The Fat Quarter Shop has been amazingly supportive of Project QUILTING from Day 1 and has offered to Sponsor prizes for a few of the challenges.  With their sponsorship I offered them an opportunity to be one of the ‘guest judges’.  I want to introduce to you , Kimberly, from the Fat Quarter shop – this weeks guest judge.

Kimberly began quilting more than ten years ago.  Debbie (who also works for the Fat Quarter shop) says “Kimberly caught on so quickly in class, she had to make her a separate class itinerary!”

Kimberly fell in love and a few years later, started Fat Quarter Shop out of her home.

I found a bit more background about the Fat Quarter Shop on their website:

The Fat Quarter Shop was founded in 2003 by Kimberly Jolly. An avid quilter, Kimberly began her shop as a side business while still working a corporate position, cutting, packing and shipping right out of her house during evenings and nights. From the very beginning, she was committed to delivering top-notch service for every single order and customer. As the Fat Quarter Shop's reputation grew, Kimberly decided to make it a full-time operation. Her husband Kevin joined her not long after, and with his help, lots of hard work, and a tireless commitment, the store began to grow. Over the past few years a few more people have joined the staff!

As a team, we continue to branch out with the best fabrics, exclusive kits, quilt clubs, BOMs, and more. And we will always be driven by the passion that Kimberly founded the store upon, which is always giving you the best products and service!

Why Choose the Fat Quarter Shop?

• Same Day Shipping
• Great Customer Service
• All the Newest Collections
• Exclusive Kits and Products
• FREE Shipping on US Orders over $200

Website:  http://www.fatquartershop.com/

Facebook Page:  http://www.facebook.com/#!/FatQuarterShop?v=wall&ref=ts

Blog:  http://fatquartershop.blogspot.com/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/fatquartershop

Flickr Group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/1127198@N22/pool/

I can’t thank the Fat Quarter shop enough for there generous prize donation and I’m excited to add a third mix of comments into our finished projects.  To catch up on the challenge for this week check out:  http://kimscraftyapple.blogspot.com/2010/04/project-quilting-apple-blossom-time.html

You only have until this SUNDAY at NOON CDT to finish!  The winners popular vote and the judges vote will each receive a $25 gift certificate to the FAT QUARTER SHOP!  WooHoo!

So....... on to Challenge Number 2. I wanted something really different than Challenge 1 and think I found it.

1. Apple Blossom Time is the theme. Here are a few of Kim's pictures to inspire you and you can check out her Picassa album if you'd like to see more. (Warning: Lots of these pictures include her beautiful daughters.)

2. Maximum size is 45" x 45".

3. Minimum size is 12" x 12".

4. Budget is unlimited. Spend whatever you wish.

5. POST your entries with a description of your creative process by Sunday, May 2, at noon, CDT, to this flickr group – Project QUILTING with KimsCraftyApple: http://www.flickr.com/groups/1401824@N21/ OR email a picture/description of your completed project to lapaceksorchard@gmail.com with PROJECT QUILTING in the subject line.

6. If this is the first Project Quilting challenge you've participated in, please email Kim at lapaceksorchard@gmail.com with PROJECT QUILTING in the subject line so that Kim can send you feedback from the judges.

This was a pleasant thing to wake up too this morning…

Fairyfolk’s gorgeous etteam treasury made it to the front page early this morning!  I was extremely lucky to have my Refreshing Patchwork Belt – Made to Order from KimsCraftyApple but ALSO my Spring Green Chunky Bracelet from theApple.  WOW!  That’s never happened before and I’m guessing it will never happen again but yeah!  What a way to wake up!

I want to give a HUGE Shout out to FairyFolk for including my shops in her treasury and getting it to the front page of etsy!

Peas in a Pod - Nature Inspired and Eco Friendly from FairyFolk

Fairyfolk has a cute store on etsy that sells colorful felted acorns, felted stones and needle felted toys. Waldorf Inspired, all natural, handmade and eco-friendly.

Thanks again and on a side note to everyone – Challenge #2 for Project QUILTING will be posted in just over 4 hours – stop by later today so you can get started!  Remember – you only have ONE WEEK to finish it up!

After days of anticipation I am ready to announce the winners of the Project QUILTING Shoofly Challenge!  But before I do I just want to thank everyone who participated, commented, followed along and enjoyed the first week of the challenge.  I know that I personally had a fabulous time and was always anxiously awaiting more comments and votes.

I’ll start with the winner of the public vote:

Karolsvintageart with her Garden Pop Wonky Shoo-Fly Block Flowers Quilt!  Congratulations Karol!  You will receive a fat quarter of hand-dyed fabric from Diane and me!

Next, I’m going to do the winner of the comment-ers. 

Using www.random.org I generated a number to decide which comment wins…

 And Comment 20 is…

DownHome Designs!  Congratulations!  You will be receiving Diane’s original Starry Nines Pattern!

And now onto the winners of the Judges votes…

I am only going to post the top three and since we had a tie for second I will post both second places and the first place. 

Our tie for second was between:

QUILTIES with an average score of 8 from the judges. 

The judges loved the ‘great design and use of color.  Good use of the geometric fabric – they are sometimes difficult to use but this really works.  Nice job on the quilting.” and “Great use of the smaller blocks inside the larger block. The variety of quilting is nice with the block.”

Our other second place winner was:

 KarolsVintageArt!  She also received a score of 8 from the judges.  Some of the comments they had for KarolsVintageart were:

“Love the Wonky Effect” and “I love the “wonky” idea, a lot of thought was put into the arrangement of the blocks.”

And the WINNER of the judges vote (who will also receive one of Diane and mine’s hand-dyed fat quarters) is:

LOVEBUGSTUDIOS! who won with a score of 8.25!

Here’s what the Judges thought: 
Judge 1:  Love the way you used your stripe as sashing to make your design a little less symmetrical and add interest.  Great use of the button embellishments.

Judge 2:  I love the combo of fabrics and use of the focus block.  The squiggly strip and buttons make it very unique.

Congratulations again to all the winners and thanks again to everyone that participated.   Everyone that participated in the challenge was sent their score and critique – this will continue with every challenge.  Unlike the real Project Runway no one will ever be kicked off.  I hope to see all these competitors back in Challenge #2 along with many more!

I have made an executive decision to not be included in this weeks’ challenge voting and award winning.  Partly because I am giving out the awards and also I don’t want anyone to think that I am receiving biased votes since I’m managing this ‘Project’.  As stated before, I have absolutely no knowledge of the challenge any earlier than the rest of you and I started this entire thing to help inspire me to ‘think outside the square’ – so to speak.  I would love to hear other’s feedback about whether or not I should be included – I promise I won’t hold anything against you!

In the meantime I wanted to share with you the critique I received from the judges this week on my challenge.  I emailed or convo’d each competitor with their number score and critiques as well – just an added bonus of ‘Project QUILTING.’

JUDGE 1 - Diane Lapacek: Making your own stripe is amazing.  Wish it showed up better here.  Glad you pieced the branch fabric for the centers and I think you got lucky that the center one didn’t want to work, so that you ended up with the border effect.

   Judge 2 – Rose Mary Huber Pauls:  Beautiful combo of fabrics.  It’s easy to see different block combos in this quilt.  A great recovery from running short of fabric and adding another for the center blocks.

I know I really enjoy getting feedback about my creations and I hope the other contenders did as well.

I will be posting the winners of the public vote, judged vote and random generator for the comments first thing in the morning tomorrow (as long as I remember too that is).  I will be leaving first thing in the morning for the Spring Fling Craftacular.  I thought I would be leaving apple trees for my husband and in-laws to plant but *luckily* we managed to get all 90 of them planted this afternoon.  I’m sure they’ll find something else to do tomorrow while I’m at the High Noon Saloon.

PS:  My Shoofly Quilt is for sale in my etsy shop. 

Since I’ll be spending Friday planting apple trees (and my family will finish the planting on Saturday while I’m at the Springfling Craftacular) it seemed only fitting that I do a ‘Spring Planting’ Themed Thursday.

Garden Stampings vintage spoon herb collection from JLynnCreations

Leafy Birch Forest Wall Decals from walldecors

Spring Sprout Pendant from iacua

Enchanted Fairy Grove Moss Terrarium from brandylinn18

Blue Willow Scoop from circularaccessories

Happy Planting!

On Saturday, while the rest of my family is planting our apple trees (sorry guys) I will be selling at the Spring Fling Craftacular in Madsion, WI, at the High Noon Saloon.    I won’t be alone either – check out the amazing artists that will be there:

1.Glitter Workshop

2. Lulu's Stabby Critters

3. Dainty Daisies

4. Antique Basket Lady

5. Kim's Crafty Apple

6. Prettifications by Cynthia

7. Fat Cat Beads

8. Rosybird

9. Storyline Design

10. Whimsy House

11. Mindy Kuen

12. Bernie's Girl

13. Orangy Porangy

14. Picture Day

15. The Painted Daisy

16. Little Dandelion Studio

17. DeeConstruct

***amazing items you must come to the show to see!***

18. Emily Keown

19 Amy Swobada

20. Art Kitten

21. Tyler Poncho

22. Bare Tree Apparel

23.  TheApple

I had a ton of fun browsing these shops – I can’t see what they all bring on Saturday!  Hope to see you all there!

This is the story when life happens.  Two different quilters got to two different stages of their quilt – but did not finish in the time frame.  I wanted to post these so everyone knows that if life does get in the way – I (we) would still love to see where you’re at! 

Quilter:  Megueyblue 

THE STORY:  This is my first block for Project Quilt, which I learned about at 7 PM the day before it was due at noon. So yeah, not to bad, I think.
It's called 'Missed a few', and I'm pretty pleased with it. .. In this orientation, the block reminded me of a fly swatter, so the rest just flowed. The bugs are fussy-cut and the stripe is from a Save-the-children bundle from years back. I do plan on adding a narrow red border and quilting it up, but that was beyond the time limit. I also have a nasty head cold, and this made my day more bearable by keeping me distracted when my kids were not *quite* distracting enough :)

Quilter:  MoranArtsandQuilts

THE STORY:  Well, here is what I would have entered in the challenge this week but had a horrible time with tension using bed sheet fabric. It looks terrible on the back no matter what I do and it's so hard to slide through the machine. I may have to scrap it unless someone has another idea.

Any suggestions to help MoranArtsandQuilts table runner?

Thanks for putting in the effort you two!  Hope to see you in Challenge 2!

For those of you just tuning in you can read more about Project Quilting Here: http://kimscraftyapple.blogspot.com/2010/04/project-quilting.html

and about the first challenge Shoofly Here: http://kimscraftyapple.blogspot.com/2010/04/project-quilting-first-challenge.html

In alphabetic order, I’m going to show you the ‘competitors’ for project quilting. then on the side of the blog, you can cast your vote for your favorite project. Since I’m in charge of this challenge I am excluding myself from all prizes although I am still going to show off my creation. Feel free to leave comments on what you think of it anyway!

CHALLENGE WINNERS: There will be two winners for this challenge – one for the public vote and one for the ‘judged vote’ – Diane and Rose Mary. The winners will each receive a hand-dyed fat quarter that has been dyed by Diane and myself! I will also be sending everyone there rank (somewhere between 1 and 10) and any critique’s the judges have about your creation. The top 3 will be posted on my blog this weekend (4/24 or 4/25).

PUBLIC WINNERS: I will also be giving out a prize to the public. You’ll find out how at the bottom of this post after you’ve checked out each of our challengers entries.

Quilter: BrennieQuilts

The Story:

In true Project Runway fashion, with only grid quilting and binding pinned to the back (he he), here is my challenge piece. Hope you like it!
It's a 30" x 36" Baby Quilt with embroidered ABCDE letter blocks between the Shoofly blocks with Broken Dishes block corners.
This was fun!

Size: 30” x 36”

Cost: Stash

Quilter: DebiDesigns

The Story:

Project Quilting, Shoofly block in batiks.
I used a jelly roll i bought on clearance for $9, I used about 25 strips from the roll to make the front and back. Used left over batting.

Size: 26” x 16”

Cost: Fabric from a jelly roll $9

Never having made a shoo-fly block before, I googled it and then discovered this variation. I lean towards wonky myself and loved choosing fabrics that had designs that reminded me of my garden elements...pinwheels, clouds, spider webs, "peace" , tie dye "flowers". I arranged the blocks as i thought they would appear in a garden, with the dark outlines toward the bottom left corner as if the shadows were created from the sun in the upper left. The quilting had to be very simple and modern and "wonky", with none of my flower centers intersecting perfectly and the grid lines all off center and angled.

Size: measures 29" X 37"

Cost: i spent $0...
everything was pulled from my stash!

The Story:

Here is my submittal for the first Project Quilting - Shoofly Challenge. I started with a piece of fabric I dyed and a fun floral printed fabric. I decided that I would 'make' my own striped fabric. I did this by taking a portion of the hand-dyed fabric and machine stitching different fibers - some that I had dyed, some commercial - across the fabric. I absolutely love the effect it had. It did make ironing during the piecing portion of the quilt a bit tricky. Due to miss calculation of fabric amounts I did not have enough of the hand-dye to put as the center blocks of my shoofly. So, I took a really neat directional branch fabric and pieced them together to create either 'circles' or 'x's' in each square. Eight of them went together just fine but after two tries with the center one (late at night) I scratched it and just used a lighter value square of the hand-dyed fabric. I think created an almost 'bordered' feel in the quilt with out actually adding a border. I decided to keep the quilting simple and did some rectangles and diamonds. There was enough going on with the color, texture and pattern in the quilt.
Size: 31.75" x 31.75"
Cost: $0 - I used everything from my stash!

Quilter: LoveBugStudios

The Story:

First I had to look up the Shoo Fly block because I couldn't remember what it looked like. Then, I went to EQ6 to do the layout & recoloring - I sized it so that everything could be cut with my fabric die cutter. The quilt was inspired by the black & white polka dot and beaded stripe I had in my stash.
Unfortunately, when I went to look for the stripe I couldn't find it, which prompted a trip to the fabric store. I spent $7.49 replacing it, plus 1/2 yard of the white polka dot. Immediately after I returned home, I found my bead striped fabric!
I also decided to embellish the quilt using red 2-holed buttons - nearly all of them that were in my stash. I completely used up the fabric I bought, plus 5 red fat-eighths and about a yard or so of the polka dot. I chose the quilting to mimic the waviness of the striped fabric.

Measurement: The finished quilt measures 32"x34".

Cost: $7.49

Quilter: MrsDragon

The Story:

I took my inspiration from the way the shoofly blocks appear when pieced together into a quilt. If you make the point where the four corners of the blocks come together, you see a new design. I used that as a starting point, and simplified the piecing of this "new" block. I set the blocks on point and quilted with the shoofly outline as a nod to the inspiration. To read a fuller description of MrsDragon's process please check out: http://www.mrsdragon.net/2010/04/project-quilting-challenge-1-shoofly.html

Approximate Size: 26" X 9"

Cost: $0 The only thing I purchased was the red thread.
(This is the short version. : ) The longer version, complete with pictures, will be up on my blog later today. I will update here with the link when it is up.)

Quilter: Pamela Quilts

The Story:

My first thought for the challenge was to make a lot of little shoo fly blocks and put them together into a mosaic, but the time limit made me reconsider that. I then decided to use a stripe as the solid block on the sides and found this great wavy stripe.

Size: It measures 35 x 35.

Cost: My total spent on this quilt was $7.40 for the stripe in the blocks, the border fabric and the binding.

Quilter: Penny Fabric Art

The Story:

I made 5 normal shoofly blocks, plus 4 that I skewed at sharp angles to make the piece flow in a circle.
Size: It measures 19 inches square.
Cost: I used all stash fabrics, so I didn't spend any money to make it.

Quilter: SewSavvy

The Story:

OMG! Did I make it in time? I felt like I was actually on the show and time was working against me! I had so much to do and of course the thread was working against me and I couldn't go buy more. Batteries dead in the camera-where did I put the batteries?Whew, I am done

Size: 34” x 34”

Cost: Well, I spent $0 on this project, everything taken from my stash.

Quilter: Quilties

The Story:

I designed this with a large shoofly block set on point then smaller ones. I used bright and highly contrasting geometric prints, which is way out of my comfort zone, but I like the end result. I emphasized that geometric quality with two repetitive geometric quilting designs.

Size: The quilt is 26" square

Cost: I didn't spend any of my budget. It is all made with materials I had in my sewing room.

I think right now all the participants need a round of applause, or a pat on the back or something – everyone did such a wonderful job and it’s great to see how each person put their own spin on the challenge! Nice work!

PUBLIC WINNERS: The winner from the Random Generator (which I still have to figure out exactly what this is…) will receive Diane’s original ‘Starry Nines’ Pattern. It’s a great pattern for a beginner and fun for a quilter with more experience. Below is a picture of Diane’s Starry Nines in the Jungle that she made from the pattern.

To Enter You must:

Entry 1: Leave a comment on your favorite entry and vote for your favorite on the poll on the upper left hand side of the blog.

Entry 2: Follow my blog.

Entry 3: Must tweet this contest with hashtag #PQShoofly (important or I won’t know you did it)

Entry 4: Become a Fan of Project QUILTING on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ProjectQUILTING

Entry 5: add my Project Quilting ‘Grab my Blinkie’ to your blog or blog about my giveaway

***Participants in project quilting ARE allowed to enter in the public poll/contest as well.***

This means you have FIVE chances to win! I need you to write each of these entries as different comments in order to qualify you for all five entries and include your email address. If you don’t include your email address I won’t be able to contact you when you win and I will have to choose a new winner. I will be picking the winner at 7pm on Friday, April 23rd.