Year of the Rooster Challenge

Well - we do want to crow a bit about this Challenge - We think it was a pretty good concept, lots of room for creativity, and I love it when it all comes together so well!  Our Chinese takeout boxes were the perfect container for the challenge kits and we certainly appreciate everyone that took the time to create something for this event.  A spring quilt show in the garden will be be a perfect venue to show these off too!

In no particular order - we have a photo of each of the quilts that are on display here in the shop, and they'll be featured this weekend at the upcoming quilt show at My Garden Nursery!  We'll keep them on display for the rest of the month and return them in early May - so you'll have a chance to come and visit them more than once perhaps?!

This colorful Rooster is from a pattern design by Sarah Bailey - and the alphabet blocks are designed by Sam Hunter.  The Portland Modern Quilt Guild is promoting letters and words in their quilts and Florence has embraced the concept - using them on her quilt fronts as well as quilt backs.  Great way to make a statement!!

Seeking Truth in 2017 - Florence

And we have an identifiable color palette with this one?  Anyone have cereal for breakfast - "Taste them again, for the first time?  Thanks Leslie!

Years and Years of the Rooster - Leslie

This one titled Big Man, combines applique and embroidery and was inspired by Leah's chicken children!  A great day on the farm?

Big Man- Leah

 "Rooster" incorporates a gorgeous range of colorful prints, and some added technique with Shiva paintsticks on the background fabric.  Karen used internet images for inspiration and took off from there with great fabric choices!

Rooster - Karen

Lois sourced her rooster from information on the Chinese Calendar and incorporate the gold coins for luck into her project!

Year of the Rooster - Lois

This rooster applique design is by Sindy Rodenmayer, and Susan added some fancy decorative stitching to personalize her Rooster.  

Rooster - Susan

Kerry was our wild card entry - a rooster is included in her piece, but not the focal point.  She included lots of elements including Chinese characters for Faith and Health, qualities for the Year of the Rooster a coin for luck and prosperity along with other symbolic elements.  "The Fan is representative of the breeze created by the Rooster's wings and lanterns for light which as the Rooster ushers in the Dawn"....This one really takes the assignment to interpret the Year of the Rooster to the next level!

Untitled - Kerry 

And last but not least is a beautiful Fire Rooster that incorporates the chinese coin for the Rooster's eye. Linda got her fabric choice just right on this one don't you think?

Fire Rooster - Linda 

We love that several of the entries incorporated some of the items from the challenge kit, and we love how colorful and varied these quilts are!  Thank you so much for sharing your quilts with us.  Stop by this weekend and see them at My Garden Nursery!

Below are some photos from our long-distance participants - we have entries from Alabama, Connecticut, New Jersey and Oregon!  Thank-you for sharing your projects and we appreciate your willingness to join the fun!

All Cooped Up! - Barb

Barb used a great chicken wire fabric for the back of hers!

Danice's Year of the Rooster - Danice

This rooster looks about ready to crow - Danice's rooster is a hybrid of chinese and farmhouse style!  Her rooster design is by Sindy Rodenmayer of Fat Cat Patterns free pattern

Stand Tall Chicken - Lori

This funky chicken is making a statement about all the glory allocated to the Rooster's!  Lori took her inspiration from a favorite Folk artist, Karla Gerard and includes some great stitching!

Retro Roosters - Barbara

And Barbara was inspired by a recent project (Gypsy Wife by Jen Kingwell) using lots of strips - and vintage fabrics.  This project features some well-aged roosters, the center fabric is 57 years old!  And Barbara collaborated on this project with a donation from a blog friend in Maine - with additional vintage rooster fabric for the back - check it out below!

Back of Retro Roosters - Barb

We love how these quilts all have a strong, vibrant and upbeat feel to them - let's take those thoughts into the year ahead!  Thank-you everyone for some great inspiration.

Clue Challenge Quilts

Congratulations to the favorite clue challenge entries and...thank-you for participating in the challenge and/or coming in to view the projects and voting!  We put all the accurate guesses for the who, what, and where into a hat, and drew a name, so we have 3 winners!

Although we had several accurate guess's and one customer correctly solved the mystery for 6 of the 7 entries...we drew one name for a prize.  Joan was the lucky sleuth, along with viewer's choice winners Yvonne and Maddie.  Their projects are shown below.  

Viewers Choice Winner- Most Innovative Interpretation of Theme

Viewer's Choice Winner- Best use of Challenge Fabric

We loved all the entries and hope you had fun, thank-you again to everyone for participating!!

Stay tuned...we're incubating our next challenge idea so watch for something fun in 2015!

Clue Challenge Entries...time to vote!

We love all the creativity and thought that went into these projects.  We are SEW impressed with the variety of ways that these projects meet the CLUE concepts of who, what and where.  Thank-you to all of our participants we LOVE that you wanted to play the game!  Some of the entries have some pretty subtle clues and some of them pack a whole lot of extra meaning into the projects!  Come down and see the projects up close, and vote ...we have ballots with all the choices listed, so all you  have to do is figure out the specifics!

We'll post the details on who's who and what's what and all that in January so watch for updates!

Clue Mystery Challenge?

Who loves to play board games?  We've got the perfect solution for dark and dreary fall evenings. You can  break out the sewing machine and get ready to solve a mystery with this challenge, and revisit the classic board game of Clue,™ all at the  same time.  

 You choose your character, we provide fabric representing the weapon, and the location is up to you! The cost to join the fun is $10.00.  You will receive challenge guidelines, a fat quarter of the weapon fabric and a piece of additional mystery fabric.

If you want your project displayed in the shop, please turn it in by December 1st!  This is a fantastic chance to create something truly unique, and we're excited to see all the creative and innovative ideas you come up with!

Happy Stitching!

Toile Challenge

Well...surely it's time to forgive and forget all  those New Year's resolutions and start a new project?  And, since it is time for a new challenge...we were thinking a fabric choice would be our inspiration for this one.....and we do love toile.

Vintage Toile: Photo From French-Treasures

Featured Toiles

We thought it was time for you to choose the project design, and we'll focus on the fabric for this challenge.... Purchase a toile fabric kit (2 fat quarters) and create a quilted item.  No item is too small…and although we’d prefer to hang small quilts rather than bed size quilts, we don't want to hold you back if you're inspired.  And just to clarify - you can always purchase more toile or supporting fabric to use in your project, we just have the minimum quantity set as a fat quarter.

• Must use a recognizable amount of toile and supporting fabric on the front of the item.
• Entries must be turned into Two Thimbles by Sunday April 27th 2014.
• Visitors will vote for the winners in the month of May 2014. 

In the works...inspiration

That is pretty much the limit on rules - you can add as many additional fabrics to your project as you choose - use lots of toile or just enough....and create your project from whatever pattern or creative ideas that inspire you!   We have a variety of toile prints, motifs and colors to choose from so get those ideas brewing!  Stop in and pick up a fabric kit and challenge details soon!

Customer Toile Project

Example Kits

Happy Stitching!