Monday, July 24, 2006

THE OFFICIAL BLACKLIST

Weellllll. Seems it's time to make the Outstanding List an official Blacklist. We think we've allowed more than enough time for correspondance, packages etc to be done, and that it is only fair on the people left behind that this now becomes official. Listed below are the names of the players who will be remaining on the Blacklist indefinately. This list will become a public list, and will sit over on the sidebar once this post is no longer the current post. We will be retaining this format of playing Backtack for every subsequent running, and the blacklist will be added to at the end of each play. Because it is public, it can be accessed by anyone running anything similar. We have made arrangements with the partners of these people to receive special care packages via Angels, and we'd like to thank those who came forward and offered their time to do this for them.

Blow northern wind...
Knitting Arrows
Knit & Play with Fire
sheep in the city

Monday, July 17, 2006

Do you have wings?

Aaah we're at the pointy bit peeps, seems we have a few squelchers, not a huge number, but a number (around 4 people). The list will be updated and published soon.

So we're fishing....if you're interested in being an angel to a BT3 participant who hasn't received something please send an email to backtack3ATgmailDOTcom with the word ANGEL in the subject line and we'll get back to you with some details.

Thanks in advance!

Sunday, July 09, 2006

BT3 - Picture gallery update

Hi! I've just done an update to the picture gallery, here's a link to the images uploaded today.

Sunday, June 25, 2006

BT3 - flickr gallery live

Pheewww! It's up. I did have grand plans to put everyone's blog address with their photo but I was running out of time and steam. So feel free to add your blog address in the comments section. We think there are still more pics to come so keep on sending them to backtack3ATgmailDOTcom and we'll do another upload later this week.

It looks fantastic! Thank you for playing and we hope you enjoyed yourselves. The LIST will continue to be updated and we'll post soon.

Keep your eyes peeled for future back-tack surprises.

bt3 mosaic 1
bt3 mosaic 2
bt3 mosaic 3
bt3 mosaic 4
bt3 mosaic 5
bt3 mosaic 6

Saturday, June 24, 2006

flickr and poll

Howdy ya'll, Nicole here, I'm running a little behind with the flickr, bloody headache. I'll be working on it today, Sunday, in my part of the world.

The poll is closed and we have a winner, congrats to Pijije we'll be in contact soon. Thanks for voting!

Have a great weekend.

Monday, June 19, 2006

ready, steady, VOTE!

Ok you ready? It was difficult, we had a little negotiating, all friendly only a thumb wrestle involved. Alison is preggers, so thumb wrestling's about as energetic as we'll get at the moment! The criteria for our judging, well that would be telling, however it's all in good fun and not to be taken too seriously, we could go on and on justifying our choices. Saying that it was quite tricky coming up with just 5, there could have been a whole lot more and the 5 here are a great representation of backtack3 for various reasons as I'm sure you can see. So on to the voting...

The five you're voting on, in alphabetical order. Click on the link on each finalist to see their post and further pictures of their creation. We encourage you to read the posts and check out further pictures on the finalists blogs.

Ampersand Duck

ampersandduck-bt3


Bara+Design

bara-bt3


Pijije

pijije-bt3


Soozs

sooz-bt3


Wishing on Clovers

wishingonclovers-bt3

Voting will close Saturday 24 June, who knows which timezone, just get in quick and vote. Winner will be announced at the same time that the flickr gallery goes live.

BT3 - Vote for your favourite softie!
Ampersand Duck
Bara + Design
Pijije
Soosz
Wishing on Clovers
Web Polls by Vizu

What's up for grabs? Well lovely Hillary at Wee Wonderfuls has donated a copy of her bookLET and, yes, there's more, one of her darling softies, Harriet.



Sunday, June 11, 2006

THE OUTSTANDING LIST

This is the list you've all been dreading...and the one we hate to have to put up, but felt it was a necessary part of running backtack from now on.

I've spent the last few days going through blogs and cross checking emails and blogs, and then crossing names off lists. I know from reading your blogs that most of you have actually made something, and that there is a lot still travelling in the post and that some of you are late but have let your partners know. I wont cross your name off though till I know it has been received. So if your name appears below, please let me know when your parcel arrives safely, or if you have received a parcel, let us know for your partner. If I have somehow missed a blog entry or email stating receipt of goods, please also let us know (the trawling is being done very late at night by a very tired me so I know I'll have missed some people). The list will remain up indefinately - hopefully getting smaller and smaller as the next week or so goes by. Please - don't fret at this stage if your name appears below - a lot of people's names appear who I know have made and sent something and who we have received finished photos from. I will try and update the list as often as I can and set your minds at ease. At this point we are calling it an Outstanding List. It will be upgraded to Blacklist in the near future and we will make it absolutely clear on this blog when that list has become something more. This list is in no way a reflection of the people on it, and is not intended to be - it is our working list at the moment, and a way of flushing out potential problems early. We also like to think of it as a way of seeing all these parcels arriving all over the world - it's great to see the list shrink!!

There's a few of you who haven't blogged about bt3 at all, or have done very little blogging in the last month, and I'll follow those people up seperately and make sure everything is ok.

The following are the names of outstanding players as of 3rd July 2006:: THIS WEEK THIS LIST WILL BECOME A BLACK LIST. I WILL POST AGAIN AND REITERATE THIS LATER IN THE WEEK JUST BEFORE IT OFFICIALLY BECOMES A BLACKLIST. IT WILL THEN BE THE RESPONSABILITY OF THE PLAYERS LISTED TO PROOVE THEIR PARCEL HAS ARRIVED, OR THAT THEY HAVE MADE AN ALTERNATIVE ARRANGEMENT WHICH IS SUITABLE FOR THEIR PARTNER. THIS LIST WILL REMAIN ACTIVE INDEFINATELY.


Blow northern wind...
Knitting Arrows
Knit & Play with Fire
sheep in the city

Monday, June 05, 2006

THE POSTMEN ARE VERY BUSY

The 10th June is rapidly approaching, and I've been trawling through blogs in search of package arrivals. There's been a lot of posting about works in progress, some fantastic teaser shots, and shots of actual finished pieces, which have been so lovely to look at. We've really appreciated those people who have sent in finished photos, and urge the rest of you to do the same. I've crossed off any names of senders I have seen have arrived at their destination, and on the 11th June, I'll post the full list of those people who have yet to receive. So far the list is long, but we're hoping it gets smaller quickly as packages start arriving and you guys let us know they've arrived either via your blog, or via email to backtack3ATgmailDOTcom. There's a lot of very busy postmen out there at the moment!

We've been trawling through the blogs for another reason as well: A little while ago we said we had something special lined up. Well, we'd like to announce that something special to you all. After we started BT3, we decided it was the perfect theme to run a little competition through. So we've waited till now, so that everyone is on an even playing field and it's about what you've made for your partner and not about winning a competition, to announce this. On June 20th, we'll announce a shortlist of 5 softies which we think are great. They will be of Nicole and my choice, but it will be your votes on a poll here on this blog which will decide the winner. The poll will be up for 3 days, and we'll announce the winner on the 24th June via email, on this blog, and on both Nicole's blog, and my blog. You'll be able to see all the received entries on the flickr page when that has been uploaded - another good reason to get us your pictures!!

The winner will receive a generously donated copy of Hillary's Wee Wonderful booklet that she is having published, plus some other goodies we will put together for you.

We'd like to give something back to you guys for the support and enthusiasm you show for backtack and as a way of saying thankyou.

So, thankyou, and goodluck!!

Saturday, May 13, 2006

YOU ALL SEWING??

We're nearing the half way mark now, and we're really excited to be seeing works in progress, and even some finished pieces are being photographed and sent into us which is fantastic! Already there is so much variety and so many really stunning combinations of the themes we set. To show some of the variety, go have a look at this kitty, this sneek peek (ooooohhhhh, soft :) ), this selection of fabrics, another selection of fabrics, this cute little bunny, the start of something definately intriguing, this cutey pie (which I've seen the finished product of, and it's fabulous), another great fabric selection, a work in progress, and a very balanced view of fabrics, and a final teasing shot. These are by no means the only ones around, just a little selection.

And Nicole and I think we have a nice little surprise lined up for you all which we'll announce shortly when we've got some of the details worked out. Now isn't it time you got back to playing with fabrics and sewing stuff up! And if you've finished already, send your parcel off, take photos of it before you do though, and send us two images we can upload into flickr at the end.

Now excuse me, I have some eyes to work out.

Thursday, April 20, 2006

backtack 3 blogroll is live

Go on check it out. I've had a blast putting them all together and looking at all your blogs.

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

MATCHUPS HAVE NOW GONE OUT

This is just a quick email to say that everyone who has signed up successfully will now have received their matchup emails. Nicole has literally worked through the night to send these out, so she deserves a massive pat on the back, flowers, chocolates, and good wishes for her effort.

Please check your addresses and tell us if something is wrong. We also strongly advise that you contact your person within the next few days and let them know you exist. Please also double check with them how they like their address to be written, particularly for those who live in outside the US - I know some of the addresses have loads of commas and full stops in them and it will always pay to get it right now rather than in 2 months time when your parcel has gone missing.....(which we sincerely hope doesn't happen).

We have people playing from all over the world - from Sweden to Japan, Australia to Portugal, and apparently the entire city of Portland in the USA is playing too. And there's many more inbetween and it's been wonderful to see where people are coming from, and the different blogs. We'll get the blogroll updated shortly as well so you can all peruse the players as they work.

I guess this means...

GAME ON!!!

SIGNUP UPDATE

Nicole and I have been sifting through names and emails and addresses of everyone who signed up and wanted to update you all on progress.

We know you're all keen to know whether you got in, and I've answered a number of emails personally, but just can't answer all of them in the time we have had. If you did not make it in, I would have contacted you immediately to let you know. Anyone else who sent us an email as instructed made it in, so you can all breathe a sigh of relief!!

Nicole is very busy sending out matchups over the next day or two. Please understand this takes hours and hours of her time, and if you don't get it today, you may get it tomorrow. Please don't get anxious, we're moving through it as fast as we can.

We'll post again here to say that all matchups have been sent out so you know when it's officially done.

happy playing and we are so excited to see what you guys come up with!!

Friday, April 07, 2006

SIGN UPS ARE NOW CLOSED!

Well that was quick! We are completely blown away at how quick that was - 1 hour and 9 minutes!! We have now reached our 100 place capacity for backtack3 and would like to announce that sign ups are now officially closed. We will not accept anymore signups. We’re sorry if you missed out, but hope you enjoy seeing what gets created in the meantime, and maybe we’ll see you back here next year for backtack4! For those of you who have signed up, we will get matchups out by the 18th April, and happy playing!

AND WE HAVE LIFT OFF

Did we tickle your interest with our BT3 theme? We’re pretty keen about it, and can’t wait to see the results, and from the feedback we’ve got, you guys seem pretty thrilled as well. Guess you now want to sign up right? OK. Here’s what you need to do, and understand, before signing up.

Please read our Terms of Agreement Disclosure Statement which follows::

As we have made explicitly clear at the start of each backtack, your decision to sign up is your agreement and commitment with us, and your backtack partner that you will follow through with that commitment – you will email regularly, you will email thanks and notification, you will send a parcel within the dates already noted, and you will give as good as you expect to receive. We take this seriously, your partner takes it seriously, and so should you. We will ask again, that if anything is coming up during the play time that could affect your ability to follow through on your commitment – are you moving? Going away? Having a baby? Going through life issues? Know that you’re not good at emailing people? that you seriously consider whether this is right for you. This message isn’t getting through to a number of people, and for that reason we are adding some changes to how things are handled once you sign up.

First, this will no longer be anonymous. Your blog address will be sent to your partner with matchups. Second, if your parcel has not arrived with its recipient by 2 weeks after close of play we will publicly list on this blog your name/blog address until you contact your partner and come to an agreement, or a parcel is received and we are notified. We want you to be more accountable to the person you are sending to, and we think that is only fair. We do keep records of non-performers, and we do cross check that list with sign ups. We will also warn you that there is a move amongst organizers of these swaps across the blog world to have a central blacklist to try and curb some of the non-performance issues which inevitably occur with operations like this. We cannot make someone email someone else, we cannot make someone send something and we cannot find lost parcels in the post, so please think carefully before signing up, and if something comes up, let us know immediately so we can take action.

Now we have the heavy stuff out, let’s sign up!
Please send the following information to this address :: bt3.signup@gmail.com . Do not send it to any other address – we will only accept sign ups to this address. Please do not send general enquiries to this address either - we have an email address for that, and it is located in the sidebar.

1. Your full name for mailing purposes
2. Your full address for mailing purposes including your postcode and your country.
3. Your blog URL
4. A statement of whether you will, or will not, send internationally. If you don’t say, we’ll assume you’re happy sending international.

We will notifiy on this blog only when we have reached 100 places and sign ups will be officially closed. We will accept no more sign ups after that time. Good luck, and we’ll see you on the otherside!!

Saturday, April 01, 2006

BACKTACK 3 REVEALED






You keen? You ready? You wanna know what's going on?

Welcome to BT3 - our third run of the very popular Backtack series. We think we've come up with something which will really get people to think and create within some tight parameters. By restricting what you can do and use we hope to get some amazing interpretations from some very creative and clever people (umm, that's you guys by the way).

This time we'd like to to make a softie.
But not any softie.
The softie can be any pattern, but we've found three we'd like you to consider using first. Mainly because they're cool patterns, but also because we think they'll work with what we want you to do with the softie. Hillary Lang at Wee Wonderful's has very kindly agreed for us to use her two free patterns for the 'wee bunny' and the 'pointy kitty'. This is extremely generous of her, and we know her patterns will be fantastic for this. If you use her patterns we would appreciate you respecting her rights as an artist, her ideas, and her patterns and do not alter them. But don't go using Hillary's bandwidth, we'll send you copies of the pattern with your matchups. Second, we have a pattern we will make available only to those who sign up. We will tell you it's a very cute bunny pattern, very sweet and quite easy.

The softie has certain restrictions though. You could sense some catches coming couldn't you?! This is where we get tough. These are all non-negotiable, so read this carefully, because we want you to make the softies in a specific way.

1. They must be made from black and/or white materials. How much of either you use is up to you. It can be plain, or patterned. It can be knitted, felted, plastic whatever your imagination comes up with. We want you to get creative here, and think outside the box.
2. 1 additional colour - and one only - may be used, but it cannot comprise more than 20% of the final piece.
3. The softie cannot be any higher than 20cm
4. You must attach 5 buttons of your choice, in locations also of your choice, to the softie.
5. You must include on your softie somewhere the first initial of the person you are sending this to. So if you are sending to Sarah, you must have a letter 'S' somewhere on the softie. Again, use your imagination.

Clear? Good. Out of sameness comes diversity, and just as every snowflake is different yet the same, we hope to get many different, but same, softies. This isn't to everyone's tastes, so if it's not sitting well with you, please don't sign up.

If the concept grabs you, and we hope it will, we'd love you to sign up. But first you'll need some important information about dates and stuff. The following are set in concrete and we will be strict about them.

Sign ups: Start 9.00am Australian EST on April 11th. That means you need to work out your time zones, time differences and date differences. That time and date should allow everyone a chance to sign up. Do not attempt to sign up before hand. We will delete all emails attemtping to pre-sign.

On the 11th April we will post that sign ups are open on this blog only. In that post will be a new email dress specifically for signing up. We will only take sign ups from that email address, so take a careful note of it. The address will not be made public prior to that date. Sign ups are limited to 100 people - we cannot cope with more than that number. If you believe you had pre-signed during a small window of opportunity to do so last year, you will have received an email from us already asking if you still wish to be involved. Those numbers will not be included in the 100 places available. If you have not received an email from us, you need to sign up as instructed above.

Matchups: Will be made and sent out to reach you by 18th April. Be ready to play…

Playtime: Because we begin play 20th April with a finish date of June 10th. You must ensure your finished goods arrive with their person by June 10th.

If you can't make those dates, will be travelling, or moving house, or you know you have some life issues coming up, we'd like to ask that you carefully consider whether being part of this is a good idea for you. We take it that you signing up is your commitment to this, us and your partner. You are part of a chain, and it is upsetting and rude to not deliver on that commitment. Similarly we expect you treat everyone involved with respect, compassion and manners - email regularly, let us know if there's a problem as soon as it happens, email to let your person know they're parcel has been sent, and email a thankyou. Small amounts of kindness go a long way.

As in previous backtack's we require you to have a blog - don't have one? Start one now! We expect you to post regularly, show us what you're doing, and post what you sent and received. We also require a maximum of 2 photos of finished product be sent to us for inclusion in the flickr album. More details on that later though.

We hope you'll get excited about this, and look forward to seeing you all play!

Thursday, March 30, 2006

ARE YOU READY FOR ANOTHER BACKTACK?


As sands through the hourglass, so too are the days of our lives and we come to find that once again we are on the cusp of another backtack installment. Nicole and I have been working on a slightly different backtack experience for BTIII. It will be a challenge for some of you, but a whole heap of fun as well, and when we put the final results together in a flickr album, you'll understand why we set what we did.

You didn't think we'd tell you right now though did you? Oh no. We're much more sneaky than that. On the 5th April we will announce BTIII - both here and on our blogs as well. We will tell you exactly what you need to do for this one, exactly what we require, and there will be explicit instructions to comply with for signing up and for playing. We urge that if you are interested in playing, that you read that post very carefully. The new backtack button above gives a huge hint about what is in store...

And if you're keen, follow the sign up instructions here on the 5th April NOT BEFORE because we'd love to have you all come and play.