'Tears for Paris'. The terrorist in Paris occurred while I was working on this piece. I was trying to invoke an image of stain glass which reminds me of Paris. The horror of the tragedy is represented by the tears on the right side of the quilt dropping down.
I have enjoyed this challenge - love working with a deadline, it helps keeps me focused on finishing projects. Can't wait to see what's next.
by Laurel Hewitt
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This is my November entry for The Focus Through the Prism Challenge. It is called Aurora after input from my FTTP friends. I loved the ideas about the wind turbine and the box fan but Aurora tied all those ideas together. I spent 35 years teaching Middle School and while working full time I earned my Master's Degree in Education from Aurora University and it " propelled" me forward in my career. It was quilted by Marcia Wachuta.
I have really enjoyed all the challenges. This was my first experience with a challenge and I enjoyed the comradery and support from kindred spirits. I loved working with the Cherrywood Fabrics as well as fabrics from my stash especially those that I had purchased at The Stitching Post in Sister's Oregon and those that were purchased at the Paducah quilt show. Thanks everybody for a fun time.
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As a native Michigander, I celebrate the first snowfall. as a transplanted Georgia ( with Nathan Deal for the current governor ) , I Fear snow covered roads ,Snowmageddon 2014, which left elementary school children stranded on buses since Our governor chose not to treat freezing icing interstates ; has changed my opinion of driving in to work as a hospital based RN.
by Nancy Hutchinson
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Snowball Daisy Flower
Inspired by a quilt I made last year named "googly" it was 3 snowballs in one block. I figured it could be a flower with a few additions. It's been fun!
by Sherri M
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My Focus through the Prism for the last month, November. I knew I wanted to do the blue buntings so when the block for this month was the Snowball block, I was stumped as to what to do. The only thing I could come up with was to make the blossoms on the pussy willows as snowball shapes.
Accomplished! I then decided to highlight the buntings by framing them with an indigo border. Another snowball ! I saw this image by Patrick Clark posted in April on FB. I'm calling my piece simply "Indigo Buntings."
Cheryl Snellgrove
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4 days of Black Friday sneak peeks - early deals on craft supplies!
Moon Circle by M Leana McCutcheon
Carol and I met at a Full Moon Circle in the early 1980's. We sat together in many moon circles and it was at a New Moon circle that we planned to organize public labyrinth walks in a local park. 
Here's my October entry.
I call it "Deadline, schmedline! Guess who just became a 1st time Grandma?"
by Mary Kay Turner
I finally managed to do one of these challenges that also satisfied a homework assignment for Design Essentials 2 with Lorraine Torrance. We were supposed to cut up and use a panel or border fabric in a quilt.
I really like this one, quilted beautifully once again by Marcia Wachuta.
Made by Audrey Manning
! I call it 'Not My Mother's Flying Geese.' I was inspired by the quilt that I made with my mom as a child. The blue quilt was on my bed for years, and it went to college with me.
The back of my challenge quilt includes a picture of my old quilt. Even better, is that my daughter helped to create the design and do some of the quilting. Too bad it won't fit on her bed! We will have to make another quilt together
by Lisa Foslien
Fishing Around by Wendy B, Cumming, GA
During the layout of the rows to sew my quilt together I sewed a couple of rows upside-down. After stepping back and looking at the quilt I was surprised to see it had turned into a fish. 
This is called "Last one in, is a rotten goose!" Just finished the binding. We've begun a two week road trip to New England and I'm afraid I did this way too much in a hurry as we were on vacation the first part of the month also.
Free motion quilting is not my strong suit -- definitely need more practice. Thanks! Sandy Huovinen,
Love, love, love this month's block, Flying Geese. I knew immediately that they were actually flying bats! I still had indigo fabric left from my Cherrywood pack and decided to add more children to a Halloween scene.
(After my last entry, the spooky carnival, my sister said I was getting too dark! ) So only the monsters are scared in this month's fun.
"Be Afraid....Be Very Afraid!"
By Nancy LaPorte
“Go away from my window, go at your own chosen speed. Your not the one I wanted, your not the one I need.” Do you remember these starting lyrics to “ It aint’ you babe “. “ Go away from my window” is the name of my September flying geese quilt. It is totally pieced, no appliques.
After finishing it I see at least 3 things I would do differently. But isn’t that the way it always goes. (I gotta quilt listening to Pandora oldies while I quilt.)
~Evelyn Larrison
This quilt's inspiration was a photo of two of my Grands on the last evening of their beach vacation at Clearwater, Florida. Granddaughter and Grandson are both 15 years old, but not twins. She was adopted from Russia as a baby and he became part of our large family 1 1/2 years ago.
They are friends and siblings taking in the beautiful colors of nature and knowing the next morning they would be on their way home to Georgia. I took artist's license and added the kites and sandcastle.
I used Cherrywood 's indigo, a SkyDye by Mickey Lawler and the water fabric is from Lunn Studio. The sky was created using a technique from "Radiant Landscapes" by Gloria Loughman. I folded/scrunched the Lunn fabric and added embellishments trying for waves.
Focus Through the Prism Pinwheel Challenge
Bicycles have been a part of my family's life. My husband and I met while riding bikes. When our children were young we rode bikes all over town, each with a child on the back our a bike. We had given up riding bikes but now our grandchildren want us to buy bikes so we can ride with them.
When I saw the pinwheel block for this month's challenge, the bike just made sense.
Here's my July Prism Challenge piece. I call it “Home of the Brave”.
Inspired by 4th of July firework displays, and facing a long road trip, I decided to stitch one large Log Cabin, then quilt and bind it before my trip so I could embroider fireworks on the road.
The Log Cabin block is a symbol of hearth and home and July is the month when we celebrate the birth of our homeland. It all seem to fit with the Indigo Blue.
Indigo's Cabin by Sue Johnson for the Log Cabin Focus Through the Prism Project QUITLING Challenge
To showcase the beautiful color of indigo, I embroidered a redwork log cabin. As part of the ROYGBIV theme, each month I have included a tatted letter. This month, hiding in the scenic view from the cabin, is the tatted I, for Indigo.
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“Scattered” by Anna Gordy Montgomery
"Scattered" as a Navy spouse and Intern Pastor, my friends are scattered throughout the world!
Mr Owl … My Night time Friend
Made by Liz Mandelkow from Buhl Idaho
When the June challenge was posted, that night a great horned owl spent most of the night hunting from our roof top. He has been back frequently and keeps the mice and rabbit population in check around our yard. Many nights I lie in bed and listen to him “talking” to the other horned owl across the river from us. I have enjoyed his late night company.
This challenge reminds me of the late night sky and "our" Mr Owl that sits on our roof top. I tried to capture the changing light in the sky and the light filtering through the tree branches. This has been a fun challenge.
The friendship star blocks are subtle and hidden in the background. The hard part was blending the colors. At some point I had to just stop and start sewing blocks together. Otherwise I would still be at the design wall shifting blocks around.
The applique was a new process for me. I used some fabric and some felt and used a zigzag stitch to applique the owl.
‘Traditional or Modern, Friendship Stays the Same’ by Stacye Richardson for the Focus Through the Prism Friendship Star Challenge.
My quilt is called 'Traditional or Modern, friendship stays the same'.
I saw a technique for splitting a block to give it a more modern look and thought it might be fun to try for the challenge. 
