What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

You all know I love to see what you create using the fabrics I’ve designed for Benartex. Well every now and then a quilt comes along that really makes my heart sing! So today I wanted to share more about this fabulous quilt called Hypnotica by my talented friend Nancy Messuri who is a relatively new quilt pattern designer.Click here to get Nancy’s Hypnotica Quilt Pattern PDF

I’ve invited Nancy to come on the blog to tell you more about this fabulous quilt in her own words…..

From Nancy Messuri:

I am honored Christa gave me ...

This week I’m super excited to give you additional options for machine quilting your Bling quilt. I quilted both of my versions with two different walking foot quilting designs. Last week, I shared my basting tutorial along with option 1; and I wanted to add one more plug for pressing your seams open:

When you press your seams open, not only will the quilt lie flat and make it much easier to quilt, but you wan’t get any “shadowing” of the seams, which is when a darker fabric shows up under a lighter fabric seam. The darker fabric ...

And now we get to my favorite part of making a quilt – machine quilting! Because I made two versions of Bling, and quilted them with 2 different walking foot quilting designs, I’m excited to share both options with you over the next 2 weeks. And the best part is, you can use these tips and tricks on ANY quilt you wish to make.

For the version of Bling with the Black background, I used my walking foot/dual feed to quilt straight-“ish” lines in a crosshatch pattern following the design of the blocks.

Choose Your Thread Color

Because ...

How are your Bling quilt blocks coming along? Be sure to see the end of this post for links to the introductory post and QAL schedule if you are just getting started!

I love a stack of freshly pressed blocks!!

If you are following along and arranging the blocks as shown on the pattern cover, you’ll want to sew your sets of bling blocks into 4’s like my pics below.

Geo Pop Bling blocks with Op Squares white background

At this point, don’t worry where each fabric goes. I think it’s more fun to let the ...

It’s Bling quilt along time – whoo hoo!! This quilt is so fun and fast to make you’ll want to sew more than 1! We will move through this quilt along quickly – but just remember, these posts will stay up indefinitely, so you can refer back to them anytime.

Bling on display in my Geo Pop quilt market booth a few seasons ago.

• Click here to get the Bling quilt pattern.
• Click here to get the optional Bling quilt kit in black or white.

Whether you want to follow along and make this quilt IRL (in real life) or ...

Welcome to Part 3 of the Optical Illusion Quilt Along! I hope you are enjoying your fabric choices and feel confident in your cutting and sewing skills. Now I’m excited for you to start sewing the quilt top. It’s easy and fun!

Do you need a kit? The black, white and gray version is still available!
(Pattern is included with the kit.)
Do you need the pattern?
• Get the paper pattern. 
• Get the pattern instantly as a pdf.

If you haven’t already, please go through your pattern and highlight or circle the number of units to make ...

One of the best things about designing fabric is seeing how people use it. It’s absolutely inspiring for me when I notice your work using my fabric out in the world. It makes my day! Here are some recent examples.

Geo Pop Beaded Lanterns

Beaded Lanterns by Leesa Burr-Bates; pattern by Christa Watson.

Leesa Burr-Bates shared her Beaded Lanterns quilt top in the Christa Quilts Group on Facebook. If you’re not yet a member of the Group, you’re invited to join us!

Leesa used my Geo Pop fabrics from Benartex. I think she did a great job ...

Cutting out the fabrics to make Optical Illusion is pretty straightforward. Just follow the cutting instructions on page 2 of the Optical Illusion Quilt Pattern. You can reference my previous post on choosing fabric color combos that will work. For my version I used highly contrasting black and white for the squares with gray for the long skinny strips.

Click here to get the optional Optical Illusion quilt kit (while supplies last).

Before cutting, I highly recommend starching your fabric. This will keep the smaller skinny strips from stretching out of shape and will give body to your pieces as ...

Are you ready to join me for the adventure of a lifetime? Or at least a fun sewing escapade over the next several weeks? I’m excited to guide you as we make my Optical Illusion quilt from start to finish.  All you need is a copy of the Optical Illusion quilt pattern and a can-do attitude!

Optical Illusion made from Geo Pop, 67″ x 88″
Scroll this image to see the lines move!

My original version was sewn up in bold black, white and gray from my Geo Pop fabric line. I had requests to see how it would ...

I’m super excited about my next quilt along which will kick off on May 19th with a complete sewing schedule and supply list. Every time I share my Optical Illusion quilt, I love how many people ask for the quilt pattern.  I’ve also had numerous requests for a quilt along, so I was finally able to work it in to my schedule, yippee!

Optical Illusion – Made from Geo Pop Fabric

• Click here to get the Optical Illusion quilt pattern – digital version
• Click here to get the Optical Illusion quilt pattern – paper version
• Click here to get the Optical ...

I’m thrilled to introduce a brand new quilt to you today! It’s called Interlinked and was a design I came up with a couple years ago when playing around with some modern design ideas.

Interlinked Quilt by Christa Watson, 64″ x 80″
Made from neutrals of Fandangle, Geo Pop, and Gridwork

I love making all kinds of quilts and most of my designs fall on the “Modern Traditional” side of things. But with Interlinked, I wanted to get out of my comfort zone and really embrace modern principles like “minimalism” and “negative space.”

Interlinked Beauty Shots

I’ve ...

Did you see this amazing quilt, designed and made by my friend Heather Black? She used my Geo Pop fabric and it’s in the current issue of American Patchwork and Quilting (February 2020).

Click here to get the quilt kit for Make the Rounds.

Before the issue went to print, APQ magazine contacted me and asked if I’d be willing to offer kits for this quilt since it’s so eye catching. I immediately said yes and they were kind enough to mention my fabric and include a link to my shop in the magazine pattern.

Here’s ...