Designed and constructed by Nancy        Lowry and Tied by Nancy, Walt and Jessica Lowry, Marian Tworek and Belinda Wilcox

I have decided to call this quilt  “The Anti-Black Hole Quilt”  shown here at that black hole of bureaucracy, the Utah Department of Motor Vehicles.  My parents and I had to get our Drivers licenses switched from Maryland to Utah.  I hate waiting in lines. I also hate the way people have nothing to do there but stare at other people.  We always plan ahead and the 3 of us had books, but you know what i mean.

I am starting a series of gorgeous quilts in ugly, awful or unlikely locations.  Get daring and send us your pictures for this series.

This quilt is a simple block for first timers.  It’s just a picture frame.  I love rainbows though and I couldn’t resist begging this quilt off my mom.  Hope you like it

Jacob is my middle child. I dont think it’s all that easy growing up in the middle.  Competing with older siblings, resenting the baby of the family it adds up.  Jake usually gets a bit stiffed during birthday time.  He was born at the end of November and i am usually saving up for Christmas presents.  Well this was the year to wow him.  Or in this case, WOW (World of Warcarft).

Jake love to play the online RPG game World of Warcraft.  It’s actually more of an obsession.  And though I do not share the interest, I understand the fascination.  What kid hasn’t dreamed of fairy tales filled with dwarves and elves and knight in shining white armor?  WOW lets you be and or fight all kinds of mythical characters.  Jake runs a Pali (which is sland for Paladin).  Pali are the epitome of Knight in shining armor who swoops in on his flying pegasus and saves the day.  Not hard to see the allure of that.

I love this quilt because it’s the culmination of an idea I got in a Walmart and i love it when a plan comes together.  I saw a CD case that was Black with a white dragon on it.  I said to my mom, who i was shopping with, “Hey this would make a great dragon quilt”.  I bought the CD case home. scanned it into my computer, reversed the color image with my PhotoShop, sharpened up the image and printed out the 6 in square design took it to Kinko’s and blew it up 400%.  I then cut out the pattern pieces.  I prepped some red fish scale fabric for the body and some pebbly fabric for the wings and i iron some Wonder-Under to the wrong side.  I traced the design on and cut out the peices and aplliqued it to a black background * Note I learned I probably would have gotten a better result if i had also stabilized the black background fabric as well.   After i had the applique down i borrowed by friend Lisa’s embroidery machine and put all kinds of different words that were significant to World of Warcraft (ie: Character classes like Paladin, Rogue and Mage.  Guild and Character Names like Space Monkeys and Mimeto. Zodiace things like a zodiac wheel,  a centaur archer and the word Sagittarius. And finally different RED dragons. like Y Ddrach Goch , the red dragon of Wales, Chien-Tang The chines Emperor of dragons etc.)  I embroidered them all in red to stand out on the Background. * Note I found that thread specifically made for embroidery which is more shiny on the spool, seemed to break more frequently.  I used regular bright red Coats&Clark  Dual Duty.  It worked fine.  I also embroidered in black thread the words Mama’s Boy.  Pretty much so he would se it and know I love him.

I sent out an email asking my family members to send me some  6.5 inch squares that were Red and Black or Black and white.  I just wanted Jake to know that his whole family loves him.  The contributors of fabric were.  Jake’s Grandma Nancy Lowry, his Aunt Marian, his cousin Rachel, his Aunt Sara, his Spare Mom Lisa Yohn, his sister Jenna and his Great Aunt Jan and of course me his mom.

The Back of the quilt is red flannel that we pre-washed i always recommed this as there is so much dye in flannel.  It was quilted by Jeanie’s Quilt Shop in West Jordan, Utah, who I would recommend for any of your quilting needs.  It was bound by his grandma Nancy.

Along with the quilt. Lisa bought Jake a red sheet set and a big red body pillow with a soft red micro fleece cover.  I got him a couple of extra king sized pillowcases, a new soft feather pillow from Ikea and a firm pillow as well.  All in all a great gift.  He was floored and I enjoyed giving this quilt more than any I have made so far.

Blues and yellows are always a cheery combination

Designed by Jenna Peck Constructed by Jenna Peck, Jenna’s Mom: Jessica Lowry and Jenna’s Grandma, Nancy Lowry:

The ratio is 3/4 blues to 1/4 yellows, otherwise the yellows just take over!

This quilt was Jenna’s second quilt.  This qult was easy to cust the pieces are 3″ X 3″  and 3″ X 7″.  We just used all the medium and light blues we had.  We laid it all out on the floor so we could make sure it was randomized properly.

This label says we love Jenny and Blueberry Muffins!

The label is a very important part of any quilt.  It helps date the quilt, identify the quilters and gives some insight into the background of the quilt.  Jenna is very proud to be a fifth generation quilter.  So having 3 generations of  her family working on this quilt meant a lot to her.

Last But not least here is a picture of Jenny with her quilt.

We tied it and bound it in time for Jenna's wedding

This is the easiest of designs.

If you are new to the joy of quilting, you may want to start with something simple.  This classic beauty could not be any easier.  4-patches made with 2 1/2″  strips finish to a 4 inch square.  Easy for a beginner to do.

Match a smaller print with a sold and you are off!

This quilt has a very classic feminine feel to it.

This is a favorite design.  We have done it in a couple of different colorways.  I am posting it so you can see that there are no bad quilt designs though there are some awful color selections out there.  This first Straight Furrows design in made in a Country colors palette of pinks, blues and cream.

Can you see the 2 types of squares? 9-patch and thangles?

The design is simple a 6″ thangle in the control fabrics of a tone on tone country blue and a pink floral on a cream background.  Then you take your other fabrics for the quilt and divide them in to 2 pile, fabrics that read light and fabrics that read dark.  You make cut the fabrics into 2 1/2″ strips and make 9 patches out of the lights and a different set out of the darks.  Then when putting them together it’s easiest to lay out the thangles first.   It’s every other square is a thangle and the same color points touch.

I love the glorious colors of this one

Next you will see the same design in a brighter Blue and aqua colorway in one of my favorite quilts titled “Chicken ofthe Sea”  I like this second one better, but then I always choose the brighter palettes of colors.

The layout is very clear in this shot.

Both of these quilts were made by Nancy Lowry and Walter Lowry.  Mostly Nancy sews and Walt irons and is in charge of layout and quality control.  Walt can spot a block out of place from 10 paces. (actually it’s always easier to spot an out of place block from a slight distance. Something about can’t see the forest for the trees, or something like that)

So if you find a design you like in a quilt magazine never limit yourself to using the color scheme they have chosen.  Graph it out and try a different set of colors one that speaks to your heart.