Rules 
We have to have rules to keep the club running smoooooth :9 Rest assured they're all easy to follow... if you have any questions about the rules please contact us :)
Trading with Bees 
- When you want to trade patches with someone, you do so by sending them a polite e-mail or by filling in a form on their quilt.
- If you're sending an e-mail, you should include these three things: your patch (attached), your membership #, and your URL (that way, the person you are trading with will know where to link your patch to).
- You may only trade with official Quilting Bee members. You can tell if someone is an official member because they will have a membership patch with their own unique member #. However just to make sure, you can check our member list to make sure that the url of the person that asked you to trade and their membership # both match.
- Please do not take other member's patches until they have been given to you. If you mail someone your patch, you should wait until they have replied to your trade request before you add their patch to your quilt. Likewise, if you want to trade with somebody who has contacted you please let them know: don't just take their patch and expect them to check your quilt!
- 2 patch trades per day maximum! What fun is it if you get everyone's patches right away, and there are none left to collect? Take your time, and have fun collecting. :) This rule does not apply to activities in which you can trade submissions; there is no limit on trades for these.
- Please be an active bee. The more often you trade with other members, the more fun the club will be for everyone. Bees must trade a minimum of twice per month to stay in the club.
About Your Quilt Patch
- You may only have one patch for trading. If you get bored with it and want to redesign it, you may do so at any time.
- Patches must be 40 x 40 pixels: no more, no less!
- Patches must be in GIF or PNG format with no animation.
- Your patch must have some sort of "stitching" around the edges (no solid borders). This means that there must be some sort of transparent stitching on your patch. Please see our tutorials for guides transparency.
Your Quilt Page(s)
- You must keep the Quilting Bee patch (linked to the quilting bee) and your own personal quilt patch as the first two patches on your quilt. When you receive your membership patch, this will be the third patch on your quilt (see sample below). How you arrange the rest of your patches is up to you. :)
- You should leave the Quilting Bee text on your quilt page (see sample below). You can modify this text if you like, but make sure that a) people know where to contact you for a trade & b) people know where to click (ie. the first patch) if they want to join.
I'm an official Quilting Bee member! If you are also a member and would like to trade patches, please email me. Don't forget to include this information: your patch, your membership # and your URL. If you're not a member, please click the first patch on my quilt for info on how to join! - Please do not put "right click disable" scripts on your quilt page. Sometimes we have contests and activities (like Bee of the Week) where we will need to right click to save your patch.
- Your quilt page must be easy for us to find. It should be no more than 3 clicks away from your main index page with a clearly marked link or bee button.
- If your quilt opens in an itty-bitty pop-up window or an iframe please make sure that the window/iframe is big enough to hold it.
- Upload received patches to your own server. Do not direct link them. Direct linking leads to quilts full of holes, and nobody wants a moth-eaten quilt.
- Collected patches should be linked to the bee's website. Be sure to use
border="0"(or in your stylesheet:img { border: 0; }) when you link, and if your quilt is inside frames or a pop-up window, be sure to use atarget="_blank"on each link.
Your Website
- You must update your main website at least once every two months.
- You must have an original layout made by you up when you apply to join: this tells us that you have the skill to maintain your quilt. If you use a complex content management system like WordPress and have difficulty creating your own theme, please customise a free theme as much as possible or make your quilt a detailed custom layout. We do not accept bees who use basic free templates for both their layout and quilts.
- Current members are allowed to use a free theme or template once they're accepted.
- You must keep a decent "about me" page up so that bees can get to know you. That means some paragraphs of text, not just boring lists and memes! If you're stuck, we have some "about me" examples.
Thank you for reading through the rules :) Are you ready to join?
