Today was the first full day of the International Quilt Festival and we were EXCITED…..
I spent the morning doing a bit of shopping….but more about that in future posts!!!
in the afternoon, I took a 3-hour class with Christa Watson of Christa Quilts and MAN is she a dynamo!!!
In the hours, she explored the idea of “How Do I Quilt it?”, which just happens to be the title of her new book…..
She looked at this topic from three angles…..
First, she talked about the physical process of quilting, in particular on a home machine. She has a no-nonsense approach to quilting and had SO many great ideas to make the quilting process easier, including a few that just trick your mind into THINKING that it is easier!! But convincing yourself that you can do it is half the problem!!
Secondly, she talked about various quilting designs……some of which can be done with a walking foot and some that required FMQ.
Finally, she explored the process of developing a plan for an entire quilt.
As we were moving from the lecture into the hands-on sessions, she had us spend a few minutes in quiet, each drawing any FMQ designs that we could think of. This was SO much fun to do…
and I can imagine adding it to my creative time. It might be a good exercise when I am in the middle of tax season and creative time is scarce!!
Next, we played with individual blocks, drawing out various designs for them…..
This reminded me very much of the “Twelve Ways to Quilt A Sawtooth Star” challenge from earlier this year.
If you don’t know what I am talking about, check out the “Sawtooth Star” tab under the Challenges page or click HERE. On this page you will find a pattern link for piecing the SawtoothStar quilt top and then videos detailing TWELVE different ways to quilt the blocks!!
Finally, we paired up with our table-mate and talked about ways to quilt various designs that we had brought. I worked with Heather (from right here in Houston) and we had fun thinking about good quilting plans. I had taken a photo of one of the quilts that I had given as a charity quilt and this is what we were thinking about it……
Ignore the top left block!! We both really liked the idea of a wavy line in the skinny borders and the “hidden wells” feeling to the squares.
With a bit more time, we would have had a great plan for this quilt!!
BUT…..back to Christa!! If you have a chance to take a class from her, DO NOT MISS IT!!!
AND, if you can’t take a class, be sure to check out her YOUTUBE channel.…..
AND YES, if I sound like a fan-girl, it’s because I am!!!
Thanks Christa for a great afternoon!!!