Back in the day, I used to do my fair share of quilting fabric swaps. I still have 'squishies' of the charms I got for the Y2K quilt (I SWEAR I am going to finish that some day), and I have a gorgeous pile of fabric with stars on it that I am going to make into a quilt. Honest.
I would love to organize a fabric swap, but I wonder if we have a critical mass of sewists here to pull it off. So here's what I propose.
First, we have to decide on a theme. I really loved the stars swap -- Send in a dozen 6" x 6" squares of one kind of fabric that had some stars printed on it, and you'll get back a dozen DIFFERENT, ASSORTED 6" x 6" squares of star fabric. So if I send in twelve pieces of red fabric with gold stars on it, I'll get back twelve pieces of all different colors of fabric -- the only thing in common is that they'll have stars on them.
The fabric has to be quilt weight and quality...but it doesn't matter where you buy it. It has to be prewashed and dried and ironed and cut (straight) by you. Take your 12 pieces (remember, they have to be washed, dried, ironed, and cut cleanly), and stick them in a quart sized Ziploc baggie, zip it, and on that baggie, write your name and address (or stick a sticker on the baggie with your name and address).
Then mail them to me. I'll sort all the fabrics, and send them back to you.
If you want to get back 24 squares, just include an additional Ziploc baggie full of a different fabric. I'll even cover the mailing expenses, so you don't have to worry about that -- if that makes you feel guilty, feel free to send a big SASE, or some extra fabric, or something my way (just don't put it in one of the Ziploc bags -- I get confused easily). ;-) But you don't have to!
Even if you don't want to make a quilt with the fabric you get, you can use it as a great stash builder for all kinds of projects -- embellishments, patches, pockets, purses, wallets...lots of stuff.
SO! If you think you'd be interested in participating, comment here, or drop me a line at missyousewmuch@gmail.com, and I'll start organizing. I'm thinking we could do stars, or brights (oh I love brights), or novelty prints, or batiks, or robots, or ponies... what do you think?
I stopped down there last weekend to get a wing needle to do some hemstitching (more about that soon), and saw this amazingly fun print. She was holding the bolt for someone, but when I batted my eyelashes at her and said I only needed about half a yard, she said it was no problem! I was looking for something fun to do with the print, so I made one of my little signature zipper pouches that I seem to make almost constantly.