The National (or Worldwide) Quilting Day was last Saturday with our local guild’s show. My co-chair, Gail, and I set up the show stands on Friday, with some help from guild members. We were excited for the exhibit to open on Saturday, and got there early to hang the quilts. Gail did a tremendous job coming up with the idea of the challenge of using Page 42, finding the challenge fabric, designing the layout, and collecting the finished quilts. We worked together on publicity, getting prizes, printing ballots, and the other aspects of an exhibit. This was the ‘front’, coming in from the outside door where a sign was posted saying Quilt Show Entrance with an arrow. We were set up right outside a Joann’s fabric store.
From the other side, visitors walking the mall saw our Opportunity Quilt. We had 34 challenge quilts displayed. Each one could not exceed 160-inches around the perimeter. Most were smaller than that.
We allowed each viewer to choose three quilts for their ballot instead of just one as in previous years. I was stunned that we ran out of ballots! I printed 180, and we needed more than 200. So the last votes were recorded on scraps of paper. More than 600 votes had to be tallied when the show was over.
The winner announcement was made yesterday at our guild meeting. The First Place winner was made by Laura Jones, our current president. Those little circles are made of tiny, paper-pieced flying geese, and there were sixteen of those on her challenge quilt! The newsprint fabric is the inner border.
Second place went to Alice Earl for her spectacular sunset. The newsprint fabric is the bird’s wings. The reflections of the trees on the water was amazing.
Third place went to Terrie Spohn for her machine embroidered barns with barn quilts. The sashing is the newsprint fabric, and note her tiny blocks for cornerstones.
Fourth Place went to me! Woohoo! You all saw this one in progress. The newsprint is a newspaper wrapped around the flower stem. The dimensional applique caught people’s attention, as well as the dimensional bead work.
Fifth place went to Lois Benedict for her seashore and wave, on the bottom of this group. The newsprint fabric made the fence rails. The wave breaker in white was dimensional using some kind of netting or ribbon, I didn’t get a close look at it. The fence rails were appliqued, and crossed into the border.
There were several quilts with dimensional aspects, and so much stunning creativity, that viewers were commenting that three choices was still not enough! We do have some amazingly creative people in our guild. Prizes were handed out to the winners at the guild meeting, and all were amazing. For my 4th place, I received a nice bag with the ribbon pinned to it. We were instructed to pin the ribbons on ourselves for the meeting to celebrate our wins. Inside the bag were several goodies including a Moda jelly roll called Harvest Wishes by Deb Strain (couldn’t have been a more perfect prize for me!) with fall motifs and lots of pumpkins in navy and orange. There was also a ruler, orange Aurifil thread, marking pencil, pins and a cute little sticky note pad. How fun!
Back home, this week was quiet and I was able to finish The Lady’s Garden quilt. I decided to call it that as the pattern is called The Lady (from Villa Rosa) and the fabrics are all floral. The green is a garden path to walk in surrounded by flowers. With a garden theme, it made sense to quilt it with a floral design. This is a pantograph called Pansies.
I used green Glide thread in the top, and an ecru Bottom Line in the bobbin, as the backing is a light grey-ecru. Balancing the thread was tricky, but I got it just right, no pokies on the back!
I really like how the flowers show in the green patches and lighter or more solid color bars, and provide texture in the floral prints.
Quilting went fast as the longarm behaved itself. It does love Glide thread.
Next was to make a hanging sleeve. Since this quilt will be sold, I made a permanent one. Measuring the top edge to get the length, I cut a couple of pieces of fabric and stitched them together to get the length I needed. I cut a 9-inch width, and folded the short ends over twice to topstitch for finishing. I folded the sleeve lengthwise, wrong sides together, and met the raw edges to the edge of the quilt. Then, the sleeve was stitched on the quilt 1/4-inch in from the raw edge. I pinned the folded edge to the quilt to keep it out of the way.
I made the binding from the same fabric, and attached it by machine to the back side. Now the top of the sleeve is encased in the binding, and will have three rows of stitching to provide strength for hanging.
Turning to the top side, the binding is stitched by machine.
This method cuts the handwork in half. All that is left is to hand sew the sides and bottom of the sleeve to the quilt, and add a label. I pressed the sleeve, then pushed up the bottom by 1/4-inch to allow for the width of the pole so it will hang straight in the show.
I put it in the show as a display only, as I will be selling it. It measures 54×71 inches, Hobbs heirloom cotton batting. $250. I hope it sells!
Next week is quiet as well, so I am looking to make progress on several more projects. What are you sewing this week?
From My Carolina Home 
Congrats, Carole!!! Clever use of the newsprint fabric!!! I’ll be interested to see what you make from your new jelly roll!
Congratulations on your win! I really liked the use of the newspaper fabric around the flower stems, it just makes sense! 😄
wow love the page 42 quilts…. Those are tiny flying geese….. Congrats on 4th…..I opened up all the photos too see them closer and was great to read your blurb about them also………
Congratulations, Carole! That’s fabulous. Now I fully understand the challenge — for whatever reason I thought everyone had to have a variation of that same floral theme, not page 42 of any magazine. So the diversity is really something and I like how the magazine pages were displayed with it. You have some talented quilters in your group. I like your prize and how they did it, too. I do love that piece — it’s so cheery and happy!
I’m planning a low-level weekend. Back in the basement. Hopefully we’ll get a few things (big ones) out of there that are being pitched so I can continue setting up my zones and get those dishes that are upstairs back where they belong before Easter!
Heartiest of congratulations on your public recognition of an amazing 3D quilt! Your guild is amazing with the varied challenges and shows. I am so thankful that I get to watch from afar thanks to your blog. Keep the inspiration coming!
Congratulations! What a beautiful show! Well done! The challenge quilts were very creative!
Congratulations Carole, nice work!
Sounds like an amazing show!! you guys worked so hard!
My friends and I really enjoyed the display. What a great idea. And the members were so creative with their magazine interpretations. Congrats on winning a ribbon and a great goodie bag!
Congrats on the win! Those were some very creative quilts. The tiny flying geese and the pineapple block cornerstones must have taken a lot of patience. It’s wonderful to be part of a group with so much creativity.
What a creative challenge and a great showing by your talented quilty friends! And a lovely feast for the eyes for everyone! Congrats on being a prize winner too!
Those challenge quilts are phenomenal, I admire all y’all that have that creativity gene! After a productive February working on quilt projects, March has mostly been machine embroidery and fabric acquisition – we have a 2 month ‘All Texas Shop Hop’ going on, so of course I must participate :-) I’ve spent quite a bit of time playing with my embroidery and cutting machines and software, learning to cut and sew applique in the hoop. I won’t have much fabric out for stash busters, but it has been fun!
Congratulations on your win! Lovely post.
congrats on your win your applique was really a good way to do 3D
Congratulations on your ribbon. There were some really beautiful quilts made in the challenge, and it was a treat to get to see your process.
Congratulations on your win. The award ribbon itself is lovely and would be quite the prize for your hard work. So many grand entries. The Opportunity Quilt is gorgeous. A very busy day but rewarding, I’m sure. Quilt guild shows are always the best.
Thank you!! Having the winners wear our ribbons was a treat. Our show in May will be even more spectacular.
Such a lovely display if your guilds work, and congratulations on your win.
Congratulations on your win! it was really fun to see the display and other entries – especially to see how people used the challenge fabric. Your prize definitely sounds perfect for you!
Congratulations! Thanks for showing the display & other winners. I just finished binding a quilt from the FQS Perfect 10 book for layer cakes. I bought 2 layer cakes so I could size it up to a twin. This one will count in my stash busters for March. I also made 2 quick baby quilts, fabric in & out – not counting those.
Carole,
The use of the challenge fabric in so many different ways shows the creativity of your guild members! Congratulations on your ribbon and what a gorgeous ribbon it is!
I’ll be prepping quilts for the long arm over the weekend. I’ll probably precut the binding and do the labels so I have a head start on the finish. We’re playing beat the clock with a charity our guild supports.
Thanks for a wonderful blog!
Well done to take a place with your cute quilt. All the quilts were really good with their magazine pages. You were awarded a lovely prize too. I really like 3 dimensional work which makes you think in a different way with manipulating the fabric. At least you don’t have to match points! :))
Congratulations, Mary :))
Carole, Well done on the quilt win!! I adore that quilt you made. How fun to have a ribbon to keep on it now!! I hope it was as much fun as it’s been watching via your photos. XOXO
It sounds like the show was a big hit. Love seeing the challenge quilts. Congratulations on your ribbon.
Sorry I don’t live closer – would love to have seen these. I do wish there was a way to have them up longer – like a year or so. I would love to sit in front of each one, like we do at the Art Institute! And just absorb the scenes and stitching and colors. Thanks so much for sharing these.
Such talent in your guild, thanks for the show!
Carole !
So glad you earned a ribbon !
I watched the whole process as you made that wall hanging and I loved it !!! Always trying to learn from your instructions and projects 🙂
Congrats!!
Congratulations on your win! Lovely design and use of the newsprint. Loved seeing all the quilts – what a talented group you have!
I am binding a quilt this weekend for my sister. Something I can do ( hand binding) while watching some basketball! Happy to not be working this weekend and enjoying some sewing! Six inches of snow so no garden prep work for me.
Enjoy the weekend!
Congratulations Carole! There were some very creative entries!
That is a wonderful display and a great way to promote your guild.
Congratulations on your win with the challenge project! Your guild is full of creative and talented quilters! Timing of National Quilting Day in relation to your show in May is a great way to “invite” and advertise your show. It looks like you put on a spectacular display and I bet you inspired lots of those JoAnn’s shoppers.
Your finished quilt is lovely, and I am certain you will get an offer to purchase.