modern madness

With 503 fabric fanatics weighing in, the results are in for Region 1! Even this early in the tournament, we’re seeing some very close races. I think that’s an indication that the match-ups will only be getting more intense as Modern Madness progresses. OK, it’s time to pull out your brackets and see how you did …

Fly a Kite by October Afternoon by Riley Blake Fabrics (305 votes, 61%) def.
Miscellany by Julia Rothman for Cloud 9 Organic Fabrics (198, 39%)

Grand Bazaar by Patty Young for Michael Miller Fabrics (273 votes, 54%) def.
Tilly by Jan DiCintio for Daisy Janie Organic Fabrics (230, 46%)

LouLouThi by Anna Maria Horner for Free Spirit Fabrics (370 votes, 74%) def.
Marin by Jennifer Moore for Monaluna Organic Fabrics (133, 26%)

Walk in the Woods by Aneela Hoey for Moda Fabrics (359 votes, 71%) def.
J’adore Stella by Dear Stella Fabrics (144, 29%)

Reunion by Sweetwater for Moda Fabrics (410 votes, 82%) def.
Whitewash by Meg Hawkey for Lecien Fabrics (93, 18%)

Heirloom by Joel Dewberry for Free Spirit Fabrics (368 votes, 73%) def.
Peacock Lane by Violet Craft for Michael Miller Fabrics (135, 27%)

Lark by Amy Butler for Westminster Fibers (265 votes, 53%) def.
A Stitch in Color by Malka Dubrawsky for Moda Fabrics (238, 47%)

Outfoxed by Lizzy House by Andover Fabrics (307 votes, 61%) def.
Wrenly by Valori Wells for Free Spirit Fabrics (196, 39%)

So, how’d you do? Any surprises? Here’s how you can keep score if you’d like to see how your predictions are stacking up against other Fat Quarterly readers:

Scoring: for every winner that you predicted correctly, give yourself 1 point. Did anyone get a perfect score of 8? Let us know your score in the comments below!

OK, it’s time to move on to Region 2. Record your votes below, and see the bottom of this post for links to all of the fabric lines!

** Voting is now closed. Thanks for playing! **

Ruby Star Shining by Melody Miller for Kokka Fabrics
Honey Child by Jennifer Paganelli for Free Spirit Fabrics

Silent Cinema by Jenean Morrison for Free Spirit Fabrics
California Girl by Fig Tree Quilts for Moda Fabrics

St. Ives by Sarah Fielke for Lecien Fabrics
Ruby by Bonnie & Camille for Moda Fabrics

Children at Play by Sarah Jane for Michael Miller Fabrics
Feather N Stitch by Sarah Watts for Blend Fabrics

Shades of Grey by Jan DiCintio for Daisy Janie Fabrics
Fox Trails by Doohikey Designs for Riley Blake Fabrics

Stitch by Betz White for Robert Kaufman Fabrics
Going Coastal by Emily Herrick for Michael Miller Fabrics

Mechanical Genius by Mo Bedell for Timeless Treasures Fabrics
Far Far Away III by Heather Ross for Kokka Fabrics

Terrain by Kate Spain for Moda Fabrics
Hyperreal Garden by Pat Bravo for Art Gallery Fabrics

And we’re off, folks! The first 16 fabric lines are pairing off in 8 epic battles. Who will emerge victorious? Be sure to vote for your favorite teams below:

** Voting for Region 1 is now closed. Thanks for playing. Stay tuned to view the winners, and to vote for your favorite fabric lines in Region 2! **

As a reminder, you can print your brackets here.

And in case you’re unfamiliar with any of this region’s fabric lines, be sure to check out the links below!

Miscellany by Julia Rothman for Cloud 9 Fabrics
Fly a Kite by October Afternoon for Riley Blake Fabrics

Tilly by JanDiCintio by Daisy Janie Fabrics
Grand Bazaar by Patty Young for Michael Miller Fabrics

LouLouThi by Anna Maria Horner for Free Spirit Fabrics
Marin by Jennifer Moore for Monaluna Organic Fabrics

A Walk in the Woods by Aneela Hoey for Moda Fabrics
J’adore Stella by Dear Stella Fabrics

Whitewash by Meg Hawkey for Lecien Fabrics
Reunion by Sweetwater for Moda Fabrics

Peacock Lane by Violet Craft for Michael Miller Fabrics
Heirloom by Joel Dewberry for Free Spirit Fabrics

Lark by Amy Butler for Westminster Fibers
A Stitch in Color by Malka Dubrawsky for Moda Fabrics

Outfoxed by Lizzy House for Andover Fabrics
Wrenly by Valori Wells for Free Spirit Fabrics

Love fabric? Love competition? In the spirit of March Madness, we’re excited to bring back MODERN MADNESS for another year of fun, fabric, and friendly competition.

Once again, we’ve populated the field of 64 with all of your favorite modern fabric lines. They’ll face off, round after round, until we arrive at the 2012 fabric champion as determined solely by the readers of Fat Quarterly.  And with last year’s champion, Jay McCarroll, without a new line to defend his title this year, we already know we’re going to have a new champion!

Here’s how it will work:

• We’ve already randomly placed our top 64 fabric lines into the brackets, based on our observations over the past year as well as the most frequently nominated lines by our readers. There were well over 90 fantastic lines that were in the running for our top 64, and even getting down to the field was a tough task. Print the brackets out to play along!
• Throughout the month of March, we’ll be posting the different rounds and regions of competition. Once posted, a survey will go live for you to vote for your favorites.
• Once the voting for each round is closed, we’ll update the brackets and get ready for the next round of competition.

From 64 contenders, only one will emerge as the favorite. Let the debate, conversation, and celebration commence!

Here’s the schedule:

Round 1

• Region 1: March 13th
• Region 2: March 15th
• Region 3: March 16th
• Region 4: March 17th

Round 2

• Region 1: March 19th
• Region 2: March 21st
• Region 3: March 22nd
• Region 4: March 23rd

Regionals

• Part 1: March 25th
• Part 2: March 27th

Quarterfinals – March 29th

Semifinals – March 31st

Championship – April 2nd

And college basketball fans know the best part about March Madness: predicting all of the winners before the competition starts, and keeping track of how many points you earn by being correct!

We encourage you to print the brackets before we begin and fill it out. We’ll give tips on how to keep score throughout the competition.

Sound like fun? Ready to play? Download your brackets here.

It’s March, and you know what that means: it’s time for another edition of the most fun-filled, action-packed, nail-biting, rock-’em sock-’em interactive game in the modern quilting world.  Yes, that’s right — we’re once again infected by ‘the Madness’.  The March Modern Madness, that is.

Don’t know what Fat Quarterly’s Modern Madness is?  Well, it’s a friendly race to the end for 64 of the past year’s hottest modern fabric lines, facing off in a bracket-style tournament until only one remains.  It’s based on the NCAA college basketball tournament that’s so popular here in the U.S., and you can read more about it here (and catch up on all of last year’s action here).

Now before you get too upset, let’s remember that this is all in FUN.  We run Modern Madness with only the best of intentions — to celebrate all of the wonderful designs that we’ve been working with for the past 12 months and, more importantly, to expose our readers to some fabulous fabric lines of which they may have been previously unaware.  And while we like to celebrate the sole survivor, there are no winners or losers in Modern Madness — we’re highlighting ALL of the designers and lines that we love so much.

I’ll be back more soon with the final brackets and a full tourney schedule, but first wanted to solicit your nominations.  What have you loved sewing with in the past year?  What lines should be included in our field of 64?  Let us know via the form below.

** Nominations are now closed. Thanks for your input! **

That’s it, folks!  Voting has closed, and after 3,409 votes, we have our first ever Modern Madness champion.  By a margin of 59% (1996 votes) to 41% (1413 votes), your Modern Madness champion is …

(drumroll, please) …

HABITAT by Jay McCarroll! ! ! ! !

photo courtesy of Laura Singewald of Spool Sewing

Want to learn more about Jay and his latest line, Habitat?  Check out Jay’s blog, or True Up’s fantastic interview with Jay and overview of the line.

Part 1 (featuring a video interview with Jay, who explains his inspiration for Habitat)

Part 2 (also contains some great photos and descriptions of every print in the line)

photo courtesy of Laura Singewald of Spool Sewing

Here at FQHQ, we’re big fans of both Jay and Habitat, but we’ll also admit that his Modern Madness win was a bit unexpected. The line gained momentum throughout the competition — possibly because some fantastic projects made from Habitat have been popping up all over the ‘net lately — and Jay really embraced the spirit of the competition and rallied his fans to get involved and VOTE!  Big congrats to Jay, and we hope that Modern Madness has exposed Habitat to some new fans.

photo courtesy of Laura Singewald of Spool Sewing

Want to see how you did versus other Fat Quarterly readers?  Enter your name and total score on the Modern Madness Leader Board below.  If you need a refresher on how to calculate your total score, check out this earlier blog post.

** This form is now closed. Thanks for playing! **

We’d also love to hear what you thought of Modern Madness.  Did you have fun?  Feedback has been (mostly) positive, and we’re thinking of ways to improve upon the game next year.  Some ideas: invite designers to participate and submit their lines, look into online bracket submissions and automatic scoring, and better limit voters to one vote apiece.  How else can we improve?  Let us know by leaving us a comment!

This is it, folks — the moment you’ve all been waiting for!  We started out with 64 amazing modern fabric lines, and now we’re down to two.  Who will duke it out for the first ever Modern Madness title? 1198 of you have spoken and the final competition will be between these two very worthy contestants:

CENTRAL PARK
by Kate Spain

vs.

HABITAT
by Jay McCarroll

Central Park by Kate Spain – 684 votes (57%)
def. Bliss by Bonnie & Camille – 514 (43%)

Habitat by Jay McCarroll – 729 votes (61%)
def. Far Far Away II by Heather Ross – 469 (39%)

Who is the 2010 modern fabric champion??  Your votes will decide.  Be sure to vote below:

** Voting is now closed. Thanks for playing! **

This is it, folks … the moment many have been waiting for: the Modern Madness Final Four! The road to the Final Four has been a long one for these fabulous fabric lines:

Central Park by Kate Spain – 714 votes (64%)
def. Sunkissed by Sweetwater – 396 (36%)

Bliss by Bonnie & Camille – 792 votes (71%)
def. Rouenneries by French General – 318 (29%)

Far Far Away II by Heather Ross – 647 votes (58%)
def. Modern Meadow by Joel Dewberry – 463 (42%)

Habitat by Jay McCarroll – 686 votes (62%)
def. Hope Valley by Denyse Schmidt – 424 (38%)

BIG CONGRATS to the winners. So how many of you still have your winning line in the Final Four? The FQ team’s predicted winners are all out of the competition!

A quick note on scoring:
- 1 point for every team correctly predicted moving into the 2nd round
- 2 points for every team correctly predicted moving into the round of 16
- 4 points for every team correctly predicted to be in the Elite Eight
- 8 points for every team correctly predicted to be in the Final Four
- 16 points for each of the two finalists that were correctly predicted
- 32 points if you picked the eventual winner!

We’ll open up the leader board for one final time when the competition has ended.

Ready to put your two favorite fabric lines into the final?
Set?
GO!!

** Voting is now closed. Thanks for playing! **

We’re down to eight, and it’s getting exciting! While we’re sad to see some of our favorites leave the competition, we’re excited to be one step closer to knowing the Fat Quarterly readers’ favorite fabric line of the year. After 795 votes, here are the final fabric lines advancing to the round of eight:

Far Far Away II by Heather Ross – 448 votes (56%)
def. It’s a Hoot by Momo – 347 (44%)

Modern Meadow by Joel Dewberry – 518 votes (65%)
def. Meadowsweet 2 by Sandi Henderson – 227 (35%)

Habitat by Jay McCarroll – 501 votes (63%)
def. City Weekend by oliver + s – 294 (37%)

Hope Valley by Denyse Schmidt – 414 (52%)
def. Nature Walk by Cloud 9 Fabrics – 381 (48%)

If your favorites are on the list, they need your votes! It’s the Elite Eight, and all of our remaining fabric lines are now in competition at the same time. Who will advance to our Final Four?

** Voting is now closed. Thanks for playing! **

For those of you keeping score, give yourself 4 points for every team that you correctly guessed would make it to the Elite Eight!

And the shocking results just keep on coming.  THE PIPS ARE OUT!!  Can you believe it?  I’ve given up on trying to predict the winners a long time ago!!  After 777 votes, we have the first four teams in our Modern Madness Elite 8:

Sunkissed by Sweetwater – 585 votes (75%)
def. Flora & Fauna by Patty Young – 192 (25%)

Central Park by Kate Spain – 582 votes (75%)
Parisville by Tula Pink – 195 (25%)

Rouenneries by French General – 430 votes (55%)
def. Buttercup by Fig Tree Quilts  - 347 (45%

Bliss by Bonnie & Camille – 521 votes (67%)
def. Sherbet Pips by Aneela Hoey – 256 (33%)

Want to see how you stacked up against other Fat Quarterly readers?  Check out our Modern Madness Leader Board!

There are only four more slots available to compete in the next round.  Who’s it going to be?  Don’t forget to vote for your favorites!  Have fun, and good luck to all players.

** Voting is now closed. Thanks for playing! **

Are you ready for some CRAZY results??  I last checked the voting yesterday, and in the past 24 hours THREE of the four match-ups experienced complete reversals.  Plus, we’ve seen the closest two matches of the whole tournament so far … including a competition that was decided by THREE VOTES!!  After all was said and done, 831 of you have spoken and our Sweet 16 is now complete.  Let’s reveal the last four fabric lines to make the cut:

City Weekend by oliver + s – 472 votes (57%)
def. Sanctuary by Patty Young – 359 (43%)

Habitat by Jay McCarroll – 515 votes (62%)
def. Castle Peeps by Lizzy House – 316 (38%)

Nature Walk by Cloud 9 Fabrics – 421 votes (51%)
def. Fandango by Kate Spain – 410 (49%)

Hope Valley by Denyse Schmidt – 417 votes (50%)
def. Kumari Garden by Dena Designs – 414 (50%)

How did you do?  Did these surprising results help or hurt your overall brackets?  If you’re keeping score, give yourself 2 points for every team that correctly guessed would move into the round of 16.  Submit your name and score to the Modern Madness Leader Board if you want to see how you’re stacking up versus our other readers!

** Our Leader Board is now closed. Be sure to check back after the regionals are over! **

Here is the complete listing of match-ups for our regional finals:

** The voting is now closed. Thanks for playing! **

Have fun, and good luck to all of the participants!