Calling All Artists! Arena Community Quilt *UPDATE WITH PICS!!!!*

[ZennaBug]

Calling all Arena Artists!

As we all know, the MLP Arena is the most amazing place on the entire internet.    Our site is particularly awesome because of our fabulous members and a dedicated volunteer staff team.  The site may be free to all of us, but there are operation costs in order to keep the forums running smoothly.  In order to keep our site ad-free and available to all, we sometimes hold auctions, raffles, and sales of MLP Arena merch.  Inspired by a quilting thread in the Arts and Crafts Corral, I'd like your help making a community quilt to sell at the next Arena auction to raise money for our pony home!
How do you get in on the fun and make a difference to our pony community, you ask?  Easy!

PM me with a design proposal for your square.  The mods will look at all entries and select the 12 we feel best represent our community!  The artists with the winning designs will then have 6 weeks to make their design a reality and then ship the square to me for assembly and quilting.

Details:

All finished squares must be 18x18" (approximately 46x46cm) on cotton fabric. Remember that the edges of the square will be cut off by the seams, so leave about 1/2" on each side free of details. I don't want to chop off anyone's art!
Squares can be painted, applique, cross-stitched, embroidered, pieced, or any other method you choose.  Be as creative as you want!
All generations are welcome and encouraged!  You are also welcome to use the Arena mascot pony.
PM your entries to ZennaBug before midnight on August 31st.
Winning artists will have 6 weeks to make their design a reality before shipping their squares to ZennaBug.
The finished quilt will be available to purchase in our next Arena auction and all proceeds will go towards the operation costs of our site.

ETA: Here is the ref sheet for our mascot pony! Designed and drawn by sirithfin.

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[Griffin]

YAY!

[brighteyes]

OMG that is so cool!  I will totally be entering this

[Uninu]

What a great idea!

I have already something sketched, hopefully it'll look pretty once colored ^^

[UrocyonFox]

If I knew how to quilt at all I would offer a quilt square~

[archidraca]

Definitely need to remember to enter an idea. 

[Griffin]

If I knew how to quilt at all I would offer a quilt square~

That's the best part, you don't need to know how to quilt in order to enter! As ZennaBug mentioned, there's a wide variety of possible techniques and even though most of them involve sewing, you can always just use fabric paints to create your square if sewing is not your thing.

[ZennaBug]

That's right. I'll be doing the actual quilting. A painting on a piece of fabric works just as well as anything. I'm hoping to get submissions in lots of different media with lots of different ponies. This is such a diverse community and I would love this quilt to represent that diversity.

The first entry is in already! We're off to a great start!

[Prideth]

I'm going to give this some thought.  I really like the idea!  I just need to make sure my technique is up to par for my ideas!

 

[ZennaBug]

I'd love to see your entry. There's still the rest of the month to come up with a design and then 6 weeks to work.

[Mirnyj]

Sounds like fun!  I don't have any cotton quilting fabrics though, need to see what online has to offer. 

[Marigold]

This is a great idea!

[ZennaBug]

Tip for anyone entering: wash and dry the fabric before you cut it to size and paint (or whatever medium you choose). That way it shrinks BEFORE being added to a quilt. It will prevent future warping.

[Griffin]

Good point, Zenna! See, I'm not used to working with fabrics, I probably wouldn't have thought of that...

[ZennaBug]

Another good point brought to my attention via PM: when you sew, about 1/4-1/2 inch on each side will disappear into the margins of the quilt. I'll be updating the first post to reflect that. Please leave some wiggle room around the outside of your square so I don't end up chopping off the edges when I sew!

Also, the first post has been updated with a ref for the Arena's mascot pony.