I received my hst's yesterday and was thrilled. I was in the middle of embroidering t-shirts for some of the grandkids, so while the machine did it's magic I was able to go through the hsts. They are wonderful. It is such fun to see where they came from and to recognize the names from the posts. I have not pressed them open yet, but peeked at them. I want to decide what to do about the papers and keeping track of what came from who. Rosemary, I was happy to see one of yours. Dawn, I had a couple of yours too. This is just so fun. Thank you Clara and Debbie. We love you.

i hate to say something negative but my worst errand is when I have to go to the post office. My PO personnel have the worst attitudes. They have no desire to be helpful and are very surley. They fit the stereotypic image of the angry postal worker. I wonder what the culture is like at the POs, it seems this attitude is very prevalent. I work in an industry that has a rep for poor labor relations too so I recognize it when I see it. Anyway I find mail in the mud too. But anyway Debbie I get it now that the HSTs were hard to handle and all the extra miles you went through above and beyond the call of duty was evident to me in a new light last night when sorting thru my precious stash. The squares were stiffer when I made them but going through many steps and rough rides to your house and the sorting place, they became softer and harder to handle quickly. Props to you all, it was an amazing feat! I'm overwhelmed at your rising to this tremendous challenge.

I realized that I have not written bio yet, so here are few words:
My name is Satu, and I live in southern Finland. I lived all my childhood up in the north, so sometimes I miss landscapes and fresh air of Lapland. I live with my husband and two children. My daughter is 8 years and my son 6 years. I have been at home with kids and have been teaching some crafts (quilting among them) in the evenings, and been quite happy with the situation. My son starts preschool next autumn, so changes are on their way. I have degree on handcrafts, my main studies were textile design and weaving. I think it was about 1995 when I started quilt making. Maybe first quilt was before that. I made it of old bead sheets I dyed. I learnt quilting from Finnish translation of Quilts!Quilts!!Quilts!!! by Diana McClun and Laura Nownes. There were not many quiltshops here, (or internet) when I started quilting, so I had to use what was available. I did not know much about battings at that time, so I went to regular fabric shop to ask for cotton batting, because I read that it is better than polyester. Shop owner rolled her eyes and laughed at me: No no girl, there is not such thing as cotton batting, here is polyester for you. So I learned to use polyester batting and got so used to it, that I have just recently tried cotton, although quilting shops are now here and have different battings. I am a big fan of Jinny Beyer and have made couple of quilts following her guidelines on design and colour. I also admire Alex Anderson, because she is great teacher. I have only had opportunity to see her via web, but she explains everything so clearly. (And I am leftie too!) I love to try out different techniques, so TQS has been wonderful resource. I am multi-crafter: Besides quilting, I make jewelry (beading mostly), I knit, and I sew bags and sometimes clothing. Right now I am sewing summer dress for my daughter.

sugarmuffin57 wrote:

It's scary that your mail is winding up in the street! Is it delivered to a cluster mailbox or directly to your home?

The Tyvek envelopes are Priority Envelopes, not Express, and the postage is based on the weight & the zip they're going to, so they do cost more than the Flat Rate envelopes. Unfortunately the flat rate envelopes are cardboard and not as flexible and don't hold nearly as many as the Tyvek's do. For mailing 400-700, the Tyveks work best. It's a challenge to even get 400 or so into the cardboard Flat Rates Envelope without a chance of tearing or splitting. I did just discover when I took the first batch to mail this week, that there is a 'legal' size flat rate which will hold more than the 'letter' size...they just don't seem to have any of those out at the P.O. when you go to pick one up. One small flat rate is $4.95 and the larger Tyvek's were running around $9.50. Sometimes the flat rates are a bargain and sometimes not.

You know, I got tyvek envelopes intending to use them but when they came they said "express" which is expensive right? Do they have tyvek ones that are not express?
Thanks Deb for the extra effort with the tape. Can't believe that she had tire marks on hers. I had a postal worker drop some of my mail on my street and not notice. That is where I found it. It is a wonder we get any of our mail.

It's interesting to hear how 'beat up' the packages were...maybe they got caught in a stampede somewhere along the way while still in Texas .

I did receive a lot of 'beat up' envelopes when they originally came in. I wasn't worried about the Tyvek envelopes tearing, but I am worried about the flat rate cardboard envelopes tearing at the edges. I've been reinforcing those envelopes, and a few other types, with tape along the edges before mailing them, especially the ones that had been folded in the original mailing. That fold looked a little ominous and I worried that might have be a weak point and cause it to tear.

As I received the packages, I made a one-gallon Ziplock bag for each person, with name & count, with the intent of using them for sorting and then sending them back in that Ziplock to protect them for tears and dampness. However, on sorting day, before I knew it, the HST's had all been taken out of those Ziplocks and the Ziplocks tossed & unretrievable. So much for that plan ! And hopefully other than needing pressing and a few thread nips here & there, none will be much the worse for wear. A little spray starch will work wonders too.

There were a lot of loose threads because they had all been handled so much (and so lovingly), and some with loose threads were on those that had been 'fumigated for cigarette smoke' by spraying with Febreze, and when that didn't help, tossed in the dryer on air with fabric sheets. I pressed a batch of them and DebbieK took a batch home with her to press. Once all was said and done, I don't think anyone could pick those out from the rest.

My came today too and the envelope was so beat up - it even had tire marks on it and one corner torn off. But nothing an iron won't fix and trimming thousands of loose threads. They're so beautiful with so many combinations. Carole Moeller I was delighted to get many of your beautiful ones and I don't think any duplicates! Did you do 600+ individual combos? Got enough international goodies to be happy. I was worried that the postage would be so expensive you all wouldn't send many, so I was delighted to get as many international babies as I got. Well thank you magic sorters. Just trying to handle my little guys gave me a new appreciation on how handling these were more difficult than I imagined in such large numbers to cull out individual ones.

Yippee I got my HST package today. OMG ....it was absolutely wonderful coming home this evening and going through and looking at all of the different fabric. Don't tell anyone but my DH was curious enough, that he even helped sort through them checking out where they came from.. He's pretty impressed how all quilters become friends, near and far...
A huge thank you to everyone who helped sort and hats off to Debbie and Clara for organizing this exchange. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU !!!!!!!!

Looking forward to seeing some pictures of finished products.

MarerialGal

charlottegaile wrote: Thank you so much for sharing that, Charlotte. Here I am at almost midnight, trying to catch up on the posts from the past two-three days and can hardly type, your hubby is hilarious, what a dry sense of humour! -- reading yours, I just laughed out loud , you know---LOL - for real - I hope I don't wake up DH. He gave up on me coming to bed about an hour and a half ago! Don't know if we'll see much of each other once my HSTs arrive - This is so much fun!

pegjo wrote:
Ditto, here! My poor little HSTs looked like they had a party inside my probably too large envelope. So, I've spent some time snipping off threads and pressing them. There are some really great fabrics in there! Thank you all! I've only had a chance to go through about 1/5 of the bag. Tomorrow will be exciting, as I can spend a couple of hours with them!!

Thanks, again Debbie and Clara! You girls rock!

Dawn
In beautiful Northwest Montana

Hooray!! Hooray!! My HST's arrived today My envelope was really beat up and looked like it had been through one of the recent tornados but all the HST's were safe inside. My daughter and I had lots of fun going thru them all to see where they were from - my son even joined us for a while. They both declined to help press them open though - lol I'll start that in a day or two but the ones I peeked at were so pretty. Thanks so much, Debbie, Clara and all the sorters for all your work to make this exchange happen.

sforster395 wrote:
I hope to get a few minutes this evening to look at your quilts in your profile. Thanks for the imput on my signature.
Maryjo

jamonty wrote:
It's so wonderful to hear everyone's excitement upon receiving them. For those of you who are still waiting, I took another 70+ to the P.O. today. I'll do that again tomorrow, the next day and the next, etc. until all 300 are on there way home to you!

Enjoy and don't forget to post your pictures as your project's start to take shape!

I received my package today. A BIG thank you to all involved. My husband just shook his head when I screeched (in delight) at the sight of the HST package in the mail. Luckily he had a business dinner so I could drool over all the wonderful fabric and not worry about fixing dinner. After grilled cheese sandwiches my daughter helped look at them and really got into it too. I have a feeling I better put these under lock and key so I don't find any missing.