Friends and Family, Renting Together

Quilting is an activity that many friends and family members share with one another. We love it when people come in together to rent – the atmosphere is full of excitement and fun! Valerie and Judy are neighbors, friends, prolific piecers, and frequent renters here at Quilted Joy. In fact, they are here quilting as […]
Four-Patch Frenzy!

Susan pieced this top, a design called Four-Patch Frenzy, after watching a tutorial by Jenny Doan of Missouri Star Quilt Company. She recently asked me to quilt it for her. Aren’t these fabrics fun? It looks like either the border coordinated with the block fabrics or that the block fabrics were chosen based upon the […]
Lots and Lots of Quarter Circles!

Look at this interesting layout! Anita used a neutral color palette and quarter circle blocks, arranged strategically, to create really fun optical illusions of circles disappearing behind each other. She must have had a blast arranging her blocks! Here at Quilted Joy, we have many wideback fabrics – over 130 total. Anita took advantage of […]
Imogene’s Rail Fence

Today’s quilt, by Imogene, is a Rail Fence design. The center is based upon strip sets, and Imogene added several borders to add interest. What makes this quilt really interesting is that it is made entirely of neutrals! Because the color scheme is so simple, Imogene wanted her quilting not to overpower the quilt. We […]
Asterisk Not Needed Here!

Beverly brought this fun top in for me to quilt. No asterisk needed here – it’s cute without qualification! We did a little research on this, as we’re often asked about the patterns and fabrics selected by our quilting customers for their tops. The pattern, Asterisk, was published in Quiltmaker magazine in 2010 and is […]
Here Are a Few More Renter Quilts!

Here are a few more renter quilts from this spring… This sweet heart crib-sized top was made by Kym. She had such fun animal prints with foxes and elephants. She chose to continue the theme of hearts by quilting it using our Heart Fancy pantograph. The white thread she selected keeps the top soft and light. Adorable […]
Snowball Variation

Let’s have fun analyzing and admiring this wonderful snowball variation quilt that Arlene brought in recently to be quilted! This is a snowball variation on point. If you look at this picture at an angle, you will see that the snowball block – the one with the biggest area of color – alternates across each row […]
Renters Getting Those UFOs Quilted!

I love seeing our renters finish their tops into quilts. Sometimes the most satisfying finishes are the projects that have been on hold for a while, years or even decades. Here are a few of those recent projects – enjoy! Renee brought in this vintage top that was pieced by a family member. It is made […]
Molly’s First Quilt

Molly is a thirteen-year-old from here in Louisville who wanted to learn how to piece a quilt top. After it was finished, she and her mom brought it to Quilted Joy to pick out backing and a quilting design so that I could quilt it for her. Looking at the top, I’m guessing that Molly […]
Still More Renter Finishes

Our renters do such amazing work and bring in great tops to quilt – here are a few examples! Lynn and Debby are sisters who had some familiarity with longarm machines but went through rental certification so that they’d be comfortable with our APQS longarm machines. Lynn, who is local, then brought in this jelly roll race […]
Time for A Post-Derby Renter Roundup!!!

Derby is over and summer is coming soon. Here are a few renter projects from the past few months to whet your appetite for summer quilting… Angelique made this very colorful bargello top and quilted it here recently. She wanted to quilt it from the front of the machine and did a simple meander in the […]
This Finish Has Been A Long Time Coming

Beverly took a class on applique a number of years ago and this beautiful top was the result. I was delighted to help her finish it! This design was taught as a block of the month, so there are a number of different blocks. Some are pieced and some are applique. Beverly didn’t want me […]
Civil War Reproduction Sixteen-Patch Quilt

This very traditional top was brought to me for quilting by Anita. It is a sixteen-patch pattern, meaning that each block has four columns and four rows, so sixteen squares per block. Most of the fabrics in this quilt were designed by Jo Morton, a much-loved Civil War reproduction fabric designer. The colors are warm […]
A Gorgeous Collection of Purples!

Wow! Pamela brought in this gorgeous purple quilt for me to quilt a few weeks ago. Pamela is a dyer, but these are all commercial fabrics – almost all of them batiks. Does she have an amazing stash or did she have an epic purple shopping trip? Either way, the variety of purples, from a light lavender to a […]
A Valuable Example of Value Placement

Jan was visiting Pinterest recently and saw a quilt that inspired her to play with value. By “value”, I mean light vs medium vs dark shades of colors. Placing light fabrics so that they contrast with dark fabrics can create an entirely new secondary pattern within a quilt. This has been used traditionally with log […]
How to Prepare a Quilting Plan for a Scrappy Quilt

Virginia recently brought this top in for me to quilt. Look at all these gorgeous floral fabrics! With so much going on visually, developing a quilting plan can be challenging. Here’s how we made choices for this quilt. First, Virginia knew that she wanted the quilting to have an overall nature theme with all those […]
Cascading Ribbons and a Loopy Meander

Arlene brought in this top recently for me to quilt. I love the choice of fabrics and the setting! Tula Pink’s clamshell fabric appears to be the focus fabric that provided the inspiration for the other colors used in the top. The same clamshell fabric is also the backing fabric. This is what I would call a contemporary quilt. […]