Project QUILTING Guest Judge – Lauren from OriginalsbyLauren

I am so grateful for my steady judges each week (couldn’t do this without you!) but it’s always exciting to have guest judges.  I just think the more opinions and feedback/critiques we as quilters get the better we become.  Each week it always amazes me to see which project is each judges favorite – it’s rarely the same.  And with that – I’m excited to introduce to you our guest judge this week – Lauren of OriginalsbyLauren.

Handmade Snowball Nine Patch Quilt Here’s what Lauren had to saw when I asked her about her quilting background: I took a quilting class at a local shop when my daughter was 2, she is now turning 31 next month. We cut our cardboard templates and traced with a pencil, but with scissors, and then pieced by hand. I made a full size sampler quilt, one block each week. When the class ended, she never told us what to do with the blocks, and then she went out of business, so I tried to figure out sashing and hand quilting. It took me 9 months to complete that quilt and it still hangs on my bedroom wall. Needless to say, that didn’t exactly endear quilting to me.

Handmade Quilted Extra Long Table RunnerI tried to find quilting shows on PBS, but all I found was Georgia Bonesteel, and I wasn’t advanced enough for her. Then it happened, I found Eleanor Burns and she changed my life. She would say to take all of your blocks and cut them to the size of the smallest one, so I didn’t have to be perfect anymore. I lost track how many quilt in a day log cabin quilts I made, lots.

Handmade Hearth and Home QuiltToday I belong to a quilt guild and have hung quilts in the biannual shows. I still love handquilting, but since I have been on etsy, I have had to learn to machine quilt.

Little Girl Dresses Lauren is also an expert seamstress and she has recently opened a second shop on etsy – OriginalsbyLaurenToo – featuring her adorable clothing.   Thanks for being a judge Lauren!