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Challenge Quilt & Opportunity Quilt – What is the difference????

Subject: Challenge quilt

Hi Sharon. I must be having a bad day, but what is the challenge quilt? Is it the same as the Opportunity Quilt. I went into our website and couldn’t find it there.

Hi Guild Members ~~ especially newer members,
The Challenge is very different from the Opportunity Quilt. The Opportunity Quilt is what the guild makes each year and sells tickets to members and the public to raise funds to help balance our budget. Each member is asked to purchase $20 of tickets to keep for themselves or to sell. You can pick up your tickets from Glenda Ross, or at the Membership Table when you sign in at a meeting.

[Challenge Quilt] Each year a person (or a team) thinks up a theme and “challenges” the guild members to create a project. This is an optional event — do it if you choose. Sometimes there is a size restriction, sometimes a particular color is required, or a color that you would not usually choose, sometimes a piece of fabric is included, sometimes you are asked to use a certain technique or maybe choose a technique you have never tried before. Two years ago Phyllis Gallaway had us choose a paint swatch. One year I asked for a “play on words” (and was rewarded with “Its Raining Cats and Dogs,” “Spring Chicken,” “Angel Hare Pasta,” to name just a few — are you imagining what those quilts look like!?). Then there was “homonyms” (I did “Thai/Tie,” Linda Hooper did “Meat/Meet,” to name just a couple).
We are given several months to create our projects (usually quilts, but I have sometimes done wearables, some people have come up with other “quilterly” items ~~ the quilt police have not been called in yet to arrest those of us do not absolutely follow the rules).
There is a grand Show and Tell, and sometimes prizes are awarded (but that is up to the people in charge). The Challenge Show and Tell is my favorite of the entire year as I am very impressed with all of the ideas that my fellow quilters come up with.
Some of my very favorite projects have been the result of the challenge as I am forced to “go outside the box” and do things I would not normally do.
For more history about our challenges, along with photos, you can click on the CHALLENGE chapter on our Santa Rosa Quilt Guild DVD that we produced a year ago October. If you do not have a copy, let me know as there are a few left that are for sale.
I can’t wait to see what this year’s co-chairs, Diana Roberts and Janice Rodgers, come up with. They will present details to us soon.
Submittted by: Sharon ‘the Librarian AND Historian’ Fry

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