jean082 wrote:
Yes! Please stay! We are quilters! When life gives you lemons, make lemonade! Personally, once I saw the condition some of my HSTs were in, I had to do some serious thinking. I had carfully placed all of mine in their large baggie, then put it into it's Tyvek mailer. Keeping it flat, I took it to the PO. PO person wighed it, put the stamps on it, then picked it up by one corner, and the weighty bulk of the HSTs all slid to one end . I knew they were in trouble right from the start. I know what they looked like when they left my house, but I do not know what they looked like by the time Debbie received them! And, then there was the trip back home (not to mention the major sorting event) that added more wear and tear to them. So, I've done some ironing (not opening yet) and some trimming of many threads, and now they are the perfect little gems they started out to be. Thank you sisters from all over the world for these little gems that each and everyone of you made! I will treasure them all!

And, again Debbie and Clara, a great big hug and thank you! I know this has almost been a part time job for the past 2 or 3 months! Little did you know what was to come!

Dawn
In beautiful Northwest Montana

jean082 wrote:

Of course you can stay!! I hope you especially enjoy all your International HSTs!! (I only got 4!)

jean082 wrote:

Barbara,

OK, we get it....you're not happy!!! But, for the life of me, I can't understand why you'd take the time to sort them into stacks of 28 to press them with a book!!! All you have to do is get out your iron, put it on cotton setting, no steam, press them OPEN and they are nice and FLAT!!!

Miss Barbara, I cried when I opened my bag of triangles too, and they were tears of happiness. To me, these triangles are friendship made manifest. 10 weeks ago, we saw an inspiring episode of the Quilt Show with Edyta Sitar and wanted to participate in such an exchange. Some lovely people volunteered to coordinate, and it grew to a size that no one could have imagined at first. What I got out of the exchange was more than HST's, it was an increased depth of belonging to this wonderful community. I truly hope that you look at your HST's and see the women and men who did their best to make blocks to give away to each other. I thank Edyta for showing us what we could do, and Debbie and Clara and all their helpers for pulling it off! (And Ricky and Alex for giving us a place to do it) (And Margo for cheerleading)
Kathy

I received my HSTs a couple of days ago and I am absolutely thrilled. Sure, some weren't labelled, a couple were pressed open, so what? Each and every person who contributed to this effort did so in friendship and I am grateful for that.
I haven't looked at all of them but it has been so exciting to see where they have come from. I now have to figure out a good way to save all of the paper that I remove so I can have a record of who has contributed to my quilt (when it's done). One thought I had was to try to arrange the paper triangles on the bed of my printer and copy them onto fabric and incorporate that into my backing. Since I don't really know what kind of a quilt I'll make, I don't have to solve that problem yet.
A big shout-out to all of you who did the sorting. This turned out to be bigger than anyone expected and I know that I would have had no clue how to organize it all. Thanks for all the hard work.

I read all your comments and was not surprised at your comments I'm sorry but I'm still unhappy about what i found when I opend the bag I have pictures I have since sorted them into stacks of 28 and put a book on them to press them out I was happy to find about 50 from Canada,Australia, Netherlands , Scotland, and England I think this was probably a bigger job than anyone of you realized If and when I make a Quilt I'll show it off I plan to save the papers with names and adress on them when I tear them off so I can see all the different states I am sorry to all who were offended Can I stay ? LETS MAKE A HST QUILT !!! jean082

sewingbyjanet wrote: Here's the link.
[url]forum/friendship-triangle-exchange/4584-wayward-and-adoptable-hsts[/url]

I'm sure you will have no trouble finding homes. Clara

sewingbyjanet wrote:
Janet,

Margo created a new Forum topic called 'Wayward and Adoptable' HSTs. That is where people can offer their overages to people who were missing some. Clara and I don't want to have any sent back to us to have to redistibute again. Please check out that Forum and I bet you will find a loving home for them. Thank you so much for offering to do that.

from sewingbyjanet

I am thrilled, I received my HST"s April 18, all in one lump, which is how they will end up anyway till I sort them, clip the corners and press them.
I can not imagine the work it took for you and our volunteers to do this huge task.
I heard that there was a shortage of HST"s, so I counted mine and I have 24 more HST"s than I sent in. I would like to send them back..Could you let me know where to send them .

LOVE THE SISTERHOOD
GREAT JOB
mailto:janet@landis-store.com

jean082 wrote:

I'm sorry you were disappointed, Jean, but you are certainly entitled to your opinion. However, I do feel that I need to clarify a few items:

This exchange was not Edyta's idea at all. The TQS Forum members started discussing it and we all decided we wanted to start up our own friendship exchange. I volunteered to organize it and Clara then jumped in to say she would volunteer to help me. Edyta was gracious enough to participate in the exchange with 560 other TQS members, but other than that she had no reason 'to be around'.

The four HSTs in the baggie were from Rick, Alex, Edyta and Margo -- considered the "Golden Tickets'. There was a note in your package explaining that. The one from Alex was the one that said Thangles, which is a brand of HSTs papers. Alex used those because she ran out of the 700 papers from Laundry Basket Quilts and she wanted to make sure we had enough for each member of the SoTTTs and Batiks R Us Exchange. If you open that Thangles HST, you will see that she signed her name on the red & white polka dot fabric. If, for some reason, Alex happened to miss one of the 615 that she individually signed, I will be happy to send you mine if you send me a stamped self-addressed return envelope.

Margo is Margo and all the TQS Forum followers know who she is and they were as excited to receive one of her HSTs as much as they were to receive one from Alex, Ricky, and Edyta.

The exchange was made up completely of volunteers. It was not sponsored by TQS, and no one was paid to do it. None of the staff of TQS was involved with the exchange other than Alex & Ricky, who participated like Once again, it was a completely volunteer effort and over 30 volunteers helped to make this as much fun as possible for everyone.

No one was ever required to put HSTs into invidual baggies of 28. In fact, as the process evolved, we posted numeous times in the Forum requesting that people do not put them into individual baggies because they all had to be taken out for sorting.

I asked around trying to get a grasp of a solid way to do this exchange. No one had come anywhere close to dealing with the number of participants and pieces of fabric. I did realize early on that we would make mistakes, because there was so many unknowns and helpers involved. Human error was going to happen. No we were not going to please everyone.
Goals...
Have an environment for every one to connect and enjoy. Check. The forum exploded with this exchange.
Possibility of connecting with quilters all over the world. Check. Tons of quilters from all over.
Fun while sorting. Check. We had a gathering worth the Guinness Book of World Records and the only reason I didn't attempt it is they needed more time for the processing.

While I will not be organizing another one. Done that. I would be interested in participating in another. Especially with my new found respect for whoever organizes it and what goes on behind the scenes.

Yes, some fabrics might get wrinkled, but us quilters know how to fix that and we all have a great iron I'm sure. Yes, we like crisp fabrics and those who do own starch. Go for it. I am sorry that not everyone will be happy. Maybe the fabrics aren't types you would use or some other reason. Those triangles look pretty good if you think of all the people who touched them before they got to you.

It does my heart good to hear the quilters that are excited about opening up a package from all over the world.
Clara

P.S. I especially know my partner Debbie has put a lot of heart into this as well. I thank her for that. Also, to our other partner Margo. I thank you for all the support and manning of the forum and communications.

jean082 wrote:

Ms. Barbara Stack, I am very sorry that you are disappointed, but I need to address some of your comments.

First of all, your HSTs were in the bottom of the bag because of the mail service, not the sorters.

Wrinkled fabric can be ironed and starched if necessary to get them back in shape.

Yes, it was a big job for the sorters. If you go back and read all of the posts on these forum topics you will see how hard they have worked! And they were dealing with more than a few participants who didn't "follow the rules".

[url]forum/friendship-triangle-exchange/4308-chapter-2-sisterhood-of-the-traveling-triangles-contd[/url]
[url]forum/friendship-triangle-exchange/4550-sottts-chapter-3-the-sorting-and-beyond[/url]
[url]forum/friendship-triangle-exchange/4584-wayward-and-adoptable-hsts[/url]

You will also see that the majority of the participants are pleased to have been a part of this massive exchange and are glad to get anything in return....wrinkles and all.

I hope that you will reconsider your harsh comments and enjoy the spirit of the exchange. You might also want to consider being more of a participant in the forum so that you will feel more a part of what's going on.

If you will open your HSTs and press them, you will probably find the one that Alex signed. If you did, in fact, not get one from Alex, I will personally see to it that you get one. I'll send you the one I got. Just send me an e-mail through my profile.

Edyta was a guest on one TQS episode. She is a member here, but was not expected to follow the forum and be active in this exchange. She had nothing to do with it other than sending almost 600 signed HSTs. [url]community/my-profile/Edyta[/url]

If you got some unsigned papers, or some that were not manufactured by Laundry Basket Quilts, that is certainly not the fault of Debbie and Clara. Just some participants who used other options.

Again, I'm sorry you were disappointed.

Personally, I'm THRILLED with what I received, and have already pressed them flat and removed the papers. I'm ready to start sewing them together into a fabulous friendship quilt that I will treasure forever.

Was this a bad idea? I think not. We are enlarging an already amazing TQS community, and I am proud to be an active part of it.

Margo in SE Tennessee, USA

Jean, I'm sorry you're disappointed with your triangles, but if you'll go to the Forum on Wayward and Adoptable HSTs or Triangles, you'll read lots of posts where the ladies were thrilled with their HSTs. It was a huge project for the sorters and they volunteered their time to be sure that we all got triangles back. You might want to rethink being too disappointed because us doing 616 +, which I did as well, was nothing compared to the 300,000 or more that they had to handle. After you press them and get excited about the fabric choices made by other participants, you may feel better. I certainly hope so.

Have a happy day and I hope you get to make something wonderful with your triangles and that you'll post a photo of it so we can all enjoy seeing your project.

I went to my mailbox today and found my returning HST'S They were all in the bottom of the mailer envelope I was really disappointed when I opened it They were all crammed into the bottom of the bag All wrinkled and stringy I sent 616 + 09 , 28 to a sandwich bag and then into a larger ziplock bag I know it must have been a big job for the people sorting them but I think they would followed the rules we did so when we got them they woul be usable I am not happy It was a big job for us to be on this end I would like to hear from thers who have receive theirs I looked in the small baggie and found 4 HST'S one signed by Ricky Tims,Margo of Tn., "Thangles" and one no name, blank not even one from Alex! This was Edyta's idea I believe and she didn't seem to be around Thanks to Nanee She probably has pulled out her hair by now Does anyone think this was a bad Idea??