1. projectquilting, 2. Quilting Diva's Entry for Project QUILTING- Hardware Store, 3. tool time close up, 4.After the Rain: closeup drain cover, 5. Spring Cleaning - Showering Gnome, 6. we are the same - PIC 6, 7. Connectivity Up Close Feb 25 2 2011 012 (Large), 8. Spring Peek 2, 9. Katie Bishop "Little Mrs. Fix-It," corner, 10. Challenge 4 of Project Quilting – Inspiration Hardware Store - " Organizing Papa" 9, 11. His Veins Run Blue, 12. palettequilt3, 13. Spring IS coming, 14. projectquilting, 15. ENTRY Project QUILTING - Hardware Store Challenge - How Does Your Garden Grow?

Well, this week really threw an extra twist at me.  I was really happy that I came up with my idea right away and got at it.  I came down with a crazy cold that had me down and out for a good 24 hours – still not myself, but at least I’m able to function again.  I’m sure that I’m not the only one facing extra challenges to get this piece done but I’m super excited about the 13 amazing entries we have this week!  

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 fourth challenge of Season 2 here:

http://kimscraftyapple.blogspot.com/2011/02/project-quilting-season-2-challenge-4.html

CHALLENGE WINNERS:

***See the bottom of this post for two minor changes made to this years prize/voting process

This week’s PRIZES!

The winner of the Public vote will take home $10 to FabricsNQuilts and $10 do Dye Candy.

The winner of the Judges Choice will take home a Pattern & Notecards from Marcia's Crafty Sewing & Quilting and $15 to FabricFascination.

THREE randomly drawn (by my two little beauties) participants in this weeks challenge will take home either $10 to SpiceBerryCottage OR $20 for Machine Quilting Services from QuiltsbyBarb OR a pdf of 2 maze quilt patterns from Lisa Penny!

Voting closes at 7pm CDT on Friday, March 4th.

This weeks’ JUDGES!

Diane Lapacek

Barb Raisbeck

Lisa Penny

Guest Judge:  Ann of RenegadeQuilter

OTHER BONUSES:

Don't forget! Everyone that entered a piece for this challenge can decide if they want their name entered in a drawing for $50 off the 2011 Quilts by Barb Quilt Retreat Getaway Weekend.

I will also be sending everyone their rank (somewhere between 1 and 10 – be sure you’ve emailed me (lapaceksorchard {at} gmail {dot} 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 next 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 to help the blog load a bit faster. 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:  PastorKatieBishop

“Little Mrs. Fix-It”

I loved this challenge, mostly because it made me think about walking though the old hardware store with my father. I never really knew what we were supposed to be getting, I just thought it was cool that my dad and I went together.

The inspiration for this challenge was the rows and rows of little things all over the store. From the paint chip aisle (do they call them paint chips anymore?) to the nuts and bolts, to the seed packets for spring, I loved the ordered chaos that was the hardware store. And such colors! Everything was color coded! I drew inspiration for the fabric choice from the colors I found throughout the store.

So, I made a ticker-tape quilt. First I decided on the size and made a quilt sandwich. Then I picked the sizes of the pieces (1 inch squares, 1x2 inch rectangles and 2 inch squares – sooo small!) and then I pined them to the backing. I wanted to make sure the colors looked random so I moved things around until just right.

Then I machine sewed on top of the pieces. Once I finished that, I cut some of the fraying off, left a bit of it for that “rough” hardware store look, and began to place the nuts and bolts I purchased. I used regular jam nuts on the smallest squares, wing nuts on the rectangles and Lock washers (something I found to be beautiful in and of themselves) for the larger squares. I spread them out over the quilt using clear thread. I think it makes the squares look like the little packages of hardware at the store.

One of my critiques for the last challenge was that my binding was terrible. (Which it was.) So I worked really hard on my binding for this piece. I followed a couple of tutorials, and am still not 100% pleased with it, but am happier then I was last time. I guess I am learning that proves that quilting is always a work in progress.

My hardware store quilt, “Little Mrs. Fix-It” turned out to be beautiful and quite fun to make! I hope you enjoy.

 

Quilter:  SallyManke

The story behind ‘Organizing Papa’:

When I first read about the topic for this challenge, I thought PERFECT. My hubby is a hardware store! Although he loves Ace, True Value, Lowes, Menards and HD...he has more than all of them. Between the garage, the basement, the shed, his truck and our business he alredy owns EVERYTHING. He just can't find what he needs. This is the finished challenge project. The total cost of this project was $2.29 for the clothesline. All other items were recycled and I still have half of the package of clothesline left.

Created in North West Michigan on the shore of Lake Michigan

 

Quilter:  ForQuiltsSake

“After the Rain”

Made by Pam Geisel of For Quilts Sake in Yellow Springs, Ohio, Feb. 2011 for Project Quilting Season 2, Challenge 4, Hardware Store.

20.5” x 23.5”

My creative process and how I made it:

Coincidentally, when I saw the challenge for this week, we’d just returned from the hardware store where we’d bought a combination lock (to replace the one we don’t know the combination of). So I went back out. We have less 4000 people in our village, but we do have a local hardware store, and its part of the Do It Best chain. It’s pretty small, only three aisle and a basement (which oddly enough is actually under the business next door and not under the actual store), so I didn’t need a lot of time to look around.

I took a few photos and bought a few things then went home to analyze them. All of my items had holes in them (I guess I was thinking it would be easier to attach them to a quilt if they already had a hole) and two of the items, the drain cover and the washer, were water related. Then I remembered that there are drain chains that can be used instead of downspouts. I was ready to start.

I knew I wanted to thread yarn and ribbons through the openings on the drain cover, so before I got any fabric out, I got out my yarn and ribbons to see what color combinations I had. Since embellishments are usually one of the last things I put on a quilt, I usually don’t think about it much during the design stage, but since this was going to be the main focus, I thought I’d start here. Once I decided which color family I wanted to work with, I started looking through the fabrics. Right away I found a batik fat quarters that had rows of circles which reminded me of drain chains, and two batiks that co-ordinated with it. No need to keep looking.

I figured out the fabric layout quickly, the width determined by that fact that the bottom piece of fabric was a fat quarter, so I just used it all. I pieced the fabrics then started quilting. The quilting starts at the top with straight vertical lines on top of some of the “drain chains,” then the quilting moves through the thin yellow pieces still as straight lines but this time at angles following the blue printed patterns (more noticeable in the close up photos), and then the quilting moves into the main part of the quilt and the lines are free motion curves following some of the patterns on the fabric and they go all the way down to the bottom of the quilt, representing the way water would travel into the earth. I don’t do a lot of free motion quilting, but it seemed appropriate for this quilt. I didn’t want a visual binding at the edges so I used a facing technique that I’d just learned, one which makes the corners less bulky.

For the embellishments, I “sewed” gray cording on the drain cover to soften it visually and also threaded several pieces of yarn and ribbon of varying lengths then sewed it on to the quilt. This is the only item that I bought at the hardware store that I used on the quilt. The embellishment in the upper left corner was made by cutting a piece of cardboard the same size as my washer and wrapping yarn and ribbons around it. I didn’t want to use the actual washer as it was pretty heavy and I didn’t want the extra weight, but I think it’s obvious that it was inspired by the washer. Since the fabric had printed chains on it, I didn’t feel the need to attach the chains to this quilt.

 

Quilter:  QuiltingDiva

The Story Behind - Seed Keeper:

I wanted to something with organizing. I had made a notebook holder/letter center with the office store challenge so thought I would stay with that theme. I went to Lowes and the first place I came to was the little seed spindle thingy. Now I am not a gardener so I didn't know what a gardener would need to organize but I thought I would make something to hold your seeds. I remembered I had a gardening tweet all stitched out so after searching high and low for it, I found it and it was perfect for my little seed holder/mini quilt.
The quilt measures approx 11.5" x 13.5". I added little ribbons for hanging with a dowel (first time I do that) and put a phrase on the back "any day spent gardening is a good day!". It was a quick project for me, but I like the result.
Tampa, FL
Stacy Edell
QuiltingDiva

 

Quilter:  Sally’s Angelworks

The Story Behind ‘We are the Same’:

I'm going to try to tell my story pic to pic...If you get lost within the story, the whole thing is on my blog:
sallysangelworks.typepad.com/sallys_ponderings/2011/02/we...

PIC 1:
I saw the display of ceiling fans and the first thing I thought was...I just finished that Block-a-palooza block with the half square triangles and it looked just like a ceiling fan...

PIC2:
Then I saw this (which I really really want to purchase for my kitchen...it'll take a little more convincing Mr Gorgeous for this one)...

I thought...ohhhhh I need crystal beads or buttons or something that looks like this!!

Pic3:
And then I HIT the Jackpot, baby...

When I saw this, I saw my quilt! And I saw an idea to make it practical. I adore making art, wall hangings, little vignettes...but this quilt was going to have little windows...and what to put there? Every good scrapbooker knows what - pictures, of course!!

PIC4:
As it was all forming in my head, I came upon these doors...
If you've been following my blog at all, you know I just learned how to free motion quilt...well, i started learning...i'm still practicing...it's going pretty well...but this pattern on the door really looked like something i wanted to do on fabric!!

PIC5:

So here's my finished quilt...

and my inspired elements…

• ceiling fan half-square triangles... with a little chandelier crystal in the center!
• the window pockets with little crystal "doorknobs" over them and scrolly quilting on all of it...
• heart quilting over both pieces of the quote, "whatever our souls are made of... ...his and mine are the same" (ADORE that quote!!)
• The little windows were made with my Big Shot die cutting through interfaced fabric, and then the fabric hemmed and sewn around a 4x6 page protector (cut down to a smaller width).

Btw, I love these pics of Mr Gorgeous and me...three of them I took of us, and three of them my mom took last Thanksgiving...*sigh* ... love the guy, too!!

And isn't that fabric designed by Tula Pink called "Parisville" the best??? I love, love, love it!! :)

Isn't this journey fun? As I let inspiration hit me this week, I realized that I truly have a deep desire to be inspired by even the most random things around me. My senses were completely heightened. I am so excited that it will spill over to my song writing, my scrapbooking, and even my parenting. I'm hoping I can even inspire my kiddos with the most mundane things! But that's just another part of this journey I'm on...

Thanks, Project Quilting!

Sally’s Angelworks – quilt measures approximately 22.5"x22.5" and was Made in Texas

 

Quilter:  Marcia’s Crafty Sewing & Quilting

Connectivity Quilt

Marcia Wachuta - Marcia's Crafty Sewing and Quilting
Boscobel, Wisconsin

What does a piece of wire, a wire stripper, and electrical tape have in common with a quilt?

A single stand of wire stands alone as one single piece, a wire stripper opens up the ends to prepare it to connect, and the electrical tape holds all the wires together.

A quilter sews alone til she finds a community of quilters who are brought together through their love of quilting.

That's why Connectivity is the name of my quilt!

 

Quilter:  Aunt Cindy’s Attic

The Story Behind  ‘Spring Cleaning’

I decided to look online first for inspiration pieces. It's much easier with 2 little ones that way. First, I came across a mail slot, then I went to things for summer (I'm definitely done with the cold weather!). I found weed killer spray (the kind you attach to your garden hose), and garden edging fence.

Right after I read the challenge for this week, I went to see "Gnomeo and Juliet" with my family. After looking at the outdoor items, a gnome found his way into the yard. I liked the concept of seeing spray from the weed killer, but decided that a sprinkler would be a little better for this gnome. I decided that the gnome should shower in a garden. He needed a few cleverly placed bushes to hide his gnome-privates. I decided that a mail slot wouldn't specifically work for this scene, but a door to a hiding place in a tree would function about the same way as a mail slot. A penguin has moved into the tree and is spying on our gnome. We still have snow on the ground, but it should leave soon and I think the penguin will go with it. I expect one of his friends, including the Keebler elf, Tinker Bell, Buzz Lightyear, Santa, Wile E. Coyote, Peyton Manning or Betty White (she's everywhere!) will take his place soon. There's a little velcro holding the friends in the tree as well as a pocket on the back of the quilt to hold them when not in use.

The water coming out of the sprinkler is jewelry wire and beads. The eyes, ears, nose and mouth of the gnome were hand embroidered as were the black portions of the sprinkler. I've not used beaded embellishment on a quilt before and I avoid hand stitching as much as possible. This quilt was a pretty big stretch for me, but was a lot of fun!

The quilt is approximately 13" x 19".
Created by Aunt Cindy of Aunt Cindy's Attic, Crawfordsville, IN

 

Quilter:  Christine Hampton

Spring Peek - 8” x 10” Made in Oregon, WI

Hardware store inspirations were in the yard design section: bricks, crushed stone paths and grass seeds.

My personal challenges were bead embellishment and thread painting.

The crushed stone path was pieced to the grassy area with a gentle curve. I free motion quilted around the individual bricks in the wall to make them stand out more. Then I added more quilting to the ground areas and a decorative flower stitch across the seam lines. The thread painted flower was free-handed with a variegated thread. I finished it off with a scattering of green beads to represent the grass seeds.

 

Quilter:  Dashasel

The Story Behind ‘Tool Time!’

Over the past few months we have attempted (attempted being the key word!) various home improvement projects. So when this challenge appeared, I immediately thought of my husband's many trips to the hardware stores. Most recently he purchased some wood, so that made me think of lumber stacks, and in terms of quilting, log cabins! However, whatever we do with wood, it never quite turns out perfect, so that led me to want to do something with wonky log cabins (plus I like trying new things and have never made a log cabin block before).

So with visions of lumber in my mind, I headed off to the hardware store, son in tow, coincidentally wearing his little "Mr. Fix-it Shirt". As I wandered around the store, I felt out of place... I'm not all that handy and I had no idea about the uses for some of the things I was looking at. I did make some mental notes that some of the garden gloves looked like they could be good for quilting and that some of the straps they sold could be used for messenger bags :), but I digress. As I wandered, I snapped some of the photos in the mosaic. I looked for interesting textures and things that reminded me of quilting or sewing. I also looked for colorful items. I kept coming back to a laundry clamp because it reminded me of an embroidery hoop and I wondered what I might do with that.

As I headed home, I kept thinking about my gut desire to use plaids and orange (Home Depot is one of the many hardware stores we often go to) as points of inspiration too. Then it dawned on me that I kept thinking about these because of the show "Home Improvement" with Tim Allen. In the show, he is a home improvement guy with his own show called "Tool Time." From there, I knew exactly what I would do-- I would re-create "Tool Time" using an embroidery hoop to make a clock. The clock would have a wonky log cabin with fabrics made from the photos I had taken at the store. The square in the hoop also seemed fitting to represent how out of place I had felt in the hardware store (you know, "the square peg in the round hole"...). The colors would not be plaid or orange, but inspired by the Mr. Fix-it shirt my son had worn. So with this in mind, I bought a clock movement kit and embroidery hoop, and then printed the photos onto printable fabric. The fabric pieces were cut in 1.5" and 2" strips and I tried to create wonkiness as I went by cutting alternating diagonals (varying in severity) and the thickness of the strips as I wanted to provide balance. I added the battery, wrench and fastener as clock hands. I only had 4 nuts to denote 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock because I didn't want the nuts to take away from the wonkiness of the clock.

The clock is 10" in diameter and was made in Milwaukee, WI.

 

Quilter:  AllThingsBelle

The story Behind ‘His Veins Run Blue’:

I'm Jennifer Rodriguez and I'm art quilting in West Jordan, Utah.

My piece, "His Veins Run Blue", is inspired by my husband. and of course our theme the hardware store. It is a mini art quilt - 6.5" x 7.5"

When I visited the store for inspiration, I thought about how the only times I go to Lowe's or Home Depot is when my husband needs something. More than half the week he is a white collar electrical engineer, but if he had it his way everyday his hands would be dirty from a blue collar job.

The items I was inspired by were the blades (the silver points on the quilt), the denim (the Wrangler emblem), and red bandannas.

I did the white frame to symbolize the white collar that boxes in my husband while the blue collar elements are trying to sneak out.

I embellished with lots of topstitching - similar to what you would see on shirts and jeans - including using my serger.

 

Quilter:  Quilties

The Story Behind ‘Palettes’

Why does spray paint come in such basic colors? That's the thought I had in the hardware store looking at the rows of red, yellow, blue, and white. Moving a little further down the aisle, yes, there are the paint chips that offer a wider rainbow of colors...but still, I started thinking about my stash of fabric and the wide range of possibilities there in comparison to that aisle of spray paint!! How lucky are quilters?!

This quilt is 45" x 33". It is all pieced. There is a clear vinyl pocket on the bottom, holding real paint swatches from the hardware store (who can resist grabbing those as you walk by?!) The 1" inner blue border is the exact blue of painter's tape (the third item from the challenge).

made in Urbandale, IA by Emma Thomas-McGinnis

Quilter:  Kathleen Quilts

The Story Behind 'Spring IS Coming’:

Walking through our local hardware store I am always drawn to dowel rods. They are just the handiest thing. I love the way they are all stacked and poking out of their holders. On this trip I also noticed all the coiled objects, all in lots of colors... the wires on spools, extension cords. I noticed the stock had changed and Spring items were taking their places on the shelves. There were things for planting and many decorative items. One display had oversized objects (butterflies and other bugs) on long poles to stick in the garden for decoration. And through it all an old wood floor worn by years and years of town people wandering the aisles looking for just the right part to fix something. Anything is possible with the right part! Even Spring! Please!

The background was inspired by the wood floor. All different boards worn in different ways depending on the foot traffic, or stock placement or sunshine. I used pieces of tans, browns, neutrals and wavy line quilted with several different threads: browns, beige, gold, peach. The flowers are biased strips of fabric gathered and stitched in circles on a stiff fabric circle background. Each have three beads for the center. Dowel rod stems insert in to bits of fabric on the back and entire flower can be removed from it's holder.

Sun is a circle plus separate rays, all reinforced with heavy stabilizer. It's fashioned after a large metal decorative sun that was hanging in the store. Sun is stitched in a few places but left free in others to highlight the 3D effect.

Spring quilt is pieced bright colors with appliquéd letters and winding leaves (soon to sport flowers?). Instead of binding, ric rac is peeking out of the edges that hold the front, back and batting together. Quilt can be removed - it is hanging with another dowel rod. With the flowers and quilt removable entire project can be changed to adjust for the seasons. More fun!

Created in Cissna Park, IL
30" x 22"

-------------------------- ------------------------------ ----------------------

Quilter: KimsCraftyApple

Not eligible for Public Voting Prize

The Story Behind ‘How Does Your Garden Grow?’

With saw blade flowers, and washer rings,
and plus signs all in a row.

I loved this challenge as I loved the Office Supply Store Challenge. I love seeing something and being inspired to create something else from it.

The very first piece of inspiration was the top of a Phillips Screw - which is plus sign shape. After recently seeing a plus sign quilt on Ryan Walsh's 'I'm Just a Guy Who Quilts' Blog I knew that would be the perfect place to start.

I also saw a lot of spring planting supplies at the store so instantly thought of doing a flower quilt - but I wanted to add a twist to my flowers. Which is why some of them are shaped as saw blades and I hand sewed washers onto the flowers to create another dimension. I know the washer inspiration was pretty literal here but I do love the contrast of fabric and metal.

One of the fabrics in my plus sign is a commercial print of seed packets - another item I saw at the store.

I bordered the main portion of the quilt with a pink polka dot lip, then a sandy brown, geometrically rectangular print and bound with that same pink polk-a-dot fabric. I love mixing geometric elements together which is also why I added a few washers to two corners of the border.

The 'hook' sun came up at the end. I just felt like something more needed to happen. As I was looking through my supplies I saw these golden hooks and they just seemed to create the sun by themselves. I really think it's a fun, shiny extra element to this piece.

This piece measures: 24" x 26.5"

Created by Kim Lapacek
in Poynette, WI

ps. I really love the plus sign look - I will definitely be doing another one of these in the future...

Now for the PUBLIC Comment PRIZE!

Everyone is eligible to win an adorable and functional coffee cozy from QuiltingDiva for this weeks Public Comment Prize!

NINE Chances to WIN!

Entry 1: REQUIRED! Leave a comment on your favorite entry at the bottom of this blog post (you can also comment on twitter/flickr/facebook but that won’t get you an entry) (or at least that you voted) 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 with your email address– 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: Follow me on twitter: www.twitter.com/kimscraftyapple

Entry 4: Tweet about this fantastic contest with hashtag #PQHardware (important or I won’t know you did it)

Entry 5: Like Project QUILTING on facebook

Entry 6: 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 7: Head on over to QuiltingDiva's and let me know your favorite item in the store!

Entry 8: Sign up for my newsletter in the upper right corner of this page!

Entry 9:  Blog about Project QUILTING and leave a link here to what you wrote.

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

This means you have NINE chances to win! I need you to write each of these entries as different comments in order to qualify you for all seven 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 on Saturday, March 5th.

***Changes to Prizes/Voting this season***

1. One person can no longer win both prizes. If this does happen (as it has), they will take home the ‘JUDGES Choice’ prize and the person in 2nd in the PUBLIC vote will take home the ‘PUBLIC’ prize. As before, each of these winners will not qualify for the random prizes. I’m doing this just to spread around all the amazing goodies so many great sponsors donated!
2. The second is, I will not be listing myself (KimsCraftyApple) on the Public Vote. Since this is my ‘creation’ I will never win any of the prizes – I don’t want to seem like this is biased towards me at all. I’m doing this merely for the fun, the challenge, and the camaraderie. I will still, however, be showing off my entry AND sending it to the judges for their score and critique. 

Challenge 5 will be posted on Sunday, March 6th at NOON!