Sorry for my lack of blogging here.  I've been so behind this last few months due to illnesses in our family (nothing serious, don't worry) that I haven't made blogging a priority.  I will start back up at the beginning of the year. 

Nebraska Omaha Mission Quilt

*The following is the story of a quilt that has taken me FOREVER to complete.  Sorry it's a little long, but the quilt took me a lot of time to make, and I wanted to document it for posterity's sake :)  *


I am happy to finally report that this MASSIVE quilt project is finally completed.  Yes, it took me over a year (just barely) to finish it, but it was a lot of work and I am really, really pleased with the end result.

No, you don't get to see the full thing laid out because I don't have a clean floor space large enough to do that!  It ended up about 101 x 121.  Yeah, it was HUGE.

I can't even believe how overwhelming the project had seemed at first.  When she had brought it to me, with all of the plastic storage boxes filled with ziploc baggies containing the triangles of fabric and their coordinating ties, I was very overwhelmed.  It took me about 27 hrs just to unpick the ties. (There were a lot of ties!)

Piecing it was a challenge, as I had never worked with ties before (most of them silks) and I didn't want to interface the backs because I wasn't sure how the fabrics would work together, if at all.  I did end up interfacing most of the fabrics used in the Sisters' blocks, pieces from shirts and skirts and dresses, and they turned out nicely, I thought.

My biggest mistake was picking such a weird size for the blocks:  9.75 inches square.  What was I thinking??  Apparently I was not.  I had to square up each block, then add pieces to the edge to both stabilize and enlarge them to the proper size.  Yeah, like I said: I was a little stupid.

But, the end look is really nice, and I can't imagine trying to sash all of those blocks without having the cotton quilting fabric as a small border around them.  It definitely would have been much harder to keep everything square.

I was really pleased that I had purchased enough fabric, too, as the project took me so long to complete.  I was worried, toward the end, that I didn't have enough of the sashing of sashing post fabric to finish, but I had just enough.

As far as fabric selection went, my client left it all up to me.  I wanted to keep the fabrics I used for the sashing, posts, and border very neutral and not too distracting from the blocks.  Since the quilt itself was so colorful, I opted to use neutral creams/tans/beiges for the sashing/posts.  The border I knew needed to be darker, because she wanted words quilted in it, and darker fabric with a light thread would work so well, I thought. 

Now, I have to add that I am old-school when it comes to mixing brown and black.  I abhor it.  Seriously.  I do.  My husband is not allowed to wear a black belt and brown shoes.  I even have a hard time liking couches that are black leather with brown upholstered cushions (even though, I admit, they do look nice).  I just have a hard time with it.  It makes me cringe a little inside.  But, I am getting better, obviously, because the border fabric is black and brown!  I know, so bold of me, huh? haha

For the backing fabric I wanted something close to the sashing fabric I had used on the front.  I had also hoped to purchase some 108" wide fabric to use.  Unfortunately, that was not to be.  Instead, though, I found this really great 58" wide fabric in a soft, crinkly neutral color.  I think it is in the Kona Crush line (is that even a line?  I don't remember the name of the fabric, sorry!) 

As I got everything onto the machine and ready to quilt, I had an epiphany of sorts.  I had recently quilted a quilt of my own, and had done words on all 4 borders, turning the quilt 2 times to get the text the direction I had wanted it.  To avoid having to unpick basting stitches, I quilted the border area with monofilament thread.  It worked like a charm.

So, why not use that technique here?  After all, I was going to quilt the center of the quilt in an all-over meander in monofilament thread anyway.   Why not just quilt the entire quilt that way?  So I did.  :)

The meander is fairly tight, and it was amazing how nicely all the extra fullness from some of the tie blocks (I had been seriously stressing about it for days, to be honest) worked its way out.  There weren't any puckers or tucks.  Everything was fabulous.  I was very pleased with it.

I added the binding using my longarm.  I knew that there was NO WAY I was going to be able to feed all 442 inches of binding through my tiny little domestic machine.  There was NO WAY.  It went on really nicely, and then my client took it for their mission reunion.

I've had it back in my possession for a few weeks.  I finally finished binding it.  It took forever.  My poor living room was dwarfed by the sheer size of the project as I sat on the couch and watched Amazing Race while I bound it.

But now, it is FINISHED.  And I am so proud of it.  It looks so great, and my client was really happy with it when she took it to the reunion.  It's the best possible outcome I never would have imagined when I first saw how much time and effort would be needed.  (Seriously, you don't know how daunting it is be staring at 2 rubbermaid tupperware storage boxes, 2 large bags, and a couple of grocery sacks full of ziploc bags with ties in them.  Ties that all needed to be unpicked and kept with their coordinating triangles.)  But now it is done, and I am happy, and a little bit relieved, to not have to worry about it anymore :)

Sweet Softie Baby Blanket

This sweet little flannel and minkee baby quilt is a sample for Gracie Lou's, the local quilt shop (LQS).

Using Permacore Dyed Natural thread I quilted a large, loose all-over spiral design.

I just love this fun jungle animal print!

Queen of Repurposing

I have a client who rescues a lot of quilt tops and blocks and pieces of quilts.  She is amazing.  She bought these cute little Sunbonnet Sue blocks at a yard sale, then sashed and bordered them into a quilt top.

I quilted a ribbon meander in the background of the Sunbonnet Sue blocks.  I stitched around the applique, and quilted flowers in the sashing.

In the outer border I quilted leaves.

I used SO FINE! Daffodil yellow thread on the bottom of the quilt, and Permacore Dyed Natural thread on the quilt top.

This next quilt of hers is one that her daughter rescued for her.  She found it in the remaining trash and garbage at a swap meet in another state.  I think it is the cutest thing ever!  She kept the edge trim of the blanket on and sewed it to some fabric she picked as a border.

I cross-hatched across the rescued blanket, using Permacore Dyed Natural thread.

In the border I quilted loops using Permacore Chambray thread.

EXCITING NEWS!!

I am so excited to finally be able to say this!!

I can now accept CREDIT CARDS as a form of payment.

All credit cards. AMEX. VISA. MASTERCARD. DISCOVER.  Yep, that's right.   I am really excited about this, because I know it will make it easier for a lot of people, especially with the holidays coming up.

If you have any questions about this, please feel free to email me:  designsbylaurajo@gmail.com

Behind

I just realized that I am still posting pictures from April.  Yes, that's right.  April.

So, rather than getting further and further behind in my posting, we'll just pretend like the last 5 months didn't exist and I'm going to just pick up from where I am now.  It's a little overwhelming looking at all of the pictures that I have to upload, and uploading is really slow right now with my internet connection that I have at home.

BUT! I promise to keep up with posting better the rest of the year :)

Please stay tuned for special promotions/discounts.  Also, I'm on Facebook!!  Follow us on Facebook for special Facebook-only promotions (coming soon!).  :)

SPAM

I have been receiving a lot of spamming comments.  This is not cool.  I even have word verification on, which I know that regular people hate, to help reduce it.  It's not helping.  I will be turning on comment verification to reduce the spam that we all have to read.  Nothing sucks worse than reading a post that has a bazillion spam comments beneath it.  Sorry, to all of you normal, non-spammers.  Please don't hate me, hate the spammers.  It's all their fault. :(

Panel Donation Quilt

A client of mine put together this fun panel quilt as a donation to a local charity.  I quilted a tight meander across the whole quilt.

Poppin' Posies

I quilted this version of Poppin' Posies for Izzy n Ivy's quilt market booth in May.

I quilted large flowers in the small strippy section, and leaves in the sashing below it.

I outlined the floral appliques and quilted a ribbon meander in the background.

I quilted flowers in the pieced section above and below the appliques.

I quilted loops on each side of the ric-rac.  I used So Fine! Snow thread.

Tear Drops

This fun quilt was a shop sample for Gracie Lou's.

I quilted an all-over tear drop pattern.

Baby Blues Four Patch

On this sweet baby quilt I quilted an all-over swirl pattern in a baby blue colored thread.

Lattice Table Topper

On this cute table topper I quilted flowers and leaves in the outer border.

I outlined the appliqued flowers.

In the background I quilted a spiraly flower.

Feathers and Flowers

Isn't this quilt beautiful?!

I quilted a feathered wreath in the outer border.


In the background triangles I quilted feathers.

I quilted a flower in the center square with feathers in the background around the square.  In the rest of the pieced block I quilted a wavy cross hatch design.  I used So Fine! Snow thread.

Flower Applique Strippy Quilt

This fun strippy quilt features a monogram and a floral applique.

In the circle applique I quilted around each of the layers and did a circular loop to make it look like a flower.

In the background strips I quilted loops, squiggles, flowers and leaves, feathers, etc.

I outline quilted the applique flower and quilted some details on the leaves.

In the outer border I quilted a ribbon meander.  I used So Fine! Snow for the thread.

Floral Table Topper

On this fun table topper I quilted an all-over loop and floral design in a light yellow thread.

More Shamrocks!

A client brought me this fun table topper.

I quilted an all-over loop and clover design in a green colored thread.

Vintage Quilt

This great quilt was brought to me by a client.  It was pieced together by family members, and was intended to be a Mother's Day present for her mom.

I quilted an all-over meander in So Fine! Snow, a white colored thread.

Little Boy Navy Strippy Quilt

This fun, navy-themed strippy quilt was so fun.  I quilted 2 of them for my client.  Don't you just love the Navy print?

I quilted stars, loops, waves, swirls, spirals, etc. in each of the strips.  One strip had the recipient's name quilted across it.

Lone Star Quilt

This client quilt was made for a wedding back in May, and was one of my favorite quilts to quilt.

Using So Fine! Snow colored thread I quilted feathers in the white background pieces, and in the outer border.  I did a wavy cross hatch in the white portions of the inner border.

Using So Fine! Rodeo Queen, a purple colored thread, I quilted inside each of the diamond pieces in the star, as well as stitching in the ditch to outline the diamonds. 

Snowballs and Spirals

My husband's cousins made this for their sister (his other cousin).  Isn't it so cute?! 

I quilted swirls in the snowballs in the quilt center

In the white inner border I quilted flowers.

In the outer blue borders I quilted leaves.

A view of the back of the quilt.  They used a bedsheet for the backing.  Didn't it turn out great?  I used a Chambray colored thread.