Also, I invited my long standing BFF into the group, her name is Lorraine and she loves candies.

Hey, girl stay in touch. Pop in now and again so we know all is well.

WendyMcD, I will watch for her. Nothing from Lorriane yet.

Wow, Wendy sounds like you have been through the ringer! Glad you are still hanging in there and on the mend!

Gosh Wendy, what a horrible ordeal! Hope the worst of that is all behind you now and your breathing continues to improve. Get better! ((((Hugs!))))

Wendy McD - I have heard about the long hauler and certainly isn't something anyone deserves.
I think that this swap is for everyone who wants to stay in the QB loop and have a place to go online - and yet it an easy swap (as long as all the envelopes are prepared ahead of time)! What joy I have each month to bless someone with nonfattening candy and to keep in touch with others.
So reach out to everyone - especially those who are housebound during this time in our lives. It is a true blessing

Hello. I sent a pm about birthday swap. I have participated before.

I need your mailing address and contact information, phone and e-mail. https://cdn.quiltingboard.com/images/smilies/wink.png

We are slowly creeping up in numbers. This is very odd but no birthdays after October so far!

31 Sign-up Update
NZQuilter - March
AHWU - April
Sewbizgirl - April
Macybaby - May
Irish Mom - May
Gaijin - May
Kele - June
Patrick's Mom - June
Crispy Frog - June
Hav4boys - July
travelinggranma - August
WMUTeach - September
Loveofquilts - September
Cuppy - October
BarbaraKibler23 - October
WendyMcD - October

Welcome loveofquilts, cuppy and WendyMcD!

Thanks
 

Thanks for the kind welcome. I appreciate it. I've already cut 20 sets of squares, hopefully it will be enough. Lol! I can't wait, this should be fun!

Ya'll will have to do some sewing for me so I can live through you. I am stronger then when I last checked in, hopefully I'll be able to pull my stash soon.

Sounds like a plan! I'm glad you are slowly feeling better and getting stronger. You will be in my prayers. :)

Glad you are feeling better each day, Wendy!

Does this swap begin in March?

OK Everyone. I had some time this weekend and I cut lots of squares this weekend and it looks like I will be organized to join the group again. I panicked and thought I should sit out a year but I know if I do, I will be mad at myself and will miss it!. So, WMUTeach, I am ready to be part of the group this year if you will add me back onto the list.

https://cdn.quiltingboard.com/images/smilies/wink.png OK, I will add you to the list. Sometimes a year long commitment can over whelm us. The group is smallish so prepping should not be terribly overwhelming. Keep inviting others to join us. The more the merrier.

Since my part of the world is going to be in the deep freeze this week-end, I have dedicated time to cutting, prepping envelopes and even went to the post office to get stamps, so all can be ready to go.

Please share ideas of how YOU mail our little birthday envelopes and get those little squares ready for gifting. We can all use some good tried and true ideas.

I try to find the bigger birthday cards at the dollar store. They need to be at least 5" wide. Then I make equal stacks of candies and set them inside the cards. Once you close the card and slip it into an envelope, those candies won't move. There is no need to cover them with plastic wrap, as many people like to do. This makes a card that is thin enough to slide through the slot the P.O. uses to check them with. I don't remember how much the postage costs, but will check when I go to the P.O.

Additional hint: If you prepare the cards beforehand and leave them in a pile under a book, they flatten even more.

So is our swap to start in March?

I prepare my birthday packages the same way as sewbizgirl I often just make a card on regular copy paper so it is thinner and then I spend the extra money to buy a box of large silver heavy card envelopes at Walmart. They are very good quality so shouldn't rip. I have had some packages come that the envelope had been thin quality and it has been ripped open on some edges from the handling in the mail. I think the envelopes only cost around 75cents to mail. My Post Office has a stamp that is that price. I go to the Post office when the swap starts and buy the number of stampls I need for the whole year for the swap.

WMUTeach--I'm in Minnesota and so I will be in the deep freeze, too, this weekend. The really bad news is---I have to go to work every day this weekend and can't just stay home in the warm house.

Yes, Sewbizgirl, our new swap begins in March and we have just one March birthday.....so far.

I started cutting scraps yesterday into 2.5's and putting into some clear plastic storage boxes I found at the Dollar Store. Even with my deep stash of 2.5's the Debby Brown Color Blocks Quilt Along eats up colors quickly and I ran out of some colors. The result is I went diving into my scrap bin and cut, cut, cut. Double purpose don't ya know. Some for the monthly quilt along and others for our swap.

I was planning on cutting for our swap during the Super Bowl as I have for a number of years, but now, I will be just assembling my little packages.during the game. The first year of the swap I did my cutting one month at a time and found that waaay too much work and it spoiled the fun. Prepping my packages all at once leaves me with just adding a little message then addressing the envelope. Ta-Da! Ready for the mailbox.

I have all my fabrics cut, just finished this morning. I cut 24-28 sets. I feared I didn't have enough variety in fabrics, so I ordered two scrap bags from Quilted Twins https://www.quiltedtwins.com/shop/Pr...-x50949646.htm . They certainly filled in the gaps and I am really impressed with the variety and quality. I used my XL Stripology ruler and my! it makes it so much faster! But now I need to buy new rotary cutter blades, lol!

I don't know how I would live without my Stripology ruler!

NZ - one thing always leads to another! Wouldn't be grand to have 25 in the swap this year. https://cdn.quiltingboard.com/images/smilies/smile.png Still room for more. At this time we are at 17. I am prepping for 20 but can always make more.

I was doing some wandering and searching for 2.5 information. Here is what I found. Wish it was all on a single chart, but none the less here is the info.

One slice of a layer cake will give you 16, 2.5 squares.
A fat quarter will yield 56 2.5 squares (based on an 18 X 22 FQ)
A jelly role strip will give 16 2.5 squares ( based on a 42" strip or 2.5" width of fabric cut)
and of course a charm square will give you 4 2.5's.

If you are using pre-cuts do not assume that they are accurate, Measure twice and cut once.

well, I sure hope we get more signing up because I'm prepping for 36.

Hello Macybaby. Looks like you get to be in the deep freeze this weekend along with WMUTeach and I! Brrrrrr! I'm ready for Spring!

I have cut 36 sets too, Macybaby!

NZ, cant wait to see your scrap fabrics from Quilted Twins! Fun! ( I always love someone else's NEW scraps more than my old scraps, because I'm so tired of them.)

Maybe I should start a scrappy 5" swap, so I can get rid of share more of my scraps.

SBG, I did have a lot of fun cutting up new scraps for the candies! So much funnier than cutting up my own.

I just started cutting, but ended up spend most of my time unrolling and refolding the fabric. Most of them has been sitting around for the past five years. It was like seeing old friends.
SBG, If you are hosting the 5" swap. I am in.

I am thinking about it... they are something we could use really well with our birthday candies. Let me think on the best way to do it, so I don’t go crazy sorting them.

I prepped 22 envelopes today. Used many leftover jellyrolls along with other strips. Really cut down some of my pile in one draw!! Still have too many projects that I want to do - material and pattern all in one bag. But where to start!

February 8 Sign-up Update

NZQuilter - March
AHWU - April
Sewbizgirl - April
Macybaby - May
Irish Mom - May
Gaijin - May
Kele - June
Patrick's Mom - June
Crispy Frog - June
Hav4boys - July
travelinggranma - August
WMUTeach - September
Loveofquilts - September
Cuppy - October
BarbaraKibler23 - October
WendyMcD - October
aboring - January

Looks like we have a nice group! But I hope we get more people joining in. Anyone on the fence or lurking, hop on down and join us!

Yay... 17! One of my favorite numbers. Lets see if we can get a few more to join in the fun.

It's one of my lucky numbers too! :D

I hope more sign up. Makes one wonder why the waning interest. When I first got interested, the swap filled up before I made up my mind, so I had to sit out. The first year I signed up, I think it was pretty close to full but not quite. Last year we had 24, and so far we're only at 17.

I decided to cut up all my 2.5 strips, and had enough for about 40 sets of 50 unique pieces. But then I decided to keep them as some had some fraying from being in a box with other strips for so long. And I realize I'm going to be using a lot of candies on the monthly challenge, so might as well keep those not as nice ones for me and then cut more. I'm going to tackle my "large scrap" totes and see about clearing them out. I consider a large scrap something bigger than about 5" square, but smaller than a fat eighth.

Scraps
 

I'm with Macybaby about the scrap organizing. I've been working on organizing all my scraps for almost a month now off and on. I have cut down all my under 4 inch scraps into various sizes suggested by Bonnie Hunter. I have cut all of my strips according to width. They are nicely labeled and boxed ready to go. I plan to make string blocks with some of them. I also organized all my yardage scraps from fat eights to right under a yard. I still have to reorganize all my yardage into colors, but we will get there... I have a crumb basket started. I've made the beginnings of some crumb blocks. This are pretty fun to do. I found all of my orphan blocks and they are all together in a couple bags waiting for integration into larger blocks. I have to go through that last stack of 4-5" to 9-10" scraps. I have been hesitating in case the nice lady that I can't remember her name in this group decides to do that 5" charm swap. It would be perfect for that. Then I have a stack of triangles... I should have sewn them 1/2 inch away from my flying geese blocks at the time, but I just learned about that. Oh well. I was thinking about using some as the corners of my string blocks. Sorry for the rambling, but have been putting a lot of time into this. Lol! Is anyone else organizing their scraps? If so, hope are you doing it? I was reading all kinds of different ways on the internet.

Love, you are on an amazing journey of organization! It will be so nice for you to be able to just dip into what ever size you need and Taa Daa, there it is all ready and waiting for you.https://cdn.quiltingboard.com/images/smilies/smile.png

I am still cutting from my scrap bin. Down to about 1/4 of the bin left! Success but not finished yet. Cutting lots of 2.5s because I will be using them in the Debby Brown monthly project but I also have ideas to post for this group too. I also have been cutting "bricks" and want to just make donation quilts with them.

I am disappointed about the number of folks wanting to join in our fun too.https://cdn.quiltingboard.com/images/smilies/frown.png I have mentioned it in other postings and no new participants. In the end, we will all use what we have cut in other ways, but still have my fingers crossed hoping to reach 20. https://cdn.quiltingboard.com/images/smilies/smile.png

I made 36 sets... so boo hoo. I will use them, one way or another. I make lots of scrappy quilts myself.

Just bought 3 cute Birthday cards today, so I have 3 more all ready to go.

Thanks WMUTeach! I am liking it already. It is nice to be able to get what you need when you need it. :) I have been cutting bricks as well. It said you could make flying geese as well with them with the squares I have been cutting. :)

Not sure on why more people aren't joining. I am very happy to have found this forum. I have been using it a lot to help me on other quilt problems. I ripped out 6 lines of quilting the other night because the t-shirts moved as I was quilting it, even though I had it pin basted. I re-basted it to death and re-quilted. It looks so much better. I wasn't going to rip it out until I read a bunch of posts about making it right or you will never be happy with it. Now that I took the time to rip it, I agree with them. :)