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Tuesday, March 6, 2018

Regional Fabric Swap...

I wrote a previous post about joining in a Swap I happened to see on Instagram. It involved sending three 6 inch squares of fabric to each of the members of a group that you were allocated to. The fabrics were to be representative of the region where each of us lived, or represent our life/interests. My group had 10 members which meant I was sending to 9 other people. My squares were posted to New Zealand, Canada, Sweden and various states in the US. As well as the fabrics, we were required to send a letter, explaining our choices of fabrics. Well these letters were so informative and educational to read.
These are from Anja, who lives in Sweden. Anja chose the fabric with elks on it as 'there are a lot of elks in Sweden' and Anja's  father used to be on a hunting team that hunted elk. In general, Swedes eat a lot of fish, so Anja chose the fish fabric. Just outside her town is a chocolate factory so Anja chose fabric featuring chocolates and also included some little Swedish chocolates! Anja added a 4th square. It is of Paris which she describes as a second home since studying there for a year in the 1990s.

The next lot of squares came from Marnie who lives in Pennsylvania USA. The blue crab fabrics represent Marnie's home state of Maryland. The Hershey Kisses fabric was included as Marnie lives not far from the town of Hershey. Apparently people there mulch their gardens with the leftover cocoa bean shells from the manufacture of chocolate and this smells wonderful when it rains. Marnie also commented that the streetlights in Hershey are shaped like those candy kisses...and that's something I would never have known!
The apple fabric represents neighbouring Adams County which has miles and miles of apple, pear, peach and plum orchards. The trees flowering in spring is a sight to behold!

The next lot of squares came from Joyelle, who hails from Springboro, Ohio.
A Corey Yoder fabric design, 'Sundrops'; one of Joyelle's favourite designers who also lives in Ohio. Then there is 'Project Red' in scarlet and gray pattern, representing The Ohio State University's 'Buckeyes'. And the cute dog fabric represents Joyelle's occupation as a veterinary nurse.

The next squares are from Lindsey who comes from Baton Rouge in Louisiana. Her choice of fabrics centre around the season of Mardi Gras which is a Catholic tradition that precedes Lent. The colours of the season are Purple, gold and green, the jazz music print and the famous Louisiana symbol, the fleur de Lis complete the selection.

Next are the squares from Shelley in California. The chicken fabric is representing a small town in the north of the state where 'chickens literally rule', wine, representing that important industry and Mexican Sugar Skulls which are prevalent in southern Californian art work.

The next squares came from Michaelanne who lives in Ontario Canada. So two are very obvious Canadian choices. And then a fabric representing all the water which is in the Great Lakes which are only an hour or so drive from Michaelanne's home. The tree fabric represents the town where Michaelanne lives; London which is known as the Forest City.

Lauren sent the next 3 squares which represent Washington state; Evergreen Forests, high rainfall ( 42 inches per year and an average of only 154 sunny days per year) and Lauren's home town is home to 92 wineries! 😮

The next squares came from Anna who lives in New Zealand. Anna chose fabrics which represent the Maori myth of creation.
The alpine contours represent Papatuanuku or Earth Mother. The moon phases fabric represents Ranginul or Sky Fatger. And the Moro grey represents the chikdren of the Earth Mother and the Sky Father.

The last squares came from Angel in Portland, Oregon. Angel bought her fabrics from Spoonflower which is a very specialized fabric printing company. So we have Bigfoot whom Angel described as a kind of mascot in the Pacific North West. The fabric with bridges was chosen, as a nickname for Portland is Bridgetown as the city has 22 bridges! Angel couldn't choose between the other 2 so sent both.

And I sent either of these combinations of 3. The Aussie animal sporting fabric was hard work fussy cutting so I only did 4 and the others  5 were Jodie Carleton's Sewing School fabric .

The teacups are on the card I sent; not fabric.

Verdict? A fun Swap and very educational too!

3 comments:

mamasmercantile said...

What an amazing swap. Such fun to see all the different fabrics.

Jackie said...

Wow the fabric choices from each participant are wonderful. The explanations of why they chose what they did fit each pattern perfectly.

Gods bless.

Vireya said...

The swap is a fun idea. It is very interesting seeing what each person chose and why.