An open letter to Cheyne

I assume you've sent a dollar and a quilt block to this person?

-- Jo in Scotland

whadda load.

The Blessed Fiddy, Patroness Saint of the Disorganized LC in Sunny So Cal Personality Development Specialist (Full-Time Mom!)

I am very surprized that this topic has upset so many people on this newsgroup to make such a high number of replies and flames over several days. Life is just too short and precious to waste time determining the validity of a strange request from someone we all have never heard from before she made that strange request.

Let's go back to quilting stuff. And all of you who still want to fight about this owe me a dollar.

Cyndi, being funny.

None of us are "pecking" Cheyne we are simply put out that she came into our group (and I'm talking original post here) asking for money in return for blocks. We make our own blocks so why should we buy them. All of us are sympathetic to Cheyne's mum's problem - Lord knows a fair whack of us are overweight or obese. We just don't go to a newsgroup where we have never posted before offering to sell them things they can make themselves. In later posts Cheyne claims she was misunderstood, that all she was looking for was prayers and good wishes - these were never mentioned in her original post. Cheyne says in later posts that her mother was "way more than 100 lbs overweight" - not what was said in the original.

If Cheyne had come in a little less, how shall I put it?, openly looking for dollars, she would have been welcomed with open arms - same as everyone else.

Cheyne, if you would like to introduce yourself again, we'd be happy to welcome you in!

Maybe this will help you,

My name is Cheyne Maclaskey.. I am 22 and from a small town outside of Houston Texas. I am a senior at the Art Institute of Houston studying a double degree in Culinary Arts as well as restaurant and catering management. I work with several non-profit organizations throughout the Houston area. My mom has been sick since I was born, having problems with her body. She was told recently that she would have the loan she had been longing for to pay for her surgery. After years of exercise, walking jogging, eating correctly, being under the supervision of constant doctor care and following strict dietary orders, she has yet to lose the weight. Being a young women, I fear for my mothers life as I watch her wither away. She has been an amazing quilter my whole life and it seems to be one thing she has the strength to work on even if for a few minutes every couple of days. A few years back, my mother taught me how to sew quilt blocks on paper backings. I got a sewing machine from a salvation army and took off. Being new in college, I was trying to gather money to pay off loans that I will only have 10 years from the day I graduate to get rid of. I made blocks and sold them to quilters on ebay. Most were quilters who had quilted for a long time but wanted these blocks to complete a quilt, hang in a frame, or to add extra flair to their quilt. While attending The Art Institute, I discovered painting. I cant say my paintings are anything great, but I free-paint, meaning I dont use a template or prior sketches. When an idea hits me, I paint. I have sold several paintings now and have been taking personal requests but not making enough money to even pay for gas for more than a week. This little extra money has now been dedicated to my mom. Staying up late at night, racking my brain and running into exaustion from no sleep, too much work and not enough time, I am at a complete loss. I cant get from A to B, and will look at any possible way I can to get there. I have a livejournal on the internet where I can post a "diary" to my friends and loved ones. I had become a member of a quilting group there a long time ago also. I made my post about what was going on, not realizing I had said only 100 lbs overwight, although my mom weighs way more than that. Immediately all my friends who had helped me organize fundriasers and feed the homeless came out of the woodwork, saying we needed to hold a charity bbq for her, or this or that... But the problem is that Houston has some grave restrictions on what can and cant be done thanks to our corrupt police chief, so all options cant take place. Then one night, when I was probably at my LOWEST point before I came here, I met someone, someone I had never seen before, who came to me and told me that I could come here and she was a member here, and that if I was truthfu about my situation and opened my heart to this group, maybe an answer would be found. She told me that this was a great group of ladies who helped when the cause was correct and she didnt see why they wouldnt want to hear my story. So with this last little bit of faith, I came here, just wanting an answer. My intentions with my post were not to just say Give me money. My intentions were to say hey, short of standing on a corner, I am offering something... its all I have to offer, if you want one great if not... thank you anyway... I wasnt going to come here and just say open your wallets to me. Quilters are amazing people who always seem to want to trade and many quilters like to buy blocks from around the world to make a quilt repersenting places from the globe, how was I to know that wasnt the case here. I said what I said, tried to defend myself to the end. Listened to people say I was a troll and question my character. People say I am wrong for saying someone is a bitch... yet she called me an ignorant snotty bitch and much more, at that point I was defending myself. I havent been given any type of chance, and people still call me names. This is something I expect from youg teenagers rather than adults. Through this site, I have made a few great friends who have emailed me back and forth and understand where I am coming from. I have just been out of options, lost and dont know where to go, I will take any lead I can get...

I dont know what else you want to know about me. At the age of 5 I was the largest entrepreneur and second largest to the Chef and The Child foundation underneath Coca-Cola, as reported in the March edition of The National Culinary Review in 1991. My younger sister and I started a lemonade stand and sold at craft shows on the East coast, making

1400 in three hours. half of the income went to college funds and the other half was sent directly to the Chef and the Child. My dad being a chef had told me about it. I am a member of the ACF of American Chef's federation. I competed in my first competition in April and won a third place medal for my platter and centerpiece. I was the only student in the competition to medal. I have worked under a master chef for the past year until recently when I chose to look into a new adventure, pastry. I have been asked by a well respected chef in the Houston area to come to his country club and learn more about designing and layouts of platters. He is a member of the Olympic culinary team, and has been a captain several times now. At Thanksgiving time, I volunteer myself in my hometown and work at the Salvation Army feeding homeless. I dont know what else you want to know so I guess thats it..

"

Nice to meetcha, Cheyne! Do you have pictures of your blocks? What kind of machine did you get yourself. I have a Bernina, and you can see my pics at

Karen, Queen of Squishies wish I had some fund-raising ideas for ya....

I would like to know who the person is that told you to post here in the first place.... why is that such a secret? You've mentioned it enough times....... are you telling us the truth? It *would* make a difference to me.

Leslie

The HairyFacedOnes 'N Me

RCTQ- Houston 2004..... A good friend will come and bail you out of jail.... but, a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "Damn... that was fun!"

Something no one seems to have considered--and it only dawned on me just now--is that the Anonymous RCTQer might have suggested that Cheyne post her story here and ask for advice/suggestions/sympathy, without realizing that she would also ask for $1 per block. (Which she DID ask for, despite her denials: "Send a donation of one dollar, or whatever you wish, and I will send you a heart quilt block for each dollar recieved".)

Nurse Ratched (remove "cuckoo" from address to reply) We'll all get back to normal if we put our nation first, But the trouble with "normal" is, it always gets worse. ~Bruce Cockburn

That nagged me this evening too... Oh, well...

Hullo Cheyne I agree with your second paragraph here; but I would go even further - what does it matter? A witch hunt would only compound the harm that has already been done. You would not know this, but we have had many scam schemes in the past which have appeared in a similar way to your first post. It is my belief that that is why the reaction was so strong. Then you reacted strongly and the whole thing escalated through the roof. We have encountered inadvertent advertising here, and have more or less gently explained the protocol. Your post did not read as simply advertising, I'm afraid. I think perhaps in your anxiety you oversold the idea, and so it came across as something suspect. There are definitely some things which don't 'hang together' in your narratives; but never mind that now. On the practicalities of your scheme: if all the hundreds of people here and elsewhere had replied to you, with their dollar, how could you possibly fulfil the 'orders' ? I think perhaps you thought you had a great idea, but hadn't really worked it through. IF you can put the past week behind you, you may find that you have some fun and interesting times with us. You will also experience the mechanics of the group. You will learn the qualities of the people here. It is because we all value the honesty and trust that has grown up between us (and we are not all long-term 'members'; there are new folk joining all the time) that we feel so strongly when it appears that someone is trying to take advantage. Perhaps read for a little while and see.

By the way, if you fear running over your hand with your machine, practice with holding your fabric in a different place, and feeding it through under the foot differently. It will feel strange at first, but one reason for crooked seams is not keeping hold right up to the end. Perhaps holding it down, and guiding it with a stylus - you could adapt a knitting needle - would be a good plan for you? . In article , Cheyne writes

My sister sewed through her finger on our grandma's Singer 185 when she was about 14. That's a really powerful old machine (I have one) so it got here good...ouch!!

One easy way to learn to sew straight is to sew, without thread, on lined paper. You can also learn to sew curves this way too. Keep your hands on the fabric but on both sides of the needle area.

A neat trick I learned from the rec.crafts.textiles.sew>Thanks for the nice posts... to answer some questions, I have a singer

Welcome, Cheyne. I think you unwittingly tripped a security alarm with your first post. We've got some fireball guards in our little community who have a sharp nose for suspicious characters. They can be quick to make arrests, too. We love 'em anyway. And sometimes we forget to read the perp his/her rights. I'm sorry this happened to you.

By the way, just so you know, Off-Topic (OT) Posts are also against the rules (see the Usenet FAQ). So never post about anything but quilting. The rest of us never do.

Philip (who thinks every family has a right to its pet double standards)

As I noted in another post, Chyene's auctions are in violation of E-Bay Rules. She has a request for donations and an address to send them to in her E-Bay listing. This is strictly forbidden. If they catch her, she will be kicked off E-Bay.

Mardi

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Real e-mail address spelled out to prevent spam. mardi at mardiweb dot com. ____________________

My Quilting page:

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I would do a cutch auction, but you have to have a certina amount of feedback on ebay, which I havent been selling long...as well as having an account for a certain amount of time. So until I reach that point.. I cant have a dutch auction.. I did the research

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YOu can do a dutch auction with a minimal amount of feedback, but it will cost some additional money.

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