I Could Already Be a Wiener

I was proud and happy last Thursday night to bring home a 3rd place ribbon for my challenge quilt at the guild this year. This year's challenge was "designed" by Melisa and it was a lot of fun. I always enjoy the challenges and usually participate. This year the rules were pretty easy and very creative. There were the usual limits on size, but that's' where the similarity to other challenges ended. She had gone to Lowe's and gotten some of those paint color strips and put them in a bag. Without looking, we were to pick a strip out of the bag. Those colors were to be our "inspiration". On the back of each color strip, she named one particular block and two different techniques. We had to incorporate those into our design also. It needed to be a one-person project, which meant we couldn't design it and then have someone else quilt it for us.

My color strip is in the photo above and here is my finished project. The block I had to use was called "double aster" and it is the one in each of the 4 corners. My techniques were "flying geese"...which make up the saw-toothed border, and "yo yos"...which you can't see on here but they are the flower centers.

Here are pictures of some of the other entries. The blue and yellow to the right of mine is the one that won 1st place. This picture is not good and no photo would do it justice. It is a strikingly beautiful quilt. I was so impressed with her use of color and design. She had to use the double aster block, too, and hers is in the center. One of her techniques was foundation paper piecing and the other 4 stars are done using that method. They are impossible to see here but have perfectly precise points.

This one also won the "viewer's choice" award and that was no surprise to anyone.

The second place winner was this very creative yellow/red/blue one on the bottom in this picture. Again...the pictures are terrible and the quilts were beautiful. Very creative and meticulously executed. I don't remember all her "requirements", but I know one of her techniques was hand quilting and she is a consummate machine quilter. :) That's the idea behind a challenge...get us out of our ruts.

The blue and green one above the 2nd place winner did not win a prize, but it was one of my favorites. Her block and techniques were exactly the same as mine, but with a different color chip. Look at the difference in the two designs! That's one of the joys of this creative hobby of ours.

Thanks, Melisa, for a fun challenge!