Cirrus Solids BOM Challenge - My Winning Blocks

A few months ago, I gave myself a personal challenge of entering more contests. In that time I've managed to enter only two design contests. I'm not breaking any land speed records for entry. One of those contests was the Cloud9 Cirrus Solids Block of the Month Challenge. You might remember that my initial efforts led to a Cirrus Plaid block and a review of the Cirrus Solids woven fabrics. Call me greedy, but I really wanted to win a bit more.

Having spent what I thought was my best blocks on the tutorial, I put my odds of winning at somewhere between slim and none. I submitted my second best Cirrus Solids design, The Brat Pack Block. Something about the color combinations I came up with made me think of Emilio, Rob, Ally, Andrew and Anthony. I was whisked away to a John Hughes movie. After making the design, I actually trekked to a video store (yes, we still have one in my neighborhood) and hired a few 80s movies that afternoon.

I managed to come up with nine colorways of the block. I asked five friends to choose the colors they thought were strongest so I could decide which two to submit; each had a different pair of favorites. In the end, I went with Molly and Judd.

Image and sewing from Cloud9 Fabrics blog

I was completely surprised to find out that I won the challenge for December Block of the Month. After picking my block, the Cloud9 team sewed it up in both colorways and came up with several layout options for quilts.

Image from the Cloud9 Fabrics blog

You can find the PDF instructions including yardage on the December Block of the Month post, as well as a link for entering your own blocks. They'll be picking winners through next September, so there's still heaps of chances to win. If you make up a #bratpackblock or #bratpackquilt be sure to tag me and let me know.

And those video that I hired at the video store?  In true 80s fashion, they were overdue...