Quilting Arts Magazine Reader Challenges
QUILTING ARTS MAGAZINE READER CHALLENGES
Introducing our new Reader Challenge
Fabulous Flowers
There are few things as truly delightful—and a little frivolous—than a lush bouquet of flowers! Humans are captivated by the beauty of flowers and their fragrance. Almost everyone loves them—who can resist smiling when presented with an armful of them? And to many beings, they are absolutely delicious!
Using our artist’s eye, quilters can also see the structure, shading, color, complexity, and rapture in them. To study this is to love them even more. For this challenge, use your favorite everything—techniques, materials, colors, etc.—and show us your love of flowers. Each quilt must measure 8″w x 10″h.
Whether you portray a single flower, an opulent bouquet, a field full of blossoms, or your own charming garden, let your love rain down on your chosen blooms. See full challenge rules to enter.
Artful Zippered Pouch
Thank you for your interest. Submission to this challenge is now closed. Click here for the list of finalists.
For this challenge, we invited readers to create a functional zippered pouch that was also a mini art quilt.
One Color, One Quilt
Thank you for your interest. Submission to this challenge is now closed. Click here for the list of finalists.
For this challenge, we invited readers to create a monochromatic mini quilt.
Farm to Table
Thank you for your interest. Submission to this challenge is now closed. Click here for the list of finalists.
For this challenge, we invited readers to celebrate their connection with food and create a small art quilt that featured local food product(s) from their region.
Good Intentions
Thank you for your interest. Submission to this challenge is now closed. Click here for the list of finalists.
For this challenge, we asked readers to finish a previously started and unfinished art quilt, with special ‘bonus points’ for completely a quilt inspired by a previous Reader Challenge.
Into the Wild
Thank you for your interest. Submission to this challenge is now closed. Click here for the list of finalists.
For this challenge, we asked readers to create an 8″ x 10″ quilt in portrait orientation using inspiration from the wide world of wild animals—we stressed ‘inspiration’ from the natural world so their design could be realistic and representational or more loosely influenced by animals, graphic and abstract.
Art is a Bridge
Thank you for your interest. Submission to this challenge is now closed. Click here for the list of finalists.
For this challenge, we asked readers is to think deeply about their own interpretation of the word ‘bridge’ and show us their thoughts in a 10″ wide x 5″ tall quilt (horizontal orientation). Whether they chose to interpret this word symbolically or realistically was up to them.
Print, Paint, Play!
Thank you for your interest. Submission to this challenge is now closed. Click here for the list of finalists.
So many of our readers and contributors are surface-design aficionados and we are amazed by the work they do incorporating paint and so much more in their fiber art creations. For this challenge, we invite you to stamp, stencil, paint, screen, print, or otherwise augment the surface of a piece of fabric to create an art cloth you love — and them incorporate that cloth into a small quilts. Plus, we also want you to save a 5″ square of the surface-designed fabric you create and photograph it alongside the completed quilt.
Give a Heart, Get a Heart Swap
Thank you for your interest. Submission to this challenge is now closed.
Inspired by the giving nature of an article by Mel Beach (see Quilting Arts Fall 2022), our newest Reader Challenge is a swap. You create a heart and send it to us—and we will send you a heart created by another artist participating in this challenge. An expression of kindness and art in both directions!
Be sure to visit the link to review the very specific rules and to copy the template to use.
QUILT ART: A Quilter’s Alphabet
Thank you for your interest. Submission to this challenge is now closed. Click here for the list of finalists.
For this challenge, we asked readers to create a 10″ x 10″ quilt featuring one alphabet letter (limited to A, I, L, Q, R, T, or U) to be combined with other readers’ quilts—clothesline style—to spell out the phrase QUILT ART.
Pop Art Pets
Thank you for your interest. Submission to this challenge is now closed. Click here for the list of finalists.
For this challenge, we asked readers to show us the quilt-worthy antics of their pets, reflecting their unique personalities, and using an ‘over the top’ technique or two to create a 12″ x 12″ quilt.
Personal Perspectives
Thank you for your interest. Submission to this challenge is now closed. Click here for the list of finalists.
For this challenge, we asked readers to show us their views of the world around us from a singular frame of reference, creating an 8″ x 10″ quilt to tell their story.
Travel Near & Far
Thank you for your interest. Submission to this challenge is now closed. Click here for the list of finalists.
For this challenge, we asked readers to show us their travels—real, imagined, or dreamed for—by creating an 8″ x 8″ quilt to tell a story.
Scrolls & Rolls: A Snippet Scroll challenge
Thank you for your interest. Submission to this challenge is now closed. Click here for the list of finalists.
For this challenge, we asked readers to create a snippet scroll—primarily using scraps, leftover bits, found objects, and so on—to tell a story and make the scroll unique to themselves and their aesthetic.
Take a Hike!
Thank you for your interest. Submission to this challenge is now closed. Click here for the list of finalists.
For this challenge, we asked readers to create a small quilt inspired by looking for beauty in the natural world during a time of chaos (i.e., the pandemic): through their own eyes, a microscope or telescope, or their imagination.
Put a Pin in It!
Thank you for your interest. Submission to this challenge is now closed. Click here for the list of finalists.
For this challenge, we asked readers to experiment with 3-D, incorporate handwork, and use unique fibers to make a ‘working’ pincushion that was a functional size; incorporated different substrates, materials, and/or embellishments; contained visible handwork; and did not exceed a height of 4″. We were looking for creativity and originality, ingenious use of materials, and art-quilt-worthy execution.
Art as Inspiration
Thank you for your interest. Submission to this challenge is now closed. Click here for the list of finalists.
Postal history is fascinating. In the U.S., approximately 35 stamps are issued each year—created mostly by professional designers and artists commemorating all sorts of people, things, historical events, causes, and more. Postage stamps often feature the work of well-known artists. Some are exquisite miniature pieces of art on their own. Imagine creating an art-inspired design for a stamp: What modern artist, architect, or creative inspires you?
Mixed Greens
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Gardeners know that the color green can be a neutral, especially with the abundance of color our flower and vegetable gardens provide! The flowers and vegetables we harvest are nourishing our bodies and our souls. Non-gardeners, too, deeply appreciate the bounty our earth provides and we can celebrate nature together. We asked readers to make a quilt featuring favorite flowers or plants.
Silver Lining
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The expression “every cloud has a silver lining” is about being optimistic and always looking for hidden goodness or comfort. But sometimes, that silver lining really is silver! Think glitz, glam, shimmer. Glitter, metal, shininess. We challenged readers to show us their inner disco queen, lover of shiny things, and creative metallics whisperer—testing their mettle working with these materials. Whether nuanced or bold, we asked that they use metallic elements in new and artful ways to create an art quilt inspired by ‘a silver lining.’
How You’ve Changed
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The quintessential phrase voiced by adults and heard by children—“My, how you’ve changed!”—is a truth. We all change throughout our lives; most things do. That is progress, growth, and evolution. For this challenge, readers made a portrait quilt based on the theme ‘How You’ve Changed’ and inspired by a photo of themselves or a loved one, showing how the subject has changed over the years.
Color to the Rescue
Thank you for your interest. Submission to this challenge is now closed. Click here for a list of finalists.
Most art quilters love color. Sometimes we use an infusion of color to shake us out of a rut or established routine. Here’s something that will have you using your refreshed art brain: A Before and After Surface Design challenge with color as the springboard. Working with a recycled or commercially printed fabric, we challenged readers to alter it in new, inventive, and surprising ways and share their creation with us and our readers.
Fluttering By
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Perhaps one of the most romanticized insects is the butterfly. Luscious and colorful, their transformation from egg to winged creature is astounding. But all insects undergo similar transformation. We invited our readers to create a quilt that celebrated the metamorphosis that insects experience in their short lives and their effect on our wider world.
Stitch by Stitch
Thank you for your interest. Submission to this challenge is now closed. Click here for a list of finalists.
In today’s fast-paced world it can be the sweetest relief to sit down with a piece of cloth, needle, and thread—and simply sew. With all the talk of self-care, stitching fits into many of our readers’ lives in this way. A step back from the hustle and bustle, a quiet moment with a small piece of beautiful fiber. Inspired by Liz Kettle’s ‘Stitch Meditations’ in the October/November issue, we challenge you to take your own snippet of time and create Stitch Meditations that make your heart sing and your soul calm.
Hindsight is 20/20
Thank you for your interest. Submission to this challenge is now closed. Click here for a list of finalists.
When we make art we experiment with materials, techniques, business approaches, color schemes, and more. Each interaction we have with making informs the next—we learn from our successes and our mistakes. Looking back on past work and endeavors is a great way to choose which direction to go next. As the decade comes to a close, what will the next ten years bring in your art? Make an art quilt that explores the theme of looking back in order to leap forward.
Choose Your Own Palette
Thank you for your interest. Submission to this challenge is now closed. Click here for a list of finalists. Everyone has personal preferences for color. These preferences take shape in the clothes we wear, the décor in our homes, the cars we drive, and, yes—the art we create. Color preferences are so individual and often reflect the spirit of the person who loves them. We invite you to create a quilt using your own preferred color palette. Use at least three colors to create a quilt that expresses your artistic color story.
It’s Raining Cats and Dogs Reader Challenge
Thank you for your interest. Submission to this challenge is now closed. Click here for a list of finalists.
This idiom of mostly unknown origins applies to that heavy downpour that can drench you right through your rain slicker. We’ve had some incredible weather recently—much of it destructive. As weather patterns change all over the world and communities are faced with turmoil, loss, and the specter of rebuilding, we ask you, our readers, to respond to these phenomena in art quilt form. How have meteorological upsets affected you? What changes do you want to see? Would it even be surprising if actual cats and dogs fell from the sky?
Tempus Fugit
Thank you for your interest. Submission to this challenge is now closed. You know what they say, ‘Time flies when you’re having fun.’ We’ve been having so much fun at Quilting Arts Magazine that our 100th issue is just around the corner! Reflecting on the amazing history of this magazine, we realize what an impact it has had on our own artwork and the art quilting community in general. In the spirit of celebrating you, our readers, we invite you to submit a postcard illustrating an artistic affirmation that speaks to your heart. Journal in ten words or less on the back of the postcard what Quilting Arts has meant to you.
Heat it Up!
Thank you for your interest. Submission to this challenge is now closed. Click here for a list of finalists. An iron is a powerful tool. While we often use an iron to smooth things out, have you ever considered using the heat to press things wrinkly? What about to create pleats with crisp folds? Have you ever tried manipulating fibers with other heat sources—such as a craft heat gun? We use heat to activate fusibles, manipulate ephemera, and at times, to dry fabric. This month, we challenge you to create an art quilt that incorporates an element of heat in some way.
Heart of the Home: Artists Give Back
Thank you for your interest. Submission to this challenge is now closed. Transitioning out of homelessness and into a permanent residence is life changing. To celebrate this event, quilt artist Jamie Fingal has partnered with Furnishing Hope, an organization that supplies the furnishings for homes for the previously homeless. Jamie’s project, Heart of the Home, makes a personal wall quilt for each new dwelling. Quilters are generous people—and what better way to contribute than to create a small art piece to brighten up a family’s new space? Quilting Arts will collect all your thoughtful quilts and organize them for donation through Heart of the Home. In addition, the donated quilts will also be featured as a special exhibit at several Original Sewing & Quilting Expo events in 2019!
Mended
Thank you for your interest. Submission to this challenge is now closed. Patching holes, stitching up seams, gluing things back together—sewing often mirrors events in our lives. To create a joyous, productive life we are called upon to bring disparate elements such as family, work, art, and self-care together, much as we bring fabrics and thread together to make a quilt. Sometimes, the fabric of our lives tears—and then we are called upon to mend it. Darned patches and repaired gaps define and enrich our experiences. Celebrate the marks and memories on the quilt of your soul with a piece of art!
I’ve Got a Notion
Thank you for your interest. Submission to this challenge is now closed. Fabric, thread, batting, pins—all of these are essentials in quilt making— not to mention rotary cutters, sewing machines, measuring tapes, scissors, and cutting mats. Don’t forget buttons, seam rippers, irons, and thimbles. Let’s not overlook design sense and the hand of the maker—you! What’s in your quilter’s toolbox? Make a quilt illustrating your favorite notion, be it on your cutting table or in your head. What makes your sewing box, stitching corner, or studio a haven for creativity?
3-2-1-Blastoff
Thank you for your interest. Submission to this challenge is now closed. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the launch of the International Space Station. Through the exploration and research of this station and other initiatives, we have started to answer some of the most pervasive questions—is there life on Mars? How big is the Universe? Space is still a great mystery in many ways, but continues to fascinate and inform the masses. Last year, more people watched the solar eclipse than the Super Bowl! What’s out there? What do we seek as we probe, test, and watch? Explore the mysteries—and discoveries!—of space in cloth.
Illumination
Thank you for your interest. Submission to this challenge is now closed. Text and language express meaning, understanding, and knowledge. We use words to communicate with one another, record our history, and start new dialogues. Letters and symbols are the building blocks of this system of communication. For this Reader Challenge, select a letter, symbol, or idea to illuminate. From the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, to our own time, these letters and manuscripts were supplemented with decorative borders and miniature images. Shed light on your chosen simple symbol to amplify its significance to your own life and understanding. Embellish meaning—stitch to communicate.
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