Postage Stamp Swap

When I heard Mary (@mary_thecuriousquilter) was hosting a charm square swap I jumped in with both feet and my considerable collection of 2.5" squares of fabric. I've had some really good luck and some really bad luck with swaps in the past. I went into this one with high hopes and I was not disappointed. 

The first step, for me, was sorting through my collection of 2.5" squares. I have been cutting these little pieces of fun for quite a while now. This is what the collection looked like before I started sorting.

This is what it looked like after I had pulled 600 charms out for swap partners. Look at all that room for new fabrics!

I sorted them into two newbie packs (50 charms each) and five swap partner packs (100 charms each) and waited for the call to sign up. I was ready when the partner email went out. 

How does one package those charms? Well, this is what I went with. I'd read that many quilt bee block swaps use Glad Press-n Seal to wrap the blocks so they fit into a letter-size envelope. 

Fold it all up and those charms are less likely to shift about during shipping. 

Slip into a note, seal and mail. Then, wait for what seems forever for the charms from your partners to find their way to you. It felt like forever. 

Here are the 500 new charm squares I received in the swap. So many fun, new prints! I need to start working on a postage stamp quilt since I'm fairly certain I have enough to make a rather large quilt.  

Want to learn more about how these swaps work? Check out The Curious Quilter Blog to learn more. 

I'll talk about how much something like this costs in another post. I was going to include that info but I've already talked enough for one post. 

Tools and supplies (affiliate links):
Creative Grids 6.5" x 24.5" Rectangle
Creative Grids 6.5" Square Ruler
Creative Grids 4.5" x 12.5" Rectangle Quilting Ruler
Fiskars Rotary Cutter
Fiskars Rotary Cutter replacement blades
Fiskars Self Healing Rotary Cutting Mat
BLACK+DECKER Classic Steam Iron
Fiskars 8-inch scissors

6" x 9" envelopes