Stash Diet Spring Cleaning Swap Meet!

Hey guys! Have you been spring cleaning (or fall cleaning) lately? If the urge has struck you and you're finding you'd like to streamline some of your sewing accoutrement, we - Morgan, Andrea and I - invite you to join the Spring Cleaning Swap Meet!

The idea is simple:

• Round up any any fabric, patterns, notions, or even sewn garments that you don't want anymore
• Post them on your blog or in the Stash Diet flickr group
• Let your readers know how they can win (random drawing, first-come-first-serve, etc) and how you'd like to handle shipping (who pays, where you'll send to, etc)
• Bask in your tidy sewing space and shop the swap!

Put up your post anytime on March 29 - 30; keep your eyes peeled for a kick-off post on Morgan's blog where you can add links to your swap posts! And, if you'd like to get involved in swapping but aren't able to participate this weekend, fear not - the regular Stash Diet Swap is going all year round in the flickr group.

Let us know if you have any questions, and happy cleaning!

Stash Diet Swap Update!

Hi all you dieters!  How you feeling?  Anybody weak in the knees yet?  Sitting next to your stash to inhale the fabric fumes?

In the week since Morgan put up the Stash Diet Swap Guidelines, we've had more members join and lots of stuff has gone up for swap.  We heard there was a bit of confusion around the swap though, so we thought we'd clarify a bit.

To take part in the swap, you do not need to be "dieting" but we do require that you join the group.

Once you're in, simply upload pictures of the items you want to swap.  This could be fabric, patterns, yarn, notions - anything pertinent that needs a new home. 

In order to make it easier for others to see that the item is up for grabs, make sure to write SWAP in the title.  That way everyone can see what's available from the group pool by hovering over the photos, rather than having to click through to the descriptions of lots of different photographs.

It's also helpful if you state in your description how you want to be contacted and whether or not you'd like to be paid for the shipping. 

Remember that in this group, a swap does not have to be an even trade - or a trade at all!  For instance, Morgan added a fabric I've been wanting, so I asked her for it.  She didn't take anything of mine.  However, the fabric below was one from my stash that I wanted to pass on, and Becky asked me for it.  She asked if I wanted anything of hers, but nothing was tempting me enough to increase my stash numbers, so I just sent it to her.

So in my case, my stash number has stayed the same:  I received one piece of fabric, but gave another away to a different person.

Morgan encouraged us to think of the swap as a big giveaway - you don't have to do an even trade, however, you may do so if you like.  For greater detail, refer to the complete set of rules on the swap discussion forum.

Once you've swapped an item, change the title to TAKEN, so members know it's no longer available.  We also decided that it would help the page stay more organized if the photo is removed completely from the pool once the item has shipped.

Finally, if you care to, you can post about the swaps you've made in the Swap discussion forum.  We thought it might be fun to see what is going where!

Stash Diet: the Swap Edition!!

When we started Stash Diet: 2014, we had a few ideas about activities we could do along the way to make things more engaging.  One of those was hosting a swap.  But neither Andrea nor I had any experience with swapping!  We weren't quite sure how to go about it.

Thankfully, Morgan has lots of experience with swaps, and generously volunteered to be in charge of the swapping portion of the group.  We've had several comments asking about the possibility of a swap, so we're excited to get this going.

Morgan has started a Swap discussion thread over at the group - you can head over there to read the guidelines she's set up, or read her post here.  She's planning on having larger quarterly swaps, but also encourages smaller swaps in between the larger events.

Have you ever done a swap before?  I never have, and am excited to take part.  I love most of my stash, but there are a few pieces that just aren't going to get used.  Much better to have them go to a loving home!

Oops. My bad.

In a combination of not fully understanding the concept, tiredness, and over-enthusiasm, I signed up twice for the "crafty pay-it-forward."  I get it now.  It's not a swap.  I will receive one package from the person I left a comment for, and make something for five (other) people who leave me comments wishing to participate.

SO, since I signed up twice, I will commit to making something for ten commenters. If I get that many!

Handspun yarn, a piece of former craftiness.
This was a holiday gift for a co-worker a
few years ago.

Something fun!

Some of you may read my friend Andrea's blog, Stitch Parade.  The other day she posted a fun swap-type-thingy and I decided to participate!  I've never taken part in anything like this, but I just couldn't resist.  Who doesn't like receiving a fun, surprise package?  And so much the better if it includes hand-made items!

Andrea has the link back to where she got the idea from, but here's the basic idea: in choosing to participate, I agree to make for and send something to the first five people who comment on this post that they want to participate, as long as they agree to post it on their blogs as well and do the same for their first five commenters.  I know some folks are blogless and that would seem to exclude them, but I'm wondering if this could somehow be extended to those who use things like Facebook (which I don't), Twitter and the like.   So if you have ideas about this, please to chime in!

I looked at the blogs of a few of the people who have participated so far, and it seems to me that it has mostly focused on sewing.  Andrea mentioned that she had some ideas about what she would make for her buddies, and while she didn't say what those were, it got me to thinking.  She and I share a love of lists, and recently I began making a list of different arts/crafts I have done throughout my life.  Want to see?  This is what I have so far:

FIBER

knitting

crochet

spinning - drop spindle and wheel

weaving - inkle

weaving - tapestry

weaving - four-shaft

basket weaving

temari

sewing

quilting

rug hooking

tie dye

silk dying

fiber dying - natural and chemical

cross-stitch

PAPER ARTS

silk screening

paper making

paper marbling - western

paper marbling - sumi nagashi

calligraphy

small books

GLASS

glass bead making

glass fusing

glass blowing

JEWELRY

precious metal clay

metalsmithing

bead weaving - loom

bead weaving - off loom

wirebending

You may have guessed that I get bored easily!  Some of these things I had just a passing interest in and tried out, like tapestry weaving and rug hooking.  Others I was intensely involved in for quite some time, like calligraphy and glass bead making.  But knitting is the one hobby that I've done my whole life and never gotten tired of.  And I don't see myself ever tiring of it!

So all this is to say that as I've thought about what I might make for my swapping buddies, sewing is not the first thing that comes up.  I'll leave it at that!  Since I'm busy with my nephew and niece this month, I'm going to ask that if you decide to participate and are one of the first five, that you email me with your address.  I'm adding a page of contact info under the header.  I think this will save me having to scramble for addresses later on.

In other news, I'm having a great time with my nephew!  We did indeed take the water taxi downtown on his first day:

view from the Chicago River

and ended up at Navy Pier, where we played mini-golf!  Yesterday we took in a movie.  And today I'm thinking of taking him to Millennium Park to see the Bean: