GVQC Project Iron Quilter - Down to Plan D

This is the Judge's awarding winning quilt by Kathie Everett. Her theme was "The Diet". There is a tape measure around the middle and cut up tape measure around the bottom. If you double-click, you can see the machine quilting along the sides which are the fat cells that have gone away. Wonderfully creative and really utilizing the theme she chose. In addition, the composition and construction was wonderful!!

Today was our Project Iron Quilter which entailed 20 contestants having 3 1/2 hours to make a quilt from scratch. They were only allowed to bring one piece of fabric from home in their pieces. At 10:00 they were given the theme they were to use (it was a choice of 10 different words). They were then given time to grab additional fabric scraps donated by club members. These were piled on tables in the middle of the room. At 10:30 they were allowed to sew. With one 1/2 hour break, they continued sewing until 2:30. They were then judged, Viewer's Choice ballots counted and prizes awarded followed by an auction to benefit Gilda's Club.

HOWEVER, there is a back story!! Priscilla Kibbee was the program chair for this activity with Marcia DeCamp and I co-chairing. Our judge for the competition was to be Mark Lipinski who was teaching at the Festival. About a month before the show, it was announced that he had to cancel out of the festival as he was awaiting a kidney transplant. So we panicked a bit and then asked a local celebrity quilter to be our judge as she was experienced and has credibility!

At 7 o'clock the night before, this woman's husband called to say that she was in the hospital and wouldn't be able to judge!!! Marcia surged forward knowing there were several well known art quilters in town. Marcia tracked one down and asked her if she would do it and she was thrilled to accept! Paula Kavorik (frequent Quilt National participant and award winning art quilter) was there also from Memphis and said she would happily work with her. The morning of the competion, one of the judges called to say that her husband had suddenly been hospitalized and she wouldn't be able to do it. Paula, however, did come and became our designated judge. I invited Carol Soderlund to "consult" with Paula when I saw her around noon. Carol had wanted to meet Paula for some time after admiring her quilt at Schweinfurth so she readily accepted. Paula with consultation with Carol did a wonderful job of selecting the winner of the biggest prize as well as helping to place appropriate prizes for the other quilts. We can't thank those ladies enough for stepping in and doing an awesome job!!!!

We were beginning to be afraid to ask people to judge as this was more than a fair share of bad luck! I am happy to report that both Carol and Paula are still healthy.

This was the second place Viewer's Choice winner.

Jeanne Simpson and Nancy Hicks really won the award for audience participation and humor!! Jeanne sported some tattoos (phoney) in hopes of garnering award for best tattoos. Mary Wieser also tried this tactic!! Jeanne and Nancy actually put a Tip jar on their table and complained to the audience that they had to pay to enter!!! They are too funny! This was Jeanne's quilt and I did put in the winning bid for it in the auction as it just spoke to me. Like the winning quilt, the word she picked was "The Diet".

This was my Judge's Choice award and done by Diane Enerson. Diane was amazed to that she was able to complete a piece in such a short period of time! I loved the colors. Coincidentally, the piece of fabric in the upper right hand corner was a scrap from the fabric from which I made the jacket I was wearing!!

This is a piece by Anne Fisher who won the Viewer's Choice award. It was also one of the larger pieces!

I had to give special recognition to this piece and the next one!! I did love this piece. However, the recognition was for the fact that both this piece and the next one were literally in small pieces 15 minutes before the end of the competion!! I NEVER thought they would finish -- it truly felt like Project Runway!! Aren't they fantastic!!

In the end, everyone finished and I believe they really set a high bar for this kind of competition!! Many complained of how stressed they were but others amazed themselves by how successful they were.

I was sincerely surprised by the incredibly high quality of work from everyone -- I mean really quality work and finishing!! Each piece also had a signed label on the back and most even had a sleeve for hanging (we provided the sleeves and fusible).