I participate in some swaps and exchanges with wood carvers and mini quilters. I have even hosted several of these swaps & exchanges. Have you ever wondered what would happen to these swaps & exchanges if no one hosted them? If no one organized them, policed them, followed up on them, and then had to make "angel quilts"or extra carvings to send to participants whose swap partners dropped off the planet, without sending a carving or a quilt!
Well I can see the answer right around the corner. There seems to be more and more of these folks in each new swap. I am referring to those folks who sign up then don't even communicate with their swap partners, nor the host, and then never send a mini quilt or a carving. Do these folks just get over whelmed with life, and cannot fulfill their obligations? Or do they intentionally sign up as a way to get something?
Would this make them a thief? There I said it! THIEF! If they are thieves, what are they really stealing? It just starts out with the mini quilt or carving, that they steal. The mini quilt or carving is the lesser of things that are in fact stolen.
By not fulfilling their obligation they steal everyones trust, especially their swap partners.
The steal the though that quilters and carvers are special people.
They cause swap participants to stop participating.
They cause swap hosts to rethink ever again hosting another swap.
And when this happens, they steal the possibility of meeting some truly wonderful folks, through the swap projects.
They steal the fun of a swap.
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3 comments:
You know how I feel about this! Besides the ones that drop off the earth there are the ones who are LATE..always..LATE.
I don't want to swap with a CROOK, or with someone who has never learned to Stay in the TIME line.
I am SO TIRED of hearing "Life gets in the way" as the Okay excuse. Frankly, it's not OK!
Why would someone sign up for a swap knowing they are having hip surgery and won't be able to sit at a machine and sew? The first month they don't make anything. The next month it's due but the surgery goes bad and now everyone is suppose to feel sorry for THEM.
Right now I have one of those in my swap. If I even ask her when she will get a quilt made for her partner, than I'm the bad guy..ugh!
This year I stopped swapping in blog land. In January I'm turning over a new leaf..I'm not being a swap mama ever again. They WIN!
Well said, Tom.
I've only been blogging since January and I've participated in 6 swaps. Two are still in process in that the mailing deadlines haven't arrived yet.
In my first swap, we all had to send the items that we made to the swap hostess. She opened our boxes and SHE decided who would get what. I was so green at the time I thought that is was the way they all worked. It ended up that she sent all the 'good' things to her friends and the rest of us got the mediocre to poor stuff. I was so excited when I received my package...until I opened it, i.e. I couldn't believe it! I have thrown out better things in the trash.
In another one, I received a polite email from the gal to whom I sent my swap gifts. I went overboard I think and she said that she would post about it on her blog but she never did. Oh well.
On the other side of the coin, I have made two very good 'friends' as a result of swapping. One gal is in Australia and the other is in Holland. I guess it's a chance that we have to take if we agree to participate.
I won't stop yet. I guess I haven't been burned badly enough.
One last thing. The swap that I'm currently participating in is 'by invitation' only. In this was the swap hostesses know all the swapees and their track records. Perhaps this is the way to go.
Sorry for writing a book.
HERE HERE!! I agree one hundred percent!
I lost my round robin crazy quilt in the last swap, we did it on HGTV. Everyone got theirs except for me.
I will not do another round robin, sorry but my momma told me
"fool me once, shame on you
fool me twice, shame on me"
So I lose out on that, but will swap other things for awhile.
I truly hope Holee keeps doing the mini swap though. I love it!!!
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