First of all, thanks to all the TQS members who want to participate and have offered their help with extra special thanks to Clara Lawrence, Margo, Mary Kay and the TQS staff, who are helping in every aspect of this effort. In fact, Clara said she’ll drive to Houston from Austin to help sort and mail and a few other members who live in Houston said they’d help too.
Here are a few guidelines for our
Sisterhood of the Traveling Triangles Exchange. These are called guidelines because we don’t want to have stringent, set in concrete RULES. Most of us have enough experience and common sense to know what will work and what won’t. And all you guys out there who want to participate, it is definitely open to the
Brotherhood too...it was just a cool name, so I went with it.
So here we go…
Sign Up Now
Even though you said you wanted to participate in the Batik post, please reply again on this post. There were a lot of people who said they might want to join, but weren’t sure. This way we’ll know for sure that ‘you’re in’.
If you want to join, please try to let us know by next Wednesday, January 26.
It would be fun if you’d include your city/state/country when you post a reply. And, if you’re comfortable with it, please include your first name too. If you need us to send the Half-Square Triangles (now to be referred to as HTS’s) papers, you can include that here and we’ll contact you directly about that. And, if you know how many you plan to send, tell us that also. The more information we have, the better we will be able to gauge what to expect.
When and Where
Since we have participating members from all over the world, we need to allow enough time for postal services. Our deadline for sending your HST’s will be April 1st. However, if we find that postal services are slower than expected, we will be flexible when it comes to distributing the HST’s.
I will be securing a P. O. Box number within the next couple of days and I’ll provide that as soon as I know it.
HST Papers
To ensure that everyone’s receives the correctly sized HST’s, we do ask that you use HST papers, whether you use Edyta’s, some you can purchase near you or some already. They must be 2” finished.
They can be purchased thru Edyta’s on-line shop at
http://www.LaundryBasketQuilts.com. They are $10.95 for 25 sheets that will each yield 28 HST’s. The entire package will make 700. They are called 2” Triangle Exchange Paper and the item number is LBQ-0222.
Both Clara (ClaraLawrence) and I have already ordered several packages from Laundry Basket and either one of use can send them to you.
How Many??
That will be up to you. The more you send the more you will get back. If you send 28, you get 28 back. If you send 84, you get 84 back. We only ask that you send a minimum of 28 since that’s what one sheet will make. From there on, they need to be in increments of 28, i.e., 28 (1 sheet), 56 (2 sheets), 84 (3 sheets), 112 (4 sheets), etc., etc., etc. However, if you do send in hundreds, there is the possibility that you’ll receive some of your own back because we’re not sure how many people will send that many in.
Fabrics
Batiks, prints or both…anything is acceptable. Just be sure to use quilt shop quality fabrics. And yes, you can mix a batik with a print as long as it’s one light and one medium/dark fabric. Have fun picking out the fabrics!
To Wash or Not to Wash
No rules here…do what you think is necessary with the fabrics you are using. If they are really dark, intense colors, test them to see if they might bleed. Batiks shouldn’t run because they have been rinsed many times in the processing, but I have had some than ran.
Sewing and Pressing
Using the HST papers makes sewing a snap. They are perfectly accurate if you follow the lines carefully and press carefully. You can turn out many HST’s in no time at all. Press your fabrics right sides together (light fabric on top) on the paper before you start sewing and make sure there are no wrinkles. Remember to use a finer thread (Edyta recommends Aurifil 50 wt.) so your seams aren’t bulky. Edyta also recommended shortening your stitch length a little so the paper will tear off easily.
After sewing, cut the squares apart on the solid lines, leave the paper on and press carefully, but be sure to leave it folded. This will also help keep them from wrinkling during transport. Now they’re ready to mail.
Preparing for Mailing
Depending on how many you send, you might want to put same/similar color HST’s in small sandwich bags. That way, when we start to sort them out, we can make sure that everyone gets at least one of each of the colors. Then put them into a larger plastic zipper bag (quart or gallon Ziploc-type) to protect them in the mail. IMPORTANT: please try to use a bag you can write on (or tape a note to the bag) with your name and the number of HST’s you are sending. This is important because we will use that specific bag for your return HST’s when we are sorting them. Please do not write directly on the clear plastic bag…that happened in my last exchange and those bags were very hard to read especially when they got wrinkled.
Mailing
Please use a very sturdy envelope. You will also need to include a stamped, self-addressed envelope for returning to you. 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.
I would appreciate it if you would send me an email or post a reply on the Forum to let me know what you have mailed your package (and how many HST's you sent) so I can be on the look out for it and then I'll let you know when I receive it. As mentioned earlier, we would like to receive all the packages on or before April 1st. If we know you've sent them and they haven't arrive by that date, we'll hold off on sorting until we receive them all.
Where to Mail
I’ll let you know the information on the P.O. Box number as soon as I get it set up. I expect to have that by this weekend or early next week.
When Will You Get Them Back
Hopefully we can get them sent back to you by mid-to-late April, depending on when we get them all in and how many there are to sort out. We'll be sure to keep you informed on the progress.
Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
We want this to be as FUN and EASY as possible. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask and if you have any suggestions or concerns, please let us know.
I'm headed for my stash NOW!! 
