Since I’ve taken myself out of prize winners I figured it’s okay to post my critiques before the public voting closes at 7pm tonight (don’t forget to VOTE and COMMENT so you can win too!) Judge 1: This piece is really fun. I don’t think it really matters how you hang this piece; it works all ways.

My favorite part of the piece is where you coiled up the zippers. I just love that. Your quilting is also great. Adds a lot to the piece.

Judge 2: OMG, Kim, I really love this quilt! I love the abstract play with all the zippers, the different color zippers, and the grommet accents that complement the metal of the zippers. The fabric choices are very cool and urban contemporary, which go so perfectly with the metal components. The swirl patterns for the quilting are perfect, as they pick up on the circular elements in the fabrics and embellishments and also make it very energetic. The swirly zippers are cool. I also think adding the pink/purple fabric in that neat 3-d arrangement at the center then carrying it out to the inner border is a perfect punch. It seems like you managed to keep it nice and flat. It might be a bit off square, and maybe a couple corners are a bit off, but that just seems nit-picky with how great the overall piece is. I'm curious about what you see if you unzip those colored zippers...?

Judge 2 – you see a strip of color that coordinates with the zipper in the opposite corner. You can sort of see it above – a purple print under the orange zipper. I had to quilt close to the zipper just to help everything lay flat…

Judge 3: Another amazing piece, Kim. Truly an original, which is what you do best. I love the way you used zippers by the binding and as embellishments. Your machine quilting is getting quite good. Next you’ll need to learn to do continuous line next, so you don’t need to cut the thread. The look of your piece will change just by hanging it on a different wall so a new color will show through the grommets.

Judge 4: I LOVE this quilt! Your use of materials, and especially the introduction of the zippers, is original, creative, and unexpected. I’ve never heard of zipper quilt blocks – kudos for searching out new ideas and not being afraid try them out. I also really like the way the zippers add splashes of color to the piece. I think that your work might benefit from a little bit of self-editing. There is a lot going on in this piece, and I wonder if you had kept your materials simple (solids, maybe?) and didn’t introduce as many other details if it would have really let the zippers be the star. Nevertheless, this is a wonderful submission that proves that you took the challenge seriously, added in your own creativity and personal interpretation, and had a lot of fun with it. Congratulations on a job well done!

Judge 4 – I had to laugh at your self-editing comment. As I was going through this I thought the same thing – but I was already committed and my week was almost up. Definitely something I’ll keep in mind for next time!

Comment from me now that judging is complete. This quilt was quite a CHALLENGE for me. I am not very good at ‘detail’ work and dealing with zippers and making them look good is ‘detail’ work! My quilt did end up a bit off square which is disappointing to me – I sacrificed some workmanship to create the piece of ‘art’ I had in my mind. adding the zippers to the binding was very difficult because I had to do it all with a zipper foot – which made me loose accuracy. BUT I don’t think the quilt would have been what it was without the zippers on the edge – I just need to keep working at my workmanship and I think i could create some neat, show worthy pieces. I just love how this challenge made me reach deep and come up with something so very ‘Out of the Square.’

There is still plenty of time to VOTE and WIN for this week’s challenge – see all the details here: http://kimscraftyapple.blogspot.com/2011/01/time-to-vote-for-project-quiltings_30.html