With the new year quickly approaching I’m revamping my ‘world’.  My sewing room is completely torn up right now and is being expanded and reorganized to make room for my new ‘little’ long arm., my sewing machine (my baby) is in the shop for some regular cleaning and maintenance,  AND I have big, grandeous (not sure how I should actually spell that…maybe it’s not a real word…) plans to redo my blogs to condense and streamline all of my interests. 

One thing that is keeping me sane through all my ‘crafty world renovations’ is that I have a deadline – January 8th.  January 8th is when the first challenge for Project QUILTING, Season 3 is posted and it’s when I have to be able to sew again. Which means, everything has to be reorganized, clean and operational.  It also means – I have a lot of work to do.

In the middle of all this I need to get all of you super excited about the 3rd season of Project QUILTING.  I don’t know about you but I am definitely excited!  We took a rather long break between season 2 and 3 but in my defense…I did have a baby during that time. 

Amazing quilts were created during Season 1 and Season 2 which means I have high expectations for you all (and myself) this season.

Things are going to change slightly.  There will be no more judges winner or public winner – which means no more critiques on your piece, unless you post your quilt to the Flickr ‘Critique’ Site.  There will still be prizes each week and at the end but this is how it’s going to work.

All prizes will be chosen by random drawing.  Whoever enters a piece (following the guidelines of the challenge) will have their name written on a piece of paper and put in a hat (literally – a hat).  Either Cedi or Capri, my two older daughters, will draw a name and that person will win the prize.

At the end of the season there will be grand prizes as well – each time you enter a challenge during the season your name will be put in the hat for the grand prize.  Which means, the more challenges you enter, the bigger your chances are at winning the grand prize.

I already have a couple of great prizes lined up for this season.

Prizes (so Far)

First, from Marcia’s Crafty Sewing and Quilting

1. Easy to Sew Table Runners, 2. First Morning Glory Bloom Quilt, 3. Quilts for a Cause 2011 Created with fd's Flickr Toys

For each challenge, I would like to offer a Gift Certificate of $30.00 off Quilting on a Baby size or larger.  The Gift Certificate will be good for 60 days from the date of issue.  The gift certificate is transferable so you can share it with a friend if you’d like.

I was browsing through Marcia’s Blog to find some examples of her fabulous quilting – there are so many!  One that really caught my eye is shown above with her Triple Meandering Technique.  I think it looks truly fabulous!

Next we have two prizes from FabricFascination:

One week the random drawing winner will be able to choose from either color of these:

Batik 5" Charms: 40 Tonga Treat Mini Squares in BlueBerry       OR

Batik 5" Charms: 40 Tonga Treat Mini Squares in Pomegranate

Another week the random drawing winner will receive this:

Fabric Bundle: 6 Fat Quarters from Kathy Davis Happiness Collection for Free Spirit in Indigo - 1 1/2 YDs (ps. I have this collection in another color – SPECTACULAR! (and Spectacular happened to be today’s ‘Word on the Street’ on Sesame Street in case you were wondering))

Kym from FabricFascination would also like to offer you all 10% off all fabrics in her etsy shop using the coupon code: KIMSCRAFTY

I’m still looking for sponsors so email me at: lapaceksorchard {at} gmail {dot} com if you’re interested in being one.  There are some ‘perks’ including a button on my blog and being mentioned in blog posts and via my newsletter.

Also – I need your help to make this season a success!  Please help me spread the word about the start of Season 3 – on your blog, facebook, twitter, guilds, to friends/family that quilt.  Anyone, everyone you know!  Project QUILTING is not just for experienced quilters.  It’s a fantastic way to challenge yourself, create something you never imagined before AND complete a project in just one week!  In fact, our second place winner of last season was a fairly new quilter – it was amazing to see how her work progressed as the challenges continued.  She even went on to be featured on Generation Q (a fabulous new quilting emagazine) because of a project Project QUILTING inspired. 

If you have any ideas for me on how to spread the word about this challenge please let me know!  I’d also be happy to answer any questions for you if you wanted to do an ‘interview’ post on your blog or wherever.

Thanks in advance for helping me make Season 3 another quilting success!

Schedule for Season 3

(each challenge is posted at NOON and is due by NOON the following Sunday):

Challenge 1: January 8th
Challenge 2: January 22nd
Challenge 3: February 5th
Challenge 4: February 19th
Challenge 5: March 4th
Challenge 6: March 18th