Our new challenge

Our group enjoyed last year's Fabric Swatch Exchange Challenge so much that we're doing it again this year.  Our finished quilts are already listed as a special exhibit at this summer's Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show (SOSQ) on Sat., July14.
As we did last year, each member does some sort of surface design on fabric, cuts it into 9" square swatches, and exchanges them with other members of the group. The only caveat is that we use the same color palette as this year's SOSQ poster by Kathy Deggendorfer.

This year's poster by Kathy Deggendorfer.

Here are the fabric swatches we exchanged at our Feb. meeting:

2012 Fabric Swatches

If you counted them, you came up with 12, but presently there are only 9 members in Fiberexplorations. The explanation:  some of us got carried away and and created more than one surface-designed fabric, so extra swatches were cut and exchanged.    Here's another view:

An enticing array of color!

It's exciting to see how much our members have progressed!  I compared this new set of swatches with last year's, and everyone was much freer in experimenting and trying new surface design techniques.  This year we see plenty of hand-dyeing, but also the use of DeColourant, shibori, resist work, and even marbling.
Now the real challenge begins -- to design and construct an original quilt using at least some of each of these 12 fabrics, plus others.  Per the SOSQ's requirements, the quilt needs to be at least 36" x 36" and needs to be completed by the end of June.
This year I hope to post photos and notes on most of our members' quilts as they're being constructed.  Unlike other groups, we don't keep our work a secret and then have a big reveal at the end.  Instead, we share our progress along the way.  And if any member requests it, we offer suggestions and advice along the way.  I'm anticipating great results!