The 2018 Pantone Quilt Challenge: Ultra Violet contest is open for entries!  You can link up here or at no hats in the house.  (The linky runs on both blogs, so it doesn’t matter where you link up—your entry will appear both places once you do!)

Before you link up, check out our amazing judges, the rules, and our wonderful sponsors.

 

The Judges

How can you forget our three amazing judges?! Sandi Hazelwood, Nicole Daksiewicz, and Alison Glass are eagerly waiting to see what you guys have come up with!

THE RULES:

For those of you familiar with the challenge, the rules are pretty much the same as (recent) years past, including 2014 (Radiant Orchid), 2015 (Marsala), and 2017 (Greenery). In the interest of keeping things fair, we’ll be keeping an eye on entries and enforcing the rules by removing any entries that don’t meet the requirements. Please let us know if you have any questions or need clarifications!

All items must be finished in 2018 to be eligible.

1. First of all, the feature color!  Here’s the official Ultra Violet swatch: The fabric in your quilt doesn’t have to be a perfect match to Ultra Violet.  However, seeing as this is the Ultra Violet Pantone challenge, your project must contain at least some Ultra Violet or comparable purple. (Just try to get as close as you can!) You can also use any other colors or neutrals you like, and as many (and as much) as you like.  That said, we would like to see Ultra Violet as the feature color of your quilt, and we will be asking the judges to take your use of Ultra Violet into account when making their decisions.
2. There will be three categories: quilts, minis, and just the top.

• Quilts: Any size from baby to bed (shortest side must be at least 30”).
• Minis: Shortest side under 30″. (Pillows, table runners, place mats, mug rugs, etc. all count as minis!
• Just the Top: Any size from baby to bed (shortest side must be at least 30”).

3. The contest will run from February 28 until May 11, 2018 with the link party open during the last 10 days (May 2 – May 11). Winners announced the following week (or thereabouts).
4. You can submit one entry per category (i.e., up to three entries).  Entries for quilts and minis should be completed projects, including quilting and binding.  Again, all items must have been finished in 2018 to be eligible.
5. By entering the contest, you agree that your project picture may be used in follow up posts about the Pantone Challenge.

PRIZES!

Remember, we have a slight change in the prizes after encountering some, shall we say, surprising (raises eyebrows) shipping expenses on last year’s booty.  In the interest of keeping things open to everyone (from everywhere), here’s what we came up with. Thanks in advance for understanding.

Okay, here goes: we’re asking our judges to pick their top U.S. and global (non-U.S.) pick (TWO #1s!). That means regardless of where you live, you can enter in any category and be eligible for the respective prize at the 1st level (U.S. or Global), and any prize at the 2nd and Viewer’s Choice levels.

Mmmmk? Phew! Now, on to the prizes, because OMG can we please talk about how wonderful and generous our sponsors are for a sec?!? Scroll down to see what we mean…

QUILTS (Sandi @craftyplanner)

Just as in previous years, we’ve kept the viewer participation element of this challenge so that there is a viewer’s choice award for each category. We know you’ll have fun looking at all the entries and voting for your favorite in each one (we will!)

Door Prizes

Finally, we would really (really) love to see an entry from absolutely everyone who feels the slightest bit inspired by Ultra Violet, regardless of skill level, so several entries that haven’t already won a prize will be drawn at random for one of our “door prizes” — brought to you by your hosts, judges, and more! *wink!*

ENTRIES:

1. Entries are open NOW and will close on May 11, 2018 at 10pm PST.  The link up tool (below) should tell you how much time the link-up has to run. Winners announced the following week (or thereabouts). The link party/gallery will be hosted at Bryan House Quilts and no hats in the house, but you only have to enter at one site (assuming it all goes smoothly, it’s all the same thing).

2. Each entry should link to a blog post, Flickr page, or Instagram post.

3. Each entry should include the project title and quilt dimensions and (psssst pay attention because this is NEW this year!) your country of residence. (This will help us check that the quilt has been submitted in the proper category.)

Link Up Trouble Shooting

If you haven’t used a link-up tool before, Katy from The Littlest Thistle explains everything you need to know here.

If you’re planning to use Instagram to link up, Katy has another great post explaining that process (here).  If you’re working from a phone or tablet, check out Rhonda’s tutorial on how to link from Instagram (here).

Please pay attention to the different categories to make sure your entry winds up in the right place! But don’t worry—if you make a mistake, the link program will allow you to delete your own links and re-submit in the proper category.

*Drumroll please!*

So without further ado… the linkies!

*keep drumming*

QUILTS

MINI QUILTS

JUST THE TOP

JUST FOR FUN (NON-JUDGED ENTRIES):

We thought it would be fun to provide a place for people to share quilts that feature Ultra Violet but don’t necessarily comply with all the challenge rules—e.g., because they were not finished in 2018. This is the separate link-up for people to share these quilts.  However, they will not be eligible for judging, voting, or to win prizes.   If you link up a quilt that is not eligible for the contest (e.g., it was finished pre-2018), we will move it to this category.

We’re stoked to see your projects!!