Hey guys, this seems to be a last minute craziness swap. Everyone is so dedicated here and there seem to so many hiccups in the process.
I extend the deadline for sending to Wednesday. So please don’t stress!
@Immaculata what a bummer with your sewing machine. How can they change it completely without telling you!
@Renstar tagging you
Yaayyy thanks!
It’s simple, the owner is the kind of person that makes assumptions without thinking it through. It works perfect for garment sewing now, better than in a long time, but it struggles with layers. He was very surprised I noticed so quickly - in fact I noticed on day 1 but I blamed it on being tired. But it still didn’t work when I double checked everything and changed the needle. Turns out his assumption was that being a young person, I only did basic garment sewing, a skirt or a T-shirt, but in fact I sew a lot and I sew all the things, including bags and quilts. The looser tension would maybe save the motor, but it’s a 45-year old machine. I’d rather be able to use it properly for the next 10 years or so until the motor dies, rather than not being able to sew half the things I want to sew for 20 years.
ETA: in the meantime I did sew a simple very small Dutch extra, because at least I could get that bit to work 
The stain is mostly removed, but now the deadline is extended I’m debating whether I should wash the thing. There’s time for it to dry (it’s a washable thing).
By the way, yesterday I spoke to a third person who has our machine! Hers is also almost complete, inherited from grandma. Clearly very durable machines.
Oh, that’s good news.
My back up plan hasn’t turned out anywhere near as good as I would like. So, back to the drawing board.
Hey everyone! How was your weekend?
I managed to ship my swap package. Fingers crossed that my partner likes it.
@grabacoffee everything ok on your end?
All is packed, the mailman will grab it tomorrow morning, as it was a bit Big for dropoff box ( no worries, it’s not a huge box, we just did not have space there, where the postban grabs). I hope it will arrive quickly 
I had a very busy weekend, so I was happy to get the extended deadline! I crafted Saturday mornimg but was too busy for the rest of the weekend. I spent some time thinking of the thing I couldn’t get to work in the way I liked and I think I’ll be able to make it tomorrow. I changed some details.
My 3rd attempt has moved to a medium I’m not at all familiar with 
But I have another back up plan if this fails… might have to work on them both at the same time
I’m working from home unexpectedly today and it took me some time to dig out my desk from under two swap boxes and supplies thrown around 
Buuut the upside of working from home is I get to work on the swap during my lunch break too! I don’t mind working in the office, but I get so much more done working from home - in my job and also in my personal life. I put the dishwasher and the washing machine on before work and crafting time during breaks.
I managed to solve a structural issue with the extra time this weekend. I plan to drop the package off after work.
I’m still working on my ‘country’ item for one of my two swap partners. I had an idea, it’s related to what I like to do in summer in my country but it’s also inspired by something on my partner’s pinterest. I tried several different ways of making it but I don’t like the way it ended up looking. Originally it was personalized both to my partner’s taste (at least I hope so) and there was a reference to a local thing, as well as a country thing. Maybe I shouldn’t put that many ideas into one project Especially not a project that is supposed to be a small. I know I’m not the only person who is always spending too much time figuring out whether I’m undercrafting or overcrafting this time? I think I’m going to pare it back to the basics: related to what we do in summer in my country, my partner’s style preference and functionality.
My small item also had a life of its own. I had an idea very quickly based on a question from my best friend (she’s from Italy, and the question kind of matched the swap theme). Then I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to try a technique I always wanted to try. This took quite a while to prepare. Then I started crafting and came to a point where I totally zoomed out. It was so much fun and I kept adding one detail after the other. I could have gone on for days. So I forced myself to call it finished and send it off on Saturday.
My package is officially out, I’ll get the tracking information tomorrow. I hope my partner will like everything… it looked totally random when I put everything together 
Lol, so does yours! My country does not prefer the softer neutral colour scheme, it looks a bit out of place! @Silky_Bee 's swap package has more of a theme to it, which sort of matches my country.
Package sent.
Sometimes living in the middle of a forest is not so good. There are no post offices 
Whew, I managed the drop off today in between work and water aerobics!
Lol today is my work from home day and I wanted to go to the post office in my lunch break to drop off my swap packages, but I’ve got to stay home because I’m receiving from @Silky_Bee and I need to sign for the parcel! But the parcel point is open until 9pm today so it will be fine.
I had some (more) last minute issues with my project that I was hoping to fix today and send out. Work was too busy for that so I missed the post office.
However, it is fixed and will hopefully hold up through the post, not gonna lie, that is making me a little anxious. But the worst case scenario is that I have to re-create the item(s).
I will be posting tomorrow, sorry for the delay.
I have now posted
Whoohoo! All packages made it to their destinations!
Thank you all for participating! It was such a fun swap with amazing items made by each and everyone of you.
And we didn’t have to sit anxiously waiting for the packages to arrive.
It was really cool to learn a bit about all of your countries.
I would definitely be up to organize a winter version of this swap if you’re interested in it.
Thanks for organising, it was a fun challenge!