"For the Love of Goldish" for Mary

When my blogging friend Mary made this post at the beginning of July, my wheels began turning. I thought how fun it would be to make a goldfish bag linocut. I couldn't get the idea out of my head so a couple of weeks ago, I asked Mary if she would like to do a one to one swap.

The silly thing agreed without any idea of what I intended to make. She kindly agreed to make me a tissue box cover for our new bathroom in return. I sent her a paint chip and she is currently stitching away. We also agreed to send each other a bag of scraps.

I really enjoyed making this for Mary. I didn't make any attempt to copy the Heather Ross goldfish material but used it as my inspiration. I cut a linoleum block to print the bag. Then I cut freezer paper stencils for the goldfish and positioned them heading in different directions and in different spots in the bag (yes, I made up a bunch of them while making Mary's).
It was a lot of fun and a nice excuse to email Mary on and off for a couple of weeks. It seems we are both struggling with our little ones' sleep issues at the moment. This was a fun swap from one tired mommy to another!