I must agree with marybrace, it is sad to chop off an elephant foot, tiger tail, etc. when piecing charms together. I always make two clear templates with the 1/4" seam allowance before cutting fussies in any swap to avoid that issue because you can actually see where to cut the fabric & the future seam placement (1/4"). However, I can fudge a strand or two as I mark from the center using another template (4.5" in this instance) before piecing relieving me of charms that are a little too short or a little too wide. This method is especially strategic when working with smaller charms that have less room for error. Started using triangular shaped tailor chalk recently & getting better results. I always send extras in swaps because I am human!
hugs,
dj

Sewbizgirl...my squares are ready to go. I have 16 sets of 10 carefully cut squares. some are fussy cut others have an all over pattern. Hopefully everyone will like what they receive.

Can I send them now sewbizgirl????

These are mostly 1/4 piece of fabric. The person who gave them to me cut 1 -3" fussy cut hexagon from each fabric then gave the rest to me. Probably 50-60 different fabrics. She will be happy that I am sharing them with friends. :)

Good tips, marybrace! Hope to swap with you again in the future.

Sure you can! As soon as they are ready, you can send. Don't forget to put your board name and state on each bag.

I'm in for 16 bags!!

We have 11 people confirmed and committed in this swap so far, and it's still early... It's looking good for swapping 16 bags of squares!

If anyone who has signed up for 8 bags starts cutting and decides it's just as easy to cut 16 while you are at it, you are free and welcome to increase your bags to 16. It costs the same in postage and remember you can use the same 10 fabrics in all 16 bags.

I was surfing Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville Blog last night and saw that she has two different I Spy patterns herself. One is called "Storybook Stars" and uses an I spy block in the center of a star. The other is called "I Spy a 4 Patch", and uses more I Spy squares with little 4 patches in between. Both are cute and worthy of checking out:
http://quiltville.blogspot.com/p/free-patterns.html scroll down to find them... they are in alphabetical order.

I am sifting through my stash in preparation of perhaps signing up. Are licensed characters allowed?

sewbizgirl those are wonderful patterns, thanks for the links!

Sure, those would be great. Just be sure to fussy cut them unless they are very tiny. Hope you decide to play!