Strengthening Cultural Connections: A Maine-New Zealand Collaboration

Can you tell I have been doing lots of academic reading with long titles and colons in the middle?

Well, it's happened again. My little ATCs have gone on a long journey from Maine to NZ (for the price of $3.50, it was a super cheap flight), crossing a continent and an ocean and landing finally on a beautiful green island in the talented hands of Mary Anna of Make It Smirk! We agreed this would be a 2hr for 2 hr swap: I would crank out as many cards as I could in 2 hours (plus a few that I had made before and seemed ready to go on a trip), and she in turn would make something for me in 2 hours.

Here's my new Quilting Tiki:
A tiki, I was informed by the handy wikipedia article Mary Anna included, is a kind of totem of the Maori culture, usually a neck pendant made of greenstone. This is a Quilting Tiki, "an old-fashioned kind of guy who does his by hand," according to the notes from Mary Anna, and he "also appears to have a problem with his foot, but...there is a leech on hand to help him out." (If you are not getting the leech reference, see this post.) She had only safety-pinned the foot with leech on it, in case I got tired of the reference, but I went ahead right away and tacked it down!
Can you see that he has a sewing needle in hand? He also comes equipped with a zipper, so that he can consume my quilting scraps and become fat. Although right now, there are not so many scraps being produced around here, more like piles of paper waste (from the volumes and pages I am reading for school) and somehow I just don't think that will look as nice. Thank you, Mary Anna!

Here are a few ATCs that Mary Anna has now:
It still seems funny to me that someone I have never met can tickle my funnybone so often through her blog posts. Knowing she has a quirky sense of humor inspired the above cards.

And one of my favorites from the Fish Cookery Book:
Be sure to admire Mary Anna's newly organized and spruced-up sewing room. I am totally envious and her photos are beautiful.

I love swapping, even small swaps. If you want to join the fun, leave a comment and let me know you're up for it.