Hello Sewvivor fans!! We are down to the FINAL round of competition. It’s hard to believe that its almost over! Think of all the quilty goodness that has gone in the last few weeks. Thank you to all the fans, family, and friends who have stopped by to support our contestants! Sewvivors, you are just amazing!! Congrats to Nicole, Amanda, and Amy for making it into the finals! The competition is definitely ON!

The final challenge:

The Sewvivor twist for this round is ANONYMITY.
You will not be told which designer created each quilt below. They are required to keep it a secret. I felt that this could be the most unbiased way to choose the Sewvivor champion. All the quilts are so cool, so good luck with your vote!

NOTE FROM THE CONTESTANT: Hello, and welcome to my FINAL project for the Sewvivor Quilting Edition!  I never expected to make it passed the auditions and so I am thrilled to have made it to the final three!  I know the other two competitors are bringing their “A” game and I tried to do the same with my lap size quilt! Thanks to everyone for the continued support of me and the others in the Sewvivor competition!  It has been quite the journey and I’m grateful I have made it this far.  No matter the results, I feel like a winner!

I have never been one to shy away from a lot of color, and I love how all of Bonnie and Camille’s fabric lines coordinate so well together.  This quilt has 20 blocks (each block has 97 pieces), 44 scrappy sashing strips, and 25 nine-patch blocks set as the posts for the sashing.  In all it contains 2209 pieces!

 I used a blue floral print from Miss Kate for the backing and paired it with the Red Sundae Scallop from the same line for the binding.  I usually sew my double-fold binding 1/4″ from the quilts edge, but decided to sew it 3/8″ this time.  I hand stitched the binding to the back of the quilt and I really like how it butts right up to the edge of the quilt.  I LOVE the way it turned out!

CONTESTANT #2

NOTE FROM THE CONTESTANT: I’m absolutely thrilled to be here in the top three! I would have never guessed in a million years that I would have made it this far, I’m so very thankful for everyone’s support, sweet comments and of course votes 😉

This quilt is one that I’ve had in my head for some time now and making it this far in Sewvivor has given me the push I needed to get it out of my head and into reality! So without further ado, may I present… Carrousel!

Carrousel is a mixture of Melody Millers’s first line for Cotton and Steel, Mustang and one of my all time faves from her Ruby Star Polka Dot line for Kokka, the patchwork cheater print in blue, love this print so much! I spent a ridiculous amount of time fussy cutting images to feature in the Star Dresden wedges and even went so far as to piece three of them with little plus signs to mimic the little plus signs used in some of the Mustang prints.

I used up a lot of the little left over scraps to improv piece a strip for the top of the quilt. I knew I wanted the giant dresden to be the center of attention so I had planned from the beginning to bind it in the same fabric i used to applique the dresden onto. So I thought a splash of color along the top of the quilt would be needed!

The giant dresden measures almost 50″ across from point to point and I absolutely love the effect of having the one edge scalloped. And I almost love the back as much as the front!

I’ve used Carolyn Friedlanders widescreens for both the front and the back, grey on the front and black with a strip of grey for the back. I also used the grey for skinny binding. I cut the binding at only 2″ and machine stitched it to the front and hand stitched it to the back.

In an effort to keep this one soft and drapey I minimized the machine quilting and used the dresden wedges to guide where all my quilting lines went. I just did simple lines with Aurifil #2606 Mist through the centers of all the wedges from point to point and continued on in a straight line to the edge of the quilt. It creates a fantastic crossing of lines in the center! Where the lines reach the outer edges the quilt they were too far apart for my batting so I made the decision to do some hand quilting.

I love the little vintage pyrex looking starbursts on some of the Mustang prints and decided that they would be perfect to quilt all over the grey area of the quilt. I used Aurifil #2975 Brass for them and also for the simple stitches around the inner and outer edge of the whole dresden. The perfect amount of hand quilting!

The details:

Pattern – Carrousel by me!

Finished size – 64″ x 80″

Fabrics – Star Dresden is all Mellody Miller Mustang, and Ruby Star Polka Dot and a selection of RJR Cotton Supreme Solids.

Front, backing and binding all Carolyn Friedlander Widescreens in grey and black.

Pieced with Aurifil #2600 Dove Grey and quilted with Aurifil #2606 Mist and #2975 Brass

CONTESTANT #3

NOTE FROM THE CONTESTANT: Thank you for bringing me this far on this adventure! I know there is so much talent in his group and I’m so grateful to be a part if it!





Trying to choose what to make for the final round of Sewvivor was impossible. I wanted something classic, but modern. I wanted something technically difficult, but simple and clean and bright and possible to complete in a week.




So I chose something I think meets all of those criteria. This quilt is bold, graphic and timeless. It captures everything I love about quilting, the repetition, the color, and the tradition. And at the end, a delightful quilt is draped over my couch. Which makes it pretty much perfect!

Quilt: inspired by classic plus and cross block
Quilting: inspired by Leah Day’s ‘modern art’ design
Bound using glue basting tutorial from Cristy Creates via Ali Winston

Sewvivor 3: Lap Quilt Results