You're all invited....

to join the HUG list. (many of you are already there!) We welcome active posters as well as those of you who hide in the shadows but read regularly. Anyone who wants to send a little love and caring is wanted and welcomed.

What is a HUG? -- Mz Sairey said it best -- and you can read her explanation that I posted to Estelle UK's post from 9/20. (or you can read it here:

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What does it mean to join the HUG list? It means you give me (as current keeper of the list) your name and email addy. I add it to the list and when someone feels the need to offer a HUG to someone they care about (could be from here on the RCTQ list, someone in their private live, someone at work... doesn't matter), I put out a call.

The HUG request goes out -- members are asked to make a block or even send a square of fabric to the HUG requester. Sometimes there is a theme or a color preference (I did a HUG for my DS who lost her life to cervical cancer -- it was a Lighthouse HUG -- you can see it on my webshots page). The requester provides her snail mail address and a due date.

The rest is up to you. Some members try to respond to each and every HUG request. Some prefer to limit their participation. It doesn't matter. You level of participation is totally up to you. There is no accounting of who gives to which HUG request. No one is keeping tabs. If the request comes at a bad time for you -- hit DELETE. I know of one HUGGER who uses scraps and has a store of 6 1/2" blocks of varying designs and colors... just waiting for the right occasion to use them.

The assembly of the quilt top is usually done by the person requesting the blocks. The quilting may be done her the requester also -- or we have several RCTQ'ers - HUG listers who volunteer to do the quilting on their long arm. We invite HUG Listers to tuck $1 in with their square to help with the cost of backing & batting -- but as any part of a HUG quilt - this is optional. Ultimately, the HUG requester is responsible for seeing the top through to completion.

As HUG List manager -- I try to follow-up to make sure all HUG quilts are completed and delivered. But I do feel obligated to give this caveat: once you send your block -- the rest if out of your (and my!) hands. I don't think anyone here intends to let HUG's linger or not finish and deliver them. But things happen. Once you mail your block, you need to be prepared to let go... in case the HUG vanishes into cyberspace. This happens rarely -- but I think I need to remind you this is strictly a voluntary Endeavour and we are limited by the good faith of our participants.

If you would like more information -- please ask here or email me off list. If you would like to be added to the HUG List -- just email me privately with your name and email addy (mine is grovesfam -- at -- comcast -- dot -- net).

Everyone is welcome. You do NOT have to be a master quilter to participate. Simple 4 patches and 9 patches carry as much HUG value as the most intricate blocks. It's the love and caring behind each block that makes them all beautiful.

Thanks

PS -- you can see some of our past hugs here:

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Kate in MI

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Reply to
Kate in MI
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Thanks Kate for posting the pics of the HUGS. I've gone and had a looksee and it's amazing the work that everyone has done on these HUGS.

I wonder what has happened to alot of the people that these were made for. Some of the names I don't even recognize.

Reply to
Cindy Schmidt

what a wonderful album of HUGS. i thoroughly enjoyed that! glad to be a Hugger! amy in CNY

Reply to
amy in CNY

Mercy! These collective efforts really have a characteristic charm and beauty all their own! What a wonderful concept! Count me in.

ep

Reply to
Edna Pearl

Thank you so much for the invite! I hope I can make a few HUG blocks in the future. Loved looking at your website with all the HUG quilts. It's a sure testament to the good will that goes with quilting! Donna

Reply to
dealer83

Thank you, Kate, for doing the hug invitation; I'm sure there are new folks here who wondered about it and may want to join us. I don't quite agree with something you said; no surprise to anyone I'm sure. You said: < once you send your block -- the rest is out of your (and my!) hands. I don't think anyone here intends to let HUGs linger or not finish and deliver them. But things happen. Once you mail your block, you need to be prepared to let go... in case the HUG vanishes into cyberspace. This happens rarely -- but I think I need to remind you this is strictly a voluntary Endeavour and we are limited by the good faith of our participants. >

If a person has taken on the honor and responsibility of receiving blocks and seeing it through to the next step,(or the next step), it means a lot that the Hug be completed timely. If the assembler or quilter or binder (sometimes me) gets infected with head lice or a surprise long term visit by brother-in-law Bubba, 12 cases of beer and all 9 younguns, please ask for help. Hugs aren't going to be 'out of my hands' until they are gently wrapped around the person we are hugging. I will be watching and I will be delighted to find help if you need it. I do so hope that I've been able to say this agreeably. If not, do remember that I have gators. Polly

Reply to
Polly Esther

its not just the charm and beauty them possess that makes them sooooooo special. its the love incorporated into each and every block made for a Hug that makes them so special. they do their magic everytime they are used by the Huggee. each one is amazing in its own right too. tho mine is the Bestestestestestest and the Prettiest of course. i'm not the least bit biased either, just stating the facts. i am trying really hard to let it do its magic on me now. its kind of hard cuz i'm of two minds when i look at it. for now i'm sleeping under it each night til i can separate those two minds of mine. j.

Reply to
J*

You warm our hearts, Jeanne, to know that our Hug for you is surrounding you and holding you close. You'll never know how many customs agents and assorted others the gators had to threaten to get that cheap blanket around you. I bribed the investigators with banana nut bread. Works every time. Polly

Reply to
Polly Esther

I certainly agree with you, Polly. But on that RARE occasion -- we've had things go awry. And even with gentle (and sometimes not-so-gentle) nudging... things happen. I just want to make sure that any newcomers understand that while we do our best to make sure the HUG gets to its recipient, sometimes things are out of our hands.

I didn't mean to infer that we don't follow-up and do our best to provide all the resources we can muster to help someone who finds they are unable to continue.

As for the gators... I wonder if Sam and Jazz would scare them off... or be their dinner!

Reply to
Kate in MI

I didn't dare look at DH's face when the shipping guy said: value of package? We allow $ 100 worth of free insurance. Naaah, I said. It's just a blanket. Mr. Esther knew that the Hug was priceless but he also knew that I didn't want it to appear to be a valuable package to anyone anywhere . . . except our dear Jeanne. As to Sam and Jazz - we will keep them inside. We have a chainlink fence and an electric one. Nothing pretty about either one of them but they are very necessary. There were 8,500 gators here last count - about 5 years ago. Keep loosing the census takers. Ah well. Polly

Reply to
Polly Esther

I must agree with Polly. This will not come as a surprise to you, Kate!

- or to anyone really >g< - that I worry a *lot* when we don't hear, after some time, that a Hug has reached its much needed destination.

Of *course* unexpected things happen to Hug hosts; but there are scores of folk willing to help. I have 'taken over' one myself when completion became impossible for the original good-hearted host. (It really is possible to send 'stuff' all the way across the Atlantic >ggThank you, Kate, for doing the hug invitation; I'm sure there are new

Reply to
Patti

I have been both a Hug "mom" and had the honour to deliver a finished Hug to its recipient. Both were completely unexpected and involved international transport once completed (one to the USA and one from DK to UK). Receiving all the blocks and laying them out was fun and a challenge (Please make sure your block is NOT undersized!) but getting first sight of a Hug is also something special, as is the Hug-ee's face when they realise what has just been put into their hands :-)

I try to take part in Hugs as they are called for, and even keep a few simple 6 1/2" blocks in my desk at work (those extra rail fence blocks, a scrappy nine-patch etc.) ready to pop into an envelope at the first opportunity, especially if the colour scheme is generous. I don't get to do them all, if I have a US dollar bill I'll tuck it in, if not the block still goes winging its way, usually over the Atlantic, to where it needs to be.

The pleasure of knowing that the sum of the whole is so much greater than its parts makes contributing to a Hug something special, even if so often there is sadness that it is needed.

So thank you Kate for maintaining the Hug list, thank you to those who take on being a Hug "mom", thank you to those who sandwich, quilt, bind ship & deliver (Hug Aunties?), and thank you to every single person who has made a Hug block and sent it in, 'cos without enough of those our wonderful Hugs would not and could not wrap our far flung friends in our love.

Lizzy

Reply to
Lizzy Taylor

your (and my!)

Hi Kate - I love being part of the HUG group too and take part in all that I can. I was just wondering tho' - I don't really know how to say this .... I know I finished the HUG quilt for my friend Judy, after all the wonderful contributions from the Huggers on our group, but I don't see a picture of the finished HUG on the site. Is it just too hard to keep up that site now? I know I sent a picture of the finished HUG to everyone who participated cuz I feel it shows that it was actually done and how thankful I was to receive their lovely blocks. I know I absolutely delight in seeing how others put their HUGS together and it's always nice to look at the HUGS and see your own block that was contributed. Just wondering.

Sharon (N.B.)

Reply to
Sha

I also have been there on the delivery of a "Hug". In my case it was the Enschede Hug that Connie Davis instigated. Alas Connie could not be there because her mother was very ill.

Only yesterday I found the flight tickets that I used on my flight to Holland. Earlier in the year I had the video from the presentation put on CD. It was the item on Dutch News program that covered the event and had been sent me on video. Shirley on Dutch TV

The items are going to put in our family tree box that I am building for future generations. GD is insistent that we write stories down about our happenings for our future families can read them.

I did a few stitches in the binding of JJ's hug quilt at Malvern. It was a desperate last minute thing that Connie, another lady whose name escapes me and myself. We sat on a bed in Connie's room doing it before JJ arrived. Up here in my work room I have a picture on the wall of JJ just walking through a door with the quilt wrapped round her. JJ was a gorgeous lady and I was privileged to meet her.

Hugs Shirley

Reply to
Shirley Shone

The Web site that Kate's post directed us to is actually Terbear's, not Kate's (at least I think that's where I ended up!). Terbear has been involved in some other endeavors lately, and I'm guessing that's at least a part of the reason that many of the more recent Hugs aren't appearing on her site.

What do you all think about setting up a Flickr or Picasa or some other photo site just for RCTQ Hugs? Each and every one is truly a piece of art and love, and it might be really nice to have one location to go to see them all at one time. Can you think of any reasons not to do it?

Reply to
Louise in Iowa

So must I.

And thank you Pat for your reply - they are my feelings exactly. It is such a privilege to be able to contribute even 6 square inches to a Hug, and to know that it is doing it's work is very special.

And thank you Kate for undertaking the task of 'Hug Queen'.

Sally at the Seaside~~~~~~~~~~~~~uk

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Patti wrote:

Reply to
Sally Swindells

Polly makes a good point - Please Ask For Help!

We all understand that there are times when life gets in the way of all our best intentions - but the bottom line is that we make HUGs because one of our own needs our love and support. Rather than let the HUG vanish (which I'm confident is never anyone's intent), please let Kate or someone else involved know what's happening in your life and that you can't continue with your part of the HUG. That way we can send out a call for volunteers and - while it may be delayed slightly - we can get the HUG completed and to its intended recipient.

Thanks to all who make these projects so successful!

Reply to
Louise in Iowa

Reply to
Roberta

Louise -- you and I are on the same page. I'm working on that and hopefully will have a new site up by the end of the year which will include all the quilts on Terbear's site as well.

So if anyone has pictures they would like included -- please email them to me and be sure to tell me who the quilt was for!

Reply to
Kate in MI

Kate, I have several on my Webshots page - can you download from there?

Reply to
Louise in Iowa

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