ATC Swap! a tropical treat

So I mentioned a very short time ago that StephG at d'arte board is presenting an ATC swap. Having been totally uninspired with all the random things I sketched (including a cartoon pig, a very good thought bubble (leading from nowhere) and a rather dour skull and pair of cutlasses) I put away my pens and pencils and turned to my sewing machine.

This is partly the fault of Erin Wilson, who I met the weekend before last at the ACC in Baltimore and who made pieced quilt blocks of 2" square look so simple. It turns out the back of my head has been doodling with fabric ever since!

The result is this, my first fabric Trading Card:

The front is pieced with orange dots on yellow, two ranks of fuscia hibiscus, two ranks of orange hibiscus on brown that are not shown to full advantage, and the files are green palm fronds.

The back is my favourite macaw print, with a blue and gold macaw taking center stage. I 'signed' it with a chain-stitch 't' in the lower right. I know it looks kind of like the dancing dandelions from the Nutcracker Suite portion of 'Fantasia' but that's because my cursive embroidery is not so hot. It's lined with a medium-weight interfacing to give it some body.

Thanks to this exercise I am now, finally, smitten with piecing and will be making a dozen more!

Huzzah!