SLUDGE CHALLENGE

The ladies of the Lake Gaston Piecemakers Quilt Guild were given a challenge:  to take a fat quarter of that mosaic sludge material you see on the pillow above and add two fabrics that match the crayons that came with their fat quarter (sight unseen), add two more fabrics to those and make something quilted.  Well, as usual, the creative spirit of the guild went into overdrive and here are some examples of what we produced.  By the way, that's my pillow up there, and it won a prize in the home dec category -- a $10 gift certificate to Quilt Lizzy fabric shop in Henderson!!! Woo Hoo!

I love this pillow by Phyllis McK.  She had shown us earlier this year how to achieve those ruffled flower centers, and her fabric choices sure highlighted the sludge, didn't they?

True to form, Jan W made a striking jacket in the wearable art category, not only using the sludge, but effectively combining it with the crayon colors of a deep sea green and shocking pink.  She used the Marilyn Doheny 9 degree ruler to make a fan flower below and a remarkably kaleidoscopic hummingbird above.  Gorgeous!

Dot F makes the most interesting purses, and for this challenge, she not only made an organizer purse with beautiful and difficult bullion embroidery on it, she also made the companion pieces for eyeglasses, tissues, makeup, and coin purse.

I don't know who made this, but it was so whimsical and adorable that I thought it must be for a little girl's treasures.

Fabric bowls are one of the nicest projects to make.  Vanessa G is going to teach us how to do these in April.  You can see the sludge fabric pretty well in this combination of bowl and napkin holder.

This had to be the piece de resistance!  Alice P calls it Metamorphosis Y'all.  It depicts the three stages of a butterfly's life:  caterpillar, pupa (or crysalis) and butterfly.  I didn't get the butterfly in the picture -- it's perching on the topmost branch of flowers.  The leaves have a fall color on one side and the sludge fabric on the other.  This was hands down the favorite entry across the board!