Woo Hoo! We’re back up to TWENTY-TWO particpants! TONS and TONS of fabulous projects. Lots of our regulars and I’m happy to welcome some newbies! I have to say that I’m glad that I get to be a ‘participant’ and not a judge – they definitely have their work cut out for them again 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 third challenge of Season 2 here:

http://kimscraftyapple.blogspot.com/2011/02/project-quilting-season-2-challenge-3.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 JUDGES vote will receive $10 to FabricsNQuilts AND a Pattern & Notecards from Marcia's Crafty Sewing & Quilting

The winner of the PUBLIC Choice will receive $10 to SpiceBerryCottage AND a Novelty Square Set from QuiltingDiva

FOUR, nope - now FIVE - randomly drawn participant will receive either In the Studio with Judy Murrah by Judy Murrah from UniquelyNancy OR $20 for Machine Quilting Services from QuiltsbyBarb. OR Downloadable Quilter's Cookbook 2009 from the QuiltingGallery OR $10 to Dye Candy OR a pdf of 2 maze quilt patterns from Lisa Penny!

Voting closes at 7pm CDT on Friday, February 18th.

This week’s Judges!

Diane Lapacek

Barb Raisbeck

Lisa Penny

Amy Ellis of Amy’s Creative Side founder of the Bloggers Quilt Festival

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: MoranArtandQuilts

The Story Behind ‘I’ll Remember You’:

This little quilt named "I'll Remember You" measures 18" in diameter.

I thought about this for quite awhile and the thing that kept coming to mind were all the people and pets in my life that I have lost. I wanted this to be a Valentine to them. I kept it general so it could relate to anyone else who has ever lost someone they love.

I drew out the design with the sun rays signifying the rays to heaven and the path is for the path in life I have walked with all these people and all the walks I've been on with my little dog that passed away last April. I decided to paper piece the background and what a challenge that was! I struggled for two days sewing all those pieces in place and getting the path to line up and finally succeeded.

Then I attached the Valentine envelope made from fabric and found the perfect verse to write on the Valentine itself. The little heart adds the perfect final touch. The little note which measures 3x4 is removable and also made from fabric.

The quilting was done in free motion in a whimsical heart and loop design.

Catherine from Columbus, OH

Quilter: Pastor Katie Bishop

The Story Behind ‘Be Mine’:

This past week, the scripture passage of 1 John 4:7-12 has been on my mind. It was the text we used for last Sunday as we began a new sermon series, “Love is a verb.” When I think of love, I can’t help but think of the great love that our God has for us. And the “God shaped hole” in my heart that has been filled now that I know that love.

So for my piece, I made a heart. Blue because of the way I felt before I knew the love of God… cold, empty, sad. And I left a “God shaped hole” (symbolized by the white heart) in it. The only pink I used was the little pink button that symbolizes the love of God moving to my heart.

For me, there is no greater valentine then God, who is always calling out, “Be Mine.”

I paper pieced the background out of a jelly roll I had been saving. I quilted the background with brown and teal thread. I then used blue buttons and the two heart buttons on top.

Made in Brunswick, Maryland, this piece is 6.5 inches by 9.5 inches.

Quilter: Shape Moth

The Story behind ‘Bee in love’:

Blogged:
shape-moth.blogspot.com/2011/02/hexie-bee-in-love-yellow-...

My entry for Project QUILTING Season 2 – Challenge 3 – 'Be My Valentine'. The pillow measures 42cm x 42cm and has been made in Germany :)

Quilter: Besty H

The Story Behind ‘New Beginnings’

I love the Miami artist Britto so I adapted my quilt to his style. I call it New Beginings & the idea came from my daughter and her boyfriend. Second time around for her and she is so happy. The approx. size is 28" x 34". This is my own design and I really like it.
Created in South Florida

Quilter: Gock’s Frocks

this is my entry for week 3 of project quilting :)

Kristen from Rochester NY

Some Bunny Loves Me

size = 6.5" wide x 6.5'long

no red...no pink was the challenge so I went with my favorite color - PURPLE!

I love making functional wearable art and decided to make a scarf for this weeks challenge.

Ideally this would make a great valentines day present or illustrates the kind of gift I love to receive - HANDMADE

the back side is a cotton interlock - purple with 1 foot of aqua interlock and a purple heart appliqué.

Quilter: Sally’s Angelworks

The Story Behind ‘His Love is Everything’

Ohhhh I loved this challenge. The first thing I thought of when hearing the inspiration "Be my Valentine" was a "LOVE" collage. And when I think collage, I think linen and lace and gorgeous neutral fabrics. I have had these fabrics laying around my craft cutting table waiting for me to make something out of them for about four weeks now! (I'm going to make a scrap wreath out of the rest of the 1.5" strips! fun!). I recently saw on Joanna Figueroa's blog (Fig .Tree & Co) a pillow using squares across like this and totally wanted to use that design idea as a frame for my collage. The quilting was purposefully random straight lines horizontally across the bottom of the quilt to mimic the straight line of the little squares.

I absolutely LOVE using paper scraps in my quilt collages, and here I've used a page out of a shorthand textbook, several random pictures (from Artchix...love that art site!!), and words cut out of pages from old novels. (I got those from a vintage supplier on Etsy...very addictive!!).

The words I chose to highlight on the quilt started out with just "Love is everything". But today while I was driving, I couldn't get this song out of my head (Christie Nockels - Song of the Beautiful) that says "He loves me...the broken and the beautiful...He loves me". It made me think that really for me, HIS love is everything. So I added that word today! :)

The transparency with music printed on it is also from ArtChix. And of course, I added lace and buttons. For the fabric heart, I ironed on interfacing then sent the fabric through my Big Shot and cut out the cool heart. I sewed around it slowly using my machine. I'm learning...it's good for me, for sure!! LOL!!

I just want to mention that the folds in the heavy linen were a problem for me and frustrated me. I tried every technique to get them out (yep, I froze my quilt!! LOL!), but alas, this heavy duty linen had been folded up in my craft studio closet for a long, long time! (years...*sigh*) and the folds will just have to add to the collage/art effect. Not an excuse...just an explanation. :)

Thanks for taking time to look and comment!! :) Still loving this process!! (btw, don't you love the picture of my great-grandparents in the silver frame below??? {adore}!!)

Sally's Angelworks
this quilt measures 9.5"x15" and was made in Texas! :)

Quilter: TerryAskeArtQuilts

The Story behind ‘I Give You Heart’:

I didn’t think I would enter this week’s challenge. Then on Wednesday afternoon, inspiration struck! I came across a cardboard glove insert that I had been saving, and the words from the Elton John / Kiki Dee duet “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” popped into my head. The words to the chorus are actually “I gave you my heart”, but in my head I was singing “I give you my heart” – the title of my quilt.

I decided to use the glove insert as a template for two hands, with a heart between them. I spaced the heart in the middle, so it is not obvious which hand is giving and which is receiving, because in a good relationship, each person should give their heart to the other.

I purposely ignored my pink and red fabrics, and pulled bright and cheerful fabrics from my other colors. I thought the purple fabric with the pink hearts was perfect for the heart, and I used a heart print on the back.

I fused the heart and hands to the yellow background, then added the top and bottom borders. I used a narrow zigzag stitch to outline the heart and hands, then stippled the yellow background, and outlined the flowers in the borders with free-motion stitching. I really like how that turned out.

I decided to try something new (to me), machine sewing the binding by stitching in the ditch from the front. There were a couple of spots on the back that required some hand-stitching, but overall it worked very well.

The finished size is 19" wide by 17" high.

I create in New Westminster BC Canada.

Quilter: Kathleen P.

The Story Behind ‘Be my creepy crawly slimy valentine!’

We're very into puzzles over here. And I've never been so into the hearts and flowers cheesy valentine's day stuff. And I have an unseemly amount of flannel scraps. So I appliquéd and quilted a matching game of those animals usually ignored on February 14th.

There are 7 pairs: snails, snakes, fish, seahorses, ants, sharks and iguanas (one iguana went AWOL before photos: lover's spat?). I can continue to add to it whenever the whim hits (or the scraps threaten to take over). A few of them have matching hearts, most of them make kissy-face if you put them together, and some of them have 3D felt detail. Each is 5" square. I used whatever was around in the way of batting and interfacing, but the ones with the higher quality batting or the heavy interfacing are really better. They're all flannel with some felt so they're washable and will get even softer.

This can be used a lot of ways. Right now it'll be a matching game. Later, since the backing is all the same, it can be a memory game. But really, who knows? I mean, who am I to say that a shark can't fall in love with a snail? You can't stop love.

I made this in Central NY (Oneida County). And seriously, I'm a terrible photographer in the winter. In the summer I do OK, but in the winter every thing's either too white or blurry. These aren't dingy, I swear (though there is the stray dog hair).

Quilter: QuiltingDiva

The Story Behind ‘Mend My Broken Heart’:

I love this style of quilt and have made it with turtles before but thought it would be fun with another design. The second I read the challenge I just knew that I would have to do this in hearts! I used the same template as my turtle quilt but changed it up. I used solid black fabric and cut 8" squares from my batik collection to create the colorful hearts.

Approximate Size: 32"x22"
Tampa, Fl

Stacy Edell

Quilter: Kathy Kreig

The Story:

When I read about this challenge I started thinking about what colors mean Valentine's day to me. Chocolate brown came to mind. Santa gave me this great Oreo fabric in my stocking so I thought I would put it to use. This was such a fun quilt to make!

Quilter: AllThingsBelle

The Story Behind ‘A Mother Never Forgets’

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

This was quite the emotional quilt for me. It is dedicated to the baby I lost a few months before I conceived Juliette.

It is approximately 16x16. I choose rough edge appliqué to symbolize my raw emotion. It is free motion quilted on my sewing machine. I free motion embroidered "A Mother Never Forgets" in between the blood lines that link the image of myself with my 2 daughters and our angel baby.

What a therapeutic journey!
Blogged here:
allthingsbelle.blogspot.com/2011/02/mother-never-forgets....

Quilter: SpringWaterDesigns

The Story Behind ‘Puppy Love’:

The first thing that came to my mind for this challenge was “Puppy Love”. I wanted to do something that showed love without being too obvious. This took me in the direction of something functional for taking care of the beloved family pet. So I made a quilt that can hang on a door, or the wall in a mud room, that has plenty of pockets for holding all of those dog supplies that need to be kept together and handy, but up and out of the way. The four square pockets are made of wool for great texture and sturdiness. The other two long pockets are made of cotton with multiple reinforced seams to section it into several pockets.

I used a color block style to give the overall piece a fun and contemporary look. For a little whimsy, the borders on two sides are a different size than the other two, and the binding is done using two of the border colors used on opposite sides. For those subtle Valentine touches, I added a layered heart and flower embellishment that I made from scraps of the wool to one of the pockets - Directions on how I made this can be found in this blog post: springwaterdesigns.blogspot.com/2011/02/happy-heart-pin.html, and another wool flower topped with a button to another pocket. Three horizontal border strips are embellished with twill ribbon with paw prints and dog bones. The large dog bone shape at the top is also made of wool, and would be the perfect place to add the pup’s name.

The finished quilt measures 21 ½” wide x 44” long. Designed and made in Jessup MD USA.
~ Dawn Stewart
Spring Water Designs

Quilter: Miranda’s Place

The Story Behind ‘A Gift of Love’:

To me, love is like a beautifully wrapped gift that everyone hopes they have the opportunity to open. The outside packaging is so appealing that people will do ANYTHING to open Love.
It is my hope that if you have already opened love you continue to bask in its beauty and if you haven't opened love yet, don't worry.... Your Gift of Love is on the way.

Miranda Dozier, Atl. GA

Quilter: LibraryLynn

The Story Behind ‘Be Mine’:

Hi! This is my first challenge to enter. I've only been quilting for about three years and I usually follow patterns. This is one of the first quilts that I've designed myself.

When I saw the challenge, I thought I could make something for my husband. His prize possession is his bright yellow Mustang Saleen convertible. I decided I could do something in black and yellow and immediately an image of a bee came to mind. I know it's not incredibly creative, but I knew he would like it. This is my second attempt at free motion quilting. I still have a ways to go, but it's better than my first attempt. The little bee has googly eyes because googly eyes always make my husband laugh. I blind hem stitched the appliqué because I like the way blind stitching looks on appliqué. The antennae and mouth are hand embroidered. This is his Valentine's Day card, and it is 12x12 inches square. I am quilting in Conroe, Texas.

Quilter: Marcia’s Crafty Sewing and Quilting

The Story behind ‘My Little Sweatheart Box’:

Marcia Wachuta - Marcia's Crafty Sewing & Quilting

Boscobel, Wisconsin

Measures 5 1/2 inches across by 5 1/2 inches deep.

I designed the crazee patch paper pieced heart for a heart quilt we made for a Breast Cancer fundraiser a couple years ago. When you said Valentine - that was it! I had to use my paper pieced heart! I started combining blues and greens and then added the oranges and printed butterfly fabric. I decided I wanted to make a 3 D quilted box . I took pictures of the whole process. See my blog posts at www.craftysewing.com

My little Sweetheart Box can be used as a catch all for just about anything from a plant to sewing supplies to a Kleenex box.

What a fun challenge!

Quilter: For Quilts Sake

The Story Behind ‘not even the rain: a love poem’:

Made by Pam Geisel of For Quilts Sake in Yellow Springs, Ohio, Feb. 2011 for Project Quilting Season 2, Challenge 3, Be My Valentine.

19” x 26”

My creative process and how I made it:

First I started thinking about Valentines and ways people express their love to another person. I thought about love letters, and specifically classic love poems. I decided to include part of the poem “somewhere I have never travelled” by e.e. cummings, which my husband wrote in a love letter to me when we were dating.

somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond
any experience, your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully, misteriously) her first rose

or if your wish be to close me, i and
my life will shut very beautifully, suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;

nothing we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility: whose texture
compels me with the colour of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing

(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands

Next I came up with a few design ideas then went into my fabric stash to see what I had in green, blue and purple that made me think of romance. I found a piece of fabric that had 7 different floral and leaf images, so I decided to make a quilt that incorporated items that someone would keep to remind them of their love including the second and final stanza of the poem, some ribbons, heart-shaped beads and charms, a little key and a small bag with a pair of hearts inside.

I fussy-cut the floral and leaf fabric (number 7 is the label), printed the text that I wanted to add (the poem and text in two other places. I pieced a thin grayish-green inner border and a yellow/green/blue/tan batik for the outer borders.

The six pieces were sewn with a pillowcase binding and then top stitched around the edges. I did quilting stitch-in-the-ditch on both sides of the inner border then quilted around the flowers and leaves. I even added some hand quilting some of the leaves to give them definition. I wanted to use some fun fur to soften the edges and I wanted it along the outside and not on top of the quilt so I used a zigzag stitch to attach it. Then I added my embellishments. The final step was to use beads to connect the quilts both vertically and horizontally. (The heart-shaped bead on the second quilt on the right side is actually a navy blue, although it looks black in the photos). Rod hangs from a cream colored ribbon.

More closeup photos at:
www.flickr.com/photos/forquiltssake/

Quilter: Quilties

The Story Behind ‘Be Mine Pillow’:

My entry for Project Quilting 2:3 "Be My Valentine" Challenge...

I decided to give my project the look of vintage Valentines, with romantic clip art images made into Victorian-style crazy quilt blocks. I used fancy fabrics and flowery cottons in a vintage color scheme of taupe, cream, brown, light green, a little rose and pink, and lavender. All the embroidery and beading was done by hand. There's also an assortment of buttons, appliqués, vintage lace and tatting that I also did by hand. The back is a beautiful shimmery upholstery fabric and I gave it a brown flowered piping edge.

15" square pillow cover with an envelope back.
Made in Urbandale, IA by Emma Thomas-McGinnis

Quilter: Dashasel

The Story Behind ‘Valentine ABC’s’:

For this challenge, I decided to make a little valentine for my baby. However, being a baby, he isn't into cards, but he sure does love books! So I decided to make him a Valentine book, using the alphabet and having each letter exemplified by something related to Valentine's day (surprisingly, that in an of itself was a challenge!). He also loves texture, so I tried to use a variety of textures; you will see linen, cotton, flannel and even googly eyes! I also tried to mix up making my own shapes versus using patterns that had the elements I was looking for. "K" also has a little key that can be put into the heart. The other fun thing is that this book also serves as a crib bumper.

In terms of quilting techniques, I used a lot of applique and I tried to do some very basic free-motion quilting, which was something I had never tried before. I also did a teeny bit of embroidery. My quilting ended up being a two step process where I first appliqued and did the free motion quilting for the blocks onto interfacing. After all the blocks were assembled, I then quilted through batting, keeping the lines really simple and just following the blocks since the blocks were pretty busy already! I'm not sure if people tend to do this (this is only my second time trying applique), but I didn't want to see all the applique and free motion stitching on the back of the book. This was also my first time using printable fabric, and wow, that was fun!

I can't wait for tomorrow so baby can have his Valentine!

This quilt measures 9.5" x 76" (as a bumper) or 9.5" square (as a book) and was made in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Quilter: Sarah B

The Story Behind ‘Our Family Valentine’:

I made this special little framed quilt as a keepsake for my husband and myself as a reminder of our family. Each heart represents our kids, the rosy heart is our oldest who adores pink, the middle is our second purple-loving daughter, and the third is our little boy. The green border made up of half-inch squares represents me and my husband.

All the fabrics used for patchwork are either from the kids' baby quilts or from my latest quilt that I made for my husband and I, so it's neat to pick each little piece out and see where it came from!

The hearts were crazy pieced then raw-edged appliquéd on to the pieced background.

I free-motion quilted loops and hearts on to the background.

As I did last season in Project Quilting, I gave myself an additional challenge for each one I completed to try something new! This is the first quilt I've completed with raw edge appliqué and the first quilt I've placed in a frame.

I create in Colorado.

Quilter: Kathleen Quilts

The Story Behind ‘Our Love…Our Life’:

I first thought I would do an intertwined block to represent two lives together but settled on the nine patch for simplicity and time and the room to express myself in the alternate blocks. I like how the nine patch pulls it all together. I took our wedding invitation, enlarged the graphic and traced it onto fabric with a brown pigma pen. The other blocks include part of our life together.... we met on horseback and had horses for several years. Our family grew to five quickly. The other button blocks represents our family now, with an additional son and daughter that came to us through marraige and five grandchildren. The house is for the country homes we had as weekend getaways. Car rides were entertainment for us and were walks in the woods. We birdwatched and raised birds. Our future is a blank canvas... I can't wait to see what our Lord paints for us next!

Most blocks are fusible applique. The bird cages have netting for bars. The paint on the artist's whatever-you-call-it are floss french knots.

22.5" x 22.5" created in Cissna Park, IL

Quilter: Ilsa B

The Story Behind ‘Chocolates on Your Pillow’

I made a queen sized quilt for my mom when I first started quilting, 5 yrs ago. She now has a twin bed, and has put the quilt on her guest bed. Time for a new one for the woman I love more than life! A) I'd been collecting brown batiks for a long time, B) my best friend and quilting buddy couldn't sew with me yesterday cuz she works as a chocolatier, and BINGO! c) Idea for a quickish project in one day! This will go with Mom's new quilt.

Oh, Ilsa Birmingham, Lake Forest Park, WA, 18 inches square. My mom has an envelope with ALL the valentines my brother and sister and I, and two grandsons, have made for her. I love the paper lace doileys (sp?), and always trim mine with them.

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

Quilter: KimsCraftyApple

Not eligible for Public Voting Prize

The Story Behind ‘Owl be Yours’:

When I first read this challenge my mind started turning. I'll be honest, I think 'Be My Valentine' is a cheesy challenge BUT I did love the fact that we couldn't use much red or pink with it.

I initially had one idea that would involve a lot of handwork but as I thought about it more I realized it would also need red or pink to make it truly what it deserved. So...I changed my train of thought. I then realized that the class I had taken the previous day - 'How to Paint an Owl' with Juliette Crane was the perfect inspiration! And it was.

My piece is called 'Owl Be Yours'.

-Pieced the main background fabric AND the border strips.

-Fusing, Fusing Fusing! I fused all the branches and each separate piece of the owl onto the fabric.

- I then took a piece of fusible fleece and did the outline quilting of the owl. I cut it out for the 'trapunto' technique.

- Free Motion Quilting. I did LOTS and LOTS of free motion quilting on this piece. To create more texture in the branches, throughout the owl, I did an awkward, not perfect outline of the branches with variegated purple thread to create a 'windy' look, fun whimsical half circles all around the owl, feathers on the owls head and wings, hearts, the word's 'Love' and 'Amore' in the wind...the more you look...the more details you would see.

- What's a project without a little fiber? I appliquéd fun fiber onto the branches and the owl. The owl fiber was meant to give you the feeling of feathers and to create some distinction between the tree and the owl.

-Oil Pastels, I used some of my oil pastels to create some shine on the beak and the feathers. I also used some bronzer to give the owl some flushed cheeks.

- Paint - three small white dots were painted in each pupil - to help make them look more realistic.

Did I mention - of course my owl is pregnant!

Approximate Dimensions: 22.5" x 24"

Created in Poynette, WI

~Kim Lapacek, KimsCraftyApple

Now for the PUBLIC Comment PRIZE!

Quilted Perpetual Calendar from TheCountyFair

I’m having one of those moments (which seems to be happening more and more frequently) when I really wish I was eligible to win the public comment prize. Luckily, for all of you – you are all eligible! Kathleen of Kathleen Quilts and The County Fair has generously donated a Quilted Perpetual Calendar for this weeks Public Comment Prize. WOW! WOW! WOW! I can’t wait to find out who the lucky winner is!

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 #PQValentine (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 The County Fair and let me know your favorite item in the store!

Entry 8: Follow Kathleen’s Blog: Welcome to My World

Entry 9: Sign up for my newsletter in the upper right corner of this page!

***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, February 19th.

***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 even 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

You all made me hold my breath again! Only four entries uploaded to flickr by seven am this morning. Again many have come through in time for the deadline – we have TEN fantastic entries 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 fifth challenge of Season 1 Here:

http://kimscraftyapple.blogspot.com/2010/07/season-1-challenge-5-stars-over-america.html

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

The winner of the JUDGES Vote will receive 4 fat quarters (their choice) from FabricAlaCarte AND a $10 gift certificate from the FatQuarterShop!

The winner of the PUBLIC Vote will receive a pattern with instructions for the complete 'Maggie' doll, hair and clothing from Carolee Creations - SewSweet Dolls AND a $10 gift certificate from the FatQuarterShop!

Voting closes at 7pm CDT on Friday, July 16th.

OTHER BONUSES:

A RANDOMLY Drawn Participant will win a pattern for Barb's Where's the Point Quilt and second drawn participant will win the pattern for Diane's Prairie Star Quilt.

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: I will also be giving out a prize to the public. 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 project by checking out their submittals on the flickr group:http://www.flickr.com/groups/1401824@N21/

Quilter: MoranArtandQuilts

19.5" x 26"

I decided to do a literal interpretation of this week's challenge. I found a fabulous piece of batik for the country and at this point cut out the stars, too. I then decided to give the stars some punch with the shadow colors behind them. I appliquéd all those down and thought it would be neat to write on the stars places I've been and places I'd like to see someday; hence the name.

So I chose several places and marked them on the map by sewing down some thin ribbon. I knew this quilt needed more but because I have to leave today on a short trip I wouldn't be able to get anymore done. My thought was to put a word or two along the bottom; maybe the title. This quilt really turned into a more personal thing for me with the destinations. It's amazing how these projects can change as we work on them.

Catherine from Columbus, OH

Quilter: Quilties

The story of ‘Fireworks’:

My interpretation of stars over America is the fireworks that were blazing over America everywhere on July 4th (or 5th in Urbandale due to rain!) My boys had the best time with the fireworks this year and I am giving this to my three year old, Brennan, who saw fireworks for this first time this year. The background is a deep blueish, rainbow batik that looked just like the night sky to me, and has big flower bursts that look like fireworks. Then I used metallic silver and pink paint sticks to do some of the fireworks and thread play to do the rest. I used shiny rayon threads, that really sparkle and added a little more sparkle with beads and sequins. The silhouette on the bottom symbolizes with America with its trees and houses.

Oops, the size is 16" x 22".
- Emma Thomas-McGinnis, Urbandale IA

Quilter: LoveBugStudios

The Story:

This quilt is named "United Concensus", and is intentionally misspelled because I intend to update this quilt with 2010 census data as soon as it is released.

I knew I wanted to represent each state with a star on my quilt, so I designed this layout with 50 nesting stars. The smallest block is 2" finished, and the largest is 12". California is represented by the large focal blue block in the center, and Texas is the red block in the upper left, but don't infer any political references in the red state/blue state representations! Those were determined purely for aesthetic purposes. Each state will be assigned to a star based on their 2010 census population, and a label will be added to the back with a legend showing where each state is positioned in the quilt. (I guessed at CA & TX because of a 2009 population estimate that suggests CA will continue to be most populous.)

Each of the 50 star blocks were pieced using the liberated quilt method made popular by Gwen Marston.

For the quilting, I decided to free-motion quilt the words to the National Anthem, "The Star Spangled Banner." It was really fun figuring out how to get all the words on there without running out of room, and ultimately I decided to just run the sentences together. I didn't want the quilting to be a distraction, so it's done in yellow, but there are some additional photo closeups to show some of the detail.

To finish off this quilt, I took the finished top to my local quilt shop (Quilt Play in Grayslake, IL) and auditioned a few fabrics. I loved the blue polka dot that one of the ladies showed me, but then I found a red, white, blue, and yellow plaid that I couldn't resist. So they both came home. Of course, with a liberated quilt such as this, a straight binding would not do, so I did wonky prairie points to finish it off.

The Kona Snow (white) & the block centers are from my stash; the yellow was purchased along with the fabric for the prairie points. This quilt was made in Hainesville, IL and measures 43" square (from the tips of the largest prairie points.)

Quilter: QuiltingDiva

The Story:

When I thought about the challenge, I was trying to think about what is "America" to me... Growing up in Maine, I thought about the lighthouse. I also knew I wanted to incorporate fun, colorful, beachy fabrics. It is machine pieced, machine appliqué and machine quilted. I used my vast array of batik fabrics to imitate a nighttime sky and sandy beach. I quilted wet sand and star rays. It features 3 bright stars and a lighthouse with an embellished button light. The border is a soft beige star print to complete the theme. This quilt is being held by 2 oversized clothes pins I purchased at Joann Fabrics. These clothespins measure 7 1/2" long. This quilt measures approximately 22" x 20" and was made in Tampa, Florida.

Quilter: Karen’s Crafty World

The Story:

Well, as you can see, I took the theme quite literally. I thought of this idea as soon as I saw the challenge. All the fabric came from my scrap bag...which is really getting workout with these PQ challenges!

I started out by finding a template of the US on line and then printed it out in poster size I cut it out to make a pattern. I then sewed a bunch of scraps together to emulate the flag.( I didn't have a lot of royal blue fabric, so I used what was in the scrap bag instead of cutting into a new piece.) Once I had all the strips sewn together, I quilted it with a large stipple. I then traced my US pattern onto the piece. Before I cut it out, though, I taught myself a new technique called 'couching'. I took skinny black ribbon (which is the other color I used for this quilt) and zigzagged (twice around) over it to make a nice outlined border. It 's a fun technique and I'll definitely be using it a lot!. I also used this technique with the stars. After outlining the US and the stars, I then cut them out. I'll have a posting on my blog (karenscraftyworld.blogspot.com) in the next day or two of the process pics.

My nephew, Jack, who is 6, was over yesterday and saw the almost finished wall hanging and said, "Oh Auntie, I love it, can I have it?" I said, "Maybe...." ....knowing for sure now where this piece was going to hang (in his room, of course!)

After I finished it the next day, I snuck over to my sister's house while they were at the pool and hung it up in his room. He was thrilled to have it, and I think I was even more thrilled to give it to him!

The US measures approx. 30x19 and the stars are approx. 8x8. All supplies came from my stash. I spent 0 dollars. I love that!!!

This project was made in Elgin, IL

Quilter: Sarah b

The Story Behind ‘Twinkle Twinkle’

I created paper foundation patterns for the stars. I have been wanting to paper piece stars for years and this challenge finally gave me the opportunity!

As an additional challenge to myself, I drew all the stars freehand and let them all be a little wonky. Then to add to the out-of-my-normal I crazy pieced the stars into blocks.

I chose fabric scraps from the stash I collected for all my kid's baby quilts. The blues are all my son's though. :) Some of the blues contains touches of a dark red and while. As my additional color I chose creamy tans.

The "Stars Above America" theme lead me to the song, "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," one of my son's favorites. This will be a wall hanging in his room.

I finished this quilt using the pillowcase method and then couched tea-stained fuzzy yarn to the edge. I machine quilted every 1/4" or so, echoing the stars.

I create in Colorado.

Quilter: PennyFabricArt

The Story:

I started this by thinking about what's classic American, and thought "apple pie." Putting star patterns in pie crusts is pretty common, so I thought I'd make some placemats or trivets with starry pies on them - a set of Apple, Blueberry, Key Lime, and Pecan.

I had a lot of that red, white & blue star fabric in my stash (that I had failed to sell in my destash shop!), so I was just going to use that for the background under the pies. But that ended up looking really boring.

Since I had so much of that fabric, I decided to make a picnic blanket, with pies ready-made for the picnic! I used big easy star patterns from the Stars by Magic book, then appliquéd the pies to the finished quilt.

There's a layer of batting in each pie, which I quilted separately from the quilt, plus an extra layer of batting under each pie when I appliquéd them to the quilt, so they have a little 3-d effect. I whip-stitched some yarn around the edge of each pie to offset them a little like a pie pan edge.

Apple: My Nana used to fold the pie crust in half and cut stars out like making paper snowflakes. I did that with this flannel pie crust to make the holes, then put a brown marbled fabric underneath to look like the apples.

Key Lime: For the key lime pie I used a flannel print for the graham cracker crust, then appliquéd on little whipped cream puffs.

Pecan: I couldn't find a good fabric for the pecans, so I bought a bag of them, photographed them and laser printed them onto cotton sheets. Then cut them out and fused them onto a gold fabric with metallic flecks.

Blueberry: The blueberry pie is a cool Kaffe Fassett print with stars cut out like pie dough and appliquéd on top.

All the fabrics were from stash. I spent just under $10 on pecans (to photograph!) and the gray yarn. Made in CT, USA

Measures 48" square.

Quilter: Kathleen’s Quilts

My interpretation was very literal - I made stars over the word America.
The first step was to piece the word 'America' using 1.5" squares of creams and gold/yellows. To add some color and to create a frame for the letters (and for the stars) I added 1/8" border of red around each letter block. Seven flag blocks of red, white and blue hang below the word. I didn't care for the look of the white stripes in the flags - too stark against the creams and golds - so I brewed some tea and steeped the blocks... no more white! For the stars to hang over America I made a gold background with staggered blocks of red. The stars are blue and filled with several layers of batting to make them puffy. To join the upper and lower pieces I added a strip of cream to the bottom of the gold and a strip of gold to the top of the cream.
Now for the fun part. The red blocks have letters appliquéd in them, upside down. The blue stars are backed with red stars. The flag blocks are backed with gold stars on a blue background. Turn the entire quilt upside down so the top is the bottom and the bottom is the top, and you again have "Stars Over America"! Or you can hang the quilt over a fence or railing and have a quilt on each side!

Quilting is in the ditch on the gold half and along the dividing stripes. The cream half is quilted with random little stars.

The stars and flags are hung with several strands of embroidery floss wound over red beads

And the name...as I worked I found myself singing just one line from "America The Beautiful" over and over. 'America, America, God shed His Grace on thee'

43" x 47" Created in Cissna Park, IL

Quilter: SpringWaterDesigns

The Story of Americana Celebration:

I love traditional patriotic quilts so for the Project Quilting theme Stars over America I used scraps of reds, whites, and blues, and added gold to make this cute Americana style table runner and named it Americana Celebration in honor of the 4th of July. I had to make a quick project this week because of other deadlines that I had to meet, so I used some quick cutting and piecing methods to put this one together. It measures 18" x 36" and is quilted in the ditch, and with free motion stars and loops in the borders. I used the same great patriotic fabric for the backing that I used for the inner border. I made this project in Jessup, Maryland USA

~ Dawn, Spring Water Designs

Quilter: KimsCraftyApple

The Story of ‘Galaxies Converge’:

I took the 'Stars over America' Challenge to a more literal meaning - the actual stars over America - or the Galaxy. I started with one square of galaxy printed fabric, one of a glittery navy blue that reminded me of stars and then two separate squares from my hand-dyed fabric and converged them using Ricky Timm's Method.

Once the main part was converged I bordered it with a strip of black and then some more of the same fabric I used in the main portion. I cut out planets and stars from the galaxy print and appliquéd it into different portions of the quilt.

I then fused three different colors of Angelina Fiber together to create sort of shooting stars or comets in the lower right quadrant of the quilt. I free motion quilted this piece with rays and swirls.

Approximate Dimension: 36" x 36"

Created in Poynette, WI

Public Prize!

This weeks randomly drawn (www.random.org) public prize will win this beautiful Rustic Wood Needle Case from midnightcoiler. Read below on how you have seven chances to win!

SEVEN Chances to WIN!

Entry 1: REQUIRED! Leave a comment on your favorite 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 – 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 #PQstars(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 midnightcoiler and let me know your favorite item in the store!

Entry 7: Sign up for my newsletter in the upper right corner of this page!

*prizes can only be one by those in the US*

***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 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, July 17th.

Good luck to everyone and fantastic job!