UPDATES!

Sorry I have not posted in a while. I have been out of the office, and will actually be going on vacation on Monday. Yay for breaks! So, before I leave for a week of R&R, here are a few important updates:

1. Starting on May 1st (really the 4th when I get back) I will be running a new promotion! It is the CELEBRATE AMERICA promotion. Basically, if you have a red, white & blue quilt, patriotic quilt, or flag/stars quilt that needs to be done for the 4th of July, you get 10% off the quilting. That is right! Get those quilts done so you can display them for the 4th of July! The promotion runs until June 30th.


2. If you are in the Salem/Spanish Fork/Payson area...or not, it doesn't really matter, we are having a Salem Days celebration in August. I am in charge of putting together the quilt show for Salem Days. If you are interested in showing your quilt, or you have been to an awesome quilt show, please email me with your information or any ideas for making our quilt show the best one ever! (or you can leave a comment, as they are always appreciated) designsbylaurajo@gmail.com


I think that's about it for the updates for now. I've got some really cute customer quilt photos to post, but I probably won't get to that until after the R&R, so please keep checking back for quilting updates!

Draft Guard Tutorial

I have had some requests for a tutorial on this super simple draft guard I made for our furnace room door. So, here it is!


MATERIALS NEEDED:
1/2 yard fabric
polyfill stuffing
rice
thread
drinking glass
tape measure

CONSTRUCTION:
1. Measure the circumference of the glass you have chosen, and cut the fabric accordingly, adding 1/2 inch for seam allowances.
ex.: if the circumference of the glass is 8 inches, then cut a 8 1/2 x WOF strip.

2. Measure the doorway you are using the draft guard on, and trim the fabric strip down, leaving 3 extra inches on each side, accordingly.
ex.: if the doorway is 35 inches wide, then cut fabric to 41 inches.

3. Press under short edges of the fabric 1/4 inch. Roll over another 1/4 inch and press. Stitch down. Repeat for other short edge.

4. Fold fabric in half, right sides together, long ways (hot dog way, if you remember from elementary school), and stitch down with a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

5. Turn right side out.

6. With thread, measure in about 2 inches from one end and tie off. I used several knots and wrapped the thread around the fabric several times.

7. Stuff the tube you've now made with the polyfill stuffing. Make sure to put some rice in periodically to weight the draft guard. On my prototype I forgot to put the rice in until the end, so mine looks a little lumpy on the back side.

8. Once you have stuffed your draft guard to the desired fullness, tie off the other end like you did in step 6.

And there you go. In 8 simple steps you have a quick and easy draft guard!

Dinosaurs!

This quilt is a spin off the normal square on a square rag quilt. Every other block is set on point.
In the block centers I quilted a dinosaur foot print.

I also quilted the dino-prints over the seams between blocks.

I quilted a meander throughout the rest of the borders. Around the outside of the quilt I did a simple squiggle.

I used a red colored thread.

Feathers and Swirls

I love doing feathers, so when this client told me she wanted me to quilt this quilt like a sample at Gracie Lou's that had feathers in it, I was really excited. It didn't turn out exactly like the shop sample, but it looked pretty close. :)
The pattern is a continuous pattern with maybe 1 or 2 stops per row of quilting.

I didn't use a pantograph, but freehanded everything.

The feathers all go in the same direction, but the swirls go both ways: clockwise and counter-clockwise.

This is the back of the quilt. My client pieced a cute border, which I centered the quilt top over.

I used a whole wheat colored thread.

Pinwheels

This quilt was brought to me by a friend of the family, who also works at Gracie Lou's. This is currently a shop sample up there. I had a lot of fun doing this quilt. I love all the colors she put in it. She let me pretty much do what I wanted quilting-wise, so I got some inspiration from another baby quilt I did late last year.
I quilted curved triangles in the white pieces of the pinwheel blocks. I did a squiggle down the inner border, between the quilt center and the prarie point border. In the outer border I did flowers linked together.

I quilted this in an eggshell colored thread. I had to take a picture of the back because it has the cutest little bunnies!

Flowers and Butterflies

This adorable little quilt was brought to me by a client. I have done several for her in the past that were for little boys, that had flames on them. This one for a little girl has flowers and butterflies.
She supplied her own hi-loft poly batting, so I did a looser design to allow the batting to puff up a bit more.

I used a light pink thread color to match the minkee on the back.

First Quilt

A client sent this one to me to do for her. It is her very first quilt she has ever done. She did such an amazing job on it! It is so cute!
I quilted an all-over flowers, leaves, and feathers with loops design.

I didn't quilt on the layered squares, just around it and in the borders and sashing.

I used a Natural colored thread.

She also wanted me to bind it, so I am currently working on that for her.

Baby Meander

This was for a client who had brought me one similar a few weeks ago. This one she just wanted a plain meander on it.

I used a Permacore Sea Green colored thread to quilt this one.

Froggy Toss

This cute little quilt was brought to me by a friend of the family, who also works up at Gracie Lou's. It was a shop sample, from what I understand. The way the game works is you lay the quilt on the floor, and then toss frogs (which are included with the pattern, I believe) onto the quilt. It really is a cute idea. I might make one for my little boy (but not in pink. hehe)

The sample on the pattern was quilted with an all-over "splatter" with loops design. She wanted it quilted similarly, so that is what I did. I think it turned out rather cute. I used a Signature Cotton lime colored thread and another shade of green (in a Permacore poly) to quilt the quilt.

Hexagons

My client, "Joy," brought me this quilt to quilt up.
I stitched in the ditch around both the outer and inner hexagons. I alternated a loop pattern between the outside ring and the center of the blocks.

below: alternated pattern

below: Loop quilting in the center of the hexagon block.

The back of the quilt. I love the way the alternated pattern turned out. It looked really cool, and helped the blocks lay flatter and not pop up as much as they would have, if I had just quilted in the ditch or in the outer ring.

I used a light blue thread.

Sampler

One of my clients, a lady who works up at Gracie Lou's, brought me a couple of quilts to do for her. This was one of them.
I did leaves and flowers in the 4 different borders.

She wanted something different in each block. In this one I stitched in the ditch around the block and around the piecing. I did a flower in the center, and the ribbons in the background.

I stitched in the ditch around this block and around the outline of the star. I did a flower in the center and the ribbons in the background.

I stitched in the ditch around the outside of the block, and around all the piecing.

In this block I stitched in the ditch around the block and around the outside of the star. In the center white square I quilted a flower.

In this block I stitched in the ditch around the block, and around the 4 inner squares. I did an "x" across the inner squares.

I stitched in the ditch around the block, and around all the piecing. The pieces in the middle had a diagonal pattern, so I stitched along them in a similar pattern.

I stitched along the outside of the block, and then around each of the different colors in the log cabin block.

In this block I stitched around the block in the ditch and around the traingles. I did a 1/4 inch outline in the light green triangles.

In this block I stitched in the ditch around the block and around all the piecing. In the blue squares I stitched a 1/4 inch outline and then did a flower in the center of them.

I stitched around the outside of the block and the piecing in the center. I did a meander around the red/green piecing.

In the flying geese block I stitched around the outside of the block and then around each of the geese pieces.

I stitched around this block, and then around the outside and inside of the blue pieces. In the cream floral center of the block I did a small meander.

This is a view of the back. It's upside down, but the face in the squares is George Washington. I thought it was pretty cool fabric.

I used a whole wheat colored thread for all of the quilting.

Finished Duckies

These cute ducky quilts I did for a friend are now finished! I finished binding them this weekend, and they are ready to ship off to her.