Midnight Garden

It all started with an “unwanted” fabric panel…

The 1st Annual Uptown Blanco Ugly Fabric Quilt Contest!

The Rules:

• Purchase the selected fabric panel from the Textile Studio ($3)
• Use the panel fabric in any way that you want to make a quilt. 
• The fabric from the panel must be easily identifiable in the quilt.
• Finished quilt size must be at least 40″ x 40.”
• The quilt may be pieced or appliqued.
• Finished (quilted and binding completed) quilts preferred, but completed quilt tops will be accepted.
• Bring the completed quilt or quilt top to the Textile Studio by September 31st for entry.

The Contest:
Quilts will be displayed during the Fall Frolic Shop Hop (October 12-14) and the voting for “Viewers Favorite” will be done by the shoppers during the hop.  Each person that turns in a quilt will get a free fat quarter.  The winner of the “Viewer’s Favorite – First Place” will receive a $25 Gift Certificate to the Textile Studio.  Second and Third place winners will also receive a prize.

My Ugly Fabric Contest Entry:
I found out about the contest with a little more than a week before the deadline.  Fortunately, the Textile Studio was accepting completed tops for their first contest, so the timeline was a bit hectic, but it was possible.  I liked the flowers from the fabric panel and wanted to use those as a center block, if possible.  So, I found a pattern in the shop that would work to my design and then worked in the needed number of coordinating fabrics, pulling colors from the panel and from the flowers.  

The pattern, Moda’s Lulu Quilt Pattern by Chez Moi, called for a stripped fabric in the fabric requirements to make accent borders down the left and right sides of the quilt.  Instead, I used up my scraps from the coordinating fabrics, creating an alternating pattern of piano keys to border the sides of the quilt.  The finished size was 72″ x 80.”

My Quilt took FIRST PLACE and was voted the Viewer’s Favorite!

After the contest ended, the quilt was beautifully quilted and bound by The Cotton Cupboard in Lakeway, Texas.

Uptown Blanco Textile Studio displayed the finished quilt and original pattern in their store for the Wildflowers All Around Spring Shop Hop to promote the 2nd Annual Ugly Fabric Quilt Contest that would take place during the Fall Frolic Shop Hop in October 2018.