Sorted!

Well, it's done. I got the last set of preferences in this morning (Sunday - it's gone midnight here, though, so this will post as Monday!) and have now gone through and allocated quilts to all the players. I had done some preliminary playing about earlier in the week, leaving gaps for the last few sets of preferences, and once those were in I juggled things about a bit to come up with two options (slightly different, but not substantially so). I then did the whole allocation from scratch again and came up with a third, interestingly (to me, anyway) very similar to the first option!

[In case anyone wonders, I do it with a spreadsheet and start from the restrictions: quilts which appear on the fewest lists, people who send the fewest choices, any quilts with mailing restrictions - something I've not had before (though I always watch for things like plant material used in art quilts, can't be received in Australia from overseas), but which this time, I had to factor in - one quilt which couldn't be folded and therefore, couldn't really travel internationally without likelihood of damage - luckily, I found a nearby home for it! Once I've made the most restricted allocations, I work outwards towards the most popular quilts, which usually end up being allocated last because they are the easiest to home! Then, after I've done an allocation, I go back through all your emails about preferences and make sure the quilts I've assigned you are actually on your list - i.e. that I haven't made a mistake transferring your info into my spreadsheet in the first place...]

Anyway. Enough of that. I'm happy to say that all the quilts appeared on preference lists - and many of them on lots of lists - and that I was able to send many quilts to places where they were near the top of the preference list - either in the top tier, or ranked fairly high on a ranked list. No one will receive a quilt not on the list they sent me and no one will have their own quilt back. And I was even able to let myself have my favourite quilt (the perks of being a hostess!) - I had a good dozen or so on my list that I would be delighted to give a good home to, mind you, but one in particular really tickled my fancy this time around. Of course, I have another advantage as hostess, which is that I know who made each quilt, so I didn't even put on my list some quilts I really liked, if I already have a quilt by that person - thought I'd share the wealth a bit! I am lucky enough already to have quilts made by Julie W in California, Lynda in the UK and Vreni in Singapore, among many other wonderful pieces I have received in swaps.

In case you wonder (as I always do) the quilts which appeared on most lists were:

1. no 6, Nikaus (on 25 lists)
2. no 22, untitled (falling leaves) (24 lists)
3. no 26, forursula (24 lists)
4. no 15, Ever Decreasing Circles (20 lists)
5. no 29, untitled (batik with hearts) (19 lists)

But don't worry if your piece isn't on that list - many others were very popular and all were lovely in their own way.

It's rather late here now, and as tomorrow is my daughter's birthday (12) and I am taking her and a friend up to town (by which I mean London) for the day - we have a half-term holiday this week, conveniently - I probably should get some sleep. I may or may not get your partners emailed to you tomorrow and Tuesday we are driving up to my mother-in-law's house for the day, so I may not get them done then either. However, rest assured I will get to them all by the end of the week.

If you don't think you have sent me your address (some of you I will have from previous swaps) or if you have swapped before but have moved since - I know that's true in at least one case - please email me your postal address so I can send out your partner emails as soon as I have a chance. Details about mailing and so forth will be included in the email I will send with your partner's name.

Many thanks again for joining this swap - I really do enjoy running them and am glad that enough people always want to play to make it such an interesting swap with so much variety and choice!