what about wrapping the block in plastic wrap and squeeze all the air out. That would emanate the bulkiness of baggies, then put them all in a gal. baggie

I love these QB swaps and meeting all of yo u. I will re-package each block to make room. I have no problem with following the rules. I appreciate having the offer for participation and I have learned so much! The least I can do is follow the rules. Thank you Nelco and UrGodsChild for the helpful suggestions. Will have everything mailed by Tuesday!

Hello all!

I mailed my blocks today! This swap was so much fun, even with my impromptu trip to tend my injured dad!

Thank you to each and every one of you!

Deborah

Bee Beatty,

What about using the flat-rate padded envelope? It holds a lot and it costs $5.95 to mail anywhere.

Deborah

The flat rate padded envelope stuff nicely! Make sure you squeeze out all the air you can get out. LOL I have packaged up quite a bit of stuff the last couple of years. My family laughs at me. For larger packages, I use a nice heavy trash bag, bunch up the top around my vaccume hose and suck out all the air. Tie it real tight with a wire thingy. It is amazing how small it gets! Did this with a king size quilt, packed it into a box, taped it up good, and waited for the call when they opened that box and a quilt exploded out of it!! I have heard of using a straw to get all the air out of a baggie.

When I am packing food for the freezer in baggies I use straw to get all the air out.

Also 3 more blocks and I am done.

buslady! You use your vacuum! Wow! The mental picture of you doing that with a quilt is very funny! lol I can understand your family getting a chuckle. :-)

Made 8 grands and 2 extras stuffed neck pets (wrap around neck in car) and put them all in a big garbage bag and sucked the air out. Saved a lot of room in the car for the trip. When I took them out they bounced right back to shape!! Did the same with all sons blankets and pillows when they moved. Prolly saved a whole trip with the car! LOL Dang vaccuume has to be good for something. LOL

Yeah seeing that it doesn't get much exercise in cleaning the floor........LOL too busy sewing to stop and clean.

I am curious about the straw thing. Are you sucking the air out of the baggie???????
I just can't wrap my mind about that image.

Barb

Mailing Blocks in the Morning
 

First of all, Gaijin, I hope your father is comfortable and moving toward recovery. I spent the last 24 hours re-packaging my blocks to send off to my Boom11 and New Repeat Boom swapping friends. I was so happy over the weekend writing a personal note to everyone, including scrap pieces of the fabric I added to the block as a thank you, tossing in any significant sized pieces of the fabric I was sent......well! when it came time to put all the quart size, zip lock baggie into the flat rate envelope......well let's just say it was kinda' like me trying get my right leg into a full-body "spankz" undergarment! :). No amount of vacuuming could have pulled that off! :)

After sliding down the refrigerator door, overwhelmed with defeat Saturday evening, I decided to get the project out my sight until Monday.

So this morning over coffee, I explained to my husband that life was going to be difficult until "we" had opened all baggies with blocks (28 total for both Booms), extract only the finished block....fold it into "Press an Seal" leaving no air space, re-label and get them all into the flat rate padded envelope.

At 3:00 p.m. today we finished! YYaaaahhhhhh! And here is the proof that it can be done! However, Mr. Bee says my QB Board Name, "Bee" doesn't even come close to defining who I am. He has requested that I change it to "Buzz Saw"!

yes - sucking air out - just keep straw from food

Blocks on their way to Barb, tracking sent via PM. Thanks everyone! I learned a lot from this Swap. Have lots of ideas for new projects. Looking forward to the next Boom. I had a blast!

Bee (the Buzz Saw) Beatty :)

So far, I have not had an issue with fitting stuff in the flat rates, but sometimes I have to add extra tape!! Just to hold it together, LOL

lol Buzz saw.....too funny.

I love looking at jelly rolls. I don't buy too many of them. But somehow looking at the colors that they make all rolled up just makes me want to own and hold them. But that said, sometimes what is really inside is not to my liking so I just look. Do any of you love to see them all rolled up. I have a friend who bought a delicious one a few years ago and is using it for decoration on a shelf. Are we crafty ladies a little batty?

I had trouble fitting my finished blocks in the boom 11 envelop. I had to repackage that. It's weird because I did get the wrong envelop and they fit super neat but then the lady was going to charge me abig lot of money. Whoops so I repackage and the PO lady helped me to seal it with tape.

Oh bee I just noticed that your envelop is the padded one. That is the one that the lady was going to charge me lots of money for. Hmmmm? why can't the post office be consistent????

I buy my postage online with mailing label - padded is around $5.60 and the cardboard ones are $5.05
saving U about .55. and U can have the post person pick it up at your home.

I paid $5.95 flat rate for the padded envelope in the photo. Got tracking number.

There are 2 versions of the envelopes. make sure "flat rate" is printed on the one you use. They are identical besides that.

Gaijin, I am a lurker here, too. I was wondering if you knew the name/manufacturer of your focus fabric. For some reason, that really speaks to me. It is so lovely. Great blocks everyone. Love to see all the variations that you have come up with.

The padded flat rate priority envelope has a red line on it ($5.90 to mail), while the padded flat rate priority express envelope has a blue line on it (about $20. to mail). They didn't have the cheaper one at my PO, someone on QB suggested I order it online, I was in a hurry to mail my package, looked at the USPS web site, ordered the correct size flat rate envelope, and received the one with the blue line, which was the only one I saw. I was not allowed to use it at my local PO for the cheaper rate, because it's the Express envelope. I went back to the web site and couldn't locate the correct envelope there. It's not on this page that I used before: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp34yI9SUeY ...and I used the search line and couldn't find where to order it either. So, it's sort of a tricky swap rule for me... I can use first class and pay for tracking-- takes longer though, and no insurance. I had to make an account to order the (wrong) envelopes, so maybe I'll order postage online next time, like Nelco. But I have to buy ink for my printer for that, I think. So many options!

Wrong link! lol But you might like to see the previous link I posted. Very cute FMQ pattern. :-p

Post office page I was trying to show you is: https://store.usps.com/store/browse/...ippingSupplies

I finished 2 more blocks today and hope to get the last 2 done by the end of the week! :-)

got two envelops today from Gaijin and Bee Beatty. Yeah.
We had our electricity shut off for a few hours due to some work Edison was doing. It is so sad how much I missed not being able to get on line. LOL.

Here is the block I made for LjDugan. I didn't realize how pretty it was until I saw it in person!

Here's the block for HappyLab. I'm so curious how the finished project will look-- because our blocks are only a 1/4 of it! :-) I hope you post a picture later. I used stars on the background.

Here is the block for Bee Beatty. I had 2 companion prints, the red flowered and the dark beige which happened to have that same 'linen look' in the background as Bee's fabric. I really wanted to use them in her block! But the red didn't have enough contrast to be near her background print, so I put it only in the middle. I'm not sure they actually do have enough contrast-- but I hope you like the block anyway. (Choosing fabrics that look nice without being boring is hard for me...I usually err on the side of too many prints and not enough solids...)

Here is Gaijin's block. I used the same beige print as I used in Bee Beatty's block. I liked making this block pattern a lot and plan to make it again!

Givio,

You and I have that in common for sure! I love blending fabrics with patterns together! And you made wonderful choices. I love what you have done here....the lace is a perfect accent for this block. I have made several blocks to use with these blocks. If you would see them you would know why I love the one you made......thank you!

Bee

givio Thank you I do love it..

2 down!! But will make great progress this weekend! 3rd is being cut when I get home, fabric all laid out! I am really enjoying this one. Thank you all for swapping! Oh, will post pictures the first of the week.

Can someone tell me again the due date to mail? I feel like I asked before but I can't find the response.

I think the due date is April 30, but I'm not sure because more than one date was mentioned at the beginning, also it's not written on the first post about the swap-- so it is a little time consuming to find the post where it was decided...

I think it is April 15

I marked in my calendar on "Tax Day" (April 15)

Oh, mid-April we might get our packages in the mail-- fun!

The date that you have to mail them is April 15. that way I would get them a few days later. Then they would be back to you by the end of April.

Thanks! I've only got a few left to do... that'll be today I think.

Just have fun making them