Overacheiver!

Well, we have our first overacheiver of the swap. Here's Colene's little quilt all nicely finished and ready to wait a month or more before being posted off to...someone. Yes, I know, she's early. Don't worry if you, like me, have barely thought about what you plan to do - we can't all be overacheivers...

Anyway, isn't it lovely? All those dimensional, folded flowers - very funky.

Partner acknowledgements...

I have now heard back from most of you that you have received your partners - I'm sure a few of you are on holiday (it is August, after all) but if you are reading this and your name is on this list, please contact me to let me know if you got your partner info (or not):

• Amy M
• Andrea B
• Barb E
• Bonnie H
• Karen M
• Lynda B
• Lynda M
• Mary B
• Michelle S

Thanks!

Partners done!

Well, it's done- all the partners have been emailed out. If you haven't received your partner information, please let me know and I'll try again. Otherwise, go to it - happy creating! And don't forget, though you are welcome to share progress on your blog or directly to me or whatever, please don't send your quilt off until at least October and please don't tell who your partner is.

In the end, we have 15 people in the art quilt section of the swap and 55 in the traditional section. I've already told you about the geographical distribution - that hasn't changed. We have a wide range of quilting styles and ability levels and I've done my best to match people up to appropriate partners (which doesn't mean you might not have to stretch a little!). Have fun!

Partners!

OK, I have now finished assigning partners (I think) in my spreadsheet, so I will beging the task of emailing them out tomorrow (or rather, later today, as it's almost 1am here) - I will post again here when I've emailed all the details out, so you can check to make sure you've had them. Whew.

Logo for your blog!

If you would like to put a logo for this swap in the sidebar of your blog, or post about it, please do (but it's not required) - for those of you who are less confident with bloggy things, I have put the code below, which you can use - but you will have to change the brackets from parenthesis to pointy brackets in order to make it work. (If I put it with pointy bracket here, it will show the logo itself, not the code!) If you are still not sure, email me and I'll email the code to you exactly as it should appear.

(a href="http://anotherlittlequiltswap.blogspot.com/") (img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5186612941139622386" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBfpERQKetxP1ODbVAfdHfFL6kgQswjycLldb_XH6qowPUIlf6za1XKM_yP2f0VC_J8dhngLn3lwYOrp7SQdUqysaH_8AjnOr2Gvq4E8zEXPLETvAhOjmz1zZZA1zROSSU4b3NI7zIXFM/s200/alqslogo.JPG" border="0" /) (/a)

If your blog is on wordpress or something other than blogger, this might not work as is, but feel free to copy the logo from the sidebar here and use it.

CLOSED!

Ok, folks - that's it. There are now 70 people signed up for this swap and frankly, that's enough. There will be 13 swappers in the art group, which should work just fine - and that makes 57 people in the traditional section. Including - not to go on about this TOO much, but I think it's kinda cool - THREE guys (yes, "guys" in the sense of male quilters). But don't get me wrong - I'm delighted to have all you ladies, as well.

Here's the geographical breakdown (because I like these sorts of things):

• 38 quilters from the US
• 8 quilters from the UK
• 10 quilters from Australia
• 4 quilters from Canada
• 2 quilters from the Netherlands
• and one each from: France, Turkey, Germany, Lithuania, Norway, Luzembourg, Italy and Chile

It will take me about a week to work out who partners whom; emails will go out once I've worked it all out. For the time being, if I have received an email from you asking to be included in the swap, I have responded and listed your name in the sidebar.

Sign up update

Hello all - we now have 54 people signed up for this swap - 13 in the art quilt section and the rest in traditional. Including not one, but two gentlemen (so John won't be so lonely this time!). I will take a few more, not quite sure how many yet, it will depend entirely on whim... I was going to come up with some complicated reasoning for the numbers, but then decided to simply be honest about it. It's my swap, I can decide the numbers! I shouldn't think I will take a lot more than 50 in the traditional section as it will become difficult to manage, so if you want to join up, you'd best make your mind up soon.

Everyone whose email I have received is listed in the sidebar as a participant - if you have sent me your details and do not see your name on the list, please leave a comment here or email me ASAP.

Just a note here to say that although I know who is taking part in the art section and who in the traditional, I'm not going to separate them on the list - once people start showing photos of their work, you'll probably guess, but just for fun, I'm not going to tell you in advance! (Though you are welcome to say on your own blog.)

ALQS - Round 2 now open

The second round of this swap is now open. The swap is a little different this time - for those of you who are interested, there will be the option to take part in an art quilt swap, instead of the more traditional type of quilts we've been swapping to this point. The sizes will remain similar, and the administration of the swap in terms of partner matching, deadlines, and so on will remain the same, but those who choose "art" over "traditional" will have a lot more freedom in terms of materials, technique, style and so on. Here are the general guidelines:

• You should receive your swap partners within a week of the signups closing (barring catastrophe); I anticipate it only taking a few days for signups to finish after the swap is published on the blog.
• The due date for mailing your quilts will be 10 November 2008, so you will have nearly 3 months to work on your quilt.
• There will be no theme for this swap, though I do ask you try to bear in mind the preferences of the partner you are assigned. Also, please try to keep away from themes that may not be appropriate to other swappers - for instance, religious, holiday or patriotic themes (unless specified under likes, of course).
• Quilts should be 12" square minimum and 20" square maximum. They do not have to be square, of course. All quilts should be finished (that is, quilted and bound) and should include a label on the reverse with your name, location, date and your partner's name, as well as the name of this swap. You may include other information if you like, such as a message or a quote. You should also include some sort of facility for your partner to hang your quilt - hanging tabs, a sleeve, corners, etc. (unless they specifically say not to)
• Because these are small quilts intended for display rather than use, and therefore shouldn't need to be washed, you may include some surface embellishment techniques such as beading, embroidery, fabric painting and so on, but please ensure any technique you use is durable (though washability is not required). And of course, bear in mind the preferences of your partner.
• In the traditional section, your quilt should be mainly a quilt - that is, the focus should be on fabric, piecing or applique, and so on, with some embellishment added to enhance (or not, as you wish). In the traditional section, you should stick to mainly cotton fabrics for your construction, though use of a small amount of other materials is permitted. In the art quilt section, pretty much anything goes, though as this is still a "quilt" swap, your piece should resemble a quilt in that it should have three layers (top, batting, backing) and be constructed at least partly of fabric.
• This will not be a straight swap - that is, it's possible that the person you send to will also send to you, but it's unlikely.

If you are interested in playing, you should send me email to katelnorth@yahoo.com with the subject ALQS2 and including the information below. I will respond to all emails to acknowledge them, so if you do not hear from me within 48 hours, you should try again or leave a message here on the swap blog - though please do not leave your details there.

1. Full name
2. postal address
3. email address
4. blog/flickr address, etc (this is not required to play, though I do prefer it; if you don't have a regularly updated blog (etc)and I don't know you from other swapping forums, I may ask for a reference from someone who has swapped with you before)
5. art quilt or traditional?
6. please note a FEW preferences (if you want to) such as one or two favourite colours and/or styles as well as one or two dislikes. If there is anything you'd really dislike in your quilt (for instance, if you hate Sunbonnet Sue or the colour yellow or birds) please mention that. Likewise, if you would like to be able to hang your quilt in a specific place and would like to mention ideal size, shape or what colour your wall is, you may mention this and your partner will try to take it into account. You may also provide one or two links to quilts or quilt artists you particularly like - though you don't have to. DO NOT list too many preferences or specifics or I will edit them, perhaps randomly!
7. international posting - unless you have strong objections, I will assume everyone is willing to post internationally. If this is a serious issue for you, please let me know and I will do my best to assign you a partner within your own country - obviously this depends on who signs up, so I can't guarantee it for all countries, but it should be okay within the US and probably the UK and Australia.
8. partner preferences - again, I can't guarantee specific partners as I don't know who will sign up, but if there is someone you would particularly like to make a quilt for or someone you have just made a quilt for in another swap and would therefore rather not make another quilt for right away, please let me know and I'll do the best I can to juggle the partners to fit. You may not mention who you would like to receive a quilt FROM. If you took part in the previous round of this swap, you will not be assigned the same partner as the first time.

Round 2 invitations

I have now sent out invitations to all those who requested to be notified when the second round of this swap opened and those who took part in the first round. If you fall into either of those categories and haven't received an email from me, let me know and I'll try again. (Partner info has not been sent yet, and won't be, until mid-August - I'll post a message here when it has been sent.)

My apologies to those who got an email that was full of goobledygook - I have no idea why that's happening, but if you have trouble reading it, let me know and I'll try again. (hmm, sense of deja vu about that sentence!)

If you interested in this swap but aren't in either group above, hang in there, there will be a few spaces for others to join, too.

The grand reveal

Well now - quilts have been sent, and quilts have been received and they are all just so fabulous - thank you all so much for the effort and care you put in. And I'm sure you all want to see just who got what, without having to wade through the comments to put it all together. So, I present, for your ease of viewing, this grand roundup...

There are two quilts in this roundup which are still in transit, so if you are Ann R or Lisa S, you might want to look away now - or not, as the case may be. I'm sorry to publish this before all quilts are safely home, but as I am organising the next round, I'd like to get this up and out of the way - and anyway I have permission from Lisa to reveal hers before she gets it - and Ann has probaby figured out which is hers by process of elimination already.

Right, here goes!

Amy B (who is first on the list alphabetically) made this quilt for Teresa




who made this quilt for Jen...




Jen made this quilt for Sherry,



who in turn made this quilt for Toni.




And who did Toni make a quilt for? Well, she made this lovely quilt for Cathi,



who made this tree for Becca...



Becca in turn made a quilt for Andrea



who made one for Dorothy.





Dorothy's ship sailed off to Dawn in Turkey,



and Dawn's little beauty made its way to Ann R.


Ann R put together this fab piece for Jovita,




who made a quilt for Liliane.




Lisa was the lucky recipient of Liliane's quilt;



the quilt Lisa made went to Tracy in Australia.





Tracy made a quilt for Colene,



who made this little wholecloth piece for Annette,



who in turn sent this beauty to Loulee.




Loulee's quilt crossed the ocean and some mountains to find a new home with Lisa Jo.



Lisa Jo's piece went to live with Anne B;



Anne B's little heart quilt found a new home with Amy S.





The quilt that Amy S made went down under to Lynda B,



while Lynda's quilt travelled back to the US to Shelly.



Shelly's piece came to the UK to find a new home with Stephanie,





whose piece went to Sophie.



Sophie had the challenge of making a piece for me, and I will show this quilt as soon as it's finished; unfortunately, Sophie's been having some major health issues, so while she is working on the piece, progress is by necessity, slow - there are a few sneak peeks on her blog and what I see of it, looks great!

As for me, the quilt I made went to brighten up Margaret's wall.



Margaret's little quilt went to Lynda M,



and Lynda M's quilt will eventually go to live with Wil after getting famous and being published and all.



The quilt Wil made (which was the first finished piece in the swap) went to Ann J,



whose piece went to Sarah.



Sarah's beautiful piece made its way to Lorraine in Australia,



and Lorraine's mini went to live with Amy B.



And that's not all, but it does finish that loop!

Here's some more:

Ann A made this lovely piece for Paula,



who made a piece for Ramona,





who made a quilt for Ann A.






Sequana made a piece for Cat,



who made one for Linda,



who made one for Colleen,



who made one for Solidia,



who made one for John,



who made one for Sequana.




And that's that! Gorgeous pieces all, aren't they. Can't wait for the next round...