Now that the blocks have been received, checked, photographed, and numbered, it’s time to:
6. Catalogue.
After auditioning several different programs and apps, I opted to use a program called Records (because I can use drag-and-drop to design the form, plus there’s a one-time charge for the software instead of a monthly fee to use another program I liked – a fee that we all know will increase over time, and I’ll have to pay up or else) to create a record for each quilt block, entering the following information for every block:
Block #
Envelope #
Maker’s Name
Maker’s Email Address
Maker’s Mailing Address
Maker’s Phone Number
Maker’s Social Media Links
Quilt # the Block Appears In
Date the Block was Received
Date the Block was Profiled in Social Media
Date the Thank You note was sent
Size of Block
Date Email Confirmation of Receipt was Sent
Does the Maker wish to remain anonymous?
Is the block made In Honor Of or In Memory Of anyone in particular
and if so, whom?
Then I attach a photo of the block and a scanned copy of The Provenance Form accompanying the block then enter any notes about the block and its Maker gleaned from emails, facebook, instagram, or other social media outlets.
An aside: I have similar databases for Prospective Piecers and Prospective Quilters where I note who has raised their hand to piece a quilt top and/or quilt a quilt and how to get in touch with them. And there’s a databases for Piecers and one for Quilters – those who actually do the work. The Piecers database contains things like contact info, social media links for giving them some love, block numbers sent, along with dates sent and received, and any photos the Piecers send along the way. The Quilters database contains similar things: contact info for the Quilter, the finished quilt number, social media links so I can point others in their direction, what block numbers are contained in the quilt, who pieced the quilt, date the quilt top was sent and the date the quilt was received, and photos of the finished quilt.
This seems a fine time to say if you’re interested and willing to become a Piecer and/or Quilter, please let me know cause it won’t be long till I’m shooing bundles of blocks out the door.
Step 7: Tag.
Once everything is in the computer, I attach the numbers to each block using my shiny new basting gun.
Step 8: Backup.
Because I am – say it with me: paranoid safety conscious, I built in some redundancy by saving copies of everything – photos, scans, databases – in multiple places. Four places, to be exact.
Step 9: Send.
Once everything is documented and catalogued to my paranoid safety conscious satisfaction, I bundle up a batch of blocks and send to the Piecers, people who have offered to piece the quilt tops together. The idea is that each Piecer will send the top directly on to the Quilter, the person who’s offered to add the batting, backing, and binding (or facing), and do the quilting.
I’m just about ready to send the first bundle of blocks to the gracious and talented woman who will piece our first quilt top – drum roll, please – Kitty Sorgen. Kitty has been vital to the success of The 70273 Project from the get-go, helping me figure things out, soothing my furrowed brow when I get anxious and tired, telling others about the project, and hogtying visitors to her machine providing materials and time for friends and family to use her sewing machine to make blocks when they come to visit. And who will do the quilting for the first quilt? None other than our very own MJ Kinman who is, as I’ve told you, our resident energizer bunny. When the idea first came to call, I immediately messaged MJ because no idea is too big for her, and she’s the kind of girl who will say “Okay, you’ve really gone too far this time” or something to that effect if she thinks it’s true. I’ll tell you more about MJ in an upcoming blog post. In the meantime, trot over to Facebook and find photos of her diamond quilts. They are nothing short of mesmerizing.
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Well, y’all, this concludes our tour of What Happens Behind the Scenes at The 70273 Project Heartquarters. We know you had other options, so we appreciate you flying with us. If you would please take a minute to remove any trash from the seat pocket in front of you, we’d really appreciate it cause that allows us to continue scanning, stitching, cataloguing, etc. And if you would please slide the seat belt adjustor/clicker mechanism to the very end of its belt, the person taking the seat after you will love you forever for making them feel fit and skinny when they have to reduce the size of the belt so drastically.
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More:
Part 1, Take Readers to Work
Part 2, Take Readers to Work
Part 3, Take Readers to Work
Why I Catalogue Every Single Block
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