Holiday Swaps

This is a wallhanging I designed this year for a swap partner that was enamoured of Dresden plate.

So, another Christmas Eve has come and I am sitting at the computer in my son's office in Georgia keeping Mozzarella company. Mozz (as he is fondly called) is a lovely cat. We are visiting for the holidays and it is pretty cold outside for this far south so I was thinking of things that keep me warm. 

I am very much into Christmas swapping on Instagram. I got started a few years ago with a lovely lady from England. It was a 12 days of Christmas swap. The task was to create 12 gifts for an assigned partner. I was given some clues into their likes and dislikes which would make it fun to create and buy some gifts. This was completely new to me but I thought it would be fun to do something different. Little did I know the amazing world network of friends it would open to me.

My first partner was someone in California but she was from my home state of NY. It was such fun to try to search her posts to find the clues to the gifts that I would make. I got to wrap them and write a little clue and send them off in time for opening day. While that opportunity opened a swap friend, it has become so much more. She encouraged me to pick up the cracker swap last year and that has been a blessing as well. We continue to keep in touch and while we have not met in person, we have shared some life events, both happy and sad. It would not have happened without the first swap.

The organizer of that first swap has become a good friend even though we are so far apart in miles. Several years ago my husband and I traveled to the UK and spent the day with her and her family. It was such a blessing to be able to meet face to face. We continue to communicate often and share a swap at Christmas. 

While in the UK, I was able to spend time with another IG friend. We met through postings and messaging as I was up late and so was she. Turns out our birthdays are one day apart. We took the train up to her home and spent a day with her and her family. I was so happy to be able to see her as well. She is an amzing cross stitcher and has tried to encourage to try it. I have tried but I do not have her patience and talent for that craft. I have a cross stitch of our greyhound, Bugsy that she did. (see photo below)  I have found true friends.

Another IG friend has encouraged me to try knitting (I am trying) and it is fun too. We share a love of dachshunds as well as sewing and crafting. Would not have met except for the swap as she lives a thousand miles away. Another blessing!

I could flood the page with pictures of the lovely and thoughtfully made gifts that I have received. This year has brought another batch and now friends from Scotland and Norway to go with Germany and Canada and the US. The gifts are amazing but the real gift for me is carried in my heart. Especially during COVID, I was blessed to be able to have these friends to share with, commiserate with and celebrate with. There are so many others that I have been blessed by through other swaps all year long. 

Do you like swapping? Have you ever tried to do it? Do you organize one? I know that not every swap is perfect. Peoples' lives are all different and we experience different events. But I have found that the adage  "tis better to give than receive" rings true. 

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On to 2023 and my plans for the new year of crafting. I plan to continue swapping but I do have some new ideas. I would like to create a wallhanging of my newest grandpup as well as finish two already started.  We went to see a presentation of A Christmas Carol and I have always wanted to create a quilt of that. We went to the botanical gardens and saw these amazing origami flower statues . An idea blooming there?

What are your plans for 2023? Goals to learn a new technique? A quilt you have never made? Finish UFOs? The year seems so long but I always find my wish to make list grows every year. 

Wishing you a lovely holiday! A happy, healthy and lots of time to do your favorite craft kind of year. Hope to see you in January.

Piecefully and hopefully,
Trisha

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