Machine Quilting with Style....

....or sass. I mean, really, the publisher should have gone with "sass" in that title. It's like style, but better. The first time Christa Watson's quilting really caught my eye was with her Modern Trees quilt. I was all, dammmmmmmn girl.

Basically, her quilting's got the sass. And since it's illegal to kidnap Christa and force her to quilt all of your quilt tops (I mean, I've thought about it...), I will stick to promoting her book. You know, because I try to avoid promoting illegal things and all that.

I made the quilt Focal Point, and tweaked it a bit to create a centered composition, along with shrinking the blocks slightly. This is going to be a little stroller & car seat quilt for my friend's baby, and it seemed just right.

I cut up my recent Tula acquisitions with wild fervor (sounds safe while holding a rotary cutter, right?) almost immediately after bringing them home. AND I STILL HAVE MORE! MUAHAHAHA!

Anyway.

I bound it with some Allison Glass Modern Handcrafted (also a recent acquisition!). I loooove it as a binding.

Christa quilted this project with a spiral using a walking foot. I know it's been a huge rage and all, but uh....I've never quilted a spiral before. You see, I don't do a ton with my walking foot. My old machine had a generic walking foot which did not fit properly, so it would slowly unscrew my needle screw as I quilted, and if I didn't stop periodically just in time, it would drop my needle, break it into small pieces, and then shoot them out at my face. Nothing like quilting to make you reconsider all your life decisions, sheesh. Sooo I needed the nudge to put my NOT generic walking foot on my NEW Juki that fit PROPERLY and sew like a big girl. Sans safety goggles.

The very first row looks approximately as amateurish as I actually am at quilting this type of pattern. However! Two layers of batting (one being wool) for the win and all the squishiness hides (most) all of that wobble. Ps, Christa talks a lot about batting in her book if you're wondering.

I'll admit, another reason I went small was that I was worried about pushing a larger quilt around in a spiral. I'm a wimp, it's true. The verdict? I didn't hate it. I didn't love it. My shoulders hurt a lot. But man it looks good. Sassy good. (Too cheesy? Sorry, not sorry.) So I can totally see why people do this. The drag was surprisingly minimal (I was worried) and I definitely think I'll be doing this one again.

SHOW ME THE GOODS, you say?

First of all, check out the book on Amazon here.

Annnnd here's part of the awesome news - if you would like to make this or any project in the book, or learn more about quilting - you can win a FREE e-copy of Christa's book. Because you need more sass in your life. To enter, just leave a comment below telling me your favorite FMQing pattern. And if you're in the mood to dish, tell me if you love or hate quilted feathers (all opinions welcome).

Lastly, if you are one of those people who loves to enter every single giveaway known to man, well, check out all of the stops along the hop. There's a lot of giveaways you can find up in there :)

Stay sassy, my friends.