My Quilt #66 ~ William’s 2000 Charm Quilt 2004

2,000 Charms Quilt - 2004

This quilt is made up of 2,000 fabric squares, which I swapped with other quilters (see story below).  The squares were originally 3” and I cut them down to 2-1/2” so the quilt wouldn’t be so big!  I quilted it with an all-over meandering design.

I gave this quilt to my part-time staff and VISTA volunteer William for Christmas 2004 in appreciation for the time and effort he donated to the Rebuilding Together program in San Gabriel.

July 2004

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Back in 1999 when I started quilting, there really weren't any quilt blogs, but quilters were hanging out on quilt message boards on sites like quilting.about.com.

Lots of quilters were swapping 2-1/2" or 3" fabric squares (or charms) in order to make a Y2K quilt with 2,000 different fabric squares. There were even magazine articles about how to join these swaps. Some swaps were set up individually via email (there would be lists of people willing to swap on various websites); but others were “centralized” swaps with one person coordinating the swap. 

Once you joined a swap, you made up sets of 25 squares of different fabrics, plus a signature square and a very short biography.  These sets were called “squishies” because the envelope or baggie containing the set was soft and squishy.

The number of sets depended on the number of members in the swap, but usually, it was 80 swappers.  You would place each set of charm squares in a sandwich baggie, and all 80 squishies had to be identical.  Then the 80 squishies would be mailed in a large envelope to the swap coordinator.  She would then sort them out so that each swapper received 80 different squishies in return (you had to include a postage-paid return envelope for this).  If all worked as planned, you would end up with 2,000 different squares, or charms, at the end of the swap.

This was a really inexpensive way to get a large variety of fabrics.  It was much easier to get 1/3 yard of 25 different fabrics to make up your 80 sets than to try to get 2,000 different fabrics on your own.

I had so much fun swapping charms with other quilters from across the country.  Some of us were on a mission to get a squishy from every state.  I actually joined 2 centralized swaps and then swapped individually with other folks.  I ended up with enough charm squares to make THREE millennia (or Y2K) quilts.

Some quilters color-coordinated their charms and quilts; others sewed together the squares from each squishy with the signature square in the center, and still, others created elaborate designs with their charms.

I combined the two swaps (or 160 sets of 25 squares) and sorted through the squares.  I then created two separate groups of squares: one collection was for my “main” quilt; the second collection included duplicate squares and those that were “questionable”.  The quilt I gave to William is made from the second set of squares.

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Ten years later, my “main” Y2K quilt is still a UFO!  Although I have completed the top, I still need to quilt it:

BTW, I still have another complete set of 80 squishies that I swapped with individuals across the country.  This will be my third and final Y2K quilt … maybe I’ll finish it before this decade is over!

UPDATE: In 2020, I FINALLY quilted and completed this Y2K quilt! It only took 20 years LOL.  I also discovered that I had another set of 80 squishies and was able to make a fourth Y2K quilt - definitely the last and final one.