Originally Posted by
bearisgray
Maybe the "guidelines" should read something like this?
Send in five blocks - any shape, any color, any size, any pattern, any quality of fabric, any quality of workmanship, made from washed or unwashed fabrics - and get five blocks back.
Would it still be a "reasonable" expectation to get five blocks back?
I don't feel "bad" about the swaps I participated in - I consider them to have been "educational" - I learned something from every block that came back - and from the blocks that I sent out, too.
Actually - it might be interesting to send four - of what I would consider "coordinated" sampler blocks to someone - and get four of what my trading partner would consider "coordinated" sampler blocks.
lol ...
that wasn't what i meant.
face it.
no matter how clear and detailed guidelines are,
somebody is either going to misunderstand,
think they have met the requirements even though they haven't, or just plain not care.
our local guild does show-and-tell. no matter how gawdawful something might be, nobody will tell the quilter that they went wrong somewhere, let alone where or how to avoid it in future. that's just one example of how things work just about everywhere. so lots of quilters don't know their stuff is not what it could be if somebody had been brave enough to tell them the truth.
our swap hostesses are allowed to return items unswapped if they don't comply with the guidelines.
but "good enough" and "correct" are subjective.
so, by expecting only the unexpected, you won't be surprised or overly disappointed.