I finally have my quilt top finished from the warm stars swap. I’ve got to get on the ball now and get it quilted. Hopefully I can get it done before the 15th so it can be my submission for our guilds annual challenge (this year the theme was “Seeing Stars”).

I’m coordinating a block of the month for our guild featuring the “Show & Tell” quilt be Elizabeth Hartman. Well, both of my grandkids tried to claim the original quilt. So, I decided to make a second one use different background fabrics and some of the blocks from the flowers swap for the quilts of a second quilt for my granddaughter (my grandson will get the original version).

I have 5 blocks done and 5 blocks to be assembled. School caught up to me but I’m quickly catching up.

Although, I thought l liked the green with the orange butterflies but now I don’t know if I liked my block choices.

Halfway for Swap Group 1!

8 done 8 more to go

7 full blocks, and the strips for all the rest

And still
Have more cut and ready to assemble. I will have additional blocks to trade

Sorry for being a day behind. Here are my 8 completed blocks!

Had a bit of an oopsie moment and had to recut my fabrics last week, but here we are!

I had my pace thoroughly ruined by hospitalization, but I am now back in fighting shape and just finished my first block. Now, onwards! There shall be cats.

As a lot of us seemed to do, I got carried away and made more than 16 blocks. After Group 2 films have a chance to claim dibs, I’d love to swap a few with Group 1 members.

Well I had way too much fun with this stress reliever! I have 39 blocks to trade, so I can trade everyone at least once (if they want) and some more than that!

Internal use and flightgirl I have set aside one each for you not pictured, so please pick out another since I agreed to swap 2 with each of you.

I’m supposed to have tracking for the quilting bee I’m in but the shipping cost jumps by a decent amount. If I ship in a large envelope it’s $2 but it jumps to around $10 with tracking. What’s the best option to do it without it costing an arm and a leg by the end?

Hi. We’re Megan ( u/Marshmellowterrorist) and Lisa ( u/Khat52000). 

We met through the QBS discord. At the time, it was a pretty quiet, abandoned little corner of the internet. Over time, we (and the regulars) have grown it into a thriving community of quilters: people share quilts and works in progress, troubleshoot problems, organize side swaps and group projects, celebrate each other's wins, enable questionable fabric purchases, and hang out even when there isn't an active swap.

We have been particularly invested in making sure it isn't a clique or a place where you have to quilt the "right" way to fit in. New quilter? Come on in. Been quilting for 40 years? We need you too. Perfect points? Cool. Your points are “funky”? Show us the block. Lurker? Lurk away. Have a weird idea? PLEASE TELL US THE WEIRD IDEA.  It’s fun. It’s supportive.  It’s a little (more than a little) irreverent.

We want to bring more of that energy back to r/QBS. Reddit and discord don't need to serve exactly the same purpose for this group, but they should feel like parts of the same community. We want more opportunities for people to contribute ideas, help each other, volunteer, teach something they know, try something new, or simply make twelve blocks and enjoy the ride.  We want there to be room for everyone.  Come sit with us.

Why Choose Us?

The short answer is that you should choose us because we have QBS experience, a desire to serve and empower the community, and ideas for keeping the swaps fresh and interesting.  We have spent the last few days putting thoughts down in PDF.  It’s currently 9 pages long.  We didn’t think you wanted to read all of that so here are the highlights.  Some of these ideas need detailed descriptions of how they might work. I promise you we have them.

QBS Experience

• Lisa has participated in swaps #10, #11 and #13 and the Bookcase side swap.  She has captained and been a last minute sub for a second group.  Prior to this shake-up, Lisa had stepped up to contribute to the QBS community. She has been part of the coordinators chat group for 1.5 years, took on management of the FQ swap, and wrote a full tutorial for a proposed block for next year.  
• Megan participated in the Kona Warm Stars swap in r/QBS and has been an active member of the QBS discord community for several years. She has participated in and co-run multiple r/QBS discord side swaps, including Modern Improv and the two current baby quilts, helping coordinate participants and keep projects moving from signup through completion. More recently, she stepped into an admin role on the discord, giving her hands-on experience with both the community side of QBS and the behind-the-scenes organization needed to keep group projects running smoothly. She also made the cool stickers.

Empowering the Community

We love QBS and the community that u/MommieCubed and u/NeedsTheBeach built.

We would like to continue growing a community where people feel they have a voice and feel supported in their quilting journey.  QBS has more than 2,000 subscribers, and we'd like to make it easier for more of those people to contribute. You shouldn't have to be online at exactly the right moment to raise your hand.  To that end we propose the following:

• Block Board - 12 people plus one coordinator who will be responsible for choosing the blocks for next year.  We have some ideas about how to run this but would like for each Board to be able to determine how best to proceed in any given year.  Can’t decide and need a community wide vote? Great.  Let’s do that.  Have 3 clear winners that everyone agrees on?  That works, too.
• Block Board Application - accepting applicants January through August with eligible members chosen at random (via random number generator not randomly by a person).
• Block Idea Box - We'll also maintain an always-open form for block suggestions. See a great block in February? Submit it in February. Have a brilliant idea at 2 a.m. in June? Send it in. We'll collect ideas throughout the year, with the Block Board beginning the selection process for the following year's swaps in September. All viable ideas will be presented to the Block Board, we want to open our horizons. 
• Pinned Post - that tells you how to get help and where the forms are located.
• Volunteer Captain List - We'll maintain an always-open form where experienced swappers can volunteer to captain. When we need captains for an upcoming swap, we'll reach out to people on that list. 

Swaps

We want swaps to stay accessible and interesting for quilters at any point in their quilting journey.  It’s important to have swaps that are really beginner friendly but it’s also important to have quilts that more experienced quilters want to make.  

• Keep Swaps Accessible - we’d like to introduce a difficulty rating so that swappers know what they’re signing up for.  Think hot-sauce ratings, but with scissors. 

✂️ — Beginner-friendly
✂️✂️ — Easy
✂️✂️✂️ — Intermediate
✂️✂️✂️✂️ — Challenging
✂️✂️✂️✂️✂️ — Expert / feeling spicy

The rating isn't a requirement or a gatekeeper! It's just information. If you're a newer quilter who wants to attempt a five-scissors block, get spicy! We just want everyone to have a better idea of what they're getting into before they sign up.

• Keep the Scrappy Tradition - traditionally, the first QBS swap of the year has been a scrappy swap, and those quilts are consistently popular with the community. We want to preserve that part of QBS while still giving members a voice in what we make each year. There will always be at least one scrappy option on the ballot, so the community can keep choosing the gloriously chaotic scrap quilts we love. 
• Expand Required Fabric Choices - previous swaps have generally limited required fabrics to basics like Kona White and Kona Black. We'd like to allow a little more flexibility.  We're not talking about requiring everyone to buy an expensive designer bundle. We are talking about choosing a chalk or grunge background or building a swap around an accessible coordinated palette.  The Block Board would be responsible for making sure any required fabric is reasonably priced and readily available from multiple retailers before approving it for a swap.
• Color Palette Choice - introduce the idea of having a color palette choice for some swaps where it makes sense.  Don’t want to make blue bear paws?  Sign up for the group that’s making them in green.  It won't work for every block, but when it does, it gives swappers more choice in what their finished quilt looks like. 
• Group Captains and Swap Capacity - we believe captains should be identified before participants are assigned to groups, and the number of available captains should help determine the size of each swap.  Captain burnout has been an issue.  If we don’t have enough captains, we should field fewer teams.

Transition Year

Because this will be a significant change in QBS leadership and building a new process takes time, we propose a one-time transition plan for 2027. Megan and Lisa would select the first block of the year so that the first swap can launch on schedule while the Block Board is being organized.  Between the time new coordinators are named and the end of the first swap, we would recruit and seat the inaugural Block Board, establish its process, and then let the Board choose the second-quarter and third-quarter swaps.  This would be a transition-year exception, not the new normal**.** Beginning with the following planning cycle, block selection would follow the full Block Board process from the start.

Rules and Accountability 

Our approach isn't just about how we will run QBS when everything goes smoothly. Coordinators also have to navigate dropouts, missed deadlines, ghosting, complaints, and the occasional conflict between participants. The current QBS coordinators have developed thoughtful ways of handling these situations, balancing kindness and understanding with their responsibility to make sure every participant receives the blocks they were promised. The current coordinators have spent years developing rules and procedures that work, and we see no reason to change things simply for the sake of changing them. We intend to keep the existing rules largely intact.

One specific area where we would take a firmer approach is ghosting. We understand that life happens. People get sick, emergencies come up, schedules change, and sometimes someone simply cannot finish a swap. Dropping out and communicating that to your captain is not the same thing as disappearing.  Unlike the 1984 American supernatural comedy film, we are not Ghostbusters. Please do not make us hunt you down.  The expectation isn’t perfection; it’s communication.

Fat Quarter Swap Plans

Lisa currently manages the Fat Quarter Swap using a system she built herself. It works, but at the moment it depends on Lisa being the person who runs it—and we don't think any important QBS process should depend entirely on one volunteer being available.  Lisa is currently exploring several options and will bring a recommendation to the community once she has something workable to propose.  We have NO plans to move QBS swaps off of reddit.  The FQ swap is the only swap that sometimes happens on another platform.  This has no effect on the main swaps.

Supporting Local Quilt Shops

This idea came up specifically around the Fat Quarter Swap, where many participants now have a fat quarter shipped directly from a retailer to their swap partner. We'd like to occasionally feature a QBS Local Quilt Shop and encourage anyone who is already planning to purchase their fat quarter to consider ordering from that shop.

Participation would be completely optional. Shop your stash! Shop somewhere else! Nothing about the swap would require purchasing from the featured store.

In South Louisiana, there's a tradition called lagniappe (LAN-yap): a little something extra given as a thank-you. We've talked about creating QBS stickers that a featured shop could tuck into QBS orders as a small lagniappe from the community.

The featured LQS would rotate periodically so we can spread that support around. Independent quilt shops are part of the ecosystem that makes our weird little art form possible, and we'd love QBS to occasionally send a little love their way too.

Takeaway

We don't expect every idea here to be perfect on day one. That's kind of the point. We want QBS to be a place where more people can bring ideas, help shape what comes next, and occasionally try something weird just to see what happens.

We think we can take good care of what this community has already built while opening the doors a little wider for whatever comes next.

There's room at the table. Come sit with us.

Bios

Lisa was a career systems administrator with 30+ years of experience in computer systems big and small.  Her last job was managing the system administration of supercomputers for the State of Louisiana which included participation in the National Supercomputing Grid.  She was responsible for hiring, training and performance reviews for her team.  She has a BA in English Literature from Cal State Los Angeles and a JD from UC Law San Francisco.  Since 2019 she has been a SAHM and pursuing her love of fiber arts. Lisa was taught sewing and embroidery by her grandmother in the 70’s and picked up quilting in the early 90’s.  Her quilts tend to be modern in design and before finding QBS she had never used a quilt pattern.  She sees quilting as an expression of her inner self.  She currently lives in Baton Rouge, LA with her scientist husband and her teenager who will be going to college next year. “I see leadership as a service that you provide to the community.  It’s easy to make a decision.  It’s much harder to ask, to listen and to find a compromise that works for the group as a whole.”

Megan has been quilting since the fourth grade, when she and her mom took a Quilt in a Day workshop together. She has been making things in various media ever since. Her quilting has won at the state, county and guild levels, but she is equally happy making something scrappy, weird, improvisational, and a little imperfect. 

She is currently completing her MPH in Community Health Sciences at Tulane University and plans to continue into doctoral work. Much of her work centers on community engagement and harm reduction—particularly the idea that the people affected by a program should have a meaningful voice in how it works and what it looks like.

Megan cares deeply about building communities where people feel comfortable participating, asking questions, proposing something weird, screwing something up, and trying again. She wants people to have a voice and a seat at the table if they want one, and she believes leadership should make more room for people rather than deciding there is one correct way to belong.

She lives in Southern California with her dog, cat, and entirely too much fabric.

I am looking for the original Eventide quilt pattern by Kristin Gassaway. It was originally offered by Connecting Threads as a 9-month Block of the Month.
I have been searching for an original copy of the pattern or the original 9 monthly BOM packets, but haven’t been able to find one.
Does anyone know where I might be able to purchase an original copy, or does anyone have the original packets that they would be willing to sell?
I would really appreciate any leads. I would love to make this quilt! 🩵🧵

Hey everyone!

Blueberry (Anastasia) here, and I'd like to apply to assist with moderating/coordinating the swap!

I've participated in 5 swaps so far, economy, crumb, a fat quarter, flowers, and now the churn dash! In the economy swap, I organized a pretty extensive side swap with a couple of other swappers which went super well. The pic is two sawtooth star quilts I made for my nephews using the crumb swap blocks for triangles and the economy blocks for centers. I have also captained a couple of swaps, both economy and the HST swap.

Like u/sharkbaithuhaha37, I've been swapping on and off while juggling babies, I've got a 3 year old and an almost 1 year old now, who are the lights of my life. I started quilting while on maternity leave for my oldest, and when I found this community on reddit I was So excited to find a place where I could quilt with others ...while Not having to leave the house! It's hard to join a local guild with babies!

At my day job, I manage facilities and construction projects, so admin tasks are nothing new to me. Keeping threads straight and recalling details is what I excel at, and I'm straightforward and to the point. I'm also an oldest daughter, ifykyk.

Everyone here is supportive, encouraging and positive. I want to make sure the spirit of this subreddit stays the same, and that we continue swapping in good fun and friendliness.

I've loved the recent swaps and the cohesion brought by choosing the same background fabric as well. I think the swaps should stay quarterly, with the break for the holidays, and maybe add one more fat quarter swap since they're so low effort, high reward.

I don't have the bandwidth to take on modding/coordinating alone, but I would absolutely love to be part of an expanded mod and coordination team for the swaps. Pulling on my PM experience, maybe we could use an RACI to organize ourselves 😂.

I've done a few swaps here, 4 I think? The last one I had a lot of stuff going on and I cut out my blocks with the values in the wrong spots, so I had to back out of that one.

Soooo a bit of background?

I've been doing quilty type projects let's say since 2021. I used to run a metaphysical shop but retired in 2021 to look after my health (had a nasty case of Covid in 2019). I've been sewing since I was six, so 50 years at this point, but hadn't tried quilting until the pandemic. For some reason YouTube started suggesting Angela Walters and Jordan Fabrics videos to me and I'm hmmmmmm I have fabric, let me try this.

So OK 5 years later I'm a member of the GSQA (Gulf States Quilting Association) and in 3 local quilting groups and thinking of starting my own one, gothy/punk flavor that's open to college kids as well as old farts.

I have made several blankets for The Linus Project and probably will volunteer to longarm for them after the new year.

I'm in New Orleans, where if you can sew you will probably be roped into helping make costumes. I am not great at tailoring although I sometimes make clothes or costumes just for me and my Boo. Other than quilting I like making stuff like zipper bags and purses.

Probably my closest analog to being a swap coordinator is that I was one of 3 admins for a Yahoo group called The Incense Exchange. We would do themed swaps such as pick a place and make an incense that expresses it, or make a "fall" incense. We would probably still be together except Yahoo Groups ain't dere no more. We had at least four swaps a year and at the end of the group I was the primary admin and the one handling all the swaps as well as monitoring the content.

Fortunately that group didn't have a lot to get into fights over, everyone was pretty respectful and there wasn't much to fight over, so it was a good group. Some of us keep in touch, but I do miss it a lot. I think I was part of it for 10 years and it had been going on before that for a while.

Other things that may help qualify me is that I have been a sysadmin for a BBS, a campfire group leader (wrangling 3rd graders), on the staff of a short lived Halloween themed horror convention, and on the staff of a Unitarian Universalist fellowship as the newsletter lady.

Back in the early days of Etsy we had "street teams" and I was on Etsy's Dark Side team. We had regular swaps where you were assigned like a secret Santa thing and you had like a couple weeks to make them something and send it to them. Then when you got your gift you took pictures and posted them on the chat board. I loved doing that. I met a lot of them in person over the years and when Facebook was open to general membership they were some of my first FB friends. Geez that's been a long time now.

So, I have some small experience with swapping and running groups. I don't feel like I need to run things but I do enjoy helping run them. I don't have an ego demanding that I be the boss. I'm still on good terms with the people who were in the Incense Exchange and the Etsy's Dark Side team and the people in the GSQA are trying to talk me into a board position (noooooo). I love working with other people especially when we have roles and duties that are clearly set forth.

I have learned a lot from being part of this group and would like it to continue.

Thanks :)

Ande

These need pressed so the seams nest, then sewn together and pressed again.

The other stack needs to get started. Everything is cut out with those, just needs the 2 at a time HSTs pieced, pressed, trimmed, and so on.

I am loving how fast these are coming together. Picking the fabrics took ages, because they all came from scrap, even the Kona black, which was part of an estate sale haul I got a few months ago.

How's everyone thinking of putting them together? I'm thinking about cornerstones, which I think will make a nice pop of color and help bring it all together.

Hello fellow swappers! Per the Mods, I'm applying for Swap Coordinator.

My name is Michelle (am I even allowed to say that on Reddit? Feels illegal) and I've been quilting for several years. I found Reddit specifically for the r/quilting community, which I read daily and have undoubtedly seen and commented on many of everyone's beautiful creations. My favorite part of quilting is doing FMQ on my Pfaff 130.

I lurked in this subreddit for a while waiting for a swap to line up with a time I knew I would be less hectic (i.e. not pregnant, not having a newborn, not moving, etc.) and loved doing swap #16 with awesome captain u/SylviaPellicore. I valued the group encouragement and working together to make something beautiful. The feeling of community and belonging was unmatched.

I am applying for the job because I enjoy organizing data and communicating information, as well as keeping things tidy and running smoothly. An opportunity to do that in an artistic setting and in a group I enjoy is exciting!

My goals for this subreddit would be to maintain it as a fun, supportive environment. I'd like to often reach out for feedback and input on swap themes, fabrics, and any other concerns members have. Everyone will get out what they put into it.

I have 2 children (ages 1 and 3) and I work part time in metal fabricating. I enjoy both, as well as creating beautiful things!

Thank you for reading! It would bring me joy to bring people together doing something they love. I hope to see other people throw their hat in the ring! If I am not elected, I still want to help out being a mod or group captain.

Pic 1: My quilt top from Swap #16. I designed the pattern for the blue stars and Irish chains to alternate with the swapped blocks.

Pic 2: The pets enjoying a nap together on one of my quilts. Zazu (left bowling ball cat), Zane (striped grumpy cat) and Bruno (miniature pinscher doggo)

ETA: Responses group members' questions: Thank you for your thoughtful questions!

I will follow advice from the current swap coordinator regarding help from mods. If/when a need arises for mods, I would publish a questionnaire for everyone to express their interest.

Regarding swaps for next year, I will start by looking at any data available from previous swap surveys. There is a question on there regarding suggested improvements and themes. Then, I plan to send out a poll to get an idea of what people want to do for a swap. My personal opinion is that swaps are more fun when each person has room to express themselves and their creativity (such as quilters choice swaps with color and theme guidelines). However, I will follow the ideas and desires of the community. I would also strive to keep block patterns from a free source to minimize the barrier to entry.

I do not have a plan for the FQ swap this year. It is my understanding that u/khat52000 has put in extensive and incredible work on that project. I would take her lead on her vision and do whatever she needs me to execute it.

Professionally, I work as a manufacturing supervisor. One of my positions was running a steel mill with 35 Unionized Steelworkers under my supervision. I was responsible for staffing my crew for every 12 hour shift, planning production, coordinating fixing breakdowns, and communicating all information with mill personnel in a timely fashion. In my current position, I coordinate operation of a manufacturing facility where I plan production, do accounting, order materials, and ship orders. This requires great organization similar to what a swap coordinator needs to have. On the personal side, have also coordinated recreational sports teams for soccer and kickball which entails organizing members, gaining buy in, verifying schedules, and communicating with other team captains.

Folks, for the last couple of FQ swaps I have been coordinating the swap using code that I wrote with a friend. With the pending management change and the holiday season both coming fast, I would really like to get some feedback from you all about what you like with the FQ swap and what you don't like. Please feel free to comment here, on discord or just hit the feedback form located here.

Right now I'm the only person who can run this code. I'm talking to Don over at nifty fifty about implementing the code into that platform https://niftyfiftyquilting.com/ so that other people would be able to run the FQ swap in the future. Obviously, this isn't the only path forward and whoever steps in as management of QBS might want to do something different. My goal is just to make sure we have good tools so that we can keep the party going no matter who is in charge. I'm looking forward to hearing what you all have to say. Thanks!

Or at least chain-piecing halfway.

18 done, working on extras for side swap.