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How to JOIN quilting block swaps Australia

Hello and thank you for visiting. This is a community group for all Australian quilters to join or just follow. Membership is FREE and you are partnered each month and we make each other a 12 inch quilt block based on our preferences which we swap. (12.5 inches raw edge to raw edge) The emphasis of the group is on friendship and sharing. To find out more or register to join email me on quiltingblocks@hotmail.com This purpose of this blog is to chat and showcase blocks and quilts made by members, kind of like a show and tell . Yours in stitching, Sue



Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Doing a happy dance

Its out!  its out.! 
The article in quilters companion is out.

I haven't seen it yet as my copy has not arrived in my letterbox, but today I have already had three new membership enquiries so hold onto your hats its going to be a busy month.

This will boost our Australian membership base which at present represents about half of our entire membership.  I plan to initially cap the membership at 100 but may raise that slightly when I see how I cope with it. As of writing this we have 68 active members and at our peak we had 72 and I coping OK with that.  This realistically allows room for 32 more members, and I could be wrong but with the exposure in the magazine I think that we will get a lot more enquiries than that.
And ooohhh how I hate turning people away.
I have been thinking about how I would cope with this, and that is one of the reasons for splitting the groups into categories.  I could stagger the swaps within each group to take the pressure off.  As many ladies that have been with me for awhile would know, at one stage we did run a second group, loosely attached to the first but it didn't really work out so I am not keen on heading down that path again.

Anyhow the purpose of this is to let you all know my thoughts and I welcome any comments on how you think we can make this work. 

10 comments:

Larissa said...

Lol Sue, I know what you mean about having a good 30mins - hour in replying to emails ... and then there are the blogs to follow ... Facebook to check ... wow! To think we are so connected these days, it's still amazing to me!! ... Congratulations on the 'early' inquiries!!! That's fantastic!! Welcome to all the new participants!! ... Okay, now I just need to remember NOT to pick it up as soon as I see the issue at the newsagents' tomorrow!! Lol! To wait will be difficult *hehe* Have a great weekend Sue!!!

Maria said...

Oh I can't wait to see the story on our swap in print....
I have filled out the survey Sue but at the end of the day the final decision is yours. You do a wonderful job at being Swap Mum but I realise it is very time consuming..

Janet said...

Congratulations! I'm really looking forward to seeing it. I wish that I could sign up for this group right now as I don't want to miss the opportunity, but I am still just too swamped to take on another commitment. Oh well there will be chances in the future I am sure.

Fiona said...

I agree with Maria..... it's a fantastic concept and great fun... but you need to make it as simple as possible for you too...
Hugz

Tarnyia said...

WOOHOO so exciting... Sue I am willing to have two swap partners a month if that helps xxx

CathyC said...

Oooh so exciting - am off shopping today and will have a look for it ;-)
As Maria said, the final decision is up to you on how the group is run - only you can decide how much time you are able to give it. Whatever happens, I love being part of this group and have no intentions of leaving any time soon ;-)

Sooli said...

That is exciting news,I was wondering if it had been published yet! I think you need to do what works best for you as you are the one it impacts on the most. I don't think anyone will mind waiting until the next month to join the group rather than rush them into the swap if that's easier for you. If you think it will be easier for you to have separate groups and stagger the mailout then that's good for me! I guess one thought might be that at least once you've sent the swap detail emails at the beginning of the month that bit at least is done for a month, even if other emails arrive in the meantime. I'm happy to go along with whatever is good for you. If there's something we can help with, please let us know! I'm happy to help if I can!

Jan said...

Hi Sue,
The size of the group will depend on what you think you can manage.

A waiting list? If I were asked to go on a waiting list I probably would not return to the site. But everyone is different and some folk might be happy to wait.

Separate groups might break up the work load, particularly if a deputy were to do the matching of partners in another group. Who knows how many groups there may be????

RandR Serenity said...

FANTASTIC ARTICLE. Two pages of arm tingling info. I am so proud of you all. I love this group and am so please I found you 5months ago.
Hugs and kisses to everyone in our group.
I love what you said, very true and yah, my swap group is in a quilting magazine.
Hugs

Anonymous said...

Great article! Inspired me to join your group! Looking forward to getting to know everyone and doing the block swaps.
hugs to you all