Quilting Arts Gifts 2013 Gift Tag Challenge--New deadline May 31!

Nothing finishes off a beautifully wrapped present like an artful gift tag. A unique tag can express your creativity and show your affection for the gift’s recipient. A gift tag even makes a clever ornament after it serves its first purpose. We invite you to make a fiber art gift tag for this year’s Quilting Arts Gifts™ challenge!

Using our fresh and fun color palette (download the palette and tag templates), create a tag with fabrics, papers, threads, and trims. Use your favorite surface design techniques or try something new. Incorporate traditional holiday motifs or invent your own. Here’s the perfect opportunity to think literally outside the box—the gift box, that is!

Challenge guidelines

1. Create an original gift tag using one of the templates provided and any combination of the colors from the attached swatch chart.
2. Your finished piece must incorporate a hole at one end to attach to a gift or to use as an ornament. Your gift tag must weigh no more than 8 ounces.
3. Your artwork must be free of any text or images that are protected by copyright, unless you have the express written permission from the person or institution that holds the copyright and you provide that permission with your submission.
4. Mixed‐media gift tags are welcome, as long as they contain some form of fiber and stitching.
5. Gift tags are due in our office no later than May 31, 2013. Be sure to package your gift tag in a plastic bag before packing it for shipping.
6. There is no entry fee for this challenge as the gift tags will become the property of F+W Media, Inc. and will not be returned.

Send your gift tag to:

Interweave/Quilting Arts
Attention: Gift Tag Challenge
490 Boston Post Road, Suite 15
Sudbury, MA 01776

Noteworthy

• If you have any questions, please contact Kristine Lundblad at klundblad@interweave.com. Please be sure to include your first and last names and your contact information in all email correspondence.
• By submitting your gift tag to our challenge, you are authorizing F+W Media, Inc. to publish your entry in upcoming publications and promotional materials, on our website, and in our other e‐media, as well as possibly display it at shows.
• F+W Media, Inc. will not be held responsible for loss or damage due to circumstances beyond our control.

Introducing Our 'Passages' Reader Challenge--Deadline June 7

At Quilting Arts Magazine, we love words as much as we love quilting. The more complex or nuanced the better--in the words and the quilts we celebrate. A simple word like "passage" has many meanings. It can be a journey or an attained stage of life. It can be an entrance or exit, a portion of music or writing, a continuous flow or movement, life or death. What comes to your mind when you think of this word? Why don't you show us in a quilt?

Here's how to enter

1. Create an art quilt based on the theme "Passages." The entire quilt, including binding, must measure 10" x 10".
2. Any embellishments must not protrude more than 1/2" from the quilt.
3. The quilt may be made with any materials, but it must be quilted (by hand, machine, or both), consist of three layers, and be either bound or closed along the edges. Label your quilt on the reverse with your name, email address, and title of the quilt.
4. Your entry must be free of any text or images protected by copyright, unless you have the expressed written permission from the person or institution that holds the copyright and you provide that written permission with your submission. (It's a good idea to steer clear of commercial imagery.)
5. To be considered for the challenge, send two low-resolution images (each less than 1MB) of your completed entry-one of the entire quilt including the edges/binding and one of a detail of the quilt-via email by June 7 to challenges@interweave.com, with the words "Passages" in the subject line. Please include your name, email address, phone number, and a brief explanation of your piece in the email.
   
   NOTE: Please do not "zip" your files and be sure to send jpegs.
6. On June 14, assistant editor Kristine Lundblad will post the finalists on the Reader Challenge blog at quiltingdaily.com. This is the only notification that will be made.
7. If accepted as a finalist, your artwork must be in our offices no later than June 28, along with a flat shipping and handling fee of $15 (U.S. and Canada) or $25 (all other international). This fee, which must be paid in U.S. dollars, covers the shipping costs, packing materials, and handling for the return of your entry. Only cash, checks, or money orders can be accepted. Checks or money orders should be made payable to Interweave.
8. The entire piece and all of its packaging must weigh less than 3 lbs. and fit inside a standard shipping/mailing box or padded envelope.

Finalists should mail their entries to

Quilting Arts Magazine/Interweave
Attn: 'Passages' Reader Challenge
490 Boston Post Road, Suite 15
Sudbury, MA 01776

NOTE: By submitting your reader challenge entry, you are authorizing F&W Media, Inc. to publish your project in upcoming publications and promotional materials, on our websites and in our other e-media, as well as to possibly display it at shows. F&W Media, Inc. will not be held responsible for loss or damage due to circumstances beyond our control.

We reserve the right to keep and display your "Passages" quilt until the week of October 20.

If you have questions about the "Passages" Reader Challenge, contact Kristine Lundblad at klundblad@interweave.com.

We look forward to seeing your work!

Introducing our "Hands" Reader Challenge--Deadline Aug. 2

Hand crafting, lending a hand, taking matters into our own hands--hands are expressions of how we feel as much as what we do. They can tell others about our age, our type of work, our marital status, and our heritage. We look at our own hands every day--but do we really see them? After reading Martha Sielman's article, "Creating Realistic Portraits" in the June/July 2013 issue, we were inspired to think about hands, what they say, and how they are depicted in fiber art--literally and metaphorically. Perhaps you are inspired, too.

What do you think of when you hear the word? Show us in an art quilt!

Here's how to enter

1. Create an art quilt based on the theme "Hands." The entire quilt, including binding, must measure 9" x 12".
2. Any embellishments must not protrude more than 1/2" from the quilt.
3. The quilt may be made with any materials, but it must be quilted (by hand, machine, or both), consist of three layers, and be either bound or closed along the edges. Label your quilt on the reverse with your name, email address, and title of the quilt. It may be oriented horizontally or vertically. If it is not apparent, on the reverse label the top of the quilt. 
4. Your entry must be free of any text or images protected by copyright, unless you have the expressed written permission from the person or institution that holds the copyright and you provide that written permission with your submission. (It's a good idea to steer clear of commercial imagery.)
5. To be considered for the challenge, send two low-resolution images (each less than 1MB) of your completed entry--one of the entire quilt including the edges/binding and one of a detail of the quilt--via email by August 2 to challenges@interweave.com, with the words "Hands" in the subject line. Please include your name, email address, phone number, title of the quilt, and a brief explanation of your piece in the email.
   NOTE: Please do not "zip" your files and be sure to send jpegs.
6. On August 7, assistant editor Kristine Lundblad will post the finalists on the Reader Challenge blog at quiltingdaily.com. This is the only notification that will be made.
7. If accepted as a finalist, your artwork must be in our offices no later than August 30, along with a flat shipping and handling fee of $15 (U.S. and Canada) or $25 (all other international). This fee, which must be paid in U.S. dollars, covers the shipping costs, packing materials, and handling for the return of your entry. Only cash, checks, or money orders can be accepted. Checks or money orders should be made payable to Interweave.
8. The entire piece and all of its packaging must weigh less than 3 lbs. and fit inside a standard shipping/mailing box or padded envelope.

Finalists should mail their entries to

Quilting Arts Magazine/Interweave
Attn: "Hands" Reader Challenge
490 Boston Post Road, Suite 15
Sudbury, MA 01776

NOTE: By submitting your reader challenge entry, you are authorizing F&W Media, Inc. to publish your project in upcoming publications and promotional materials, on our websites and in our other e-media, as well as to possibly display it at shows. F&W Media, Inc. will not be held responsible for loss or damage due to circumstances beyond our control.

We reserve the right to keep and display your "Hands" quilt until the week of January 6, 2014.

If you have questions about the "Hands" Reader Challenge, contact Kristine Lundblad at klundblad@interweave.com.

We look forward to seeing your work!

Introducing our "Text Me!" Reader Challenge

Thank you for your interest.  Submission to this challenge is now closed.

Words have captivated humans since the dawn of the alphabet. Who has not been inspired by a Shakespearian soliloquy, riveted by a newspaper headline, petrified by a Stephen King novel, or touched by a child's first written word? Generations of artists of all mediums have used words literally and figuratively in their work. How does text inspire you? How might you interpret the nuances of the written word, the ambiguity of a phrase, the poetry of a verse, or the curvature of a letter? Show us in a quilt!

Note: By submitting your reader challenge entry, you are authorizing F&W Media, Inc. to publish your project in upcoming publications and promotional materials, on our websites and in our other e-media, as well as to possibly display it at shows. F&W Media, Inc. will not be held responsible for loss or damage due to circumstances beyond our control.

We reserve the right to keep and display your "Text Me" piece until the week of August 5.

If you have questions about the "Text Me" reader challenge, contact Kristine Lundblad at klundblad@interweave.com.

Introducing our 'Map It Out' reader challenge

Thank you for your interest.  Submission to this challenge is now closed.

What do you think of when you hear the word "map"? The dictionary reveals that "map" is a noun and a verb that can be used both literally and figuratively. Scientists map genes, politicians plot a road map for peace, and business people map out a plan.

People are described as being all over the map. Or, if they're successful, they're on the map. In a spiritual sense, one might map the soul.

Such complexity from a simple word. Sounds like a challenge to us!

What does "map" mean to you? Draw us a map to your thoughts in a 10" x 12" art quilt.

Note: By submitting your reader challenge entry, you are authorizing F&W Media, Inc. to publish your project in upcoming publications and promotional materials, on our websites, and in our other e-media, as well as to possibly display it at shows. F&W Media, Inc. will not be held responsible for loss or damage due to circumstances beyond our control.

We reserve the right to keep and display your "Map It Out" piece until the week of June 3.

If you have questions about the "Map It Out" reader challenge, contact Kristine Lundblad at klundblad@interweave.com.