Mouthy Stitches Swap

Along with my good friends Susan and Hadley, I am very excited to announce the Mouthy Stitches zippy purse swap!  We have been planning, plotting and scheming for a while, but now that the holidays are over we think you might be ready for a bit of stitchy fun.  In this round of Mouthy Stitches (yes, there may be more in the future!) we would be thrilled if you joined us to swap zipper purses and scraps.  We are looking for good natured, chatty, inspirational ladies who have some flickr experience to create a supportive, expressive, encouraging group.  By the end of February, you will receive a surprise purse in the post filled with a fat quarter-worth of scrappy happiness.

What is a purse?  Well, it's open to interpretation.  Think of something that might hold your hand stitched hexies to travel, your pencils, your passport and phone.  That scale of purse.

Want to see my inspirational mosaic to get your heart fluttering?

Yum!  Oh come on, you want to make a purse!  I know you do :)

Here is how you can join in the swap.
1. Sign ups are in the flickr group starting today and running to 22 January.  To complete your entry, you must become a member of the flickr group, complete the Google doc giving us your contact information and have an inspirational mosaic uploaded.  Yes, all of that by 22 January. If you are new to making mosaics, you can find a good tutorial here.  It is easy peasy.

2. Susan, Hadley and I will assign partners 29 January.  You will be assigned one partner, but they will not know you are creating for them.  Likewise, you will not know who is creating for you.

3. Run off and create your zipper purse from 30 January to the 25 February.  Fill it with happy scraps.  Through flickr and blogs, please stalk befriend your swap partner secretly.  Do not let them know you are creating for them, but watch closely to be sure you create something they will love.  Study their mosaic, watch their blog, read their hints comments on other flickr posts.

4. Now here is the most important part!  PARTICIPATE!  This swap is named Mouthy Stitches for a reason.  We want to hear the chatter on flickr.  Please be in the flickr group and commenting on posts at least once a week.  If you need to leave the swap, please let your swap mama know as quickly as possible.

5. Stuff your zipper purse with a fat quarter - worth of scraps.  Nothing smaller than 2.5 inches square, please.  Shipping of purses will be between 25 and 29 February.  This is an international swap, so please beware you may have to ship quite a distance.  Therefore, please, please, please limit your parcel to your zippy purse, the fat quarter of scraps and a nice handwritten note.  No chocolate, no stickers, no tokens.  We want to keep shipping costs low and eliminate the worry of stuffing a parcel with "bonus" goodies.

That is it, ladies!  We are bound to have a great time, so please get over to flickr and sign up today.  We can not wait to get stitching!