I haven't started yet. My boyfriend starts his crazy summer travel on Saturday, so I should have time to get all my swaps caught up & decide how many sets of these I'm doing. He's feeling guilty and has been spending lots of time with me the last few evenings, so there's not been any sewing going on.

I went and saw a chinese Dr. a few weeks ago and received acupuncture twice... felt so awesome afterwards... Only complaint, instead of being a nightowl and not going to bed until 12-2am every night, now I can't stay up past 11pm. I have sewn once in the last two weeks.

ARGH! There went my productivity!!!!!!

oh no you guys!! Traci maybe you need me to sing to you? you see this encourages people to beg me to NOT sing and offer to do anything if I stop? this could get you sewing!!! and if you felt cruddy afterwards dare I ask why on earth you went back again? its like if it aint working its instant magic and makes you feel way worse after.. uh.. stay home. go into a mental cave and sew. you have some blocks to finish (mom speaking here) and other commitments you have to get on so dont wait for them to pile up with no ability to make it work.. two weeks left on the boom. A long time still on my swap and this one too I think but you have batiks and all sorts of stuff. Luxury of not doing it isnt very much. I feel like I am underwater myself this last week. forced myself to sew. how odd is that? forced le brat to sew? I want to pack but am I packing for a 4 mile trip up the road (not a lot of packing material) or am I packing to move to Wyoming? a long haul safe packing required.. on hold so for now I pull this and that and whatnot out so I can donate the heck out of my stuff. time to slim down again. by 1/3 minimum. I hate moving. have I said that? I hate it. dialysis days are non packing days. I cant take packing after that. I am like a wet noodle energy wise. life however is lovely so you get up do what you have to do and search for something to smile about. this morning.. a momma turkey with her babies was out front. Gosh I love that. She has 12 little tiny babies they make the cutiest noises talking to each other constantly.. so adorable. this is why I smile. little stuff. and now to go sew so I can put my money where my mouth is. another mailing out and then its batik time. keeping on track. but feeling too slow. you know me, finish early or go home. lol.. well I am finishing mid stream these days. tough on me cause its .. not me. you two .. time to rock and roll... lets all kick each others rears and do our best to keep that smile going inside ..

I didn't necessarily feel cruddy afterwards... but instead of the manic get stuff done mode I was in, I faded. I actually do feel better, the tremors have mostly stopped and after enduring them for over a month, that in itself is a blessing.

I did start cutting last night, Josh is gone til Saturday so I will take advantage of the peaceful time... though Quentin started the week off roughly by nearly getting expelled from his after school care program. He is still suspended for the rest of the week while I am a single parent but that's better than for the rest of the year.

I know the feeling well on 'what am I packing for'... 10 miles or 2000 miles. Not knowing sucks big time.

Hmmmm, going to watch. If I finish up the couple things that NEED to be done this weekend, could make this swap for some fun. You ladies have such nice batiks and some wonderful finishes of blocks already, pretty hard to resist temptation. I may mull over what I have in my stash (only the stash can be used on fabric diet). What about batik crazy patch blocks? Would those be an option? I have lots of batik scraps that I need to use up.

I would love a crazy patch block.......I may have to do some my self, I also have lots of batik scraps in purple from when I did the gumball quilt.

Crazy patch blocks are fine, we had a few sets of those in the last swap as well.

Good morning troops! I hope today brings sunshine and good things to all of you. I have all my batiks, paired up on the counter ready to make into blocks.. is that almost as good as making them? probably not but at least I know where they are and now what I wish I owned! I love the colors!!. ok here is a really dumb question but since this is me hey what do you expect right? Are hand-dyes considered batiks? I see in the batik category either batiks or hand-dyes and wondered if you buy hand-dyes will they be allowed in here? I understand the whole process of making a batik the hand-dye category not at all so are they batiks but a different kind I guess is the question of the day. I love them so much :)

Batiks and hand-dyed are 2 different things Brat. Hand dyes are just about like the old tie dyes, same process, batiks every color changed is waxed. Got 2 sets completely done and almost the 3rd one. Hope to sew on the other 3 sets today and this week-end and get them complete. Another swap checked off my list. Being gone for so long really threw me off this month, have a message board I post the sent date and received date on so I remember I'm done. Had notes of everything I sent on the road but now can only find half my notes. Know they were sent but can't find the conf.#'s anywhere. Now just wait for what I'm suppose to get back, whatever that is. Have a fantastic week end everyone, suppose to be in the high 70's and low 80's here, perfect.

I am not a personal favorite of crazy patch blocks especially mixed in with regular pieced blocks but I am definitely in favor of using what you have. Did you notice though that all six blocks in a set do not have to be the same fabric? this is one of the reasons I really like this swap because I can use fat quarters.

QUOTE-each set of 6 must be of the same design, but the fabrics may vary.-QUOTE

But I am so crazy right now. LOL. I will dig some more in my bucket to see what else I can come up with. I do have the Jinny Beyer 4,000 block book so I will see what I can mix together to make up a pretty block with those scraps.

Beth don't worry. Make your crazy block. It was just my preference. I can't wait to see your crazy block. You always make awesome blocks.

Also all blocks are to be pieced, correctly? No applique or combo piecing applique?

I believe they are to be pieced also Anna. I prefer pieced just because they wash so much better.. no fraying. Applique is good if its turned but not many of us have that skill or that time. Machine applique/fused is perfect for wall hangings or something that you dont really wash much or if at all. Just my humble opinion. Oh shush up humble isnt usually a word associated with the brat but what the heck it sounded good when I wrote it.

here is my grand news of the day: TODAY IS BATIK BLOCK DAY thats right I will sew away on a few blocks this morning. I am only good for three blocks per day so by tomorrow one set will be done. patting my back, grand job brat grand job! then I am packing again. oh boy I love packing. a whole bunch I love it. can't wait. its exciting I know it is. yippee. (groan).

batiks!
 

Being fairly new to batiks I have a question. Why do some feel silky and some feel like homespun? the colors are sharp on the silkier ones and the others are dull colors? curiosity makes me ask. I know they are both batiks.. but.. and all say 100 percent cotton so what gives?

I made half of one set today as was my goal hats off to brat!! I found I could get three blocks out of two fq's for a greek cross. left me with a few ends and pieces 4.5 pieces an such so I imagine I can use them again in a lesser quantity in another block that requires three fabrics perhaps. I am trying hard not to give just a bunch of pieces mix matched that dont match .. crossing fingers and all that :) please use your golds and yellow for ME! lol..I know the rest of are groaning OH NO yellows! golds! oranges! lol I love the blues purples too teals oh yeah but right now this baby quilt that dumbos want well going to give them what they want. sigh.. just hoping i wont die of embarassment and no way in heck am I signing my name to it lol... just a quilt here its yours. lmao.. evil aunt? maybe? for her 4th birthday when she can chat with me on the phone I will sneak it out of her what do you like??? and wham accidentally it shows up. things like that happen you know. He is my first Nephew.. he knows me by now. he is probably warning his wife as I type. love that kid. here is a picture of him all grown up with his wife. You might get a good idea why I think they are a bit.. eccentric in their ways. Oh he has a 10k album collection he had to call me on rock history.. oh wonderous. are you a hoarder> aka Auntie Brat here is a minimalist a collection here is 10. period. [ATTACH=CONFIG]414481[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]414482[/ATTACH] ps that is my grand niece.. they dont want Juniper to be associate in a sexist way hence no pink or red or girl things at all..

Hey there Everyone.

I would love to take part in this. I just have a few questions.

1) So do i just need to make 6 blocks all 12.5x12.5 inches each? Or do i need to make 6 sets of 6 blocks?

2) Im in good old Canada, is it ok that i join? If so what is the shipping cost for Canada?

3) what do i get back in the mail? 5 blocks rom other members and 1 of my own?

Thanks in advance for all the answers

TheFatQuilter

TheFatQuilter, go to the 1st page and it explains all your questions. Each set is 6 blocks, all of the same pattern and you can do up to 6 sets but all of the sets have to be a different pattern. Label each block with your name, you will receive 1 of yours back and 5 more that other swappers have made per set that you send in. Whatever it costs you to mail in a priority envelope to the states is the amount you will have to send tracibug to return them to you. Just read the 1st page carefully and it tells everything that you need to do.

My three blocks are done. I will finish the other three today and that is one set behind me. phew! no one knows why some batiks feel like homespun and some are silkier? can I mix the two? I have both kinds. I am going to wash the homespuns today and see if there is much bleeding. I have a feeling they are going to.. dump color pretty well. They are just f4s so I am hesitant to put them in the machine you end up with a small tangled mess in my experience.. but they worry me.

oh yes today we made the decision to leave the area and we will be moving to: WYOMING! hows that for a change up?

Yes brat you can mix them, they are batiks, don't know why the difference though. I wouldn't put them in the wash machine if they are FQ's, soak them in the sink or something. Or just note to traci that they have not been washed. I'm sure everyone is aware the with FQ's, F8's or strips, they can not be prewashed very easily. After your quilt is done you just need to use a couple of color catcher's in the wash the first time and all is good. I always do even on regular cotton ones just because. I'm not great at the prewashing though either.

gracias seniorita! I will do that. Its just this one is a vibrant teal on one side and less on the other? worries me a bit. then the only one that semi goes with it trying to match and all is a silkier cotton lavender.. way different texture. same with a greyish black I got in the batik swap.. wonder.. hate for that to bleed on the lavender.. (watch it will be the lavendar that bleeds not the other way lol..). so color catchers ladies color catchers I hope all of you use them on things like this. expensive sorta but after all the time and energy maybe its a cheaper thing than you think? hate to see anything ruined that is for sure.

ok saw this in pictures this morning not sure if she used them from the last batik block swap or where she got the blocks from but great inspiration for making blocks and for quilting them for sure. check this out!

http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...st6073237.html

Those blocks were from the first swap I participated in as a newbie to piecing by machine and new to this board as well. I think it was in either 2010 or 2011.

oh I love that kitty one!!! it was so cool and then she took the simpliest of all blocks a square in a square and quilted inside it was it a dragonfly or the lotus? so cool it was like it was meant to be that one. wow she did a bang up job on that quilt. I am hoping everyone here can come up with something just as cool. The endless possibilities. I swear you all have to go check that quilt out and see what can be its inspiration to sign up for all the blocks you can do!

Finished my first block today, a LeMoyne star. Going to a 2 day retreat next week so should be able to get most of the, done.

I think it is appropriate to spend a moment in thought and prayer if you do this for those in Oaklahoma who have been faced with the current tornados and devisation that has hit. We who are still safe in our homes, our things where we left them, a roof over our head need to in my thoughts look around you and say a moment of thanks. I am fortunate to have a roof a home a place to sleep tonight. Sikesjj is in Oaklahoma and so far no word from her. Please wish her good things and pray she is ok. She is a wondeful quilting sister to all and has little ones.. I hope all is well for her and again am thankful for what I have.

ok I messed up. Oklahoma ? spell hell I messed it up the heart was there but the spell check was not in play.

I just got off the phone with Jaime, Sikesjj.. she is doing ok her home is ok her local community is so far ok more tornados tomorrow. Please send your best wishes to her. There is a quilting board momentum to send things to those in need so please check the what can I do section.. help will be needed :)

I know I am not the only one who posts here but it seems like it :)

TRACIBUG: Happy Birthday to you!! Happy Birthday to you!!!! Happy Birthday Happy Birthdaaaaaaayyyy Happppppy Birthday to YOUUUUUU and MANY MORE!!! I hope you enjoyed a glass of wine and a few of those wonderous strawberries.

Yes! ~*~*~*~Happy Birthday Tracibug!~*~*~*~

I think we must all be quilting away. I know I was last night. I was tempted to linger on the computer but pushed on and quilted. :D I did pick out some patterns to possibly use in this swap. We can't all be as fast as you Elisabrat, who is actually sewing blocks already.

Happy Birthday Traci, be sure and do something fun!!

Thank you, ladies... I wish I had exciting birthday news to report but the day was uneventful, which is a good thing lately.

My carpool buddy did buy me a morning cup of tea, my boss brought in my requested chocolate cake with cherry filling (DEEEE-LISH!) and I had a quick dinner with my husband, sons and a houseguest before heading to see my chinese doctor for more acupuncture.

And this weekend I will sew...

Good, then it was a nice day, you made it thru another year. Oh I love the accupuncture. My favorite me time. And then you feel so good afterwards to get a good night sleep. i think better than massage, at least less painful.

Acupuncture is definitely some good me time with positive feelings afterwards. Though it has helped me sleep which inadvertantly killed my productivity... as a whole unit, I started feeling better after only going one time. Amazing since my doctors have no reasons why I don't feel good.

It does amazing things. I have back issues and was the only thing that made the muscles relax so I could get to feeling better and be more productive. Then I followed up with massage which released the muscles the rest of the way. You will get there girl.

finally able to start pulling my batiks out to start on my blocks. Going to enjoy a weekend of sewing and relaxing.

Y'all have a great sewing weekend!

Have to wait till I get home to join you.

Hello All! I just signed up and went and got some fabric today. I am looking forward to swapping with you all!

Here are the two blocks I started! The only problem is I want to keep trying new blocks and not finish the set:)[ATTACH=CONFIG]415735[/ATTACH]

awilson--- nice blocks!! :)

I did not get on my blocks yet. I did more longarm quilting and got lots done there and made a custom order table runner. Will get on these since my area is cleaned up now and I can focus on some pretty blocks. Yep, trying to decide which blocks to do is a challenge. Love those you have selected awilson. Anyone get some blocks sewn this weekend?

awilson ... beautiful blocks! The contrasting colors make this block so bright and cheerful.