March Madness: The Championship Game!

We're excited to announce the two quilts in our championship game! 

Congratulations to Shimmering Constellation and Circling Stars! 

In addition to showing you the quilts one more time, we're sharing short interviews with the designers so you can learn a little more about each design. 

Thanks to everyone who has helped narrow the patterns down from our original 50 to the Sweet Sixteen to these final two.  As a thank you for your participation, this final round of voting will include the opportunity to win fabric prizes! 

Leave a comment below with your vote for this game (choose Shimmering Constellation or Circling Stars). One comment per person, please. You can also vote a second time on our Facebook Group – Sew Interesting, and a third time on our Pinterest board. 

Voting for this game is open through Monday, April 4 at 5 pm EST. We'll announce the winner on Tuesday, April 5th. 
Voting is now closed. Thank you for playing!

Shimmering Constellation by Wendy Sheppard
using Gold Standard/Simply Sterling

Circling Stars by Jackie Robinson using Basic Blacks and Beiges

Wendy Sheppard talks about her Shimmering Constellation design:

What attracted you to the Gold Standard/Simply Sterling collection?

I like the metallic accents  in the prints and colors of the collection.

Can you talk about how fabric placement enhances this design?

When I work with a fabric collection that has multiple main colors, I try to sprinkle the colors all over the quilt design. So that's why you see a mix of gold, gray and black in the design. The reason the design looks more complicated than it actually is rests solely on the fabric placement for this design.  I think of it as optical illusion at play. At least for me, whenever I see a quilt with many colors/fabrics, I automatically go into a "WOW" mode and think it is a difficult quilt.

How did you come up with this design? 

I started with the stars -- but then I felt like having stars all over the quilt design is too predictable.  That's when I came up with the alternate block to give the design a bit more interest.  I then softened the edges of the other blocks with gold on white prints to give a bit of "halo" effect to the star blocks.

What do you like best about this quilt?

I like it for many reasons - I like that it is a traditional quilt, but with striking visual elements for a home decor piece to add fun statement to a room.  What I love it best is that it is an easy quilt to construct, but with much more to offer in the final design and layout.

Jackie Robinson talks about her Circling Stars design:

What inspired your Basic Blacks and Beiges collection?

It came from when I was a quilt shop owner and could never get enough good blacks and beiges. The fabrics have varying values, which adds interest when they’re all used together.

Tell us about the star block in Circling Stars.

One of the artists in the Benartex design studio, Liz Kolansky, created this block for the front cover of some marketing materials. It is a block that is reminiscent of 54-40 or Fight, but it isn’t. I really liked it and asked Liz if I could use it for a quilt design.

Tell us about the layout.

The black setting triangles make the star blocks pop. Then simple straight borders frame the design.

What do you like best about the quilt?

The illusion of circles created by the blocks. It’s circles without actually piecing circles. 

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It's a battle of the stars! 

Shimmering Constellation vs. Circling Stars 

Which one will be the fan favorite quilt pattern?

Here's how to vote AND how to enter the giveaway:

• To vote: Leave a comment below with your vote for this game (choose Shimmering Constellation or Circling Stars). One comment per person, please. You can also vote a second time on our Facebook Group – Sew Interesting, and a third time on our Pinterest board. Voting for this game is open through Monday, April 4 at 5 pm EST. We'll announce the winner on Tuesday, April 5th. 

• To enter the giveaway: Send an email to socialmedia23 (at) gmail.com with Battle of the Stars in the subject line.
• Both the voting for Favorite Pattern and the giveaway will be open through Monday, April 4th at 5 pm EST. We'll announce the Favorite Pattern and giveaway winners on Tuesday, April 5th. 
• Prizes: One lucky winner will receive a box of Benartex fat quarters! Winner will be randomly chosen from received emails and will be notified by email as well as announced here on the blog. 

Good luck to both of these fantastic patterns! 

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The Championship Game!

Our March Madness Fan Favorite Pattern Bracket is down to the final game:

Star Struck vs. Star Dance

Thanks to everyone who has helped narrow the patterns down from our original 50 to the Sweet Sixteen to these final two.  As a thank you for your participation, this final round of voting will include the opportunity to win fabric prizes! 

Congratulations to Wendy Sheppard and Ann Lauer for creating the two quilts in our championship game! We interviewed the quilt designers of these two beauties so you can learn more about what inspired these designs and fabric choices before you vote. 

Help us choose the champion by voting in the comments and on our Facebook Group – Sew Interesting.  (see more voting details at the bottom of this post).
And don't forget to download these free patterns (or any of the others that you can find in our Quilt Gallery).

"Star Struck" by Wendy Sheppard; featuring Caryl's Feather

vs.

"Star Dance" by Ann Lauer; featuring Sundance

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Wendy talks about Star Struck:

What do you like best about this quilt?

I like that it looks traditional and contemporary at the same time. You see the sawtooth star blocks?  I am on a personal quest to see just how many ways I can use sawtooth star blocks in my designs.

How did you choose the colors to use in it?

The way I chose the colors was to include as many colors as I could, but still keep an ordered look.  When I use a lot of colors in a quilt, oftentimes I would finish out the border with either black, gray or white.  In this case, my go-to choices didn't bring out the bright look I wanted for the quilt.  So, I used red.

Can you tell us a bit about the design?

This quilt is essentially a one block wonder quilt.  The blocks are simple in construction, and are created in many colors to scrap up the overall look. The framed square blocks, spiced up with the small sawtooth star blocks in all the colors, give the overall design a lot to look at, I think.  I am always excited when I can come up with something with a lot of visual interest using simple blocks.

Why does it work so well with the Caryl's Feather fabric?

Besides colors, the Caryl's Feather fabrics themselves have a lot of movement and texture from the large feather prints that are incorporated with the background colors.  So, even though the designs will work just as well with any basic line of fabrics, I think Caryl's Feather really brings the design to a different level with the texture and movement in the prints.

 Ann talks about Star Dance:

What do you like best about this quilt?

The design looks involved but it's actually simple piecing so it can be made successfully by quilters from advanced beginner up. It also a lot of components so there’s not too much repetition—it’s fun to make. The pattern uses a very easy technique for flying geese, four-patches, and an included template for the half rectangles.

Can you talk about how this quilt shows off your Sundance prints?

The design is not crowded and the components are large enough to let the details of the fabric show off. It has an airy feeling. The black print is a geranium flower, so depending on where you cut it, you’ll get a variety of red petals as well as green leaves. The green, red and purple in the background are all delicate marbles with nice flowing movement.

Can you tell us a bit about the design?

The larger 10” squares help to highlight the focal prints--true watercolor style of the large poppy and field of flowers prints. The Irish Chain look that connects the blocks came about because I was just having fun with four-patches, letting them dance across the background. Plus, the pinwheels are not just HSTs—they are more interesting but easy. 

Tell us about the flexibility of your design.

Of course, I think the pattern is beautiful in the Sundance fabrics but it's designed to work for other collections as well. You could also enlarge it into a twin-size quilt by adding pinwheel borders to the top and bottom. 

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It's a battle of the stars! 

Star Struck vs. Star Dance

Which one will be the fan favorite quilt pattern?

Here's how to vote AND how to enter the giveaway:

• To vote: Leave a comment below with the name of your favorite quilt, Star Struck or Star Dance. One comment per person, please.  You can also vote a second time on our Facebook Group – Sew Interesting. Voting is now closed.
• To enter the giveaway: Send an email to socialmedia23 (at) gmail.com with Battle of the Stars in the subject line.
• Both the voting for Favorite Pattern and the giveaway will be open through Tuesday, April 7th at 5 pm EST. We'll announce the Favorite Pattern and giveaway winners on Wednesday. 
• Prizes: The grand prize winner will receive a box of 80 Sundance fat quarters. Runners-up will receive a bundle of 20 fat quarters from Daily Zen. We'll choose one runner-up for every 50 emails received. Winners will be randomly chosen from received emails and will be notified by email as well as announced here on the blog. 

Good luck to both of these fantastic patterns! 

To see the original bracket of sixteen and/or read the details of March Madness, click here.

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