Aurifil threads, who sponsors three of the prizes, also designed a gorgeous 12-spool collection of coordinating 50 wt. threads that match the Shine On! fabrics perfectly.
Another really great idea by Hoffman Fabrics this year was to create and print a panel that had a small piece of each of the challenge fabrics from all thirty years. This was perfect for an idea I had for the border of my quilt! I wanted to showcase all thirty years in my quilt without taking away from this years challenge fabric.
Here are some pictures of my progress on the quilt itself! As always, I have to thank Chantell and Mia for their hard work and talent. They seem to always be able to digitize exactly what I sketch out for them. Let's start with some of the 'border' diamonds. Chantell digitized these for me. I made them using pieces of the panel so each diamond has a different challenge fabric from a previous year.
Mia then digitized 'Lucy' for me. Lucy is appliqued on top of the panel in four separate hoopings. I used my Babylock Destiny embroidery machine's cameras to make sure that all the pieces aligned perfect.
I am pretty sure you have figured out the theme I chose by now. The title of the quilt is 'Lucy in the Sky with 30 Years of Diamonds'. It is hard to see all of the details in this picture, but there is a lot of bling involved. There are a ton of rhinestones glued on it in different shapes and sizes which took several days to get them all on. You also can't see it, but the quilting design is little stars and I quilted it all with several metallic threads from Aurifil. Here it is!
WOOHOO!
If you want to see some of the other quilts that won, you can go to Hoffman California Fabrics Facebook page. Another piece of interesting news that Hoffman posted on their Facebook page, was the following statement:
The Hoffman Challenge is in its 30th year and what a blast it has been! We have seen thousands of incredible works of art and enjoyed sponsoring the Hoffman Challenge. We thank you for your contribution to making the Challenge successful and fun.
As Hoffman strives to lead the industry in change and innovation, we have decided to make this 30th anniversary the final year of The Hoffman Challenge as you know it. We have a collective goal to bring you a new and innovated Hoffman Challenge in the future.
Again, thank you for you loyalty and support of The Hoffman Challenge! We hope you enjoy seeing the 2018 Shine On! Projects travel though September 2019, and we look forward to bringing you a new Hoffman Challenge in the future.
Happy Quilting and Sewing,
The Hoffman Family
Makes me think they will not even have a contest next year which would be sad. Hopefully they will continue with some kind of fun contest for us to enter!
