Startup Project: Starry Path Quilt by Christa Watson ~ Craftsy Class

Today I am sharing a review of a new Craftsy class by Christa Watson, Startup Project: Starry Path Quilt.  Christa was kind enough to offer a link for me to watch the class and one to share with one lucky reader.  

The opinions shared here are completely my own. This post contains affiliate links, meaning if you purchase through the links, I will receive a small commission without affecting the price you pay.  

Startup Project: Starry Path Quilt is geared toward the beginning quilter and goes step-by-step through quilt making process.  You will receive almost 3 full hours of detailed instruction from Christa.  And, you will be able to post questions and comments right to the platform and get real help from fellow classmates and even Christa herself.  This is one of the benefits of Craftsy class format thas I like.

The class is broken down into 5 lessons:

Lesson 1 - Getting Started 

Christa covers fabric selection and prep; helpful tools and supplies; and accurate cutting and piecing.  I learned a new way of pressing I had not tried before.

Lesson 2 - Sawtooth Star Block and Lesson 3 - Garden Path Block

Separate lessons are dedicated to making each block of the quilt including helpful tips and things to watch our for when piecing.  Christa covers components of each block including flying geese, strip-pieced 4-patch units and triangle-in-a-square units.

Lesson 4 - Pieced Borders

This lesson includes more building blocks for quilt making, half-square triangles and quarter-square triangle units, and sewing them all together.

Lesson 5 - Quilt Top Assembly

When sewing the quilt blocks into rows and then sewing the rows into a quilt top, Christa shares the technique of webbing where as you sew everything together, the blocks stay in order.  I get it now...I have read about this piecing technique and have seen pictures, but hearing Christa explain it and walk me through this was so helpful.

Also included in Lesson 5 is how top properly attach the borders to quilt the quilt top.

Lesson 6 - Machine Quilting Swirls 

Christa covers the elongated swirl design and talks about a quilting path to travel around the quilt as you are quilting.

The class does not include detailed instructions for layering the quilt or binding, but you can find these tutorials under Christa's tutorial tab on her website.


My Garden Path Block

Although the Sawtooth Star quilt block is my favorite, I decided to make the Garden Path quilt block.
In all my years of quilting, I had never used the Tri-Recs rulers (I already had) so this was the prefect time to give them a try.  In the class materials are the templates for printing, but using the tri-recs ruler combo makes piecing the triangle-in-a-square unit a breeze.

This class, although designed for a beginner, proves you CAN teach an old dog new tricks.  I assembled the block using the webbing technique.  You can barely make out the connecting threads holding the block rows together.

Although the fabrics were impossible to photograph, I rather like the combination used in the block. The solid is Cotton Couture in Luna and the light background is from the Highlands by Violet Craft, both by Michael Miller.  The darker print is an Elizabeth Hartman print from Rhoda Ruth by Robert Kaufman.

I even tried swirl quilting and definitely need to practice more.  I started having tension issues and stopped midway through the practice sandwich.  Aurifil 1148 Light Jade was the perfect match for the Cotton Couture Luna.  (The colors are closer in these two photos.)

And the full block...

You can find Christa's class, Startup Project: Starry Path Quilt here 

You can find the complete quilt kit, Starry Path Sea Spray here (it's on  sale for 35% off). 

GIVEAWAY

Now, how about a giveaway?  Christa has generously provided a link to her Craftsy class for one of you.

To enter, simply use the rafflecopter and leave a blog post comment to following question... What's your go-to free motion quilting motif?

Giveaway runs from May 18th through May 22nd at Noon EST and is open to all.  Good Luck!

Congratulations to Kathy E.!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Linking to:

Finish or Not Friday hosted by Myra at Busy Hands Quilts

Show Off Saturday hosted by Caroline at Sew Can She

Main Crush Monday hosted by Beth at Cooking Up Quilts