Project QUILTING Apple Blossom Challenge WINNERS!

After days of anticipation I am ready to announce the winners of the Project QUILTING Apple Blossom Challenge!  But before I do I just want to thank the FatQuarterShop for the generous sponsorship of a $25 gift certificate to their online store for each the public winner and the judges winner!  It makes the competition even more exciting for us all! I’ll start with the winner of the public vote.  With 35 of the 132 votes (26.5%), the winner is… LOVEBUGSTUDIOS!  Next, I’m going to do the winner of the comment-ers. Using www.random.org I generated a number to decide which comment wins…   and comment number 5 is…  KrissyBizz!  Congratulations!  You have won Diane’s Original Diane’s original ‘Prairie Star’ Pattern!   And now onto the winners of the Judges votes… Third Place with an average score of 8.33 from our three judges goes to: QUILTIES! Here’s what the judges thought… Judge 1:  This is beautiful! I love everything about it, from the appliqué and fabric to the composition and stippling. The wide outer border provides a perfect frame for the delicate florals in the inner border, and that provides a perfect frame for the gorgeous blossoms and leaves appliqué. In the close-ups I can see the painting, and I think all of it provides a rich variety of texture. Judge 2: Good choice not adding seams to the floral border.  I like the variety of quilting you used in each part of your quilt.  The outer border seems a little wide to me.  Love the striped binding.  Appliqué looks well done, but next time, consider adding the outer leaves after the first dark brown border. Judge 3: Nice job. I love to see the free motion quilting. So many people are afraid to try it. Somehow the brown border overpowers the beautiful print on the inner border. Second Place with an average score of 8.5 goes to:   QUILTSEWPIECEFUL! Here are the Judge’s comments: Judge 1:  Well, we love Nancy Halvorsen’s fabrics, so that’s already a plus! Incredible job with the embroidery! How perfect for this theme. The colors sort of radiate out from the center of each hexagon, and I love how the hexagon shape echoes the embroidery and them too.  Well done! Judge 2: The embroidery fits the theme perfectly.  The hexagons really add to the design and I like the way you used the 2 green fabrics to create more interest. Judge 3:   Yeah!! Machine embroidery and quilting is such a great match. I love the unique shape of your table topper.   AND the winner of the second $25 gift certificate to the FatQuaterShop with an average score of 9.0 goes to: PENNYFABRICART! See what the Judges thought: Judge 1:  I think Monet would approve! The intricacy is amazing! I like the gradients of color and dimension added with the pops of bright blue. This is a wonderful example of luscious art quilting! Judge 2: A truly amazing work of art. Judge 3: Wow, you accomplished making it look like paint strokes. I had to look twice. Congratulations again to all the winners and thanks again to everyone that participated.   Everyone that participated in the challenge was sent their score and critique – this will continue with every challenge.  Unlike the real Project Runway no one will ever be kicked off.  I can’t wait to see what people come up with for the first Season ONE Challenge that will be posted on Sunday, 5/8 at NOON CDT! ***I want to note that my pictures of their work is smaller than I normally post – to make these posts more easily accessible to everyone I’ve tried to downsize the amount that has to upload for you to view each post.  To see larger images, just click on the picture and it will bring you to the flickr site. I hope this helps people out with my blog loading!***