Embarrassing questions

A mystery quilt is one you make a block at a time without knowing what the final product will be. Some people here post them from time to time. Also I have seen them at local quilt shops too as classes. And a swap... I only hosted them on my handmade soap groups not on here. But I have joined on here. What I had to do was make a block for each person in the swap and send to a host who them split them up and sent me back one cblock made by each member. I have also seen themes likes stars or dots or specific colors. In soap making we woud swap products as well if we got an amazing deal for purchasing more than we would ever need in a lifetime lol. I once bought 300 bobbins because it was ooo cheap... might have made for a good swap. especially since I have never used more than what fits in my bobbin holder.... Thread too, if I bought 20 of the huge spools I got 15 free. What was I thinking lol Anyhow if you want to join a swap its easier than hosting hehe (thanks to all the swap hostesses of whom I have joined) But to host... you need an idea and then post it. I would ask other successful hostesses first for ideas on what they would do next time and tried and true rules. But I should go now... I have avoided my homework for far too long already :)

Carissa in rainy BC

Some online quilt stores feature free monthly patterns to get quilters to visit their web pages often. Mystery quilt installments are often used for this as well as Block of the Month block patterns. Debra in VA See my quilts at

Howdy!

Nothing to be embarrassed about, Jerry. We all learned somehow...or are still learning...or don't learn.

Mystery quilts: you start out to make a quilt w/ little (if any) idea of where you're going. And yet you do it for the challenge.

Of course, as these are older examples it's easy to cheat and look at the Finished quilt before deciding to do the mystery or not.

Swaps: here on RCTQ anyone who wants to can start a swap. You set the rules, you manage the sign-ups, you get to nag & fuss about "Get your swap done!" You might decide to have all the fabric or blocks sent to you (a "Central Swap") & then you distribute the goodies (that way no one who participates gets left out because someone blew it) or you can have the swappers send their goodies to each other. Search for some former swaps & decide which works for you: you're the boss! RCTQ Google Groups has the details of many swaps:

My favorites: Happy Meals: Summer Secret Sister (my idea) where I paired up the swappers in a chain:A sends to B who sends to C who sends to... including non-U.S. players: fun!We've swapped squares & fq, blocks, ornaments, candy/sweets, fabricpostcards, pics, ideas. There are theme swaps: food prints, holiday, color,leftovers, whatever. What do you want? Swap it! And we brag! About the goodies, about the fun, & make note of who did notmake a good swap pal (not many on that list but it happens).Mostly it is fun. As you discovered w/ your WaterColor project, Jerry, we like to send fabric.

Repeat:

is about the best representation still existing of the RCTQ Logo;many of the sites w/ instructions have disappeared, as you found.We've been given permission to reproduce the image & make our own versionof a badge/name tag. R/Sandy

While this is a good site, it's not what Jerry needs. He needs a digitized one in ART format for his embroidery machine. Unless you do digitizing, this one won't help. Gen