Craftsy peek...


I am having a hard time being patient waiting for my new Craftsy class to come out!! But happily for me, the Craftsy team just sent me these photos they took when I was out shooting the class, and told me I could share them. Sneak peek time!



Are you noticing a pattern.... like there's some straight lines and FMQ in each piece? What if.... you used both your walking foot and your free-motion foot for what they are each best at? What if you quilted something low stress that was also totally lovely? 


It can be dense or open. It feels super modern to me too. Did I mention I can't wait to show you? 


This may be favorite picture of me ever taken! I look at it and I see that I'm coming back to a certain amount of ease and joy and creativity that was lost during the confusion of the divorce.  Having my home be a safe place is incredibly powerful.  I wish for all of you the safe space to try new things and bring your beautiful work into the world. 

October 09, 2017

Marking circles the lazy way


Big news: I was recently at Craftsy! Here's a sample from that class (which I can't wait to tell you about!!) And a little gee-whiz snapshot of a technique I used to get those nice open circles. 

I took the cap from my spray baste and pressed it on the fabric while twisting, marking a perfect circle so easily! For small things I usually prefer impression marking (like with a Hera marker) to markings that I have to remove, and this seemed like something I should share with you all. Happy stitching!

October 02, 2017

Mesmerized - new PRINT pattern!


You know that saying "One thing leads to another"? My entire quilting life has been about that saying I think.

Like that time I splurged and bought a wedge ruler. And I fell in love with it and made like 5 quilt tops with it and bought another wedge ruler. And I wanted everyone else to fall in love with wedges  so I did a webinar. And then I wasn't done expounding about how truly fabulous wedges are, so I wrote a book. And then a Big Time quilting company with a new wedge ruler said would you like to make some patterns with our new ruler?


And then boom, I had a printed pattern business. 


The most important thing for me about going into print patterns was... get this... plastic. I seriously couldn't stand to put more plastic waste into the world. So I decided my patterns are not going into plastic bags. (Don't make me regret this, quilters! Be nice to them if you see them in your LQS, they're naked!). I didn't know how to make this happen but my friendly pattern designer and I schemed up a way to make them hang nicely in the quilt shops without plastic bags. Our solution: holes at the top of the pattern! It means a little more work for her in the design stage, and I have to put a little sticker on the side of each pattern to keep them closed and not flopping open, but I like the solution. With the plastic problem solved, I'm quite contentedly moving into print patterns. 



I've only produced two patterns in print so far, because printing is a real investment up front and oh yeah, quilts take time! But I'm working on more and they'll be ready if the first ones start selling. And I'll keep my patterns available digitally as well. 


Don't you love the little dots of sunlight coming through the quilting? It was such a beautiful day when I went to take pictures. And it's so fun hanging up a quilt to photograph at the park and getting to chat with people about it. Except mostly I spend my time waiting for the breeze to die down. 


This pattern is designed to be easy even if you're new to wedges, and it has directions for three sizes: baby, double and queen. It's for sale digitally with immediate download here. If you'd like to order it in print, your LQS can order it through Checker Distributors. You'll need the Creative Grids 10 Degree Ruler to make the quilt, so make sure get that too!!


Any advice for me and my new pattern business? I'm all ears! Happy stitching everyone!

September 28, 2017

Reference and Inspiration: the Wild Quilting Oopsie


Recently I went to teach a free-motion quilting class here in Portland at Modern Domestic. I got everything ready, stacked on my table. I grabbed my teaching bag. I left early so I would have plenty of time to set up...but when I got to class I realized all my quilted samples were.... back home on the table. That's the first time I've done that, so embarrassing! We still had a great class but I promised my students I would post photos on the blog of the samples I meant to bring, to be reference and inspiration.

So here we go, reference and inspiration for everyone!! These samples are from my class Wild Quilting which I also teach on Craftsy.

First up: Divide and Conquer. You divide up the space and then quilt in between the divisions. So many ways to do this!






Next: Showboats. See how putting dense quilting around less densely quilted motifs makes them pop? 




And now, Grouped Designs. Notice how I keep the edges of the different groups from being squared, in favor of more flowing edges



And now, how about Layered Designs? Each layer builds up or down from the previous one. 



Now think about Blends, different "recipes" for designs repeated over and over.



And what's so fun about these techniques is you can switch between them at any time, as you can see on these fusion samples!



Wild Quilting is fun and if you're wondering if you can do quilting like this the answer is YES you can! If you want to see me quilting these designs check out my class on Craftsy. I hope this has given you ideas for quilting you'd like to try. Happy stitching!

September 25, 2017

Topographic FMQ on Fresh Quilting

This quilting design just gets quilters excited. Every time I post it on Instagram I get comments and tutorial requests! Guess what? The rad folks at Fresh Quilting helped me shoot a great video of it! I'm so glad to share this with you.



It's got all that lovely texture from the repeating designs, but as you'll see in the video, it's a simple spiral, just made a little bumpy! I hope you have fun with this one.

Have you looked for Fresh Quilting on your cable network? Check out their listings and even watch Season 1 episodes (I'm in a couple of those too!!) over on their website.

September 23, 2017

Inset Circles for Wedge Rounds

I am so terribly in love with wedge rulers, guys. We've been spending a LOT of time together over the last year and we're going public with our relationship. 


I covered a bunch about wedges in my original wedge webinar that I did for the MQG, but one thing I didn't cover is how to finish the center of the wedge round with a pieced, rather than an appliquéd circle. See all those orange circles on the book cover? This technique is how I pieced them. I can't wait to show you more about this book, but for now if you click over to C & T Publishing's website you can see a preview of a few of the quilts! 

This is the inset piecing technique you may have seen by another name, Dale Fleming's "six minute circle". I took out one of her steps, and I made the directions specific to wedges in this tutorial but let it be known we are all better quilters now thanks to Dale's innovation!

You will need: 
  • Your finished wedge round
  • A square piece of fabric for the center of the round, about 1" to 2" wider than the open circle in your wedge round
  • A square piece of freezer paper, it should be about 4" or 5" wider than the open circle in your wedge round
  • Temporary (washable) fabric glue
  • pencil, scissors
  • a zipper foot for your sewing machine

1. Trace a circle onto the dull side of the freezer paper, in the center. The diameter of the circle should be 1/2" to 3/4" larger than the diameter of the open hole in the center of the wedge round. Trace around something round such as a bowl, cup or plate.
2. Using sharp scissors, carefully cut the circle out from the center, leaving the edges of the freezer paper intact.


3. Lay the wedge round to be finished right side down on your ironing surface, being sure it is lying flat and not distorted. Position the freezer paper shiny side down, aligned over the hole.
4. With the iron on a warm setting, press the freezer paper to the back of the pieced round. The warmth will cause the freezer paper to adhere until you pull it off.
5. Increase the iron heat to high and press the seam allowance of the inner circle to the back along the edge of the freezer paper template.


6. Apply a scant amount of temporary glue to the exposed side of the pressed-back seam allowance.


7. While the glue is wet, lay the center circle fabric face down over the hole and smooth it with your hand from the center outward, pressing the fabric over the glued seam allowance. Be sure the seam allowance is glued around the entire circle.



8. Allow the glue to dry, pressing to speed this process up if necessary.
9. Remove the freezer-paper template by peeling from a corner. Set it aside to be reused as it will usually stick for several uses.
10. Install a zipper foot on your sewing machine. Check that the machine is set to a straight stitch setting.
11. With the center circle fabric on the bottom, begin stitching right on the crease created by ironing back the seam allowance. Stitch around the entire circle, moving the wedge round out of the way as you go. Be careful to keep the center circle fabric from folding under itself as you go. 



12. Check that your circle looks right from the front. Trim away the excess seam allowance from the square of center circle fabric. Press the seam allowances toward or away from the center as desired.