Thank you both for running a great exchange this year!!! Very smooth, fun and well organized. I haven't handled a group like this but I'm certain it was a lot of work.

And thank you to the members of Piece of Cake for my birthday blocks this year and Carolina Lilies from 2010. I've posted this before but here again is the quilt I made from blocks received this year and last year.

Kate

Thank you both for all the work you did organizing and keeping us organized :). I'm sure it was a huge amount of work!

Kate, Your finished quilt is worth showing again!

Very pretty quilt! The blocks go very well together (but I'm sure you had that planned all along!) Thank you for sharing! I really love seeing quilts made from block exchanges.

Salijo

Thanks again for sharing your beautiful quilt with us all. I was lucky enough to be in both of your groups, so made a block each year for you. It's so great to see the finished product.

This was my first year of helping Jeanne to organise the Birthday Block Groups. Actually it has been a lot of fun and being in the Southern Hemisphere, I'm awake when Jeanne's asleep and vice versa - so there was always someone to handle problems/questions 24/7. Once the groups were formed, we then took turns being on each month - to list the current birthdays, check who had sent/received and promptly remind those who may have overlooked a birthday. This way we have come to the end of the year with NO ONE being owed a block! This is a wonderful achievement and something you all can be very proud of. We all have our individual lives , but each member of the Birthday Block Exchange fulfilled their year long commitment and made it easy for Jeanne and I to supervise this swap. So thank you all for a wonderful year. I'm spending next year finishing my many many UFOs and my fondest wish is to meet up with many of you at the Fall Retreat next year. Perhaps I'll have my Quilt from this year's BB Exchange put together to bring?????

Kristene (tinyteena)

Thanks again for sharing your beautiful quilt with us all.

Thank you Jeanne and Kristene, for hosting our Birthday Block Swap. The organization was beyond words!

Very pretty quilt Kate!

Kate, that quilt is so beautiful! I love how it turned out.

For those in the November birthday groups, have you received all of your blocks? I think you have. If not, please let me know. Kitty, you may still be awaiting one or two. Please let me know once your blocks have all been received. Sorry to be "asking" but the new puppy and getting ready for Christmas have limited my "tracking time."

Jeanne

Christmas is getting closer and I know everyone is busy. There's kind of a lull here before the 2012 Birthday Block Exchange really gets going. I hope everyone is doing fine. We got our Christmas tree yesterday and it is a Virginia Pine this year and so nice to smell that fragrance in the air!
Do you have special quilts that come out for the holidays?
Last year I completed a Santa quilt and felt bad that there didn't seem to be anywhere to display it. This year I hung it over the top of another quilt that is up year round. It worked fine and saves me from trying to find a place to put the other one over the holidays.
Here's the Santa quilt. It consists of blocks made by members of my local quilt guild.

I also have a small wallhanging that goes above the fireplace and a quilted tree skirt that I made. It just came to me as I typed this that I have a Birthday Block quilt that is red, white, and green. I will have to see if there is a place I can put it on display for the holidays. If there is no wall space, it definitely can be folded and put over the back of a couch or chair!

I would love to see the quilted items you set out for Christmas. Please share.

Jeanne

I just wanted to say thank you to both of you for doing an excellent job organizing this year's birthday exchange. The time and effort you both put in tracking and organizing (and of course all the people who made the commitment to participate and then really made sure that they continued to do so all year long) really made this year run very smoothly :) I loved all of my blocks that were sent to me, my birthday is right in the middle of the summer (July) and it is a lovely pick-me-up during a time of year when I spend more focus on the garden outside rather than the quilting inside. I love receiving all the blocks in July!! I can't post a photo of the finished quilt, because I haven't finished it yet :) But I chose "Polka Dot heaven" as my theme (quilters choice, but all fabrics to be polka dots) and the creativity of the people in my Make A Wish group was astounding!!

I will be taking next year off like many others to finish up a few projects that have been lagging, but am looking forward to returning the year after ...

Thank you again, both of you, for organizing this bday block exchange this year. I really appreciate all the work you put into it so that it would run smoothly and no one would be disappointed at the end of the year!! That is quite an achievement :)