What's On The Bookshelf Wednesday - A Brand New Book!!

Hi, all!

Welcome to What's On The Bookshelf Wednesday!!  I'm so excited today to tell you about a brand new book - just released yesterday!  I think you'll be as excited about it as I am!

Meet Christa Watson!  I love the beginning of her bio - I think being an ice cream lady is a terrific life goal!  But I'm really glad that she's a quilter, because she designs great quilt patterns, and now she has written her first book...

According to the title, this book is about machine quilting - how to finish off your quilt tops using your domestic sewing machine, and how to do it with style.  She's succeeded with that, showcasing a multitude of quilting designs and showing you how to achieve them yourself right at home.

She shows quilting designs using both the walking foot 

and the free motion foot...

...and helpful hints are scattered throughout the book to make everything a little bit easier!

But I have to confess that I was totally distracted by the fabulous quilt designs in this quilting book!  Christa has outdone herself with twelve wonderful quilts that showcase the quilting stitches she shares in the book.  

 In fact, the designs are so good that when I hit page 34, I stopped reading, got online and ordered fabric to make this...

So finally, after much teasing over the past few weeks, here is my version of Christa's quilt!

I used the same colors that she did, but quilted it differently.

While I used wavy lines as she did in the colored areas, I did pebbles in the black areas rather than the straight radiating lines that Christa used.

It's a bit easier to see the quilting in this shot, because I used a rainbow variegated thread on the back.

This quilt has such wonderful texture!  I actually quilted this on my long arm machine, so the skills in the book are easily interpreted for either a domestic machine or a long arm.

And here's a shot of the back, which is pieced using the scraps left over from the front.  Christa includes directions for several pieced backs in her book - they are always a great way to use up scraps and making a double sided quilt is so much fun!

Christa's "voice" in this book is friendly and encouraging - kind of like having a good friend sitting beside you giving you the best kind of help learning - lots of info and cheerleading, too!  I hope this is only the start of a bunch of great books from Christa, because this one is excellent!  Here are some links to places you can get a copy for yourself...

Amazon: http://amazon.com/dp/1604686251/?tag=chriquil-20

Signed Copy from Christa: http://christaquilts.bigcartel.com/

The Martingale site (orders get a free ecopy with purchases of print copy): http://www.shopmartingale.com/machine-quilting-with-style.html

Your favorite quilt shop or bookstore!

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So that's what's on my bookshelf this week.  Have you taken a look at yours lately?

Hugs!

Sarah