The last challenge of the season has not disappointed me.  Some amazing entries have been submitted and I don’t envy the judges one bit…

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 eighth challenge of Season 1 Here:

http://kimscraftyapple.blogspot.com/2010/08/season-1-challenge-8-nursery-rhymes.html

CHALLENGE WINNERS: There will be two winners for this challenge – one for the public vote and one for the ‘judged vote’ – Diane, Barb, Pam, and guest judge Michelle.

The winner of the PUBLIC vote will receive 4 fat quarters (their choice) from FabricAlaCarte AND a $10 gift certificate to the Fat Quarter Shop!

The winner of the JUDGES Choice will receive $15 to FabricFascinationAND a $10 gift certificate to the Fat Quarter Shop!

Voting is extended this week because I’m hosting a HUGE event at my orchard on Sunday so everyone will benefit… it will close at 7pm CDT on Sunday, August 29th.

OTHER BONUSES:

One RANDOMLY Drawn Participant will win a pdf pattern for this beautiful quilt by FabricsNQuilts

and a second randomly drawn participant will receive a copy of the book Pretty Little Mini Quilts published by Lark Books fromPennyFabricArt.

Don't forget! Everyone that enters can decide if they want their name entered in a drawing for $50 off the 2010 Quilts by Barb Quilt - Papercraft - Scrapbooking Getaway Weekend!

I will also be sending everyone their rank (somewhere between 1 and 10 – be sure you’ve emailed me {lapaceksorchard@gmail.com} your email address) and any critique’s the judges have about your creation. The top 3 scoring projects will be posted on my blog this weekend.

PUBLIC WINNERS: YES, you can win a prize too! You’ll find out how to WIN at the bottom of this post after you’ve checked out each of our challengers entries.

And now here are all the entries – in no particular order…

***Please note – I have left the images smaller than I normally do as I’ve received some feedback that my blog was loading slowly – hopefully this will help that issue. I strongly URGE you to take closer looks at the projects before voting by checking out their submittals on the flickr group:http://www.flickr.com/groups/1401824@N21/

 

Quilter:  Kelsey Rose

The Monkey Who Fell Off the Bed

When I saw this challenge I knew I had to create a project that
involved monkies. I am only about 5 weeks from delivering my first
son, and we've been creating a nursery with a monkey theme, and a
nursery rhyme challenge was just too perfect to not create something
to add to our nursery. A quick Google search and I had my rhyme, "Five
Little Monkies", which goes like so:

Five little monkeys jumping on the bed,
One fell off and bumped his head.
Mama called the Doctor and the Doctor said,
"No more monkeys jumping on the bed!"

Four little monkeys jumping on the bed,
One fell off and bumped her head.
Papa called the Doctor and the Doctor said,
"No more monkeys jumping on the bed!"

Three little monkeys jumping on the bed,
One fell off and bumped his head.
Mama called the Doctor and the Doctor said,
"No more monkeys jumping on the bed!"

Two little monkeys jumping on the bed,
One fell off and bumped her head.
Papa called the Doctor and the Doctor said,
"No more monkeys jumping on the bed!"

One little monkey jumping on the bed,
He fell off and bumped his head.
Mama called the Doctor and the Doctor said,
"Put those monkeys straight to bed!"

I chewed the rhyme around for a while, not wanting to just paint a
scene from the rhyme and to be a little bit less expected, and also to
think about what would fit in our nursery. Eventually, an idea struck
- I'd make a rug in the shape of a flattened monkey to go right below
the crib (hence including the crib in the picture, an integral part of
the message ;) ), and this monkey would be "The Monkey Who Fell Off
the Bed", a not-so-subtle reminder for little Paul that
climbing/jumping/otherwise rocketing out of his crib will be a bad
idea once the idea strikes in a year or two.

I bought a nice fuzzy fabric for the top, with a similar feel to a
stuffed animal, and a brown corduroy for the backing because it added
a weight to it that I liked. Now, I've never actually finished a
quilting project before (I'm still working on my first quilt), and I
only have ever hand-quilted, so quilting this monkey up in one evening
was going to be a bit of a challenge. I ended up using my Kenmore with
a straight-stitch foot (I only have a straight-stitch and a zipper
foot...) and doing loose free-form quilting lines. The tail was
actually created a separate piece and then attached to the main body.

Now, to vacuum up all those teeny tiny brown fuzzies all over my apartment... :D

Created in: Mountain View, CA

Dimensions: About 50" head to toe (or 41" head to rump), and 38" at
its widest point, including the tail.

Kelsey Rose

P.S. This is my first entry to Project Quilting

Quilter:  Kathleen’s Quilts

Mary's re:Fresh-ing Garden

Yesterday morning as I was taking a few hand stitches in my project I suddenly realized my inspiration had been a fairy tale instead of a nursery rhyme. Funny. Not. A recent post on my blog discussed the fact that my brain has been AWOL lately. More proof. I thought of finishing anyway as I really liked what I was doing, but what's the fun if you aren't going by the challenge rules. So I scrounged up a few brain cells, thought for a bit and a half hour later was on the move with a new project inspired by...

"Mary Mary quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
Silver bells and cockleshells,
And pretty maids all in a row."

I looked up the meaning for more inspiration. Ick - don't do that with this one! Pretty flowers all in a row was enough inspiration for me! I pictured Mary in a pretty sun dress watering her garden. Ruffles were to be a part of my original project and I just couldn't let go of them so I decided to do ruffles of flowers all in a row. Ruffles of green for grass were sewn in the seams. Ruffles of fabric with prints of tiny flowers were sewn above the grass. The quilting is leafy stems from the grass to the flowers; and some stitching in the ditch just inside the border. The border is alternating green and white to represent a little white picket fence, which is my favorite for surrounding a flower garden.

A fun, frilly project that blessed me with lots of thoughts of my sweet niece Mary.

Grown in Cissna Park IL
15" x 23"

P.S. I had a blast this first season on Project QUILTING. Looking forward to the next season (but ready for a break!). Thank you so much to Kim and Diane and all the judges and sponsors!!!

Quilter:  QuiltingDiva

I knew I wanted to do something with embroidery so I purchased the set of 4 "Hey Diddle Diddle" blocks and stitched them out on light blue Kona Cotton. Initially I thought I would make a fabric book out of the squares, but I thought it would make a cute little doll quilt or wall hanging. I used fabric and thread from my stash. It measures approximately 27" square, the back is solid light green Kona cotton. I made this in Tampa, FL.

Stacy Edell

 

Quilter:  Karen’s Crafty World

The Story Behind ‘Don't Blow My House Down’

I took my inspiration from the 3 little pigs. I didn't have a lot of time this week, so my project is small.
I started on Wednesday when I was at work sitting around waiting for my patient to kick into labor. (For those of you who don't know, I'm a Home Birth nurse and I do a lot of waiting ;)I always carry a bag of art supplies with me in case I'm stuck at someone's house for hours on end.
I started this project by cutting up blue and green fabric into approx. one inch squares. I didn't have enough variety of fabric, so I colored white fabric with green and blue markers and crayons. I also used some paper squares cut out of a magazine. I glued all the pieces down to a sheet of cardstock and when I got home, I sewed over the glued down pieces. I then built my picture on top of that. A brick house, a straw house and a house made from sticks. I added trees, some sunshine and a picket fence and of course, some little piggies. I dug a frame out of the closet and "antiqued" it with some cream and brown paint.

All supplies came from my stash and no $$ was spent.

This project was started in Lake Zurich, IL and finished in Elgin IL.

 

Quilter:  LoveBugStudios

The story behind: Crooked House
Size: 20" x 24"
Made in: Hainesville, IL

I can't believe I made it to the end of the season! :)

"Crooked House" was inspired by this nursery rhyme:
"There was a crooked man
Who walked a crooked mile.
He found a crooked sixpence
Against a crooked stile.
He bought a crooked cat
That caught a crooked mouse,
And they all lived together
In a crooked little house."

I started thinking about the man, and how old he must be, and the long walk he had to take every day to get home. I pictured him the day he found the money & bought the cat, and the line that kept singing to me over and over was "They all lived together in a crooked little house." So I tried to create the house & the crooked lane it was set upon.

The quilting technique was inspired by Noriko Endo, a Japanese quilt artist who shreds her scraps to make the most amazing quilts. In some of the detail pictures, you'll see the scene made up of tiny shreds of fabric - there are 15 colors of green alone.

I quilted this on a frame - which is only the second time I've done that! It's stippled to hold the shreds (under a layer of bridal tulle). In some areas there are multiple layers of tulle to create shadows.

After it was quilted, I cut it into an irregular shape, and then bound it in a dark green.

This one was probably the most fun to make out of all my PQ quilts, and was certainly the messiest too! My studio is still recovering.

Quilter:  MoranArtandQuilts

The Story Behind Hey Diddle Diddle

Size: 23"x26"

Hey diddle diddle
The cat and the fiddle
The cow jumped over the moon
The little dog laughed
To see such a sight
And the dish ran away with the spoon.

My inspiration for this was a cute mug that my daughter has seeing it from the poor cow's point of view. "How in the world am I going to jump over the moon?"

The field was pieced together and appliqued down as well as the cow and moon. I used paint to add the little details and sewed on colorful star buttons. The quilting is a swirl design in the sky and straight lines in the field. The shape of the quilt was inspired by clouds.

Once again my daughter has claimed this quilt because her room is blue and green!

Catherine
Columbus, Oh

Quilter: PennyFabricArt

The Story behind ‘The little dog laughed to see such sport'

It felt a little surreal this week to be using nursery rhymes for inspiration, while preparing my youngest to go off to college next week. It's been a long time since that old book came off the shelf!

Our favorite rhyme was always "Hey Diddle Diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon. The little dog laughed to see such sport, and the dish ran away with the spoon." I love the nonsensical fun of this rhyme, and the idea of dogs laughing.

Last summer we were visiting my brother and playing with his two silly dogs. My son said "These dogs are always laughing!" and he was right! When I read this challenge, I immediately thought of that, and decided to do a portrait of my brother's two laughing dogs. Although I think they are laughing more from the joy of getting away with being on the sofa, than at a cat and a cow.

I used a similar construction to my Apple Blossoms piece from earlier in PQ. I set a foundation of color blocking using satin-stitch appliqué, then I cut tons of strips of fabric to fuse for raw-edge appliqué on top. This captures the wild curly hair of Maggie, and the short straight hair of the one I call Doggie ('cause I can never remember her name).

The quilting is free-motion stitching giving contour to the faces, coats, and sofa detailing. The outer border is a rich chocolate micro suede, gallery wrapped around a stretched canvas frame to hang like a painting. Measures 28"x22".

Created in Ridgefield, CT. Don't tell my brother - it's a surprise gift!

Quilter:  SpringWaterDesigns

The Story behind ‘Fear Not Little One’

I have lots of favorite Nursery Rhymes that my mom used to read to me from an antique Jr Editions book. So much so that that volume of our Jr Editions set got worn out!

The inspiration for my challenge project is Little Miss Muffet. I started by piecing a spider web block, and then I added a collage of items that includes a vintage picture of Little Miss Muffet that I got from a free to use blog of Vintage Clip Art (and printed off on fabric that you can put through your printer). I sewed on ribbons, ric rac, and lace and added a silver heart, crocheted flower embellishment, and old buttons. The vintage picture had the spider in it, but I thought it needed a spider web, so I drew that in the upper left corner with a micron pen. I quilted over the collage pieces, and around the outside edge with some decorative machine stitches, and I quilted the entire block like a spider web.

I chose soft fabrics to coordinate with the vintage storybook picture, and it will fit well in a child's nursery. I call it "Fear Not Little One" because that's the message that I think this (and most) nursery rhymes were trying to portray to children. There are things to fear in the world, but they have people there who will protect them ~ the person reading/reciting the story to them :)

This little art quilt measures 15" wide, and 15" tall, and was made in Jessup Maryland
~ Dawn
Spring Water Designs

Quilter:  KimsCraftyApple

The Story Behind ‘Hickory Dickory Clock’

When I saw the challenge I immediately went up stairs and grabbed my daughter's Mother Goose book.

The first thing that struck me was the cover (picture shown...) a black and white checkered border and the striking gold background.

Then I went and started to read through the nursery rhymes...one thing that struck me was their whimsy. When I read through Hickory Dickory Dock I knew what I wanted to do - a black and white, whimsical clock. I mixed a beautiful fabric by Jason Yenter Floragraphix III Black and White (from FabricFascination), with a classic black and a sparkly white to create the checker board look. I used four different hand-dyed fabric and drew some whimsical numbers for the clock. Also, I couldn't leave this as a standard circular clock so I had to cut it into a curved whimsical design. Because of this curve I decided to 'pillowcase' the quilt to finish it nicely. Five different strands of eyelash fibers add even more color and fun to the border.

I kept the quilting simple for this quilt...just rays from the center out to each number. I felt that there was already enough going on with my design that I didn't want to make it too 'much'.

I needed the perfect item for the hands of the clock so I pulled out Mother Goose again...ah ah! "the dish ran away with the SPOON" I decided to take a fork and spoon and spray paint them gold to mimic the front of the book (I added some gold sparkles just because you can never have enough sparkles). The quilt is backed with a thick piece of cardboard to support the weight of the spoon and so that a bolt (also spray painted gold) could be threaded through the silverwear and allow the clock hands to spin. I also added accents of gold Lumeire paint to the numbers to make them pop just a bit more...

Again...another long story...

Created in: Poynette, WI

Dimensions: 31" x 19.5"

 

PUBLIC WINNERS: The winner from the Random Generator will receive a $20 gift certificate to spend on whatever you choose at TheApple!

Ring - Sterling Silver and Epoxy Coated Candy Drop Bouquet of Circles - Wrap Around - Size 7-1/2

A wide selection of fun, crazy, colorful and whimsical jewelry from earrings to necklaces to bracelets to rings can be found at theApple. Use your gift certificate to treat yourself or find the perfect gift for someone you love!

Daisy Earrings – Jewel Toned with Glass Pearls

SEVEN Chances to WIN!

Entry 1: REQUIRED! Leave a comment on your favorite entry and vote for your favorite on the poll on the upper left hand side of the blog. - ***MUST DO***

Optional/Additional Entries – please note – if you want to qualify for these additional entries you must leave a SEPERATE comment for each – if you already follow or are a fan, etc just leave comments saying each. If you write everything in ONE comment you only will have ONE entry…

Entry 2: Follow my blog.

Entry 3: Tweet about this fantastic contest with hashtag #PQNursery (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 (link your blog or post in your comment, please)

Entry 6: Head on over to theApple and let me know what you would get if you won this weeks prize!

Entry 7:  Sign up for my newsletter in the upper right hand corner of my blog.

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

This means you have SEVEN 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 Monday, August 30th.