Hoffman Challenge

This was the first Hoffman Challenge I'd entered and I basically threw the quilt together in a weekend, so I honestly didn't expect to win anything. However, it did get into the trunk show that travelled across the U.S. until October 2006.

The focus fabric for this year was a jungley print on a raspberry background, so I designed a quilt based on that jungle idea. This time I put a little more thought and effort into it and came up with this. Again, didn't win a prize, but did get into the traveling trunk show again until October 2007.

The 2007 focus fabric had a light blue background with flowers and butterflies all over ... I had NO clue what to do with it but figured I could come up with something. This one again made it into the trunk show until October 2008.

For 2008 the focus fabric was all peacocks and flowers, lovely to look at, tricky to use because the print was so big. For the first time I actually had my pattern drafted up months before I even got the fabric. Again I used a mariners compass for the centre of it, for a few reasons: I like them, they're way easy to make yet look difficult, and they're very versatile. I cut out petals from the various blue, pink, and whitish parts of the fabric to make my own flowers rather than just cut out the existing ones on the print, used the peacock heads in a stack & whack type design for the centre of the compass. This one got in the trunk show as well.

The fabric this year was a green, brown and gold paisley and as soon as I saw it, it spoke DRAGON to me. The background is all yin yang shapes in various neutral tans and whites, the dragon has the focus fabric alternating with various greens for the scales, overlapping 3-dimensional. The focus is also used in some of the yin yangs, the dragon's tail, and the two chinese characters (Peace on top, Harmony on bottom). The dragon holds a luminescent pearl that sparkles.

Got in the trunk show again, that's 5 years in a row!

I named this one "Of a Feather" because of the feathers all over the place in it. First they're in the inner border around the center medallion, then the bird has feathers in it, the small flowers and blossoms are made with feathers like the ones in the inner border, and there are feathers quilted into the background. It will be traveling in the trunk show across the U.S. until October 2011.