Round 6 Grand Reveal

OK, it's time - past time - to do the grand reveal and show who made which quilt and who received it in the end.  So, we'll start with Quilt no 1, which was made by Barbara and sent to Francine.

Francine made this tennis themed quilt (no 9), which went to live with Sandra, who made this

interesting multi-textured piece (no 3), which ended up in California with Julie.

Julie's quilt (no 11), which only didn't make my list because I already own a quilt made by Julie, went off to live with Jay, who made this piece, (no 4):

Jay's quilt (no 4) ended up in Arkansas with Ramona, who is one of the people who has been in all of the ALQS swaps - there are a few. But I can always count on her to produce an interesting piece and well within the deadline. This round, she made this quilt below (no 7)

which went to live with Vero, in Chile. Vero has also been in many rounds of the ALQS, if not quite all of them, and although I am always slightly nervous while quilts are travelling to and from Chile, we've never lost one in either direction. Touch wood!

Vero's quilt this time (no 34) went to Linda in DC

And Linda's superstitious quilt (no 16) went to Michelle.

Michell's quilt (no 13) was the one that caused me quite a bit of agony by taking a long time to reach its new home in Australia, with Melody.

Melody's lovely abstract tree (no 22) went to Anne in Norway. Anne is lucky, because Melody's quilt was one of the most requested pieces in the swap, and it's easy to see why.

Anne's own piece (no 23) went to live with Catherine, while the piece which Catherine made (no 24, below)

ended up wending its way to Lynda in the UK.  Lynda's quilt (no 26), also one of the most requested pieces, is the one piece which still isn't with its own, because it is travelling to various shows and being photographed for Lynda's new book. Such is the price of fame!

However, Margaret, to whom it is eventually headed, is happy to receive it, even if it means a wait. And speaking as an owner of some of Lynda's work, it's definitely worth the wait. I have a trio of pieces on my stairwell which Lynda made for me in another ALQS swap, and they still bring me great pleasure every day.

Margaret's quilt (no 15), which was another I considered allocating to myself (to be honest, there were loads of them I liked this time around), went to Germany to live with Nicole,

and Nicole's colourful flower (no 17) went off to Texas to hang with Cathy.

Cathy's piece (no 35) which I like a lot, and which is one of those pieces which, given the colouring, almost certainly looks a lot better in person (what is it with photographing purples, anyway?), went to Marie.

Marie's quilt (no 33, above) is the baby sister of another quilt she made for herself, and went off to Susan in Florida.

Susan's Lone Star (no 8) travelled off to Ann's place,

while Ann's Mariner's Compass (no 19) went to Misha.

The quilt that Misha made (no 18) - don't you love the wavy border fabric and wavy quilt edges, to go with the curved piecing? - ended up with Mary,

And Mary's 3D flowers (no 5) went to Kerstin in Germany.

Kerstin's redwork piece (no 25) came to the UK to live with Pam,

while Pam's piece (no 12), which also features stitchery, went to Barbara in Northern Ireland. And that completes that ring of quilts.

Some times there are lots of small loops - this time it all goes in two loops, one larger and one smaller. Not that it matters, but it's funny sometimes how it works out!

And so, on to Loop 2...

Penny's quilt (no 2) left sunny Australia to go live with Maya in the Netherlands,

while Maya's fun portrait (no 32) went to live with Diana.

Di's quirky Runaway Chairs (no 21) came to live with me (hurrah!) and is very happily residing right near another ALQS quilt, so it's not lonely...

My quilt (no 27) went off to Alaska to Natalie - hopefully the brightness will help dispell some of the winter dark out there!

Natalie's own Gee's Bend-inspired quilt (no 30) went to live with Sheila

while Sheila's piece (no 28) went to live with Kjersti in Norway.

Kjersti's piece (no 29) went to Shawn

and Shawn's newts (no 20) went to Singapore to live with Vreni.

Vreni's colourful quilt (no 10) was another that didn't go on my own list, despite my liking it, because I was lucky enough to get a piece made by her last time around. Instead, this quilt went to Sharne

and Sharne's piece (no 14), which I liked almost as much as my Runaway Chairs, went to Jan in New Zealand.

Remarkably enough, Jan's quilt (which was another popular choice - no 6) stayed in New Zealand - very unlikely, since the vast majority of the players are not from New Zealand - and travelled to Glenys, which brings us to the end of the second loop, as Glenys's quilt made a short (well, shorter than to the US or Europe) hope across to Penny in Australia, where we started loop 2...

And that's that.  I hope you'll all consider joining me the next time around, which will definitely be in 2012, but not for a few months as I like to have a little rest between swaps...

Happy New Year to you all!

Good news

OK, so I still haven't got around to doing a grand reveal - maybe tonight or tomorrow - but the good news is, the one quilt which was wandering about potentially lost in transit is NOT lost and did make it to its new owner yesterday. Which means that all quilts are home (except the one, famous, travelling quilt - but we know where that is and what's happening to it, so there's no panic involved).

Happy New Year!

Grand Reveal ... coming soon

I know you are all (well, maybe not right at the moment as I'm sure everyone is very busy!) eagerly awaiting the post which will show who made what, and who received it, and I am hoping to get to that over the Christmas holiday. We have, unfortunately, one quilt which doesn't seem to have made it to its new owner safely, but she has encouraged me to go ahead with the Grand Reveal anyway. I'm hoping it's just very slow - we've had slow ones before - but there's a chance it's gone walkies. Sigh.

One other is travelling out and about to a variety of shows and being photographed for a book and what not before eventually making its way to its new home, but the recipient of that quilt knows all about it, so a Grand Reveal won't spoil any surprises there.

Anyway, many thanks again to those who took part and made this swap successful, and especially thanks for the effort almost all of you have made to keep me in touch with what's happening!

Nearly there now!

Only 3 or maybe four quilts not yet received - two were actually mailed within the past week or so, so I'm not worried about them. One I think may have been received and I just haven't heard about it, and the other is going off to a show before going to live with its new owner, who has been tolerant and patient (she'll be rewarded though as her quilt is fabulous!). Almost all safely home, which means I'll soon be able to breathe again. Most of the ones travelling long distances have made it, which really takes a load off my mind! As soon as they are all home (except perhaps the one being shown), I will put together a showing so you can all see who got what, and of course, who made what!

Another quick update

updated Monday, 20 November.

• 33 quilts mailed
• 2 people not mailed (but they've told me)

Quilts received by:

1. Misha
2. Cathy
3. Vero
4. Maya
5. Pam
6. Ramona
7. Francine
8. Jay
9. Anne Kari
10. Lynda
11. Nicole
12. Susan
13. Ann
14. Mary
15. Kerstin
16. Barbara
17. Kate (me)
18. Kjersti
19. Sharne
20. Jan
21. Glenys
22. Penny
23. Sandra
24. Catherine
25. Shawn
26. Linda
27. Natalie

Quilt mail update

Hello everyone! An update on quilt mailings:

There were 35 quilts in the swap this time around. So far

• 28 quilts have been mailed (that I have been told about)
• 3 people have not yet mailed because either they are away or for another reason, but they have told me about it (if you are due to receive one of these quilts, I have probably emailed you to let you know not to worry)
• which leaves 4 people who I haven't heard from that their quilts have been mailed (or will be delayed) - if you think you are one of these four people, can you please let me know what's up!

Of the quilts mailed, I have so far heard that 18 have reached their new homes: Pam, Ramona, Francine, Jay, Anne Kari, Lynda, Nicole, Susan, Ann, Mary, Kerstin, Barbara, me, Kjersti, Sharne, Jan, Glenys and Penny. If you aren't on that list, but have received your quilt, can you please let me know!

May I take this opportunity to remind everyone again to please contact the maker of your quilt to say a quick thank you. If you need contact info for the maker of your quilt, please let me know.

In general, people in this swap are very good about keeping me posted, which makes my task much simpler. Thanks!

Quilts mailed?

I've now heard from quite a few of you that your quilts have been mailed off to their new homes, which is great. A few of you have also let me know about the quilts not being mailed yet for various reasons, and that's great, too.

If you have mailed your quilt off to your partner and not let me know, could you please drop me an email to let me know when it was sent?

And if you haven't yet mailed (and haven't communicated as to why not) can you please do so as soon as possible and let me know?

Some quilts have actually reached their owners already (including mine, which arrived today, yippee! - I am just off to drop an email to the maker in a moment), which is also great!

Mailing info

I have now begun to send out mailing info for your quilts. It's a fairly long email, which contains general instructions about what I'd like you to do in terms of the swap and some advice about mailing, particularly international mailing, in general. It's essentially the same letter to everyone, so please just ignore the parts that don't relate to your particular case.

I'm going to do as many as I can tonight, but in some instances I don't have mailing addresses and I may not get through them all anyway - it's not the most exciting task in the world - mostly cutting and pasting... Anyway, if you don't get your instructions tonight, don't worry, I'll finish later in the week.

If you still haven't had an email from me by Friday (subject should read "ALQS6 mailing info"), please let me know and I'll try again.

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!

Preference List Update

Just a note to say I've had preference lists back from all but 9 people - if I have had your list, I have tried to email you back - so if you haven't had a confirmation from me, you may need to send your list again. Those of you who haven't had time to make your choices yet, no problem, but by the end of this week would be great...

I am pleased to say that all quilts have been put on a preference list at least once so far (and actually, my spreadsheet still needs a few more additions to catch up to my email). It's always surprising to me how well the distribution works out, given how different some of the quilts are. Why it should surprise me, I don't know, because each piece is lovely in its own way, and someone is bound to want to own it!