Do you do swaps online, do you love them, hate them, can not afford them? What do you like, love, hate about them?
I have been doing online swaps since 1998! Remember those Y2K charm swaps?
Every time I do one, I end up asking myself was it really worth it!
I KNOW ahead of time what is involved, rules merely serve as suggestions rather than true guidelines, "Quality" fabric is a term lost in translation, deadlines mean you have 2 or more weeks to go once the "deadline" date has arrived, and at times you never receive the item you were swapping for!
Today I sent out swap blocks and had sticker shock at the PO...wow...one single block sucked flat in an envelope cost $.88 IF it was under 1oz! Those over 1oz were as high as $1.35, Canadian was $1.60!
So that prompted to me to come home and do some figuring...cost of envelopes, $3.00, cost of total postage to send out my fabric and to send out the finished blocks $44.56, cost of fabric for My blocks $15.00, cost of fabric for blocks I made to send out $18.50. Then there is the TIME you put in to buy, wash, iron, cut and sew all that fabric plus doing the envelopes twice and going to the PO twice 30+hours!
Yes, you do end up with blocks,charms, etc, be they good or bad, to make a quilt, but if you had skipped the swap and saved that money and time wouldn't you have just made a quilt you really wanted to make anyway?
There are swaps for things other than blocks, charms, strips or Fq's, and some are great and some are not so great! I do feel that when you agree to swap something with someone you MUST fulfill that obligation and when you do not then should you not be allowed to play any more! But that still leaves someone with an EMPTY pocket who already sent you something, so how is that fair?
What exactly is the DRAW to keep doing these swaps? For me I believe it is the A- the thrill of the unknown, B- I just LOVE to get mail and C- Deadline "RUSH" make me happy!
I am sure it just means I am a silly old Blonde who still believes in Christmas and miracles, but what can I say!