Yes! Love these ideas, guys. Thank you!
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I finished the back using the fourth option from this video, including the felt inside to keep it neat.
I was going to do the spirograph style string back I saw elsewhere, but chickened out. Maybe next time!
I did glue it yesterday, and it’s much tidier now.
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Maybe it would encourage participation if we posted prizes in advance. Something like,
“Steiconi is donating the quarterly prize for March; a custom 3D printed frame in your choice of shape.”
If you really like the prize, you’re more likely to get your stitch done…
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Oooo…I like that!!
Yes, totally agree on the motivation factor.
Great brainstorming guys…keep it up/weighing in. I’ll gather a consensus and maybe create a schedule of donations etc. depending on where we land. 
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It certainly doesn’t need to be cash, but the prize drawings are a fun little motivator. I’m very happy to donate some prizes.
If we stick with monthly raffles, maybe small and flat things might be good, especially for international postage? For example, it’s probably not worth the postage cost to mail floss to NZ (and US peeps can’t even mail parcels to me anyway atm), but an envelope with a bookmark and some stickers, or a lovely stitched card would delight me.
I’d be happy to send flat things several times (e.g. little watercolours, small stitched item), or if we go to quarterly, happy to send a parcel too.
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I think the threat of having to organize a mailing of a finished product if I win a month would keep me from ever entering again. 
I don’t need the prize, i like this sal for the motivation & creativity it spurs. Even when I don’t have something to enter for the month I’ve used the prompt to spur me on creatively.
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Ooh, book marks!
Card sets
Needle minders
Merit badges
Little journals
Lots of flat, easy make/mail options. I never tire of handmade stuff from friends here 
.
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Hahaha! But I think the list of prize senders should be completely separate from the winners - no pressure to organise sending something at all.
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Me too! a lovely little handmade thing carries so much joy
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I agree with everyone! Prizes are fun, but not necessary. I think prizes crafted by members would be great, but it would also be great if people donated supplies as a prize or even a gift card. A custom 3D printed frame would certainly be an absolutely awesome prize, but I’d be just as happy with a small stitched item or a Little Good Things-swap-like parcel with a card, a small crafted item and some cheap supplies. And I’d be willing to donate any of those things. I’d like to know in advance though!
Now, for the new theme, it was easy for me to come up with something this time.
There is war in Europe again, for the first time in nearly 30 years. We’ve just had two years of Covid misery. My gut feeling is the hard times aren’t going to end anytime soon, we might still be at the beginning instead of near the end. Where I live, we celebrate Carnival now. Tomorrow is the first day of Lent, traditionally a period of prayer and fasting but also of reflection and living a more simple life. The theme I propose is “count your blessings”. What’s a simple thing in your life that you are thankful for?
There are many things I am thankful for. Friends and family, my IRL sewing group with all of its supportive members, all of my Lettuce-friends. I am thankful to live with Mr Imma in a house with a solid roof over our heads, a well-stocked pantry and a garden that grows plenty of food. During the Great Recession we both encountered hard times where those simple things were difficult enough to get, so I’ll never take those for granted. A job that is actually contributing something good to this world, with nice and supportive coworkers. Even during these challenging times, there’s still so much good in the world, even though it’s easy to forget about it when all people are talking about is nuclear war.
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That’s a beautiful theme Imma 
Even so far away from Europe, we feel the shadow of war here in Aotearoa, and I’m thinking of you and all my friends in the North every day. You’re right, there are so many good things to be thankful for, in the midst of everything.
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Yes, agreed! I think some sort of schedule might work…so you would know which month is yours. And it could help with announcing the prize at the start of the month as well if folks have time to prepare. I’m still thinking on the details and might set up a poll to make things official.
And excellent theme. We definitely need the reminder to focus on everyday blessings. I love your list!
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Yes, exactly. Don’t worry @Camelama! I’m hoping to generate a pool of those willing to send a prize. It will not be a requirement to participate in the stitchalong or for winning!
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Duplicate
Ok. Let’s try some polling questions to see where we land. If you think of something else outside of what’s been discussed already or represented below, feel free to still chime in!
- Would you prefer the stitchalong have a prize (monetary or not) for winners on a regular basis?
- Yes
- No
0 voters
- If you would like to keep prizes, would you prefer they occur monthly or quarterly?
- Monthly
- Quarterly
0 voters
- If you would like to keep prizes, what is your preference for the type of prize offered (you can select more than one)?
- Gift card
- Crafted item
- Craft supplies
0 voters
- Are you willing to donate any of the above options (gift card, crafted item, or supplies) to winners? (If you are willing to donate, you would also ship to the winner, though @Abbeeroad is willing to serve as intermediate if needed.)
- Yes
- No
0 voters
If you volunteer to donate/send prizes, I will follow up with you separately.
Thank you all for participating and offering such great ideas!
ETA: I also want to say that I love the idea of the winner selecting the next month’s theme and fully intend to continue that despite where we land with prizes.
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I know I very rarely participate here, but I’m chiming in with two things as a longtime Craftalong organizer…
#1. Another flat/easy to send thing to give as a prize in the stitchalong is an embroidery pattern. Either printed and mailed in an envelope, or in a digital format. It could be something from a well known designer, or something drawn & created by the giver. Wouldn’t it be cool to stitch up something a fellow LC member drew?
#2. We used to regularly do prizes in the HP Craftalong, and a couple years ago, we gave it up. This was for a few reasons. One was that somehow the number of prizes awarded had grown to 4-5 per quarter, while our actual membership had decreased from about 30+ people every term, to just 10-15. Another reason was that the same (very few) folks kept being the ones to volunteer to donate. And they often felt guilty for ‘not doing more’, (cough, cough, Abbee), while so many others never voluteered at all. This led to a burnout for the 3-4 people donating every few months. And finally, folks who won had stopped even letting their sender know they had received anything. It was just like ‘oh yeah, I won another prize, no big deal’, but it was hurtful to the senders, to not even have the basic courtesy of a PM to say ‘Hey, your package arrived. Thank you!’
So the suggestion of making a plan ahead of time as to who will donate, and when, (especially if prizes are quarterly instead of monthly) would give you a good long time before you needed to ask for volunteers again.
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The money came from my pocket.
I want to see this stitch along grow and become even more beautiful than it already is, so whatever that takes, I’m onboard.
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P.S. I didn’t mean that last post as a discouragement of offering prizes! Just as a cautionary tale so you awesome folks could avoid those mistakes by knowing the pitfalls ahead of time.
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Selecting the next theme is my favorite idea for the prize. It doesn’t have to be mailed or dusted or stitched!
I would be happy to donate physical prizes, too.
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