SPRINGFIELD, Vt. – Donna Tardiff of Springfield was awarded fourth place in a national quilt competition for her lovely quilted pollinator wall hanging. She created a colorful design of several examples of pollinators, incorporating little extra add-ons to look for.
Bats hang upside down on trees. Humming birds hover over a flower with their tiny nest nearby. Ants can retreat to their anthill. Wasps can fly to their paper nest hanging from the tree branch. Moths fly towards a flickering flame. Butterflies flitter through the flowers. Ladybugs scurry to the central red petals. You can see the swirls of quilted lines indicating the flight paths of the pollinators.
After creating her quilt, she entered a photograph of it and wrote the story of it. Members of the Modern Quilt Guild viewed all the entries online, and voted for their favorite. About 100 designs were entered throughout the United States, and Tardiff’s received enough votes to come in fourth place. What a thrill to receive such a recognition for her inspiring design.
She brought it in to share with her Great Hall Handcrafters friends, who meet Thursdays, from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m., at the Great Hall at the Medical Center, at 100 River Street in Springfield, where they can share and inspire each other while doing all types of handcrafts – knitting, crocheting, quilting, basket making, etc.
Tardiff has entered this competition before, and knows the significance of the stiff competition. Each year the Modern Quilt Guild chooses a theme and the members create something around that theme. This year it was pollinators. Each year the funds that are generated by the competition are donated to a different action group. This year the funds were donated to the Wild Earth Allies.
As Tardiff’s prize, she was thrilled to receive a gift box with an extensive collection of colorful quilting threads. We anticipate more projects ahead with this colorful array of thread.