CLOSED: Tea Towel Tour 2 (Signups Until 4 PM MT, Friday, September 7)

[rectangel]

GALLERY:  http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=194354.0

Note: If your name appears in red below contact your organizer immediately!
green is sent and waiting
blue is received and stitching
done and waiting for final arrivals
feedback completed

Group 1 rectangel kikigirl kitty98626 Beetastic amyracinrose doo_leroux

Group 2-see Susie's    post above IamSusie            cupcakeguru bluesparkie SlyBetty fenifer]

Group 3 amberbrown chelleyf ginamonster riario junwin

Craftster member who is organizing this swap: rectangel
IamSusie has agreed to be our co-organizer & backup cheerleader!
Sign-up date range: 08-30 until 09-07 -this is a very limited space swap-maximum 15-20 people
Date to send item by: Monday, September 10, 2007, NO EXCUSES
A towel must be sent one week or less after its arrival (this will likely have to be done 4-5 times plus your initial send out) make sure your schedule is flexible enough to keep up

Limited to a certain number of people?: YES!

Restricted to people who all live in the same country? YES & NO
If so, which country? US and CANADA
All ages allowed? Or 18+? all ages

<sup>Swap Organizer himself/herself meets these conditions:
- Has fully read the Swap Info Guide: YES
- Has successfully completed two swaps as a participant: YES
- Is not organizing more than three swaps right now: YES
- Will recruit a co-organizer or give all details to a Swap Moderator if this swap has more than 25 participants: YES

Swap Organizer will check each participant to make sure they meet these conditions:
- Has been a member for at least one month: YES
- Has posted at least 15 times: YES
- Has completed one swap successfully before signing up for multiple swaps at a time: YES
- Is not currently signed up for more than five swaps: YES
- Does not have any negative feedback: YES</sup>

Details of swap: This swap is super fun and a great way to get to know people and improve your skills.  Beginners and experienced embroiderers have all enjoyed this swap.  The swap consists of an embroidery tour.  You can send a cloth napkin, an apron, or a tea towel, whatever you choose your item should be a light weight, light colored (preferably white) fabric, suitable for embroidery, and inexpensive to mail.  If you have time before the send date you can embroider a little something on your item but it is more important the item go out on time. 

Before you send attach with a safety pin or baste a tag to your item with your name and address and put your item into a Ziploc bag.  Send your item to your designated receiver, post that you have sent it, they embroider it and post their design, and post when they've sent it on.  You wait impatiently for an item to arrive from your designated shipper, post when it arrives and post when you finish your design and include a picture if you can and post when it has been sent on.  Communication you see is the key.  REMEMBER YOU HAVE ONE WEEK FROM WHEN IT ARRIVES TO GET IT BACK IN THE MAIL.

Although this idea originally started with Sublime Stitching you can use any embroidery pattern you like. Please remember that several people need to embroider it in a short amount of time so pick something that fits with your skill level and allotted time frame.  You MUST PM with a DC when you send.

You should PM the organizer and your partners if you think you will be running late or out of contact for more than a week.  Anyone who is not in contact on a weekly basis via posts or PMs without prior notification will be considered flaking.  FLAKERS SLOW DOWN THEIR WHOLE GROUP, PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR SCHEDULE CAN ACCOMODATE THE TIME COMMITMENT.  The estimated time for completion of this swap is early to mid November.
If you want to participate, send the following information to the organizer:

QUESTIONNAIRE TO ANSWER:

Name of swap:
Craftster username:
Email address:
Your real name:
Address:
City:
State/Province:
Country:
Postal/Zip Code:

Level of embroidery experience (expert beginner etc)?
Do you wish to allow other kinds of embellishment (are beads/ribbon okay)?
Will you be regularly washing this item?
What colors do you like?
Is there anything that you would not like to see on your item?
Any other information you think is relevant?
Do you agree to sending the item Xpresspost or Priority Mail if you run late?

IF YOU WANT TO PARTICIPATE, REMEMBER TO SEND YOUR INFO TO ORGANIZER VIA PRIVATE MESSAGE AND NOT TO REPLY WITH IT HERE AND PLEASE PUT TEA TOWEL TOUR 2 IN THE SUBJECT LINE.

Also remember to read the Swap Info Guide to find out how to ship your item and other details about participating in a swap.


Approved:
01. rectangel
02. IamSusie
03. fenifer
04. Beetastic
05. amberbrown
06. doo_leroux
07. Ginamonster
08. amyracinrose
09. bluesparkie
10. cupcakeguru
11. kitty98626
12. chellyf
13. SlyBetty
14. riario
15. junwin
16. kikigirl

[IamSusie]

I'm in!
Check out what we did in round 1: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=162615.0
This is the original Sublime Stitching Tour where we test drove the towel blank that she now sells: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=152961.0
This swap is really fun and a great way to connect with other embroidery fans.   


We are planning for a one week per motif turn around in our round robin set up.

Blue is received and stitching
Teal is done and waiting for final arrivals
Purple is Feedback Completed


I'm the team captain for
Group 2

IamSusie 1 2 3 4
cupcakeguru 1 2 3 4
bluesparkie 1 2 3 4
SlyBetty 1 2 3 4
fenifer 1 2 3 4

[fenifer]

i am sooooo ready! yay!

[Beetastic]

I sent my info in. 

[Sewsew-a-Gogo]

Me!  Me!!  I sent my info in!!

[doo_leroux]

SWEET! 

[rectangel]

Yeah! we have 6 already and that as you veterans know is the first magic number!

I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!  I think it's awesome Sublime has put out some new patterns since last time...I can't wait to see them in stitches but right now I'm trying to decide what I want to put on my towel before I send it out!  So many designs so little time!

I'm hoping for a few new folks but I'm super psych'd to see the experts (who told me they were intermediates) back again!  This is my first time organizing so if I forget something or you're worried about anything let me know.

[IamSusie]

Yay!  One group for sure!

I'm super psych'd to see the experts (who told me they were intermediates) back again!

I suppose I seem like an expert, but I am not confident about freehanding and satin stitching.  My stem stitching likewise never lives up to my own expectations... We are always harder on ourselves, don't you think?

[Sewsew-a-Gogo]

I've been embroidering for a while now and I just did my first satin stitches!  I'm the kind of person where once I get used to a stitch, I use it all the time.  Except stem stitch.  I hate stem stitch.

[rectangel]

i try to really judge what kind of texture I am creating with my stitches...my goal is to have the stitch match with what it is representing...so from the number of threads, to the stitch length and type i try to let the picture dictate.

That being said I find that stem stitch is about tension.  Thin fabrics make it hard to keep the tension in the stitch without making really small stitches.  Sometimes I find I have to switch sides when I go around curves -I don't know how this happens I just know sometimes it looks better after I move the thread to the other side.

Practice makes perfect my chain stitching has come along way since I started.  I am funny about satin stitching because my mom used to do stamped crewel kits that were all filled in and they were always lame pictures.  I mean it was neat work but I try just to do accent satin stitching...it's kind of a statement of style with me or maybe laziness -filling everything in takes forever.

On my list to learn or improve is magic chain stitching, buttonhole stitching (wagon wheels), and burden stitch.