Swap blocks - siggy

I think there is no hiding from it, I must be a swap addict... I am always finding it hard to resist the call of a new swap and more often than not end up signing up for yet another swap. Now don't get me wrong, I enjoy the swaps I am doing or have done in the past. As I am often quilting on my own, bar the rare visit to my quilting group (quite difficult to organise logistically with a baby at the moment), being part of a swap brings some new friend and also extend my horizons. It sometimes takes me out of my comfort zone to. BUT as much as I enjoy the swap, making the blocks/items, sending them off and receiving a gem back in the mail, I am ashamed to say that most of the time, my blocks end up being stashed away in a box, waiting to be used. WHY? Why can't I use them? Why can I do justice to the time, effort and money my fellow swappers and myself have put into the swap? Well, I don't really know is the answer. I guess often I'll jump into a swap, make a few blocks send them off but I don't have a project in mind for them and I end up getting a few blocks back that I am not sure what to do with. Sometimes, the number of blocks is too small, sometimes, well I don't know really.
Last year, I used swap blocks I had had since 2009 to make this Christmas Tree Skirt and I was so happy to see it to the end and have it around my tree at Christmas. And a few years back, I used some 9-patch blocks I had swapped when I began quilting to make a bag that I have now sold.

Are you a swap addict as well? Do you use your blocks as soon as you receive them? Or are you as bad as me and leave them stashed away until later? Tell me what you've done with your swap blocks?
If you've read that far, you deserve a little surprise. I'll draw a winner at the end of the month.

If you've read this far, you might wonder what is the link with the siggy swap I hinted to in the title. Well I went through my siggies in the last few days and realised with amazement that I now have 251 blocks that could be put in a rather large quilt but that are instead sitting in a post. I have been trading siggies since 2004 via various organised exchanges or one-to-one with Anneliese's list. I guess I could carry on making more and more and more... and fill more boxes but that sounds quite pointless in some way. So I have decided that I will trade a few more and then withdraw from the list until I have made my current stash of siggy into a lovely and comfy friendship quilt. For now, I can show you all the lovely siggies I have received since I last posted about them.
These one were from the centralised swap organised on the European DJ list

and these ones are one to one swaps from Anneliese's list

And while I was going through my stash of siggies, I also found some I had made for various centralised swap that had been returned back to me. I was going to throw them away because the date of them is from a few years back but then I thought about it longer. The very beginning of patchwork was all about recycling and making new from old so I have decided that instead of throwing those siggies, I will send them on to people who are swapping with me, these will be my "vintage" siggies.

Celine