Do You Like a Challenge?

Our Guild does not do Challenges on a regular basis but the Show Committee decided this would be a good opportunity to do one, thinking it might create more interest in our Show. The rules were simple - the piece was to be the maker's interpretation of "Thoughts of Spring". All work had to be completed by the entrant, and the piece had to have 3 layers which were quilted. The only other guideline was that the total perimeter not exceed 96". After that - it was "anything goes". We were pleased to have 18 entries from our membership, and all were displayed at the Show. Members voted at our April meeting to choose the three Viewers' Choice winners. First place went to Barb Cross for "One in a Hole", a humourous look at the pothole. Gwenda Mattinson won second place with her "Getting Ready", a framed pieced done from a photograph of her elderly Father's winter work - birdhouses, that were just freshly painted. Valerie Moreland's piece "Primroses and Robins on the Patio" won the third place ribbon. Everyone loved her cheery robins- who doesn't love that most welcome harbinger of spring?! You can see a photo of the three winners with their pieces by clicking here.
We were so pleased with the variety of entries - it seems many of us are also gardeners as flowers were a common choice. Rubber boots, a robin's nest, cleanly swept parking lots, hostas, a new spring handbag, rhubarb, fiddleheads and hot cross buns were other interpretations. A big Thank You to all the participants, it was exciting to see the entries come in! For me, being a gardener and lover of "all things green", two of my favourites were definitely Trudy Corey's "Hosta" (at right) and Donna Young's "Spring Green" (below left).
My entry was "The Nest". I am not a "challenge do-er". It's a real stretch for me to do something totally original. I wracked my brain for weeks trying to come up with an idea, having convinced myself that I had to participate, since I was on the Committee. I finally came up with the nest idea (it was Plan "B" - Plan "A" just was not going to work...) I love the apple trees in my backyard which were planted by my Father and Grandfather, and there's no more true "sign of spring" for me than hearing and seeing the first robin hopping around the lawn. So - a nest on an apple tree branch it was to be ! I'll come back later and tell you a bit about the making of my piece.

Next - the big quilts in our Show....



Piece
Linda

"Spring would not be spring without bird songs."
~ Francis M. Chapman