What's up, fellow patch traders?

My stars, has it really been well over a year now since my last entry here? Goodness, how time flies when your staggeringly busy around the clock! As some of you know, this site my main blog (that would be Chronically Vintage), but I do still like to post here every now and then, if only to let others know that I'm still actively trading, selling, and buying GG patches.

While my life has certainly seen many changes and advances since my previous entry here, things remain largely the same on the Girl Guide patch (et al) related front. I continue to receive the occasional email from someone wishing to swap items and considerably more from folks who have GG/GS collecting related questions (be they pertaining to collecting or otherwise).

Though I find it goes through bursts of activity, as has been the case by and large for the last few years, eBay remains fairly slow on the GG front, particularly in terms of my key area of collecting, GGC Area, Division, District, and Provincial patches (though of course I do collect many other types of GG items, too).

I know that as time goes on, fewer and fewer people are still involved in the patch collecting scene (especially as it relates to the web) and that at least a couple of prominent collectors have scaled back or retired from the hobby (obsession! :D) in recent years.

Luckily though, there are still some of us out there keeping this wonderful pastime and passion alive and well (and of course heartfelt thanks enough cannot possibly go out to those who blazed the trail when it comes online trading, no matter if they're in the game, so to speak, any more or not).

Looking ahead in 2016, I plan to stay the course on that front and was struck recently by the fact that this blog is in its ninth year of life now, which is really cool. I eagerly look forward to hitting a solid decade next year.

As always, I adore hearing from fellow Girl Guide and Girl Scout collectors and enthusiasts, and welcome your emails on any subject pertaining to such.

Have an awesome, fun filled year and great time growing your own collection further in 2016, my friends!

Interviewed about my love of patch collecting

Recently I was contact by a young gal named Lilly from the States who wanted to interview about my interest in patch collecting for a school paper she was writing.

I was deeply touched that wanted to do so and instantly agreed to conduct an interview by email. Once it was completed, I asked her if she'd be ok me publishing her questions along with my answers to them here on this site and she said that was totally fine that.

Though I've been interviewed before by various blogs, publications and radio stations in relation to certain interests and aspects of my life, this was the first interview I'd had pertaining to patch collecting, which makes extra special in my eyes.

Long time readers of this blog may already know some of this information about me and my history with patch collecting, but as I haven't done a post on the specifics of what got me into swapping and gathering Girl Guide and Girl Scout patches in quite a while, I thought that this interview would make for a great post on that topic.

Without further ado, here's the lovely interview that Lilly and I held last week.

 

1. What was the first girl guide item you collected?

Technically the first Girl Guide item I collected with a Girl Guides of Canada Brownie program book and small number of Brownie badges that had belonged to one of my aunts in the 1960s. My Grandma gave me these items to play with for fun when I was little, however I did not become a member of the Girl Guides of Canada myself until a few years later when I was 12 years old. Once I was part of the GGC myself, I began to ardently trade and collect Girl Guide patches at camps and other Guiding events (in my home province of British Columbia) and have been hooked on collecting GG items ever since!

 

2. Why did you decide to collect girl guide insignia?

I've always enjoyed collecting a wide array of items (I have pretty eclectic tastes), but for me as an adult now these days, collecting Girl Guide items is a way to keep the wonderful memories I have of my years as a youth member of the GGC alive and in my heart. I've been chronically ill for the past decade and not well enough to be an active member of the GGC, so for me collecting is also an especially important way to not lose the connection I loved so much when I was younger with Guiding.

 

3. What is your favorite item in your collection?

This is a very tricky question to answer, because I have so many favourites, but I would have to say that my favourite item is the red and white, tasselled Canada Cord which I earned myself when I was a Pathfinder.

 

4.) How or where do you get your pins/badges/patches from?

When I was a youth member of the GGC I collected all of my patches and pins with other girls or adult members at camps and other Guiding events, however since I began collecting again a few years ago (in 2007), I've connected almost solely with fellow collectors online and arranged trades by email (with the items themselves going out and arriving by postal mail). Through online trading I've connected with people as close as my own city and as far away as places like Australia and South Africa - some of whom have since become good friends (as tends to happen when Girl Guides and Girl Scouts connect anywhere!).

 

5. Was there anyone who inspired you to start collecting Girl Guide insignia?

No, not specially. I started collecting out of my own interest in Guiding as a girl and collected the whole time I was with the GGC. In 2007, wanting to reconnect with my Guiding roots, but not being in good enough health to be an active member of the GGC, I started collecting again and have been doing so ever since (and certainly plan to collect for as long as I possibly can).

6. How long have you had your collection?

Unfortunately only a few (perhaps six or seven) items from my childhood collection survive any more (nearly all of my first Girl Guide collection was lost during a move many years ago), however I've built up a wonderful collection over the past four years, which is the duration for which I've been collecting again for as a adult.

 

7. Why did you start your blog for girl guides and girl scout?

I started my Girl Guide and Girl Scout blog primarily for two main reasons. One, to share my love of Guiding and patch collecting with the world, and secondly as a means by which to connect with fellow patch collectors online.

--------------------------------------

I want to sincerely thank Lilly for finding me, this blog, and my patch collect interesting enough to interview. Doing so was a total joy and I very much hope that my answers helped her get a great grade on her school assignment.

Have you seen Lee Ann's awesome Girl Guide patch collection?

No? Neither had I until a Google search last night (for "Northwest Territories Guide patches", a term I periodically hunt for in the hope that someone out there on the good ol' interwebs will be looking to swap some of their NTW or Yukon patches) led me to discover the delightful homepage of a fellow collector named Lee Ann, whose put up images of some of here wonderful Girl Guide patch collection on her site.

Sadly over the last few years, many folks who once kept similar sites bursting with photos and/or scans of their great collection of Girl Guide and Girl Scout patches have closed down, which makes it all the more awesome that people like Lee Ann (whose patch collection - which includes very recent items, including some GGC centenary patches - attests to the fact that this site is currently wonderfully up-to-date) decide to share their treasured collections with the world.

Though I couldn't find an email address on Lee Ann's site (so as to contact her to discuss doing a patch swap), she does have guest book on her site, which you can contact her through (or simply leave a friendly message from a fellow patch collector, if you prefer).

Thank you, Lee Ann, for sharing your marvelous collection of beautiful GGC items with the world. Finding your site has definitely been one of the patch collecting highlights of 2011 for me! :)

New Girl Scout patch collector launches blog

You may have heard me comment on before that it seems as though with each passing day (or least month) there are fewer and fewer of us actively trading and collecting patches online any more. Whereas once this hobby was alive and buzzing across the net, these days it seems that more many more sites devoted to patch collecting come down than go up.

As such, I feel that when I get wind of a new site or blog devoted in some capacity to Girl Guide and/or Girl Scout patch trading and collecting, it's all I can do not to jump for joy! I love knowing that people are still taking up (or renewing an interest in) this rewarding, fun-filled hobby, and believe that those of us in the GG/GS patch trading community should do our best to help support these fledgling collectors.

A few days ago I received a lovely email from a woman named Ashley "Stormy" Martin in which she informed me of her brand new site, called "Stormy's WAGGGS Patch Trading Blog", that's devoted to her interest in GSUSA patch collecting.

I'm sure many of can remember when we first started building up our collections and how fantastic it felt when veteran traders were able to help us out by swapping patches and sharing their years of knowledge with us. I will always be indebted to a few kind souls who assisted me in this way (especially my good friend Louise St. Germain).

I definitely remember how I felt when I started collecting patches online, openly encourage any and all fellow patch collectors who are reading this post to bop on over to Stormy's great new blog to say "hello" and see if there's something on her dupes list (which includes some of the beautiful new GSUSA 100th anniversary items) that you'd like to trade for.

If this terrific hobby of ours is going to continue to thieve as we head into the second decade of the twenty-first century, we really need to foster and support new patch traders as much as possible, and I for one am absolutely thrilled to see sites like Stormy's blog emerging again.