Have you added some of this bright colorful fabric to your stash yet? Dazzle Dots is my 9th collection so far with Benartex and it’s been the most popular one yet, which is super exciting! I guess folks love the rainbow colors and simple polka dot prints. Fawning over my fabric is like telling me my kids are cute – so I just eat it up!! Dazzle Dots Yardage, Bundles and Kits The exciting news is that Dazzle Dots is now on it’s 2nd printing and is ready to ship! Many of the colors, such as the neutrals and the navy blues sold out so fast it was hard to get ahold of them after the first print run ..read more

If you haven’t had a chance to travel to Paducah, KY for the AQS quilt show, I thought it would be fun to share a few highlights from my week of teaching there. It was my first trip to this amazing show and it certainly won’t be my last! From Las Vegas, I flew to Charlotte, NC and then took a smaller commuter plane to the Paducah regional airport. Once there, we were greeted by the Paducah ambassadors and then taken over to the host hotel to settle in. The next day kicked off a 4 day frenzy of lectures, workshops, food, friends and fun! Here’s a short little clip of excited students eagerly a ..read more

I’m just got back from teaching in Paducah, Kentucky and had an amazing time. One thing that the pandemic made me realize is how much I love teaching live and in person. When I wasn’t able to do that, it truly felt like something was missing. If you missed seeing me last week, your next opportunity to do so will be at Pacific International Quilt Festival in Santa Clara, California, July 24-27, 2024. I’m excited to be teaching a full slate of workshops, including two of my signature full-day classes: Walking Foot Bootcamp & Free Motion Bootcamp. Taken together, these two will basically tea ..read more

One of my favorite things about being a designer is getting to be a spokesperson or ambassador for many different companies in the quilting industry. I love telling folks about things that I use in my sewing room every day. Probably one of the most important supplies I use in *all* of my quilts is my collection of Aurifil threads. Click here to see all of the colors included in each box of my Aurifil threads. I curated my favorite grouping of colors, neutrals, and variegated threads I use for both piecing AND quilting. They are all size 50 weight, 100% premium long staple cotton and they are ..read more

Later this month I’m stoked to be heading out to teach at AQS quilt week in Paducah Kentucky. As of this writing, 2 of my workshops have sold out, but there are still a few spots left in my 3 workshops below along with my lecture. If you haven’t yet registered, it’s not too late. Click here for AQS workshop descriptions, supply lists and registration info. This has been a bucket list event for me, ever since I won a ribbon at the show for my quilt Facets way back in 2016! This was the first quilt I designed and made for my first book called Machine Quilting with Style. Making this quilt, writ ..read more

My latest YouTube video is a 2-fer! In this week’s video I’m sharing 2 fun techniques: foundation paper piecing and free motion quilting. I’ve made 2 different versions of my Party Time quilt in 2 different colorways of Dazzle Dots fabrics. I think you’ll love them both. Click the image below to watch! This is one of those quilt patterns that has evolved and improved over the years. It now includes 4 different sizes and like all of my current patterns is available in print or PDF format. Click below to grab one or the other (or both!) Click here to get the hardcopy (printed booklet) version ..read more

I made my Swanky Spirals quilt a few months ago to promote the launch of my Dazzle Dots fabric, and I took lots of videos and pics as I made it, so I could share them with you! Take a look at my newest machine quilting tutorial by clicking the video below: Click here to grab the Swanky Spirals quilt pattern. I created what I call a “free-motion mashup,” quilting lots and lots of different free motion motifs all over the quilt. After all, why quilt just one design, when you can do them all, right?? I’ve highlighted just a couple of them below: This type of quilt is perfect for practicing your ..read more

I’m excited to revisit a quilt that I designed and made many years ago called Positive Direction. I plan to share updates about this quilt in real time, so there’s no telling how many posts it will take until I finish! But I’ll share my progress and answer any questions you have, each step of the way! My original version is shown below, made from fun fabrics that I chose before I became a fabric designer: The Positive Direction quilt pattern is still available as a pdf download and it includes instructions in multiple sizes. The version shown above is Lap Size. Over the years I’ve always had ..read more

I’m thrilled with how the Turquoise version of my Ticker Tape quilt turned out. Click here to get the Ticker Tape quilt pattern. I really enjoyed quilting it densely with combination of designs that are easy to do with a walking foot: decorative stitches combined with wavy lines. Don’t you love all this yummy texture? To see how I accomplished this, plus a completely different design that I did on the navy version, click below to watch my latest video tutorial over on my Christa Quilts YouTube channel: I still have a few quilt kits available made from my Dazzle Dots fabric, too! Click here ..read more

A recent social media prompt had me thinking about all of the fun pieced backings I’ve made over the years. Whether for thrift or artistry, I find it a really fun thing to do. I thought I’d gather up a few of the images and match them up to their fronts. Don’t tell anyone – but sometimes I like the backing as much (or more) as the fronts! Swanky Spirals Back & Front I made Swanky Spirals from fat quarters + the dark grey backround of my Dazzle Dots fabric. Although the focus was meant to be the front of the quilt, I sure had fun sewing together all the smaller leftover scraps to create a ..read more