Arrival update

I'm now only waiting to hear from 11 people about quilt arrivals - the rest are all home safe and sound (more or less). Hopefully the last 11 will also be sorted soon, and then I can post the Grand Reveal.

More arrivals, and so on

I've heard from lots of people, and many of the quilts have arrived home with their new owners. They have all been mailed except one, which I know about, and which will be with its owner soon. By my count, 17 are still in transit, which is pretty good out of the nearly 60 we had, considering that many are travelling across at least one ocean, or to another continent in other way. Too bad we had no South African players; we would have hit all the continents (well, except Antarctica, which doesn't really count in the same way).

More when I know it, and when all (or most) of the quilts are safely home, I will do a Grand Reveal, which I know we all look forward to!

Lots of quilts in and out...

Many thanks to all of you who have let me know about quilts being sent and quilts being received. To the best of my knowledge nearly all the quilts are on their way. There is one person I haven't heard from, and another who is delayed for a good reason, but on the whole, it looks good.  Not quite half of them have reached their new homes (that I know of), and I'm sure more will arrive very soon. If you have received your quilt and haven't let me know, please do!  And if you haven't sent a quick email to the person who sent you a quilt, please do that as well so they know you have their work safely in your hands... If you need an email address to do that and one wasn't included with the quilt, let me know and I'll provide one.

Don't forget to mail your quilt!

Lots and lots of quilts are on their way to their new owners now, but there are still some folks I haven't heard from. Please try to post your quilt by Tuesday the 20th, or let me know if you can't do that for whatever reason.  And don't forget to let me know when you receive your new quilties!!

First arrival!

Well, I have heard from the first person that a quiltie has been received - hoorah!  This is the really fun part...  I've heard from just over half of you that your quilts have been posted out - please don't forget to let me know when you have sent yours, and of course, when you receive a new one - I like to keep track of which ones are taking their own sweet time - hopefully there won't be too many of those in this round...

A quick reminder that I'd like everyone to try to post their quilts off by the 20th of November. If you need more time for whatever reason, please let me know.

You've got mail...

Everyone should now have received an email from me with the name and address of the person you should mail your quilt to (except one, but you have an email from me explaining why not). A couple of you have more than one as you made more than one quilt.

If you haven't received this info, please contact me and I can send it again.

Any questions, just ask.  And don't forget to let me know when you mail your quilt and when you receive your quilt...

Nearly there

OK, guys - the sort is pretty much done.   In the end, here's how it worked out, without too many details.

• Most of the quilts had a smaller percentage of the votes than in previous rounds, even the really popular ones - as I mentioned before, I think this is due to the relative numbers of quilts in the swap (more) and preferences submitted (around the same as in previous rounds)
• This meant that a handful of quilts were problematic when I was trying to swap them - either with no votes or with only one or two, but with those votes being from the same person, or from a person whose quilt hadn't been voted for, etc.
• I decided that the best thing to do was to separate these few quilts (there were 8) and contact the makers to see if they wished to keep their own quilts, or to swap among themselves.
• If you were affected by that, you have been contacted already (and I have heard back from all of you except one, who I hope to hear from soon).
• The other players, the majority - 49 out of 57 quilts - I have sorted out for the swap as usual.
• With the remaining 49 quilts, I was able to give everyone something on their preference list, in many cases, in the top tier, but of course, not in all cases.
• If your quilt was one of the dozen or so most popular ones, you have definitely received a quilt in your top tier (or if you gave a ranked list, in the top 3 or 4 on the list). 
• I have a master list for my swaps which tells me which players have received a quilt from which other players for all 7 rounds (not everyone has been in all 7 rounds, of course, but many people have been in 3 or 4) so I have tried not to duplicate who you have received a quilt from - in a few cases I have gone ahead and sent a quilt by an artist you already have one by - especially if the quilt was your first choice pick and it made my life easier in the swap!
• The very most popular quilt was no 51, Red Poppy; other very popular choices were 47 (On the Beach), 28 (Echinacea), 41 (More is Less), 50 (untitled cotton duck with French Knots) and 46 (St Malo Waterfront). [To be honest, I have randomly stopped this list here - as the next most popular quilt only had one vote less than no 46 and so on down to the end.]
• I will soon begin to send emails telling you where to send your quilt to. But this will take a little while, so don't panic if you don't have one for a few days. I'll post again when I have sent all the emails so you can be sure when you should have had an email.
• Don't forget that there may be some people in this swap in the north east of the US, who may be affected by Hurrican Sandy, and may be without power or who may take some time to get to a post office. If I know this is going to be the case, I can let the recipient know. I know of at least one player in this situation; obviously this quilt swap is not necessarily her first concern at the moment.
• A big thank you to everyone for playing and for your patience. And thanks to all the people who have offered to send more choices, or take a quilt not originally on their list, or other helpful things. 

The beginnings of the sort out...

Just an update to say that I have preferences from everyone now, and am beginning to sort out the swap.  This round is going to pose some problems I've not had previously - due, I think, to the size of the swap.  There are a lot of quilts with only a few votes, and far more with only one vote than we've ever had in the past. In fact, even the most popular quilts only have about the same number of votes they've had in the previous rounds, despite many more people voting, so  I do think this is just due to the maths involved - in previous rounds we've had 30-35 quilts and everyone put 10-12 on their lists (on average). This round, people have still put 10-12 on their lists, but there are almost double the number of quilts.   I know this is going to cause a few problems, though I do have some thoughts about how to work around it.  Stay posted - if you are affected I will contact you by email, but just a heads up to say that things might be a little more complicated this time around!

Possibly helpful shortcut

Just to make life a little easier, I have put one photo (the one which shows the full front) of each quilt into a flickr set http://www.flickr.com/photos/katelnorth/sets/72157631740315796/with/8074994839/.  If you want to see detail, and read about the quilts, etc, you will still have to browse here on the website, but I thought it might be a little easier to narrow down your preferences if you could look at them all more or less at the same time...

So what next?

Well, that's all the quilts I've had photos of - there are a lot of them this time around, and many of them are just wonderful. I'm sure you'll all have a hard time deciding on your preferences.  So, here's what you do next...

 If you have made a quilt for this round, you will need to assemble a list of preferences for the quilts you would like to give a home to. There are 57 quilts in this round; I would hope everyone would be able to put 10-15 quilts on their list. I hope to be able to find a home for all the quilts and to give everyone something they would like to receive. (If you made two quilts, you don't need to send separate lists, you will just get two from your list...)

If you feel very strongly about the order of quilts on your list, you are welcome to number them 1, 2, 3, etc, but as it's easier for me if you are less specific, feel free to simply send a list in no particular order, or to do what many did last time and do a 2 tier or 3 tier system - e.g. several absolute favourites, followed by other ones you like a lot, etc.

Today is the 10th of October (just) and we break up for our half term holiday on the 26th, so I'm going to give you just over 2 weeks to get a preference list back to me. You will probably all get to it sooner than that, but it's very busy here at the moment, so I probably won't sort them out until half-term anyway.

When you send your preferences list, please include not only your preferences for a quilt to receive (of course!) but also your full mailing address including your name and surname. I know I have this already for some of you, but it's easier for me if you all just send it again, then I don't have to go hunting. If you can put ALQS7 preferences in the title of your email, again, that makes it easier for me.

Have fun choosing!

Quilt no 57

untitled

Wonky HSTs in Kona coal and Tonga batik, quilted in variegated metallic thread from Gutermann (the metallic thread didn't photograph very well)

Quilt no 56

untitled

In this piece, I was trying out Modern Quilting style from Elizabeth Hartman's blog

Quilt no 55

Batik Drunkards Go Round

I have been meaning to spend more time with applique and thought that this challenge would be the perfect time to work on it.  I had planned to make the drunkard path blocks out of full circles, top stitch the circle then cut them down to quarters but instead I got daring and using freezer paper, an iron, and a little glue stick I was able to sew the circle seams like a dream!  Very impressed with how well this little quilt came together.  There are 17 different batik fabrics in this little quilt.  I finished this quilt with free motion quilting, binding and hanging sleeve. 

Quilt no 54

untitled

Having recently discovered "inches" I decided I wanted to do something with these tiny squares.  So after making the inches themselves, I attached them to hand dyed background fabric and made it into the quilt. I have used a variety of hand dyed and batik fabrics along with many scraps of shiny, lacy and other fabrics.  A few of the inches I have embellished with beads and other found objects in my sewing room.  The photo has dulled the vibrancy of the quilt and the binding is quite a hot pink colour.

Quilt no 53

untitled

The red is a lush packed roses print. The off-white used for the star points is a white with silver fairy frost. There are silver metallic trees in the center of the star, silver metallic snowflakes in the blue background fabric and silver metallic swirls and dots on the blue backing fabric.   Machine pieced and machine quilted. 

Quilt no 52

Solar Radiation

100% cotton. It measures 30 cm x 30 cm. Techniques used - Paper Piecing and Application thermoadhesive. Quilting and embroidery handmade cotton embroidery thread.I used beads for the sun reflecting off the water and planets space.

Quilt no 51

Red Poppy

The quilt "Red Poppy" is done like "Modern Mola". I have first sewn together several layers of fabric and then cut differently. Then embroidered by machine and hand. 

(nb: I made a small mistake on this quilt in that the tunnel on the back is not in the middle of the quilt - I hope someone will like it anyway!)

Quilt no 50

untitled

Quilted cotton duck background. Tyvek and scrim embellishment with French knots. Mounted on box canvas and coloured with acrylic paints.

more to come...

I have at least 8 more to come - so don't go away. Tonight, though, I'm tired and want to go to bed!

Quilt no 49

Tumbling

Tumbling was made in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness.  Think Pink campaigns are everywhere (in the USA) and I hope to encourage everyone to have annual mammograms as well as to do monthly self-breast exams.  Early detection (gulp) leads to a tumbling of emotions but also has a higher cure rate!  This piece that I am swapping in our Another Little Quilt Swap trade began as a design exercise (inspired by directions given in Color and Composition for the Creative Quilter by Katie Pasquini Masopust), borders helped it grow to the 12" x 12" size, fun quilting (very geometric and linear in the background, funky and twisty in the tumbling blocks) with additional twisting and turning embellishment stitched on top) and a slip-cover pocket on the back which converts it easily into a pillow.   I will include the custom-made pillow that fits neatly inside to the lucky person who "wins" Tumbling in our ALQS#7.

Quilt no 48

Let it Rain

it’s paper pieced, hand quilted, with beads as rain drops.

Quilt no 47

On the Beach

My quilt is called "On the Beach", it was inspired by the many visits we used to make with our dog to beaches in Essex. The techniques used are those demonstrated by Sally Holman, where she combines nautical fabrics and hand dyed ones and manipulates them create her scenes. I have attended several of her workshops and love to create scenes of my own by manipulating the fabric and adding hand embroidery to add texture and interest.

Quilt no 46

St Malo Waterfront

Material: hand-dyed cotton

Technique: fused, machine quilted.

Quilt no 45

Tulips

If you've ever wanted a wall hanging that fairly screams "spring" then this is the quilt for you! Luscious pink flowers with brilliant green leaves on a cheerful aqua background. Border is in blue and green tones with touches of purple. Bright teal binding matches back. Paper pieced and hand appliqued batiks, quilted in the ditch. I will also personalize the label for you.

Quilt no 44

Clematis

My quilt 'clematis' is based on a painting I did in 2004 of a clematis growing in our garden. I used 100 % cotton throughout including the wadding. The petals and leaves are appliquéd to the background using chain and buttonhole stitch and the stem is created using Portuguese knotted stem stitch. Beads are used for the stamens.

Quilt no 43

Hurricane Season

This piece is called Hurricane Season, inspired by current weather events in the Atlantic Ocean.  My method is applique and fabrics are all batiks, colours of dark gray for storm clouds, green and gold for land, and the lighter blue for wind and sea.  I've added some outline quilting as well as some hand-quilting to the center pinwheel.  There are two  little pinwheels on the back, as well as two small pockets if one wanted to hang it with a dowel.

Quilt no 42

Marigold Seedheads

Technique: Hand drawn seedheads which I free-machined with whip stitch on space dyed cotton.  Cotton/polyester wadding and cotton backing.  Hand quilted with space dyed thread and bound with machine made cords.  Two ring hanging on rear of  quilt.

Quilt no 41

More is Less

Felt as wadding (batting) covered in scraps of procyon-dyed silk & cotton organzas sewn with various embroidery stitches with variegated coloured threads.  The quilt is then embellished all over with embroidery, buttons, etc.  The backing is a second square of felt covered with a piece of cotton, then the layers are quilted from the back through the cotton backing, the second layer of felt and partway through the first layer of felt so the quilting stitches do not show on the front.

(back of quilt)

Quilt no 40

Roses are Red

Made with  left over fabric scraps, and free motion stitched.

Don't panic - and thanks for your patience!

Just to say that yes, I do have quite a decent sized handful of quilt photos in which I haven't posted to the site yet. Soon, I hope. It's been a busy week & weekend...

edited to say: And of course, you still have until the 8th to get your photos to me if you haven't yet done so!

Quilt no 39

Love Lives Here (El Amor Vive Aqui)

I used a mix of fabrics, and the principal technique is Paper piecing with a little bit of log cabin. Hand quilted.