tumbling blocks

Print Your Own Swap

received PIY swap

I got my printed fabric swap package in the mail yesterday, and wow, do I feel like a lucky girl. Each fabric is amazingly beautiful and so unique--nothing you'd find at JoAnn's or anywhere else!

The sunny baby faces on green are from Mimi, the mermaids are from Petie, the orange hand dyed wood print is from Ms. Nobody, and the flying squirrel and tree with dots is from Crafty McGee. Many thanks to all of you!

Now, what to do with them? They deserve to be showcased and not stashed away in a too-pretty-to-use pile. But, the material is very dear, so the object(s) it will become should be one that will get some use. We'll see.

Thanks to Bitter Betty for organizing the swap! I love that she color coordinated all the random fabric she received so that the packages that went out had some color cohesion. (at least, mine did.)

the printed fabric that almost wasn't

printed pitcher plant fat quarter

Did you ever have one of those swap projects that just didn't go the way you though it would? Yes, i know you have. This was like that. I like the end result. I think it's good, even though I'm feeling a little like a one trick pony with the pitcher plant print. However, it's not at all what I started out doing.

I had a great idea for Bitter Betty's Print It Yourself (PIY) fabric swap. It is so good that I think I'm still going to do it. I made up a design in Illustrator and had it all set to print. Great. All I needed was some new photo emulsion from the only place nearby that carries it, the local student-run art store. The local student-run art store was out of it, which no one there had bothered to notice, so it wouldn't be in any time too soon. OK. So if I ordered it right then from dick blick, it would still come on time for me to print for the swap. I ordered it, but the order didn't come. I checked my email for a confirmation, and there wasn't one, nor was there a charge to my credit card, and I got the distinct feeling that I did not actually hit the submit button on that last screen. OK, plan B. I though I would try those carve-your-own rubber stamps. I did, but I was pretty bad at it and found the whole process immensely frustrating. So what did I have left to work with? The North American Pitcher Plant screen from way back when.

It is a screen a like a lot. I will probably even use it again, but well, not what I originally intended.

A few other folks have posted their fabric and they are amazing. (Bethany links to them here.) I really can't wait to see what comes of all this.

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