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

I’m excited to announce that I’ll be teaching at PIQF this summer in northern California. This is one of those shows that I’ve had my eyes on for quite awhile. They’ve invited me to come teach several times in the past when the show used to be held in the fall, but the timing never worked out. Now that it’s being held at a new time in the summer, the stars magically aligned and I’m excited to attend! Click here to register for any of my workshops at PIQF Click play below to watch a short summary of what I’ll be teaching. In addition to teaching a full schedule of machine quilting workshops ..read more

This past weekend I was able to take a really fun trip to California and hang out with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims for a day! They invited me to be a guest on The Quilt Show – an internet TV show they’ve been producing since 2007. Full disclosure: I was a guest on an earlier episode back in 2018 so it was fun to return! I thought it would be fun to share a few behind the scenes pics that we took while filming. I shared some of my best tips and tricks for domestic machine quilting. It’s my favorite subject to talk about, of course!! The episode will be out later this year so stay tuned! Clic ..read more

Now that I’ve been back from QuiltCon for over a week I’ve had time to process my thoughts, feelings and pics and vids from the show. I’ve compiled them into a 30 minute video below. Click the image to play the video and check out my fave 100 quilts from the show! Although I’ve been to EVERY SINGLE QUILTCON, last year is the first year I started making a video log of my time at the show. Click here to see how my experiences compared year over year. Now I’m curious – did you get a chance to attend this years’ show – or any prior QuiltCons for that matter? I’d love to know your thoughts and opi ..read more

Weather you are quilting along with me making your version of Ticker Tape, or any other quilt for that matter, basting is an important part of the machine quilting process. Take a look at the video below to see how I spray basted 2 of my earlier quilts, both made from my Black, White & Bright fabric from Benartex. I used this same technique for my larger Ticker Tape quilt shown on my design wall below. Now it’s time to quilt it! Here’s a bonus tip when basting: trim up the edges of the quilt, so there’s only about an inch or 2 of batting and backing sticking out. That will reduce the bul ..read more