Ok--so here is where we stand right now. We have 32 people ready to get started. Our rules are going to be much the same as the large group exchange. I am going to have a
deadline date of February 7, 2011 for everyone who is interested to sign up.
Sign up now:
deadline is February 7th
If you have already let me know you are interested I will have an email with your email address and you are good to go.
When HST's are due at my house:
March 15th
To get my address:
Send me your e-mail address and I will send you my snail mail address.
HST Papers:
You can order them from
http://www.LaundryBasketQuilts.com
or you can use what you can find around your area. Two important things:
1) they must give a half-square triangle square that measures 2 1/2" so when it is put in a quilt it will finish to 2".
2) we want you to use HST papers because of the accuracy.
Fabrics for this exchange:
Batiks with a light on one side and a darker on the other side. The darker fabric can be dark or medium value as long as there is good contrast between the two. I have said in the past that because of the difficulty in finding cream colored batiks that you can use a tone on tone cream, white or beige fabric. I am going to change that (hope nobody out there wants to kill me) lets use a light batik and a dark--keeping in mind--high contrast.
Sewing and Pressing:
Please sew carefully so when your squares are pressed they will not have bows in the seam line. Use a light weight thread-I will be using Bottom Line by Superior threads. Decrease the length of your stitch so the papers will tear off easily when the time comes. Make sure that you fabric is pressed well with no wrinkles (wrinkles change the size of the finished block). If you layer your fabric with the light fabric on top and then put the HST sheet on top of the light fabric, when it comes time to press (leaving the paper on) you will be pressing to the dark side.
After sewing, cut the squares apart on the solid lines, leave it folded with the paper on and press carefully while it is still folded. No need to worry about pressing seams open because it remains folded.
PLEASE DO NOT TEAR THE PAPER OFF AFTER PRESSING. This will help keep them from wrinkling during transport.
Preparation for Mailing:
We would like you to write your first name and what state(please put the whole name not the abbreviation for those who are not from USA) and country you are from on the HST paper. We want to have fun and know how far our squares have traveled. Since we are a small group you may not want to make 700 HSTs. You will get a lot of yours back unless we all do 700. For each combination of light and dark (if you are using Edyta's papers--each sheet will yield 28) I would like it if you put it in its own sandwich bag if you do 56 of the same color combination then they can all go in the same bag. Use a sandwich bag that has a place to write on and write your name, your screen name and how many are in the bag. If you can't find that kind of sandwich bag please use a label with the information written on it. This will be the bag(or bags) I will put your new HSTs in to send back to you.
IMPORTANT REQUEST
Please put TQS screen name on the outside of the envelope used to send your squares, on your Zip-Lock baggies, and on your return envelope. This will help me stay organized.
Mailing:
Please use a very sturdy envelope. You will also need to include a stamped, self-addressed envelope for returning your new HST's. 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.
If there are any questions--that I have not answered here--just email me and I will answer. Thank you for play with me--ritzy 
))
