Although it was a rainy April day outside on the day of the judging of Keepsake Quilting’s 40th challenge contest, flowers were certainly blooming inside. “I think a lot of people were really waiting for spring,” said accomplished quilter and quilting instructor Denny Stringfellow, who, along with award-winning quilter and teacher Marilyn Ray and Keepsake Quilting founder Judy Sabanek, had the happy (yet never easy) task of choosing the winners.

Every year the quilts get more original, and this spring’s quilts were the most original yet. The judges were especially impressed with how the entrants used the six challenge fabrics. Some quilters cut out individual flowers from the large-scale floral. Others chopped up the floral just for the variety of textures and accent colors that it provided. But it was the brown speckled print that really surprised the judges.
That brown fabric turned up as everything from tree trunks, urns and baskets to ducks, deer, birds and frogs. Such imagination!

Meet the Winners

First-place winner Diane McClure of Citrus Springs, Florida, turned her Medley™ fabrics into magic. Diane had entered many of our challenges in the past, but admitted that the fabrics in the Welcome Spring Medley made this the toughest challenge of all. She proved how truly talented she is by creating, from these challenging fabrics, a quilt that ended up being worthy of top honors. The joy she finds in quilting radiates from her exquisitely hand-appliqued and hand-quilted creation, which is both stunningly beautiful and sweet at the same time.

Diane used all six of the Medley fabrics. And even though just a tiny bit of the sky print was used, it made a big impact as the bright blue eyes of the bunnies and the butterfly wings. For added fabrics, she chose a tone-on-tone white for the bunnies and a shaded rose-colored print, which she used as the outer border and the roses. The judges loved how Diane cut the rose fabric into blocks to shade the outer border from dark corners into light centers. To get the shading she needed for the bunny fur, she used a tan fabric paint, diluted in some areas and used full strength in others. Diane painted the individual freezer-paper-backed applique segments before sewing the rabbits together.

All of Diane’s appliques are preassembled, so when she put the flowers and bunnies on the background, she only needed to applique around the outer edges. The backgrounds behind the appliques were then cut away. The whole quilt surface is just one layer of fabric with seam allowances, making it easy to quilt. And what beautiful quilting she does! Her design is heavily quilted, with a ½" grid in the center, a cable (in dark, contrasting thread) running through the floral inner border, and swirls on the bunnies.

When we remarked on the cuteness of her bunnies, Diane said she’s not a true artist and struggled with her design. She told us that her bunny looked like a “big-eared cat!” After researching clip art on the Internet, she finally got the shape right, admitting that, in the process, “I found out that I’m pretty good at drawing cats!” Diane, as far as the judges are concerned, you’re pretty good at a lot of things when it comes to quilting.

Second-place winner, Laurie Hamilton of Buxton, Maine, surprised us by saying, “I don’t usually quilt until I do the challenge. I just don’t have the time.” As a matter of fact, other than the challenges, she’s only made two baby quilts. Amazing!

When we talked to Laurie on the phone, we could hear in the background the voices of the little children she baby-sits. The day we called, she had taken the children out looking for frogs. She has swampy woods near her home, and as soon as the snow melts, the first sign of spring is the sound of frogs peeping at night. She said she’s always been a frog person, so when she saw the brown speckled print in the challenge Medley, the first thing she thought of was a toad. In her woods, she also has lots of ferns, such as the fiddlehead she captured so wonderfully in her quilt. Laurie fussy cut and arranged the green leaf print to mimic the feathery look of a fern. She created the stem from a piece of wool she had dyed herself for one of her rug-hooking projects (just one of the many crafts she enjoys when she can find the time). The wool added softness and dimension to her fern, which looks huge next to the tiny peeper. (Real peepers are about 1" long.)

The judges loved how Laurie made blue morning glories from the sky fabric. She says that, at her home, she creates an archway from willow branches, and the morning glories grow over it
making a little fort for the kids. They call it the “flower house.” Her fabric morning glories were set against a navy mottled print, her second added fabric. The morning glories, like the fern leaves, were fusible machine appliqued. The wool stems and the winsome frog were hand appliqued. Her “Frog Songs” quilt was then machine quilted.

When we bid Laurie goodbye, she asked, ”There’ll be another challenge, won’t there? Because that would make me quilt again.” How lucky we are that Laurie manages to squeeze time into her busy schedule to enter our challenge contests. It’s a sure sign of artistry when someone only quilts on the rare occasion, and on that rare occasion, produces a prizewinner. Laurie, we can’t wait to see your next challenge quilt.

The judges decided that two wonderful quilts should share third-place honors. They agreed that the charming appliqued sampler made by Sue Redhead of Saratoga, California, was the very essence of springtime, from its spring-cleaning supplies to the tulips to the Easter Bunny. Sue is originally from England, so she said she had to include a block of April showers and umbrellas. Her quilt is all beautifully hand appliqued, hand embroidered and filled with delightful little details, including a feather duster (with real feathers) and tiny embroidered and lettered seed packets. The judges loved how she used the large-scale floral. Sue said she didn’t know what to do with the print, but it had all sorts of great colors and textures that she cut up to create daffodils, birds, Easter eggs, tulips and umbrellas. It might have been the least favorite of her Medley fabrics, but she made the most of it, using it in seven of her nine blocks. For her added fabrics, she chose a yellow and the shaded-blue background, which she machine quilted in little circles, lending great movement and interest to the blocks.

This is the first time that Sue has entered the Keepsake Quilting challenge. When we asked if she had shown her quilt off to her quilt guild before sending it to us, she told us, “I’m just so nervous about showing stuff to people.” She says a friend goes up with her and does the talking for her when she has to get up in front of a group. We hope to hear that, at a fall meeting of the Santa Clara Valley Quilt Association, this humble?and very talented?quilter will stand proudly in front of her guild holding her prizewinning Welcome Spring challenge quilt.

Sharing third-place honors with Sue is Janet Davis of Alamosa, Colorado, who created a stunning springtime bouquet in three-dimensional flowers. A gorgeous floral arrangement, a wonderfully balanced design and superb workmanship came together for this prizewinning challenge entry. Janet has been quilting for 30 years and was a shop owner for 14 of those years. For the last 10 years, she’s worked one day a week teaching classes at the shop. “They always make me teach the basics, because they say I‘m the pickiest one in the shop.” We certainly can understand why, because every aspect of her quilt was carefully planned and meticulously executed. Although she admits that she’s a real machine person, she did beautiful handwork on the folded, ruched and embellished flowers. And she had never done dimensional flowers before! She credits Sharon Baker’s More Fabulous Flowers book (our item #1147) for showing her how it’s done.

Janet made two inspired choices for her additional fabrics. She selected a rose-colored print, which she used for her flowers, the thin woven border design and the binding. She chose a creamy batik for the background, and machine quilted around the leafy design with a variegated thread. We found it especially interesting that Janet quilted, washed and bound her quilt before she added the flowers. She had made the flowers early on and pinned them to the basket on her design wall. Once she got the arrangement she liked, she took a picture, so she’d know where to place the flowers when the time came. The thin inner border was put on after the quilting and washing (but before binding) to ensure that the strips wouldn’t end up crooked. Now, how’s that for being picky!

This fabulous floral quilt is entitled “Deer Candy.” Janet explained?“Our town is overrun by deer, and they absolutely love my flowers.” Luckily, Janet can always depend on the flowers in her quilt to be fresh, vibrant and in bloom all year long, for many years to come.

The Keepsake Quilting staff knows fine workmanship when they see it, and they saw it in the lovely wreath design by Staff’s choice winner Kathy Charvat of Guthrie, Oklahoma. Her hand applique and hand quilting is impeccable. She quilted a Celtic-style design in the four corners and a ½" diagonal grid throughout. We only wish that a photo could do justice to her quilting, which is done with a stab stitch (one hand on top of the quilt and one underneath). “I can go as fast as most people do the rocking stitch,” she told us, and finds the technique very relaxing.

It certainly wasn’t just her needle skills that appealed to the staff. Her design was a real winner, too. Although, at first, she struggled with coming up with a design, she said, in the end, “The fabric literally spoke to me. I know people laugh when I say that, but it really did.” And what beautiful things it had to say! The brown speckled print was just right for the bias-strip vine and absolutely brilliant as the bird wings on her male and female red finches. Touches of embroidery made the birds look even more realistic. When told that she certainly made the most of the green leaf print, she said you “use what you’ve got. That’s what it’s about.” She used the large-scale floral to capture the Rembrandt tulips that bloom around the pond in her back yard.

Kathy has been quilting for 30 years and teaches hand piecing, hand applique and hand quilting at her local quilt shop. She’s active in her quilt guild and was recently in charge of designing their raffle quilt. The 30" x 30" Keepsake Quilting challenge quilt was a small project for Kathy, since she usually does full-size quilts?completely by hand, may we add! She’s given most of her quilts away but thinks she’ll keep the 396-block 80" x 80" “Dear Jane” quilt that she’s currently making?all of the 4½" blocks by hand, of course!

Congratulations to all of the challenge winners! Each winner has received a gift certificate for a Keepsake Quilting shopping spree: First Place, $500; Second Place, $300; Third Place, $100; and Staff’s Choice, $200.

Click here to see all of the entrants in the Welcome Spring Challenge!

We thank everyone who participated in the Create a Welcome Spring Keepsake Challenge. All entries will be pictured on our Web site. The winning quilts will be on display in the shop until September 20, 2009. The first- and second-place quilts become part of the permanent Keepsake collection and will join the traveling exhibit, which is available for quilt shows, guild meetings and art exhibits across the United States. For information on hosting the exhibit, contact Customer Service at 1-800-525-8086.

We invite you to make the happiest quilt of all?a baby quilt. There’s no better gift to welcome a new arrival than the gift of a handmade quilt stitched with love. So, we issue our sweetest challenge ever?the Welcome Baby Keepsake Challenge.

For a unique twist, we’ve selected a Keepsake Shape™ to include in the Challenge Medley™ package, which will also have five (instead of the usual six) fat quarters. You must use at least four fabrics from the Medley™ and a certain number of the die-cut shapes. You may add up to two fabrics of your choice. Your quilt must have a finished size of 30" x 30" and may be original or traditional in design, pieced or appliqued, embellished in any way you choose, and must be hand or machine quilted.

Gift certificates to be used for a shopping spree from the Keepsake Quilting™ catalog, on our Web site or in the shop in Center Harbor, New Hampshire, will be awarded as follows: First Place, $500; Second Place, $300; Third Place, $100; Honorable Mention, $50; Staff’s Choice, $200.

All entries must be received at Keepsake Quilting by August 24, 2009. Complete rules and an entry form will be sent with your Challenge Medley. Quilts will be judged on creativity, design, use of color, and workmanship. The decision of the judges will be final. Winners will be announced in the Summer 2009 Keepsake Quilter™ Newsletter.

The winning quilts will be displayed in the Keepsake Quilting shop until November 8, 2009. All entries will be pictured on our Web site. The first- and second-place Create a Welcome Baby Challenge quilts will become part of the permanent Keepsake collection. The other winning quilts and quilts offered for sale will be returned after November 8, 2009. All other quilts will be returned after the judging.