Winning Sunflower

Last night I attended my guild meeting. It was the big reveal of the challenge quilts we made for the "Initially Yours" challenge. I was absolutely flabbergasted when Blooming Sunflower was voted the winner of the challenge by the membership. Truly unbelievable. I won a $50 gift card to Fabric Depot, a huge fabric store on the other side of town. Can't beat it! Because, as everyone knows, one can never have too much fabric. Quilt challenges are probably my favorite part of belonging to a guild. It was great fun, and when you see some of the creativity in the quilts that were shared, you'll see why I was so surprised to win.

Our event organizer, Clara, kicked off the evening's activities by showing some of her challenge quilts from years gone by. The one she's showing below was a challenge that involved including ten elements. She rattled them all off, but I can't remember what they were. It had to include a curve, a straight line, a house, and a bunch of other stuff. Clara's quilt was very cool.

I forget what this challenge was...something like, "To Your Heart's Content" and Clara's quilt was her interpretation of the Oregon landscape.

Then, the "reveal" got underway. This member has the same initials as me, "BS" and she started us off with her Beach Scene.

This member bemoaned her initials, "JL" saying that there were very few "J" words. Still, she came up with this flashy "Jewelry Lover" quilt.

The bird is some sort of jay, whose name included the initial "L", and so she represented her initials in at least two ways. 

I was surprised this quilt didn't win because it was very well done.

There were 19 participants in all.

Quilts were numbered and hung on the wall. During the break, members were given a chance to view the quilts up close, and then vote for their favorite.

It wasn't easy, let me tell you. All of the quilts were wonderful, without exception.

The diversity of quilts made it difficult to choose any one favorite.

I liked the quilting on this one. It was called "Calico Star", or it could also be called "Calico Strings".

This member, "M.E." took the "Initially Yours" theme literally with her "ME" quilt. Interestingly, her middle initial is "D", and so her complete three initials are "MDE". As she explained her quilt, she failed to mention the "D" showing in the middle, and a few of us believed that she didn't see that she had inadvertantly created all three of her initials.

Some members tried new techniques. The one below was a "Marbled Bunny" and contained a fabric dying technique new to its quilter.

The quilt below was this member's first attempt at fusible applique. 

I love the couched kites' tails:

There were some clever interpretations of the theme with this member's "Must Have" quilt.

With great difficulty, the members voted for three winners.

In third place, "AL" with her "Appliqued Lily".

She created a fabulous three dimensional lily.

And she used her initials in a variety of ways!

"SH" garnered second place with her "Sashiko Hexagon" quilt.

And just look at her beautiful quilting!

And look who took first place with her "Blooming Sunflower" quilt. Holy Moly! Totally didn't expect that, but I'll take it!

Also on display last night were some miniature houses created by some of our members. These were done "round robin" style with each participant completing one side of the house, and then passing it along to the next participant.

Here's one to thrill any homeowner's association:

Check out the "rain chain" on the house below. It was decorated both outside...

and inside!

They ranged from wild...

To sedate.

Looks like fun, doesn't it?

So. Well. I'm all a-flutter with that $50 gift card burning a hole in my pocket. I don't see how I'll have time to get to the other side of town to go shopping before we leave on our trip. It'll definitely give me something to look forward to when I get back.

Today I'm making peach chutney. I have an unexpected day at home because an appointment was rescheduled to tomorrow. There is still quite a bit of catching up to do, but I'm getting there. And I'm hoping to get some sewing done today. How about you? What's on your agenda for the day?