Thursday, August 21, 2014

Hoffman Challenge Quilts

My friends Kim and Karen Pratt have been entering the Hoffman Quilt Challenge for over 15 years. Both of their quilts have been selected for the traveling Hoffman Challenge Show for 2014. You can see Kim's quilt in person at the Houston Quilt Festival in November.

The Hoffman Challenge was started in 1988. You can read all about it on their website which is full of details, including the calendar for each group of traveling quilts, as well as a full list of names and where they are from. There are multiple categories for entry, from dolls to clothing to quilts. Each entry receives a pin unique to that year. The top winners receive cash prizes.
Kim's quilt, above, is Bordered Diamonds from Kaffe Fasset's book, Simple Shapes, Spectacular Quilts. She quilted it from the back using metallic threads and following the design on her backing fabric. I've seen this quilt in person and the photo does not do it justice.
The inspiration for Karen's quilt, Twists and Turns, came while she was working on a new design for her fall Berkshire Quilt's retreat project using charm squares as the feature fabric. She chose to scale the pattern down to better suit the size for the Hoffman Challenge. Karen fussy cut the set of four patches in each of the nine blocks. To see all of Karen's previous entries in the Hoffman Challenge, visit her website here.
Here are the terrifically talented Pratt sisters!
Karen is on the left, Kim is on the right.
 This is the Hoffman Challenge fabric that they had to use in their quilt entry.
Hoffman Challenge fabric 2014
The fabric for 2015 has already been chosen. Will you be entering?
2015 Hoffman Challenge fabric
Come back soon and let me know if you visited Karen's website to see her other Hoffman Challenge quilts. Kim sent me pictures of her entries from other years and I'm saving them to show you at a future date...

Linking up on Friday to Richard and Tanya Quilts, Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Crazy Mom Quilts

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

4 comments:

  1. Good Morning Nancy, It is amazing how one piece of material can be used to create two different quilts and they are both beautiful. I love the Bordered Diamonds quilt as I have a little affection for Kaffe Fasset's work. I love his use of colour as he uses colours which I would not ordinarily put together.
    Kim must be very patient, as she used metallic thread for her quilting and I know it can be a very difficult thread to work with, but what a fabulous idea to follow the design on the back of her quilt.... such a good idea.
    Good luck to both your friends, they are very talented ladies.
    I love the material that has been chosen for the 2015 Hoffman challenge as it has so much detail.
    Before I go, I must tell you, I saw a 10 week old Pug the other day, and I fell in love with her, she was so cute and it made me think of your boys.... hope they are keeping well.
    Have a lovely weekend Nancy.
    Best Wishes to you.
    Daphne

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  2. Your friends are very talented!! I did go look at the previous quilts submitted - wow! It truly is amazing how the same piece of fabric can look so different when used in different designs. I also went to the Hoffman page and looked at the rules, FAQ and previous year's fabrics. I'm going to be honest, this 2015 fabric would be a challenge for me! LOL And I also thought the same about most of the previous challenge fabrics :) I am amazed at the beautiful quilts Kim and Karen were able to create from them!! What talent!

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  3. Hi Nancy! Karen & Kim did a great job with their Hoffman Challenge quilts. It is always interesting to see how Quilters approach the same fabrics in so many different ways. I took a peek at Karen's website and she is very talented!

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  4. This looks like fun. The fabric for this year would be so interesting in so many different quilts. I was surprised that they don't have to be really big either.

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