BATIKS-R-US fabric exchange

[Margo C.]

EDIT: THE SIGN UP PERIOD FOR THIS EXCHANGE IS NOW CLOSED!

Ok--drum roll please! We have 36 states from the USA represented and members from England, Australia and Canada. The total number is:
137. Thanks for your patience ladies. HSTs are due to me by March 15th. If you do not have my address it is because I did not get an email with your email address.



Sign up now:
deadline is February 7th (PLEASE CONTACT RITZY, NOT MARGO)
If you have already let me know you are interested I will have an email with your email address and you are good to go.

When HST's are due at my house:
March 15th

To get my address:
Send me your e-mail address and I will send you my snail mail address.

HST Papers:
You can order them from http://www.LaundryBasketQuilts.com
or you can use what you can find around your area. Two important things:
1) they must give a half-square triangle square that measures 2 1/2" so when it is put in a quilt it will finish to 2".
2) we want you to use HST papers because of the accuracy.

Fabrics for this exchange:
Batiks with a light on one side and a darker on the other side. The darker fabric can be dark or medium value as long as there is good contrast between the two. I have said in the past that because of the difficulty in finding cream colored batiks that you can use a tone on tone cream, white or beige fabric. I am going to change that (hope nobody out there wants to kill me) lets use a light batik and a dark--keeping in mind--high contrast.

Sewing and Pressing:
Please sew carefully so when your squares are pressed they will not have bows in the seam line. Use a light weight thread-I will be using Bottom Line by Superior threads. Decrease the length of your stitch so the papers will tear off easily when the time comes. Make sure that you fabric is pressed well with no wrinkles (wrinkles change the size of the finished block). If you layer your fabric with the light fabric on top and then put the HST sheet on top of the light fabric, when it comes time to press (leaving the paper on) you will be pressing to the dark side.

After sewing, cut the squares apart on the solid lines, leave it folded with the paper on and press carefully while it is still folded. No need to worry about pressing seams open because it remains folded. PLEASE DO NOT TEAR THE PAPER OFF AFTER PRESSING. This will help keep them from wrinkling during transport.

Preparation for Mailing:
We would like you to write your first name and what state(please put the whole name not the abbreviation for those who are not from USA) and country you are from on the HST paper. We want to have fun and know how far our squares have traveled. Since we are a small group you may not want to make 700 HSTs. You will get a lot of yours back unless we all do 700. For each combination of light and dark (if you are using Edyta's papers--each sheet will yield 28) I would like it if you put it in its own sandwich bag if you do 56 of the same color combination then they can all go in the same bag. Use a sandwich bag that has a place to write on and write your name, your screen name and how many are in the bag. If you can't find that kind of sandwich bag please use a label with the information written on it. This will be the bag(or bags) I will put your new HSTs in to send back to you.

Ladies in the USA: if you send an envelope with metered postage on it--I will not be able to use it to send your HSTs to you. The envelope needs to have stamps. Thank you.

IMPORTANT REQUEST
Please put TQS screen name on the outside of the envelope used to send your squares, on your Zip-Lock baggies, and on your return envelope. This will help me stay organized.

Mailing:
Please use a very sturdy envelope. You will also need to include a stamped, self-addressed envelope for returning your new HST's. The amount of postage to return them to you should be about the same as sending. If you are unsure of the postage, please check with the post office. And, for those using International mail, you'll also need to check with your postal service/carrier to determine how much it will take to send back to you from the States.

If there are any questions--that I have not answered here--just email me and I will answer. Thank you for playing with me--ritzy



International Friends
I have talked to the post office, here in Indiana, and they said "if you go online to USPS you will be able to calculate the amount of shipping cost from USA to your country". So, if you get your package ready to send to me (remember to put a self-addressed envelope with your HSTs inside your package for mailing), have your post office weigh it, go online and check the amount of postage required from USA to your country, and send a money order to me with your package. I will be able to get the postage for you. I really don't know how else to do this as I do not have PayPal and my understanding is it is a lot of juggling of money. I hope this works for you. If you have any other questions, please let me know. ritzy

We are to 95 folks doing the HST batiks exchange. I am trying to stay really organized with this exchange so this snow has be good. I can keep updating my information. So, I have been through all the post under the title "specific fabric exchange" and I think I have everyone from there. I noticed that I have quite a few that I do not have email address for and so you won't know where to send your HSTs. So these are the ones I don't have:

PeggyPeirson applesnquilts Carolyn Sands auntralfie

DryHillQuilter bbquiltmaker orbitalquilter creekside

msquiltlady leolady maree7316 LadybugQuilter

jantayl artccjunk luvquilting sherl31

bamidance kkline

[Margo C.]

Excellent Margo--thank you my friend.

[Margo C.]

I'm also fine with submitting one HST for everyone in the exchange. Hope you are staying warm, ritzy!

Ann of Vashon Island, Washington

[Teresa S.]

I'm kind of confused as to how to sign up for this exchange, so I'm posting my request to join via this thread. In addition, I sent an email request to Ritzy. Let me know if I'm to do anything else. Thanks bunches!

THANK YOU, RITZY......I GOT YOUR EMAIL RESPONSE!!

[Dawn S.]

BATIKS-R-US here we come! One HST for each participant. Got it! And, we will know the final count on Feb 8. Got it! Preferably cream and a med/dark, but hey, we can't all be lucky enough to have (or find) a pure cream, so will definetly use a light. Personally, my creams have a little pale green going through them. They are wonderful! I'm thinking all of our HST will blend beautifully together, huh? :!:

Dawn
In beautiful Northwest Montana

[Dawn S.]

One per participant sounds good.

Helen, Michigan

[Dawn S.]

I agree with one per participant.
In my earlier message I should have said Sandy from N.Y. not Judy
Mona 80

[Dawn S.]

Just FYI - my light batik is actually white & slightly textured - hope that's okay because I bought lots!
Terrie

[Sandra S.]

sounds like we are moving along,have a lot done already, I was lucky enough to fine fourdifferent fat quarters of cream batiks at my quilt shop. Her papers make it so easy you can do them in a few minutes what fun., sandy in NY

Did I hear we are supposed to put our name on each hst? guess I better print out some labels if someone can clue me in on this, thanks

[Karen M.]

Whoo Hoo I am all ready as soon as my HST papers get here! Understand...1 for each person signed up, and cream/lights for good contrast.

[Karen M.]

are we saying a minimum of one for each participant? I have already sewn mine and I am over 200. So I am understanding to send at least the amount of participants but no maximum?
Terri

[Margo C.]

sounds like we are moving along,have a lot done already, I was lucky enough to fine fourdifferent fat quarters of cream batiks at my quilt shop. Her papers make it so easy you can do them in a few minutes what fun., sandy in NY

Did I hear we are supposed to put our name on each hst? guess I better print out some labels if someone can clue me in on this, thanks

Sandy, this was posted in the SoTTT exchange:


In order to save time of writing name, town on EACH TRIANGLE, I printed off the info on some mini return address stickers using the Avery 5267 template. Thought that others might have something similar. Sure saved a ton of time for me!

[Sherry B.]

I am wondering the same thing as musical stitches. I was planning to do 4 different colors. I can do one for each participant in each color. Or am I supposed to submit only one color?

[Carol M.]

WOW 95 participants so far and there are still 5 days left!!!! I have made 112 triangles but will wait for the final count. Sounds like I may have to make a few more. It is going to be fun to see all what comes back. Thank you Ritzy for organizing this wonderful exchange!!!!

[Carol M.]

I printed address labels also but used the Avery # 5160 card. Should save having stiff fingers from all that writing. LOL
Mona 80