Swap Angels and Administration
September 17th, 2009
I was very pleased earlier this week to learn that one of the missing mini quilts from the Spring Blooms swap finally arrived from Australia to it’s new home in Kansas, USA.
I know two quilts have officially been lost in the post. One from the UK to France and another from Brazil to the United States. I want to thank both Maggi and Glaucia for generously offering to make new quilts for their partners to replace the lost ones. Maggi’s replacement quilt is the one pictured.
I am still hopeful that mini quilts for Claudine, Holly and Sue will arrive as I have heard back from their partners that they would be sent (or have been sent)… almost 3 months late.
There is one person that I have not been able to reach despite repeated attempts. Robin has offered to be a Swap Angel and make a new quilt for Jay. Thanks Robin!
I have a couple more Swap Angels to call upon if the three missing quilts mentioned above don’t arrive soon.
If there’s anyone else that has not received their Spring quilt, please contact me. I’ve tried to keep track, but it’s possible an email or two fell through the cracks.
I had no idea how time-consuming organizing the swaps would be. Just under 3,000 emails so far for the three swaps: spring, summer and friendship bag.
Despite the few bad apples (swappers), it’s been fabulous to see so many gorgeous creations. You can see them for yourself in the various Flickr groups:
I will be adding a level of experience question to the next swap registration: beginner, intermediate, and expert. I will be matching partners the best I can based on their experience level.
I’d love to hear any feedback or suggestions from participants. Is there anything I can do to make the swaps better? Has your experience been good, fine, bad? Any suggestions for improvement would be greatly appreciated. You can leave a comment below or send me a private email.
It has been suggested by a few that I charge a small admin fee to help offset the time and costs associated with running these swaps. Ideally, payment would be via PayPal, but other arrangements can be made if that option doesn’t work for you.
I’ve added a poll below. It’s anonymous. I’ll make a decision next weekend if I’ll start charging the admin fee for the Fall swap due to start September 28th. Thanks for your vote!
Would you pay a $5.00 admin fee to participate in a swap?
- No, I won't pay a $5.00 admin fee (57%, 43 Votes)
- Yes, I'll pay a $5.00 admin fee (43%, 32 Votes)
Total Voters: 75
Loading ...I also want to thank those of you that have sent a donation. Your support is greatly appreciated.
I like the idea of adding the experience level to the swaps. As a beginner quilter, I was worried my bag wasnt as good as the more experienced quilters. I also like how quick and easy the bag was. It made me want to make more and I was excited to have a sew night.
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I too think an experience level is a good idea. I don’t think I am a professional and surely would love what I get no matter what my partners experience level is. Just knowing that it was made with love for me is enough.
I have not voted in the $5 poll because I feel torn about it. Here are my thoughts: Pros – lots of work on the part of the administrator, might hold people more accountable before just registering. Cons – swappers are making swap projects and paying for postage out of pocket, might deter someone because the cost becomes too great. I wonder if perhaps limiting the swap to a smaller number of people might be a more economical way to still allow swaps to be free but cut down on work. I might participate if there was a fee, but also I might be more hesitant, it is hard to say. Just my thoughts.
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I don’t know if I would pay a fee for a couple of reason. One I do not belong to pay pal nor will I sign up for pay pal so I would have to send a check. Two I am lousy at sending checks so would probably miss the deadline.
I have been on other sites that require an active blog page. This helps others be more accountable as they are not quite as anonymous. Plus it is more fun to make something for someone when you can get to know them a little thru their blog.
I think there are pros and cons to charging the fees but i would pay the $5 fee if I really wanted to participate in the swap. Thank you Michelle for all your hard work on these swaps, for all the endless time and headaches following up with everyone for each swap.
I like the experience level idea, i made my mini quilt but did not feel it was to the level of my swap partner so i included a note with my quilt asking her to overlook my imperfections, she was very gracious and thanked me for the lovely quilt. I look forward to the swaps because it helps me enhance my skills and i see the creativeness in all the quilters – i just love it. Thank you
Hi Michele! My Summertime Quilts heads out into the mail on Monday~if you need another swap angel, feel free to add me to your list. As far as levels of experience, I think we’re all a bit too critical of our own work, these projects are to be made of friendship and the love of sewing. Empowerment sewing amigos!
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I have no problems with paying an administration fee and would be happy to do so. It might mean I participate in fewer swaps as our budget is very tight with the current economy but I understand admin. costs.
As to experience levels….I’m torn on that one. Being a novice swapper and beginning quilter, I’m still learning all of this so my quilt is certainly not perfect and is not anywhere near as wonderful as some of those in the Flicker group. But I think we should all feel equally able to participate, learn, and contribute to others through this process.
THANKS Michelle for hosting and doing it so well. We are indebted to you for sharing your talents and expertise and bring us altogether. However you manage to make it work, I LOVE IT!!! This has been a great experience and I haven’t even received my surprise in the mail yet!
THANKS!
Teresa/MarieSews
Hi Michele,
I to am torn about the fee. If I were to join in the swap I would be responsible for the mailing of the item and it may determine if I could join or not do to economics and all. As far as the experience level I feel we all judge our abilities so high that we may feel we fall short of others expectations. I like the fact that these are gifts of kindness and are made from love. If I were to receive a gift I would cherish the fact that someone thought enough to do so out of kindness. I don’t know if this helps you or not but these are my thoughts on both subjects. I love your work and inspirations to inspire us all. Keep up the great work.
Personally I don’t mind paying a fee to participate, but I can see how the idea of making a payment online may discourage folks from signing up.
Perhaps one way to keep things under control would be to limit the number of participants (as is done for most swaps like these). Kudos to you for handling such large swaps!
If your web hosting service allows you to create new email accounts easily, you could set up a different email address for different swaps that folks have to use to communicate with you, so you are not dealing with one huge bucket of email that you have to mentally sort out each time.
I love the idea of having an experience level so partners can be better matched. Have you considered restricting swap participation to those who have a web presence – either a blog or flickr account? It helps to get a rough idea about one’s partner’s preferences. Though someone says ‘quilter’s choice’ it would prevent the possibility of them just hating the colours one chose! :)
Michele,
I really appreciate the enormous amount of work you do to make these swaps available. I don’t mind paying a fee since I know it would help compensate for your time.
I agree with Maya that it should be required to have a blog, flickr account or website before signing up for a swap.
Another thought is to only allow someone to sign up for a swap if they’re already successfully completely a swap or if someone who has completed one recommends them and agrees to Angel the swap if their friend doesn’t follow through.
It looks like a toss up as to whether we tend to overstate or understate our abilities lol. Maybe we could just have a box on the registration where we can list the number of years/months we’ve been quilting and check a box (if we want) indicating that we prefer to swap with someone with an equal number of years.
I am would like to volunteer to be an Angel for the Summertime swap so please let me know if you need me.
I didn’t vote because I don’t mind doing a $5 per swap, but if we had a lot of swaps it would probably add up and be a deterrant…
that said… could you sign up with paypal so that we could contribute through that method. I had already been thinking of contributing, but I’d sure like to be able to do it through paypal.
I really appreciate the work you do in organizing all this and yes, you do deserve and have definitely earned some… I’m a new quilter (doing it the “real” and “correct” way) and so I’m learning so much by doing these small projects and not feeling quite so overwhelmed by jumping in for a big quilt project right out of the gate.
rag quilts are so much more forgiving, they don’t require near as much of the detail oriented work, and precision, what’s precision?
Would this be a one time fee or 5.00 per swap?
I’m torn – I have no problems with paying an administration fee and would be happy to do so. It just might mean that I would most likely participate in fewer swaps.
As to experience levels….I’m also torn on that one. Being a novice swapper, I like the fact that these are gifts of kindness and are made in friendship. How wonderful it is to go a visit another blog enjoying like things.
Michelle Thanks so much for hosting and doing it so well.
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Here are my thoughts. For people concerned about the fee, they could be on a list to have a partner in their own country, should lessen the postage costs. I wouldn’t worry about the expertise level, this should stay fun. But adding that question hopefully would make your job easier. If there is no fee, is there a way to lessen the contact emails back and forth? I don’t think making the swaps smaller would benefit anyone. I agree that participants should have a blog or something so there is some way of accountability and getting to know them a little. Perhaps you could have an FAQ page people visit to find answers so you have less emailing to do? I’d pay the fee. Sometimes being involved in less is better, or if the fee is too much, be a swap angel maybe that could replace the fee for the next swap? Good job Michele!
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[...] want to thank everyone that voted and left comments or sent emails on the swap admin post from a couple of weeks. I read all comments, and have debated how to proceed. For now, things [...]
I would not pay to do a swap. I realize there is work in coordinating the swaps.. but your swappers are the ones that put out all the currency expense… to add more to that just to participate… I would not join this group and that is why I came here. To see what your swap was about. If I have to pay to play- I am going somewhere else. There are a lot of swaps out there and they are free. Don’t make people chose to leave because they just can’t pay for fabric- materials- postage AND a administration fee to pair people up. Make it easier on yourself- not harder on your fans.