Hi everyone What fun it has been to organize the card exchange. I recall that a lacemaker in Europe organized a small but successful card exchange on this list several years ago (simultaneous with an ornament exchange which got more 'takers' at the time). She posted the pictures of the cards, too. I have forgotten who it was, but if she is reading this, please know that it was the start of something good! I have loosely kept track, and there are only about a dozen unresolved despatches. If you haven't received your card yet, don't panic – it is probably wending its way to you in the post (now, if you haven't made your card yet, better let me know! eek!).
We had 53 despatches, with several people each sending to two recipients (and getting two cards in return, from others). I put the particulars in a database with these fields: your name; your preference to send (type of lace, local mail or overseas); the name of your recipient; preference for receiving; a column to indicate I have sent you your recipient's name. I added a 'sent' column when people started letting me know they had mailed their cards – that was neat, everyone! And as people would write that they received their cards, I put a notation in their recipient field. This information was not a condition of the exchange – but it seemed like a good idea, and has helped through a couple of glitches. It is very kind of Barbara to post pictures of the cards on her website. I think this is our largest exchange of any kind, yet, or close to it, and she has been working hard preparing the website. It will be lovely when the curtain is raised. Many thanks, Barbara! Speaking of the photos: The database could use a 'sent photo' column as well (and a 'no photo, thanks anyway' column, too). I suggest the photos should really be sent to the web person after the cards have been received, giving people a chance to have their card in hand, first. It completes the despatch, then the next logical thing is to send the photo, less chance of confusion about who should send it, because that can be decided between the sender/recipient (supposing one or the other doesn't have a scanner etc.) Which reminds me – include the e-mail address in your card when you send it! You will want to be in touch with each other, especially the recipient to thank the sender, then decide who wants to send the photo of the card. It was good to begin the exchange early in October, to give plenty of lead time for lacemaking. If everyone likes the sequencing system (A to B to C etc.), then a circle can be begun and ended, say, with each group of 20 or so names, as they come in, rather than wait until the cutoff date for taking names to assign the exchanges (I didn't wait either – I made two main circles and a v small circle, a 'satellite' <g> at the very end). As a participant, I would like to know to whom I will be sending my lace before I start working it – you can put more heart into it <g>. For those who need plenty more lead time: if you want, do work on a suitable lace during the year, at your own speed, then you'll be prepared when the card exchange comes around. The deadline for mailing could be brought ahead to 1 December. Those who experience unavoidable interruptions won't be too late in mailing if they miss by a day or three, as usually the overseas deadline for airmail is on or about 5 Dec. Two other things I would do differently: the first is that the preferences would be about mailing only and not what sort of lace you want or will send. As we discussed at the beginning of this exchange, most everyone agrees that any lace is welcome - we all take our work seriously, and it is a gift indeed to be given a piece of lace made by another lacemaker. The mailing preferences, for most, it won't matter, but for some, mailing on the same continent is better, or within a country they will be visiting, and it has helped in the matchmaking (as it were) to know these things. It is even ok to ask for a sender in a different climate – that was fun to arrange. The second thing: Someone suggested I include those on lace-chat in the exchange, so I did. This was ok, but those several people who responded didn't get the benefit of all the messages sent to lace; it was time-consuming trying to keep them in the loop as matters evolved. Another time I wouldn't bother on account of the logistics – it would be better to organize an exchange directly on the lace-chat list if someone wanted to do so To reiterate the basis of the exchange: With the cards posted at Barbara's site, a person can get a good idea of the sort of cards that people send. The bottom line is 'a lace card', i.e. your lace on a card. It can be a snippet of something against a picture background, or a complete ornament that can be taken off the card or a collage or an artwork or whatever, knitted, tatted, bobbin lace, needlelace, Romanian point lace, Battenberg, as long as it is lace and the card is made by you. If you want to send more than that, that is up to the sender. It is really nice to get something in the mail, and the other perk is that you are in contact with one or two more lacemakers. By the remarks coming in, everyone has taken to the exchange wholeheartedly. That is just so cool. Ok, folks, my stuff is a wrap. Any concerns about the current exchange, do contact me privately. I hope everyone who hasn't yet received their card finds it in their mailbox soonest. Thank you all for taking part, thank you for your nice messages! -- bye for now Bev in Sooke BC (on Vancouver Island, west coast of Canada) Cdn. floral bobbins www.woodhavenbobbins.com - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
