I just have to say you all are so TALENTED! I'm in awe with ALL the projects submitted for this challenge! If it weren't for you (the participants) we wouldn't have over TWO-HUNDRED dollars worth of prizes for the GRAND PRIZE of Season 1 of project Quilting! Thank you!

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 first challenge of Season 1 Here:

http://kimscraftyapple.blogspot.com/2010/05/season-1-challenge-1.html

CHALLENGE WINNERS: There will be two winners for this challenge – one for the public vote and one for the ‘judged vote’ – Diane, Rose Mary and Kym. This weeks public winner and Judges winner will each receive two yards of fabric (min of 1/2 yard cuts) courtesy of FabricFascination AND a $10 gift certificate to the FatQuarterShop courtesy of the FatQuarterShop! 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 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. This weeks prize is AMAZING – don’t forget to read below on how to enter!

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: Quilties

The Story: Table runner measures 48" x 12". I created windmill blocks with 4 rectangles turned into prairie points and 8 rectangles surrounding them. Four blocks used up 48 of my rectangles. Then I made them into a table runner with one half yard as the backing and the other (same fabric) as part of the back and the borders. I sandwiched the quilt without binding, because the borders and points framed the piece well. Finally, I quilted swirly wind to blow those pinwheels around!

Quilter: QuiltSewPieceful The Story: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA!
Forty four 3" x 5" rectangles, some machine embroidery, and a lot of miscalculations, false starts and frustration! But it finally worked. One half yard of fabric was used for the back and it had to be pieced. Binding is cut on the bias from the other 1/2 yd of fabric due to the curved edges. Quilting includes stitch in the ditch, and stars in the red stripes.
Enjoy!
Size 19 inches square
Money Spent: $4.99

Quilter: KimsCraftyAppleThe Story: Using all 50 rectangles, 1/2 yard of pfd fabric (part of which I painted for the back) 1/8 yard (probably even less) for the binding, a strand of woven ribbons and fibers over floral wire using a four strand weaving technique (so the tail is malleable) - this is my entry for Project Quilting's Rectangle Challenge.
I used everything from my stash - no purchases specifically for this project.
Dimension across the kite the long way: 19.5", the shorter way 19" - two short size are 13", the two long sides are 15", the tail is 32"

I almost forgot to mention - when I started this project i had no intention of creating a kite - I didn't know that's what it wanted to be until Thursday morning when it told me in my dreams ;)

Quilter: MoranArtQuilts The Story: I started with 50 rainbow colored rectangles and decided to cut them into shapes. I love working with simple everyday shapes and making them into a pleasing design. With the ones I had left I cut them in half lengthwise and used them for the border. The rest of the fabric was used for the backing and binding. The quilting is done in a design to mirror the shapes of the raw edge appliqué.

It measures 15.5” x 20.5”

Quilter: StudioCherieThe Story: This is my entry for the project quilting challenge this week. Starting with rectangles made me think of this block which is my favorite way to use rectangles. I wanted to enter a finished product for this week, so I needed to make it into something that fit my agenda. I am working up a pattern for binder covers for back to school, so I used the quilting challenge as a platform for one of my prototypes. I love how it turned out. I only put one pocket on the inside because I needed to finish up. When the pattern comes out, it will have different sizes, different closure options and more pocket options.

The Story: On Friday, my husband asked what I wanted to do for Mother's Day (a little late, I know, but he had to work on Mother's Day so I'm okay with it). His suggestion, Maybe we can go fishing! I'm thinking, For Mother's Day!?!? My idea, I know it's already Friday and I've only made a few small/simple quilts ever in my life, but I would really like to try to make a quilt for Project Quilting! My wonderful husband was nice enough to babysit our 10-month-old daughter all-day long while I worked on my project. So I got to spend my "Mother's Day" doing something I really enjoy doing, although I don't have very much experience doing it.
I used exactly 50 blocks. It was a close call. I started out with 36 for the main section, and when I filled in the small green triangles around the edges, I found myself having to dig out and use the scraps I had cut off and put in the pile to get rid of. Probably a rookie mistake of mine - to think that I would actually be able to throw any material away.
I ended up finishing the top of my project at 2:00 in the morning on Saturday morning and this is the table runner/wall hanging I came up with. All in all, it was a great Mother's Day!
My finished project is 13" X 32".

Quilter: Green Couch Designs

The Story: I made a pillow using 47 (of the allowed 50) 3"x5" rectangles, in assorted blues and oranges, and part of a fat quarter size for the solid brown. I designed a block (by accident!) to use 3" square and 2"x3" pieces, so basically cut the 3x5's into those sizes, it magically worked!
For the back I sewed most of the remaining rectangles together.
you can read more here: www.biggirlfeet.ca

Quilter: LoveBugStudios

The Story: This piece, entitled "Thailand" uses 44 3"x5" rectangles cut from 5 colors of Thai silk taffeta fabric. The backing fabric & some of the sashing strips are from navy blue Kona cotton (3/8 yard used.) The finished piece measures 18.5" x 24.5".
This piece came about in a very organic way; each day I did something to alter the piece until it came to this finished form. I also used at least 5 new techniques/tools that I had never tried before, so I'm very proud of myself for quilting out of the box! :)
I started by chopping 1/4 yard of the navy blue into 3 pieces of different sizes. Then, I cut up the rectangles into these asymmetrical chunks, and assembled them until they were roughly the same size as the backing (using the navy blue to supplement randomly.)
I quilted in a variegated thread using bright pink felt as the batting, then layered over each piece with some geometrical shapes cut from the leftover rectangles & fused to the top.
Instead of a traditional binding, I opted to do a serged edge in a wooly thread, that added some sparkle and a unique finish.
I finished the piece by hand beading with the very last of my rainbow Czech glass beads over the top; (the beads that attach the quilt together are not the same but they match in color & are a bit larger in size.)
The piece is hung using 3 rectangles and bamboo handles repurposed from a handbag.

Quilter: KarolsVintageArt

The Story: I loved this folk art cat fabric so much, that i wanted to build my challenge quilt around the large cuts from this print.
i used 41 of the rectangles, which i originally strip pieced 3 X 5 and then decided that was too over powering for the size of my quilt, so i un-stitched and re-stitched together to make this pieced border design. The corner squares, binding and part of the back were all from the other 1/2 yard cut (zebra print). I had just a few scraps of the rectangles left over.

Quilter: Kathleen’s Quilts

The Story: I sewed all the rectangles into one large square. Then cut the square into uneven strips and sewed those together. Then I randomly cut shapes. Shapes are stitched on with a multi-stich zig-zag... white thread on the green portion and green thread on the white portion. Quilting is random loops again with green on the white background and white on the green background.

Quilter: QuiltingDiva

The Story: I used 5 FQ's of bright rainbow colors, cut 25 rainbow rectangles 5" x 3" and 25 black swirly ones :) I cut my 2 half yards of black solid for the border and backing.... well, then I spotted the perfect batik to use in the border instead.

Finished quilt is 29" x 24"

Quilter: PennyFabricArt

The Story: I originally planned my 3x5 patches at 8 teal, 8 maroon, 4 cyan, 12 cream and 12 green. After doing a bit more math I changed my starting patches to: 7 teal, 7 maroon, 3 cyan, 11 cream, 11 green, and 10 black. So my project used 49 patches, plus 2 half-yard cuts of black (one of which I reserved for the backing).

I used 3 star piecing methods developed by Nancy Johnson-Srebro in her book Stars by Magic. I ended up with 3 star blocks and lots of little pieced scraps.

I decided to explode the stars and use all the little pieced scraps to make extra pinwheels and accents, so I used all of the blocks and scraps completely. I cut the edges of the outer blocks to let the star sections explode off the base.
Since I didn't have enough fabric left to make a binding, I put the front/back/batting together inside-out, sewed them pillow-case style, then turned them right-side out and finished the gap by hand. The quilting is simple line patterns that follow and enhance the geometry.
It measures 24" square from the outer edges, with the cutouts going in from there.

Quilter: Karens Crafty World

The Story: This project was so much fun! Before I became a quilter 1 1/2 years ago, I was a HUGE scrapbooker. Melding the two together was a great joy. I started with some Amy butler fat 1/4's (that I've had for a long time and didn't know what to do with), some matching solids, a 1/2 yd cut of cream fabric, and a 1/2 yd of light green fabric. I used almost all the 3 by 5's but not all the 1/2 yard cuts.
I started by making 4 tiny 'quilts'. The front and back cover measure 8 1/2 by 7 inches and the inside pages measure 6 by 71/2 inches. I considered binding the pages, but it seemed to add too much bulk so I zig-zagged around the edges instead.
I had to buy thread and the eyelets for a total cost of $5.94. Everything else was from my stash including all the scrapbook embellishments.
I love how it turned out!

Quilter: PamelaQuilts

The Story: I decided to start my quilt using mostly pieces from a charm pack, adding a few of my stash fabrics that coordinated with the Charms. I cut them down to 3 x 5, then started brainstorming. I decided to make a quilt using a block that I've make before which involves sewing units around a center square. It's a pretty busy quilt, but the fabrics are so springtime looking that I love it! I added a sunny yellow border and barely had enough of the orange for the binding!

Quilter: Spring Water Designs The Story: This is my Project Quilting Rectangles Challenge Project. I started with 48 3 x 5" rectangles (8 each of 6 different colored batiks) and two half yard batik cuts. I left half of the rectangles 3 x 5" and sub cut the other half into 3 x 3" and 2 x 3" pieces. Then I randomly sewed them into 5 rows for the bag body. The remainders were pieced together for the handles. The half yard cuts were used for an outside pocket on each side of the tote that measures 4.5" x 7", one inside pocket that measures 6 x 6", the bottom of the tote, and I pieced the lining of the tote and handles with them. I quilted in a very geometric horizontal and vertical pattern on the rectangles (this helped to hide the lines that sewed in the inside pocket). I outline quilted around the butterflies on the bottom. The overall size of the tote is 14.5" tall x 16" wide, x 6" deep. I literally used all of the material that I started with with only a few snipets and strips left over.

Quilter: DebiDesigns

The Story: After many attempts at trying my hand at traditional quilting, I have decided to go back to crazy quilting. So, using Project Quilting as a restarting board and after cutting out 50 rectangles with the bright batiks and trying to decide how to put them together this is what I saw out of them as I see all fabrics.

whole quilted table topper of crazy quilted blocks.
18" 1/2" x 17 1/2"

Quilter: DownHomeDesigns

The Story: To begin my project I had to decide what form it would take. I started looking thru my quilting books and came upon Georgia Bonesteel's bargello method. As soon as I saw it, I knew that's what I wanted to do....a bargello wall hanging.
Then I had to pick some fabrics. I started digging thru my stash and found some fabrics that I had hand painted about 3 years ago. The colors are so pretty and summery looking. I knew these were what I would use.
At first I thought about using black to make those colors pop, but then I decided that white would look so much better and really bring out the tropical feel in the colors.
I wanted to try to use all 50 rectangles (cut from my hand painted fabrics) and both 1/2 yard cuts that we were allowed to use. Boy! Has that been a challenge!
I decided to use a white on white print for the 1/2 yard cuts. I liked the back side of this better, so I turned it over and used the back of it for the right side.
I ended up with both the front and back being pieced and they are both pretty enough to be used for the front. The strip in the middle is the 3x5s, (full size, unfinished measurement). The smallest finished size strip is 7/8".
I used 25 3x5s and about 16" of one 1/2 yard cut on the front. The other 25 3x5s and all but a few small scraps of the rest of the white fabric was used for the back and the binding.
This wall hanging measures 28"x20 1/2"
I only used materials I had in my stash, so no money was spent for this project.

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 first challenge Shoofly Here: http://kimscraftyapple.blogspot.com/2010/04/project-quilting-first-challenge.html

In alphabetic order, I’m going to show you the ‘competitors’ for project quilting. then on the side of the blog, you can cast your vote for your favorite project. Since I’m in charge of this challenge I am excluding myself from all prizes although I am still going to show off my creation. Feel free to leave comments on what you think of it anyway!

CHALLENGE WINNERS: There will be two winners for this challenge – one for the public vote and one for the ‘judged vote’ – Diane and Rose Mary. The winners will each receive a hand-dyed fat quarter that has been dyed by Diane and myself! I will also be sending everyone there rank (somewhere between 1 and 10) and any critique’s the judges have about your creation. The top 3 will be posted on my blog this weekend (4/24 or 4/25).

PUBLIC WINNERS: I will also be giving out a prize to the public. You’ll find out how at the bottom of this post after you’ve checked out each of our challengers entries.

Quilter: BrennieQuilts

The Story:

In true Project Runway fashion, with only grid quilting and binding pinned to the back (he he), here is my challenge piece. Hope you like it!
It's a 30" x 36" Baby Quilt with embroidered ABCDE letter blocks between the Shoofly blocks with Broken Dishes block corners.
This was fun!

Size: 30” x 36”

Cost: Stash

Quilter: DebiDesigns

The Story:

Project Quilting, Shoofly block in batiks.
I used a jelly roll i bought on clearance for $9, I used about 25 strips from the roll to make the front and back. Used left over batting.

Size: 26” x 16”

Cost: Fabric from a jelly roll $9

Never having made a shoo-fly block before, I googled it and then discovered this variation. I lean towards wonky myself and loved choosing fabrics that had designs that reminded me of my garden elements...pinwheels, clouds, spider webs, "peace" , tie dye "flowers". I arranged the blocks as i thought they would appear in a garden, with the dark outlines toward the bottom left corner as if the shadows were created from the sun in the upper left. The quilting had to be very simple and modern and "wonky", with none of my flower centers intersecting perfectly and the grid lines all off center and angled.

Size: measures 29" X 37"

Cost: i spent $0...
everything was pulled from my stash!

The Story:

Here is my submittal for the first Project Quilting - Shoofly Challenge. I started with a piece of fabric I dyed and a fun floral printed fabric. I decided that I would 'make' my own striped fabric. I did this by taking a portion of the hand-dyed fabric and machine stitching different fibers - some that I had dyed, some commercial - across the fabric. I absolutely love the effect it had. It did make ironing during the piecing portion of the quilt a bit tricky. Due to miss calculation of fabric amounts I did not have enough of the hand-dye to put as the center blocks of my shoofly. So, I took a really neat directional branch fabric and pieced them together to create either 'circles' or 'x's' in each square. Eight of them went together just fine but after two tries with the center one (late at night) I scratched it and just used a lighter value square of the hand-dyed fabric. I think created an almost 'bordered' feel in the quilt with out actually adding a border. I decided to keep the quilting simple and did some rectangles and diamonds. There was enough going on with the color, texture and pattern in the quilt.
Size: 31.75" x 31.75"
Cost: $0 - I used everything from my stash!

Quilter: LoveBugStudios

The Story:

First I had to look up the Shoo Fly block because I couldn't remember what it looked like. Then, I went to EQ6 to do the layout & recoloring - I sized it so that everything could be cut with my fabric die cutter. The quilt was inspired by the black & white polka dot and beaded stripe I had in my stash.
Unfortunately, when I went to look for the stripe I couldn't find it, which prompted a trip to the fabric store. I spent $7.49 replacing it, plus 1/2 yard of the white polka dot. Immediately after I returned home, I found my bead striped fabric!
I also decided to embellish the quilt using red 2-holed buttons - nearly all of them that were in my stash. I completely used up the fabric I bought, plus 5 red fat-eighths and about a yard or so of the polka dot. I chose the quilting to mimic the waviness of the striped fabric.

Measurement: The finished quilt measures 32"x34".

Cost: $7.49

Quilter: MrsDragon

The Story:

I took my inspiration from the way the shoofly blocks appear when pieced together into a quilt. If you make the point where the four corners of the blocks come together, you see a new design. I used that as a starting point, and simplified the piecing of this "new" block. I set the blocks on point and quilted with the shoofly outline as a nod to the inspiration. To read a fuller description of MrsDragon's process please check out: http://www.mrsdragon.net/2010/04/project-quilting-challenge-1-shoofly.html

Approximate Size: 26" X 9"

Cost: $0 The only thing I purchased was the red thread.
(This is the short version. : ) The longer version, complete with pictures, will be up on my blog later today. I will update here with the link when it is up.)

Quilter: Pamela Quilts

The Story:

My first thought for the challenge was to make a lot of little shoo fly blocks and put them together into a mosaic, but the time limit made me reconsider that. I then decided to use a stripe as the solid block on the sides and found this great wavy stripe.

Size: It measures 35 x 35.

Cost: My total spent on this quilt was $7.40 for the stripe in the blocks, the border fabric and the binding.

Quilter: Penny Fabric Art

The Story:

I made 5 normal shoofly blocks, plus 4 that I skewed at sharp angles to make the piece flow in a circle.
Size: It measures 19 inches square.
Cost: I used all stash fabrics, so I didn't spend any money to make it.

Quilter: SewSavvy

The Story:

OMG! Did I make it in time? I felt like I was actually on the show and time was working against me! I had so much to do and of course the thread was working against me and I couldn't go buy more. Batteries dead in the camera-where did I put the batteries?Whew, I am done

Size: 34” x 34”

Cost: Well, I spent $0 on this project, everything taken from my stash.

Quilter: Quilties

The Story:

I designed this with a large shoofly block set on point then smaller ones. I used bright and highly contrasting geometric prints, which is way out of my comfort zone, but I like the end result. I emphasized that geometric quality with two repetitive geometric quilting designs.

Size: The quilt is 26" square

Cost: I didn't spend any of my budget. It is all made with materials I had in my sewing room.

I think right now all the participants need a round of applause, or a pat on the back or something – everyone did such a wonderful job and it’s great to see how each person put their own spin on the challenge! Nice work!

PUBLIC WINNERS: The winner from the Random Generator (which I still have to figure out exactly what this is…) will receive Diane’s original ‘Starry Nines’ Pattern. It’s a great pattern for a beginner and fun for a quilter with more experience. Below is a picture of Diane’s Starry Nines in the Jungle that she made from the pattern.

To Enter You must:

Entry 1: Leave a comment on your favorite entry and vote for your favorite on the poll on the upper left hand side of the blog.

Entry 2: Follow my blog.

Entry 3: Must tweet this contest with hashtag #PQShoofly (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

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

This means you have FIVE 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 Friday, April 23rd.