Fabric Swaps

An article by Rachel    2 Comments

I participate in a quilt group that meets once a month. Last year we exchange 2.5″ fabric strips. Each quilter gave every member of the quilt group 25 strips. There are nine members. We each received a total of 25 strips, which doesn’t sound like a ton of fabric, but it is. I made the front and back of the Color Bar Code quilt. Then using the appropriate leftover exchange scraps and some scraps from my own collection, I made my Half Hexagon quilt, which I still need to quilt. It’s on my Spring t0-do list. Even with all these quilts, I have enough 2.5″ scraps to make at least one more quilt top.

The whole exercise of sharing and using scraps spoke to the whole group. We all have healthy fabric stashes. In our tough economic times, it felt prudent to  use what we had. After we made our quilts, it felt satisfying to create works of art using what we had. If my great-grandmother can do it, then why can’t I? Well our fabric exchange movement has been carried forward to 2010.

On Saturday, we exchanged 5″ squares. Each quilt gave every other quilter 10 5″ squares. After having a ton of fabric from last year, we decided to make this exchange a bit smaller. I received 80 5″ squares.

This afternoon, I spent a few hours sorting my fabric. Last year, my quilts were all about color. I learned a lot of about the nuances of different shades color. This year I’ve decided to concentrate on value. Each square was sorted with a square of a different value, such as dark with light. I ended up adding a few block from my stash to find just the right mate for each square. Now I have about 45 sets. Echo has set out to guard the fabric.

As you can see, all the light sides point up.

The next step is deciding what to do with them. I’m keeping it simple and a bit spontaneous. I’m making hour glass blocks from each set. I’ve made one test set.

I apologize for the slightly blurry pictures. I promise better ones will show up soon. After I make the hour glass blocks, I have no idea what I’m going to do. I do think it will involve a solid sashing, perhaps charcoal. Other than that, I have no idea. I kind of like the idea of just seeing where it all goes. This is a bit against the grain for me.