Contemplating siggie swap

So if I were to host an RCTQ siggie swap, what do I do about postage?
This is something that does baffle me. How would I cope with
self-addressed stamped envelopes from overseas? I know I could not
afford to foot the bill for everyone's international postage no matter
how many FQs were gained in exchange or whatever- it's still cash in the
end that pays postage.

Would 4 inches finished plain muslin/calico with an optional border make
sense? (if participants want to make a snowball or a stripe or a
log-frame or just leave it plain, up to them)

Thoughts? I don't mind the sorting and trying to get it organized as a
central swap. (Nor will I be offended if someone else would like to do it).

I am thinking of a mid-July 2006 deadline, so this is WAY in advance.

-georg

Georg, Cheryl in Oz and I are in the midst of organizing a RR and siggie
swap for 2006. We opened up a yahoo group for each. The thought, at the
moment, is that people would get the list of members address from the
database and send blocks, siggies ect accordingly. We want to write rules
and regulations for both. We figured it would be ready for the New Year.

--
Carole
Champlain, NY
http://photos.yahoo.com/ceridwen_rhea

Fine style does not make something true, nor has a man a wise soul
because he has a handsome face and well-chosen eloquence.

Aurelius Augustinus (354-430)

"Georg" wrote in message
.. .
So if I were to host an RCTQ siggie swap, what do I do about postage?
This is something that does baffle me. How would I cope with
self-addressed stamped envelopes from overseas? I know I could not
afford to foot the bill for everyone's international postage no matter
how many FQs were gained in exchange or whatever- it's still cash in the
end that pays postage.

Would 4 inches finished plain muslin/calico with an optional border make
sense? (if participants want to make a snowball or a stripe or a
log-frame or just leave it plain, up to them)

Thoughts? I don't mind the sorting and trying to get it organized as a
central swap. (Nor will I be offended if someone else would like to do
it).

I am thinking of a mid-July 2006 deadline, so this is WAY in advance.

-georg

When they mail the packages to you they will know how much they spent
to mail it. Then have them Paypal you the amount they spent. Paypal
handles currency conversions. Then you would buy postage to mail back.
Little more work than domestic...but definitely worth it. Our
internation quilters are fabulous.

I've tried some other methods and definitely end up forking out bucks.
This is the way I'll go if I ever host stuff again that isn't all
domestic.

Melissa in NJ

C & S wrote:
Georg, Cheryl in Oz and I are in the midst of organizing a RR and siggie
swap for 2006. We opened up a yahoo group for each. The thought, at the
moment, is that people would get the list of members address from the
database and send blocks, siggies ect accordingly. We want to write rules
and regulations for both. We figured it would be ready for the New Year.


No way in heck could anyone afford to send individual postage to everyone!

But happy to let y'all take over the task.

-georg

Melissa in NJ wrote:
When they mail the packages to you they will know how much they spent
to mail it. Then have them Paypal you the amount they spent. Paypal
handles currency conversions. Then you would buy postage to mail back.
Little more work than domestic...but definitely worth it. Our
internation quilters are fabulous.

I've tried some other methods and definitely end up forking out bucks.
This is the way I'll go if I ever host stuff again that isn't all
domestic.

Melissa in NJ


Thanks! That's a great idea. I'll remember that.

-georg

What if it was done in a decentralized manner? Then everybody is paying
their own postage to send to each individual with no worries of having to
send postage/money/etc.

By the way, I would definately be interested in participating!

Juli

"Georg" wrote in message
.. .
So if I were to host an RCTQ siggie swap, what do I do about postage? This
is something that does baffle me. How would I cope with self-addressed
stamped envelopes from overseas? I know I could not afford to foot the
bill for everyone's international postage no matter how many FQs were
gained in exchange or whatever- it's still cash in the end that pays
postage.

Would 4 inches finished plain muslin/calico with an optional border make
sense? (if participants want to make a snowball or a stripe or a log-frame
or just leave it plain, up to them)

Thoughts? I don't mind the sorting and trying to get it organized as a
central swap. (Nor will I be offended if someone else would like to do
it).

I am thinking of a mid-July 2006 deadline, so this is WAY in advance.

-georg

First off, count me in if you do have one :-)

Now for my $.02US

1. Just a muslin square is a bit boring to me. And I, for one, would
probably never make it up into anything. There was a siggy swap just as
I joined RCTQ that was IIRC rail fence with the sender's two favorite
colors as top and bottom rail and muslin with siggy as center.

2. I like your suggestion of maybe a log cabin with siggy (4"?) in
center, or a snowball done in a similar manner. Or how about a square
in a square? -- in any case, something pretty simple but still
incorporating the sender's fabrics and colors.

3. For international postage, maybe you could set up a PayPal account
that the international people could pay into. Not sure how that works
outside the US. I got the idea from the news.individual.net site that we
now have to pay for. Since we would be getting back just what we were
sending out, it should be easy to figure out how much the postage would
be, or is that too simple??

Anyway, I'm in ...


Anne in CA
annerudolph AT comcast DOT net
"It's not having what you want; it's wanting what you've got." -- Sheryl
Crow
http://community.webshots.com/user/annerudolph3



Georg wrote:
So if I were to host an RCTQ siggie swap, what do I do about postage?
This is something that does baffle me. How would I cope with
self-addressed stamped envelopes from overseas? I know I could not
afford to foot the bill for everyone's international postage no matter
how many FQs were gained in exchange or whatever- it's still cash in the
end that pays postage.

Would 4 inches finished plain muslin/calico with an optional border make
sense? (if participants want to make a snowball or a stripe or a
log-frame or just leave it plain, up to them)

Thoughts? I don't mind the sorting and trying to get it organized as a
central swap. (Nor will I be offended if someone else would like to do it).

I am thinking of a mid-July 2006 deadline, so this is WAY in advance.

-georg

Thanks Melissa. We are new to this and are looking for expert advice.

Carole
Champlain, NY

"Melissa in NJ" wrote in message
oups.com...
When they mail the packages to you they will know how much they spent
to mail it. Then have them Paypal you the amount they spent. Paypal
handles currency conversions. Then you would buy postage to mail back.
Little more work than domestic...but definitely worth it. Our
internation quilters are fabulous.

I've tried some other methods and definitely end up forking out bucks.
This is the way I'll go if I ever host stuff again that isn't all
domestic.

Melissa in NJ

JL wrote:
What if it was done in a decentralized manner? Then everybody is paying
their own postage to send to each individual with no worries of having to
send postage/money/etc.

By the way, I would definately be interested in participating!

Doing in a decentralized manner is a serious expense. That means I send
10+ packages to England, 1+ Germany, 1 South Africa, 10+ Oz, and 40+ to
the US. Even just the US would be 40 x 38 cents ($15.20), when if I send
80 blocks to one place, it would likely cost only $20, or much less.

I can afford to send to one address all at once and have a
self-addressed stamped envelope. I don't think I could afford to mail
individuals everywhere. It does end up being more expensive that way.

-georg

You're probably right on that one. We are new and are looking for
suggestions on how to handle this. Melissa did come up with a good one. If
I do this continent and Cheryl does the others, perhaps that would eliminate
some cost. Still thinking about all this and looking for suggestions to
make it work efficiently and cheaply.

Carole
Champlain, NY


"Georg" wrote in message
...
No way in heck could anyone afford to send individual postage to everyone!

But happy to let y'all take over the task.

-georg