Shades of Sunshine Quiltie swap . . . winner(s)!

It took me some time to wrap up this quiltie swap even before I start swapping it out, because I had to choose a "most creative" entry. Yikes! You may (or may not) remember that in the call for this swap I wrote . . . . Challenge yourself to try something new with this colorful swap. The most creative set of quilties will be awarded a first prize packet of mixed media & fabric goodies hand-picked from my own stash that is sure to delight! : )

Well, I ended up choosing 2 participants with outstanding creative quilties, and I had quite a few more participants on my list that almost won! I was able to choose two participants this time because I happen to have an *extra* prize on hand. I recently decorated a Daily Window bag (backpack) as a sample for the company. They liked my work so much they asked if they could send another style for me to work on - my answer was yes! When I received the package last week there was not one, but two of the same bags inside! It was a mix up in sending and upon contacting the company they said they would send the correct bag they wanted me to design (an Urban Tote) and -- as far as the other two: "You are welcome to play with them (the 2 Daily Carry-Alls), or share them with another who may enjoy them. They are a fun bag because they can be used for so many different things…an outing with a couple of bottles of wine, a gym bag with a place for your water bottles, a diaper bag, a beach bag."

SO! Long story short, I am first going to award KARA KLEIN with a Daily Carry All Tote that she can art-up as well as use the clear window of the tote to pop-in her ever-changing array of beautiful art pieces! I fell in love with Kara's creative sunshine quilties when she sent them to me back in June. I loved the way she used words and told a story and featured bold geometric shapes to describe what summer means to her. The bold stamping with her first-ever alphabet set really grabs me design wise and also emotionally. Congratulations, Kara! Two of Kara's very creative quilties are below -- click on any photo for better detail.

And secondly, I want to award Kiki Finlayson with a lovely, creative pack of goodies from my own stash for her outstanding creative shades of sunshine quilties. Kiki titled her work Pacific Sunset and used so many different techniques and materials - beading, felting, quilting and more! Click on her name to read a bit more, and view two of her quilties below. Congratulations to both Kara and Kiki!

I will send the prizes out with your quilties . . . . . The physical swapping of the shades of sunshine will start soon -I will keep you posted. We had 24 participants including myself that finished the swap. One overseas package is still in transit and did not make it here on time, I am very sad to say. Quite a few people had to drop out this time too. But there are still a LOT of wonderful, bright, colourful and beautiful quilties here to swap with 24 of us, so I will get to work soon! Thanks so much for your participation. The shades of the forest quilties swap due 11/29/08 still has space as of this date: 9/22/08. If you have not joined yet, you are welcome to join ~ see the sign up PayPal button on the right. Thanks!