Lauren's Quilts

A Pinwheel Quilt for Kade

2012-01-06T16:35:00.000-06:00

I made this Pinwheel Quilt for two friends of mine who just had their first baby.

The nursery colors are green and brown, so I tried to stay with that theme without making it scream "BABY". The jungle animal backing is fun :) I chose straight-line quilting in a diagonal pattern which was quick and easy on this small quilt!

My favorite part of the quilt is the binding. This was my first time to use a striped binding. I'm in love. It's so cute!

I rarely make quilts to give away, so I hope baby Kade will enjoy it for many years!

Pinterest Love

2011-12-08T11:31:00.001-06:00

If you haven't heard of Pinterest, you're really missing out. It's crazy how one website can bring so much joy and entertainment to my life! I love seeing the crafts and DIY projects others are making, and finding new recipes and tips. The best part of Pinterest is that you can save links from anywhere online and organize them on "boards" so you can easily find them again. Visit my page here.

Here are a few things I have made from Pinterest:

An ornament wreath (pin):

A wall of frames (pin):

I intended to put photos in these frame, but decided I liked it better without photos.

Two cake plates/cupcake tower (pin):

An erasable menu planner (pin):

Finally, a sweater purse (pin):

You can see, Pinterest is very addictive. Happy Pinning!

Blogger's Quilt Festival!

2011-10-31T15:51:00.000-05:00

It's Blogger's Quilt Festival time again! Hop over to Amy's blog to see what everyone has made! This online festival is such an inspiration!

I'll share my most recent finish, a t-shirt quilt! It's made from my dad's 5k race t-shirts that he collected over the past few years. It was a lot of fun to pick out the best shirts to use for the quilt. We decided on a "road" design for the background. I love it!

Here's a great tutorial for t-shirt quilts. They are very simple to make and leave you with a one of a kind gift.

On the back, I included some t-shirt backs so we can remember all of the race sponsors!

Thanks for stopping by!

MSU Wreath

2011-09-13T15:58:00.000-05:00

I know this is a "quilt" blog, but I have to share my latest craft.

I got the idea from Pinterest (the greatest site ever). I thought this project would take FOREVER, but it only took 3 hours. I watched several shows on DVR, and it was finished! Hobby Lobby was the only place that had the wreath frame, and the fabric is from Hancock's. I only used the larger frame and didn't use the outer ring. I love the way it turned out!

Dad's 5k T-Shirt Quilt

2011-08-31T16:02:00.001-05:00

I just finished this awesome quilt for my dad. It's made from his 5k race t-shirts that he's collected over the past few years. We decided on a "road" design for the background. I love it!

Here's a great tutorial for t-shirt quilts. They are very simple to make.

Bird Wristlet

2011-07-01T11:32:00.000-05:00

When I saw this tutorial from Pink Penguin, I knew I had to make one!

The bird fabric came from IKEA. It's so cute!

I'm definitely going to make more wristlets now that I have a better idea what size is most useful.

Hexagon Placemats!

2011-07-01T11:22:00.003-05:00

I bought this gorgeous fabric at Joann's and planned to make fun summer placemats. After browsing the Internet, I decided on the hexagon design.

I made an equilateral triangle template with Word and the rest was pretty easy!

To make it super quick, I sewed it together inside out and turned it to skip the binding step.

Next, I might make a matching pot holder.

Check out what other people are making at the Blogger's Dinner Party!

Hard Rock Cafe T-Shirt Quilt

2011-06-14T11:00:00.002-05:00

Over the weekend, I finished my Hard Rock Cafe T-Shirt Quilt! In high school, I collected these shirts and enjoyed wearing them. After a while, I retired them, but saved them for a quilt one day.

I designed this quilt using Excel. Surprisingly, it came together exactly as I planned. All the fabric came from Joann's. I had no idea what color would match these bright shirts, but the batiks seems to go perfectly.

For the back, I used zebra print to balance the bright colors but still keep it wild.

I still need to make a label for it. I'll post it soon.

Sprocket Poppy Pillow

2011-05-05T15:12:00.000-05:00

After a month of dragging my feet, I finished my sprocket pillow!

Awesome blogger CluckCluckSew posted this tutorial on how to make this circle pillow.

It's just lovely next to my other poppy pillows.

Here's the back. I used my left over blocks from the other pillows.

The pillow was very easy to make, and I learned a little about sewing on a curve.

Poppy Pillow Part 2 - Blogger's Pillow Party

2011-02-09T13:19:00.000-06:00

This week, I finished my second Poppy/Chopped Veggies Pillow.
It looks AWESOME on my purple couch next to the first Poppy Pillow.

Again, I used Oh, Fransson!'s Chopped Veggies pattern. This pattern taught me the basics of improv piecing. I usually prefer exact instructions and clean lines, but it was fun to try something new.

I used Laura Gunn's Dogwood Stripe in Aqua for the back. I love how all the fabrics coordinate.

Zippers are becoming my friends too!

Here's the beautiful pair! They make me happy!

Jump on over to StitchedinColor.com to see other pillows at the Pillow Party.

Winter Placemats

2011-01-26T14:45:00.000-06:00

I made more placemats! Since Christmas is over, I needed something new on my table.

While visiting Texas, my friend Lacey and I picked out this Joann fabric for winter-esk placemats. The bare trees remind me of winter and the pink has subtle hearts for Valentine's Day.

I used this pattern by Handmade by Alissa. Her instructions were very easy to follow!

I wanted to practice my free motion quilting, but my machine had other plans! After I snapped two needles, I decided straight line quilting works just fine!

The tree fabric reminds me of this painting I made at ARTjamN. (3rd from left) We had so much fun painting!

Poppy Pillow

2011-01-13T11:56:00.000-06:00

Here is my new pillow! I used a pattern by Oh, Fransson! and fabric by Laura Gunn.

My parents gave me this book by Miss Oh, Fransson! herself. I cannot wait to make something from it.

I picked up the fabric from Klazzy Katz and Joann.

Here you can see my first zipper! I thought it would be difficult, but it really wasn't!

Christmas Placemats and Towels

2010-12-13T16:41:00.000-06:00

Just in time for Christmas! I finished these cute placemats yesterday!

I like to practice new techniques with placemats, so I'm not too committed if I don't love it. With these, I practiced my machine binding. I sewed the binding onto the back then top-stitched the front. It turned out nice!

For the design, I tried this 9 patch technique from That girl...That quilt... It was super easy! The blocks came together very quickly, but for this small project, with only 3 fabrics, it was hard to mix them up.

A few weeks ago, I made these towels. I bought waffle muslin from Joann and was thrilled with these towels! I used wonder under and then stitched around the edges. So.. bad news... the muslin SHRINKS big time when you wash it... so now I have wash rags. LOL They are still cute though.

That's all for now!

Merry Christmas, Blogland!

Fall Table Topper

2010-11-12T15:13:00.000-06:00

I've been in the mood to make small projects to spruce up the house for fall.

I found this cute fall tree fabric at Joann's and couldn't resist buying it. For weeks, I could not come up with a project for it and then one night, I thought of this design. All the other fabric is from my stash.

My new-ish walking foot made quilting SUPER easy. This is my first attempt at making a grid. It turned out pretty well.

Mug Rugs

2010-11-04T11:38:00.000-05:00

Since "mug rugs" are all the rage in Blogland, I decided to make a few of my own.

I've always been interested in flying geese, so I decided to try them out on this small project.

Conclusion: Flying geese are complicated and only cute when they are perfect!

The fabric is a reproduction print left over from this quilt.

My dad requested this mug rug inspired by LandShark Lager. lol

It was a good opportunity to test my free motion quilting skills. As you can see, they are lacking, but I'm improving. Maybe in 2 years, I'll be ready for a quilt.

Free Projects = Fun Projects

I used left over fabric and batting for these mug rugs!

Blogger's Quilt Festival!

2010-10-29T11:54:00.000-05:00

It's that time of year again! The Blogger's Quilt Festival is so much fun! There are so many fun and beautiful quilts to admire. I can spend hours looking through all the links.

I wanted to share my New Wave Love quilt that I made this summer.

This pattern came from one of my favorite blogs Oh, Fransson!

And the fabric came from a sweet lady on Etsy plus some Kona Khaki from Joann.

I used 12 fat quarters, but the dimensions didn't quite work out the way the pattern explained. I like to prewash my fabric, so once i did that, I couldn't get the full 9" shape. 8.5" works just fine and left me enough extra for 2 more rows!

I pieced the back with leftovers and an extra half yard of my favorite Amy Butler pattern. Then, machine quilted in the ditch to make a beautiful wave design on the back! This was the first quilt I've made using my walking foot. What a difference!!!

Here's the label that I made. This is the first time I've ever used a selvage! I think it looks great!

I can't get enough of this quilt!!

Vote for Me!

2010-10-15T07:40:00.002-05:00

Recently, I discovered this weekly quilt contest sponsored by the Quilting Gallery. Since, this week's theme is "Scrappy Again" I decided to enter my Scrappy Flower Quilt. Click on the box below to vote!

Halloween Placemats

2010-10-06T10:26:00.000-05:00

I made these fun place mats over the weekend. They are perfect for Halloween!

I was inspired by this tutorial and plan to make more in different colors.

It's Halloween!

2010-09-29T15:28:00.000-05:00

It's Halloween at my apartment!

I made this cute pumpkin pillow with the scraps from my Leaf Placemats.

Piecing these tiny 2" squares was easy with Oh, Fransson!'s technique.

It's a simple envelope style pillow cover with spooky backing fabric from Joann.

Here's how the process started!

My Halloween decor! I have about 10 black cats sitting around.

Flower Pillow

2010-08-03T10:46:00.000-05:00

I made this adorable pillow using a tutorial by Cluck Cluck Sew. I just love her!

New Wave Quilt with Amy Butler Love

2010-07-14T10:35:00.000-05:00

It's Finished and I LOVE it!!!

This pattern came from one of my favorite blogs Oh, Fransson!

And the fabric came from a sweet lady on Etsy plus some Kona Khaki from Joann.

I can't get enough of this quilt!!

Drying Mats

2010-06-11T11:56:00.000-05:00

I saw these cuties on a new-to-me blog called Noodlehead. Amy's Spring Blogger's Quilt Festival turned me on to several new and exciting blogs!

My dishes are black, white and red, so I decided to make a couple drying mats to match. I used half-square-triangles to make both of these patterns. The zebra print is my favorite!

You can see that it matches perfectly with my dishes :)

Go make a few of your own!

Blogger's Quilt Festival 2010 -- Figgy Pudding

2010-05-12T10:06:00.002-05:00

Last year, I discovered the world of quilt blogs. I was and still am amazed at the things you guys create. When I found the Blogger's Quilt Festival, I knew I had to start a blog.

I knew I might have a problem when I saw Moda's Figgy Pudding fabric. I couldn't stop thinking about it. I wanted this fabric. After calling all my LQS, I resorted to ordering this fabric online (a first for me). When I saw this pattern, I knew immediately that I wanted to make it. I thought it would be challenge because of the trees and the size, but once I got started, it came together pretty quickly. I worked on it for about 3 months and finished just before Christmas.

After a suggestion from a reader, I decided to hand quilt snowflakes in the blocks. That was taking FOREVER, so I machine quilted around the trees which was a challenge, but I think it motivated me to try machine quilting for my next project. It's so much faster!

For the back, I used ideas from the blogs I read and found an inexpensive brown sheet that was almost the perfect size. The scrappy stripes turned out great too.

Happy Quilt Festival-ing!

Camera Case / Kleenex Holder

2010-05-06T09:32:00.000-05:00

Have you ever noticed that your purse Kleenex supply tends to get dirty? If so, make this cute little holder! The original design is a camera case from Pink Penguin. Her instructions are very easy to follow, so you can whip this up in about an hour!

I made mine completely from scraps, so it was free! If you're not used to making a button hole with your machine, then you should practice a few times on something else. My machine tried to eat my cute little creation. I still think it's good for my first try. Maybe I'll make more.. Christmas presents???

Zig-Zag Pillow

2010-04-06T15:41:00.001-05:00

Update: Here are the two pillows with my "headboard" quilt.

Over the weekend, I practiced my HST skills to create this cute pillow. It's the first of two that match my Flower Scrap quilt.

HST Table-Topper

2010-03-19T11:34:00.000-05:00

This was my first attempt at Half Square Triangles. I've seen so many cute quilts made from them, so I decided to give it a try. Construction was simple, but squaring the edges wasn't much fun. Also, I tried to machine quilt this more than usual. I'm still learning how to keep the bubbles and puckers away!

Circle Quilt!

2010-02-05T08:31:00.000-06:00

I first saw this circle quilt on one of the blogs I read. It was adorable and looked pretty easy to make, so I decided to give it a try. I bought a Tula Pink Nest charm pack and cut all of the squares into circles using a sundae dish. The brown fabric is a bed sheet left over from my Figgy Pudding Quilt, and I bought a couple yards of my favorite Nest patterns for the borders and backing. This quilt came together very quickly, but still presented challenges. For the first time in a while, I wanted to machine quilt the entire quilt. I stopped machine quilting because I was never happy with the results; puckers, shifting etc. I had to rip out a few seams and redo parts of this quilt, but I think I know what I need to do next time to improve.

I will post pictures of the back as soon as my photography helper gets home!

Quilt Back Drawings

2010-01-22T15:03:00.001-06:00

For the first time, I picked out fabric kind of on a whim. I bought 2 yards of fabric thinking 2 yards would be enough and "knowing" it would match. Well, it doesn't. (one small drawback to online fabric shopping) Now, I can't figure out what to do. I have enough brown (represented by purple) to break up the yellow and green, but I just can't decide which design I like. Plus, I don't have much fabric to work with. 58x58 is the minimum size! I'm hoping to figure it out this weekend. Does anyone know of a resource for quilt back ideas?

Figgy Pudding Runner

2009-12-24T11:10:00.001-06:00

Sew and learn, right? This project started as an attempt to make two placemats out of my Figgy Pudding scraps. I found a pattern that I wanted to try, so I thought it would be fun to try it on placemats before attempting a full quilt. I cut out all the pieces and layed them out in the floor. I measured and felt confident that I had enough for the perfect sized placement. After I sewed everything together, I started to square them off, when suddenly I realized that I was wrong... WAY wrong. Instead of trying to figure out how to fix it, I just decided to make a table runner. I think it turned out well! I like the pattern, but I don't think I have the patience to make an entire quilt this way.

Most of the fabric is Moda Figgy Pudding, and the backing is an adorable reindeer pattern from JoAnn's.

Merry Christmas!

Figgy Pudding Christmas Quilt

2009-12-19T09:07:00.002-06:00

It's finished before Christmas! I've been working on this quilt for about 3 months, and I did not think I'd have it finished before Christmas. After a suggestion from a reader, I decided to hand quilt snowflakes in the blocks; I thought that was going to take forever! I machine quilted around the trees which was a challenge, but I think it motivated me to try machine quilting for my next project. It's so much faster!

For the back, I used ideas from the blogs I read and found an inexpensive brown sheet that was almost the perfect size. I really like how the scrappy stripes turned out too. I cannot remember whose blog gave me that idea, but I noticed that most people were piecing their quilt backs in some way and I wanted to try it!

I've said this before, but I absolutely love this Figgy Pudding fabric. Now, I'm off to make some Figgy Pudding Christmas placemats with the scraps.

Merry Christmas!

Free Motion Quilting

2009-12-10T09:02:00.002-06:00

Here is my first attempt at free motion quilting. I attached the foot with no problem, but I'm not sure that I ever got the tension right...I was inspired to try free motion quilting from other blogs. They make it look so easy! How long am I suppose to practice before it looks right?? At this point, I cannot imagine putting a whole quilt through my machine with free motion...

Please give me your suggestions!!

P.S. I cannot remember what my settings were on for straight stitching, so now I'm having problems there to! I think I need a sewing mentor. ha

Charm Pack!

2009-11-06T14:48:00.000-06:00

I bought my first Charm Pack this week and just got it in the mail today! I'm very excited about this fabric even thought I do not know what I'm going to make with it yet. I've seen some cute designs using circles or hexagons.... idk.. I hope one charm pack was enough! I'm definitely making a smaller quilt to be interchangable as a wall hanging or lap quilt.. 48x48 ish.

Big Pinwheel Quilt

2009-10-30T14:42:00.000-05:00

So, I like pinwheels. This is another pattern from a quilt calendar and the largest quilt I've ever made! I had to use several templates to cut out all the pieces, but it was pretty easy to put together. Then, I hand quilted an outline around all the pinwheels. I'm starting to think that I don't quilt enough. I suppose I pick out pretty layouts and don't want to overshadow them with quilitng.

Here's the backing with a cute pinwheel tag.

Reproduction Ragtime

2009-10-26T12:12:00.000-05:00

A quick and easy ragtime quilt made from reproduction fabrics. Of course, I don't remember what year the originals were produced! haha.

You can't have a quilt without a sleepy cat laying on it, right? This is Sweetie. She's 17 years old and quite happy with her lazy cat life.

Mardi Gras Ragtime

2009-10-23T14:15:00.002-05:00

I made this quilt for my Aunt Penny. She loved New Orleans and Mardi Gras, so we decided a Mardi Gras themed quilt would be perfect for her. We found 3 "Mardi Gras Lady" t-shirts to use in the design. The flannel fabrics make this a heavy, warm quilt.

Aunt Penny (left) and myself about five years ago. She passed away September 2008. :(

Pinwheels

2009-10-23T14:03:00.000-05:00

I made this quilt from a pattern in a quilt calendar. It took a while to cut each piece using a template, but assembly was easy because all the pieces fit into squares. I had a good time deciding how to arrange all these bright colors. I think this was my first attempt at hand quilting. It was simple to just quilt in the ditch around each pinwheel.

Ragtime

2009-10-23T10:20:00.000-05:00

The Ragtime quilt started it all! I made this quilt in a class at Designing Memories in West Memphis, AR. It was quick and easy.. great for a beginner. It took as much time to cut the raw edges as it did to assemble the quilt! After this quilt, I invested in some spring loaded scissors.

Royal Cats Quilt

2009-10-23T10:13:00.000-05:00

I call this one Royal Cats because of the colors of the kitties. They are bold colors with gold accents. This was the first traditional quilt that I made. Basically, I knew how to cut out pieces and sew straight. The blocks look great but the quilting is horrible! Oh well, I have to learn somehow! I love the paw prints backing. I'm a cat lover if you can't tell :)

Falling Leaves Placemats

2009-10-16T21:43:00.001-05:00

I found this pattern for a Falling Leaves "candle mat". I didn't know what I would do with a candle mat, so I just added a 3rd row and made it a placemat! I still need to attach the back and quilt them, but I wanted to share my project. The pattern says to sew stems for the leaves in the neutral squares. Then, I'll probably outline the leaves and be done.

Figgy Pudding Layout Decisions

2009-10-11T10:06:00.005-05:00

I finally picked a layout and sewed it together!

Also, I have no idea how I'm going to quilt it. I always hand quilt, in the ditch or outline, but I think I'm ready to branch out of that. I'd love your suggestions!

P.S. I'm completely in love with Moda
Download this Pattern

Blogger's Quilt Festival

2009-10-09T11:41:00.000-05:00

file://parkcitygirl.blogspot.com">

Blooming Nine Patch

2009-10-08T16:22:00.002-05:00

This quilt was my first very detailed quilt with lots of cutting and small piecing. My mom and I picked out the fabric at Designing Memories in West Memphis, AR. We went back and forth between blues, purples and turquoises, and I think it turned out great! It reminds me of the bottom of a swimming pool. The back is a blue and orange pebble pattern. I have a tendency to use crazy backing that doesn't exactly match the front.

Pinwheel Baby Quilt

2009-10-08T16:19:00.002-05:00

I made this quilt is 2004 for my best friend's daughter, Makenzi. It's the perfect girlie quilt with a traditional pinwheel pattern.

Flowery Scrap Quilt

2009-10-08T15:47:00.003-05:00

This quilt started as a mission to use some of my scraps. Turns out, I bought just as much fabric as I used! I chose white sashing that has tiny white flowers on it... then the off white backing with tinywhite flowers... then if that wasn't enough flowers, I used a stencil to quilt a flower in the middle of each square.

Hello!

2009-10-08T15:38:00.000-05:00

I'm thinking about posting the quilts that I've made over the years. I enjoy looking at quilt blogs, so I wonder if other people will enjoy my quilts? I started quilting in the summer of 2003. There was a new quilting and scrapbooking shop in West Memphis and the shop owner, Jean, encouraged me to try her Ragtime quilt class. Immediately, I had to find a sewing machine to borrow. The class was a blast and I've been quilting ever since.