A challenge is a good thing!

Over the years, I've participated in a number of quilt challenges.  I've never won and I'm OK with that. I know why I don't win - I don't take the time that's necessary to create a winning piece. That doesn't mean it's not worth it to do the challenges. I learn so much from them as it's always a great place to try a new technique or style.

So, there is the Cherrywood Challenge.  This is the third challenge that they've done. The first year, they had a bundle of their hand-dyed fabric in greens (3 FQ) and a black (1 FQ). The theme was Wicked. I first became aware of this challenge when I saw some of the quilts displayed at their booth in Houston. Here's a link to the Wicked challenge on the Cherrywood website.

The next year, the theme was The Lion King and the hand-dyed fabrics were golds (3 FQ) and a black (1 FQ). I saw this show in Houston last year and I was blown away. It was the MOST SPECTACULAR show of quilts that I've ever seen.  I was blown away!!!!   I've put the link above so you can check out some of the quilts.

All the quilts are 20" by 20".  You can order a book of the top quilts. There are posters, etc.

The theme last year was Van Gogh and the fabrics were blues (3 FQ) and a black (1 FQ). I should say that it's not cheap to get involved in this challenge.  The bundle of four FQs is $45 US.  But I had purchased The Lion King bundle (did nothing with it) and so I bought the Van Gogh bundle. I had spoken to the owner of the company at one show and she had indicated that there were 303 entries in The Lion King.

I figured why not make a challenge piece? And I could use The Lion  King Bundle with the Van Gogh bundle.

Yep - so there I am, a few days BEFORE the August 1st deadline, madly working on the piece. I knew there wasn't enough time to make a winning design, but I wanted to make something and I wanted the experience. What did I learn?   I didn't have nearly enough fabric and you can only use Cherrywood.  Turns out a quilt shop near Shelly sells Cherrywood and she was able to get me a few extra pieces so that helped but it still wasn't enough. The idea came to me while I was quilting on the long arm one day.  A wee bit of research and I was good.

What did I create???   Here's my piece.  I portrayed a quote by Vincent Van Gogh and I tried to use his style of painting (in a VERY simplistic style).  My problem was I did NOT have nearly enough fabric to make the pieces tiny like actual brush strokes.  That is the "live and learn" part!

Challenge piece for the Cherrywood Van Gogh competition

Detail

I used the snippets technique and this piece is stiff!!!  Then I threw it on the long arm and had a lot of fun with a colored thread on the back.  Oh - I want to do more of that!

Quilting

Detail of the quilting

Now there is a LOT of good news to this story.  By the way, I should say that they received 465 entries this year!   They will be showcasing the quilts at Houston next month and because they had so many entries, they have a created a second show both of which will travel to different locations around the world.


SO -- you MUST MUST MUST mark on your calendars the dates of Nov 30 - Dec 2 because one of the shows will be on display at The Cotton Harvest in Seaforth, Ontario.   This is the PREMIER show - at least it's the one that will be in Houston so it has the top winners.   It will be so worth going there.  I'll see the show in Houston so I won't need to go.  HOWEVER, there's going to be a challenge for 2018 - the theme hasn't been announced yet. I did notice that you could buy 1/2 yard cuts (instead of the FQs) which is an excellent idea in the event you are thinking of entering this challenge.  I think I may be taking a trip to Seaforth just to get MORE Cherrywood so when I do work on the 2018 piece, I'll have LOTS of fabric to work with. The new challenge will be introduced on November 1 (in Houston).  I wonder if the Seaforth store will be selling kits????  If they are NOT, they should.  Shelly - it's your job to find out!

I see the second show will be at Grand Rapids, Michigan at the AQS show  (August 22 - 25, 2018).  Might be worth a drive to that one. Ah - road trip buddies?  Are you in?   And of course, I'll get the book as I did with the last two challenges.

The moral of the story is - don't be afraid to enter a challenge even if you know you won't win. Did you notice the difference in the level of detail in the winning pieces and mine?  Pretty different, but I learned so much from making my piece and it made (and makes) me happy so it was a success to me. However two things going forward - allow some time way in advance of the deadline to work out the details of the design, style, and technique. Then if you're missing fabric - get loads of it!   Like I said, I couldn't use anything but Cherrywood and no place close to me!

On that note, I'm out of here.

Have a great day!!!!

Ciao!!!!