jam on!

umbrellaprints

Hey look! I have a little something sewn to show you today! Let me quickly assure you that this is certainly nothing I whipped up recently – I had been working on these blocks before Hazel was born and they’d been residing on my design wall for a while.

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A while back I made up a couple mini quilts using a couple pieces of the great heart print from Umbrella Prints. I ended up liking them so much that I snagged a few more of their trimmings packs so I could make a few more. I was pleased to find many more pieces of the heart print in a variety of colors so I set about putting together stacks of Cotton Couture solids to pair with each heart print (Max even got in on the fabric-picking action!).

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As each mini was completed, I stuck them up on the design wall and soon there was a nice collection. Even though they were intended to be mini quilts, the more I looked at them, the more I wanted to sew them all together to make one large throw. I took a quick survey on Instagram – “mini quilts or jam them together?” and it seems most were in agreement (maybe just humoring me?) that jamming them together was the way to go. As I write this now, I wonder why I didn’t just use the word ‘sew’, rather than ‘jam’, but funnily enough, my IG friends were down with the word, commenting “jam it!”, “jam ’em”, “jam on” or just “jam” and so now I can’t look at this quilt top without thinking of some form of the word jam. But anyway…

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Despite the fact that these colors were selected for individual quilts, I’m really loving the way they all look together (jammed!) in one quilt top. And good news – I snagged myself a heart print bundle from the Umbrella Prints shop so there are plenty more hearts left for other mini quilts, should the mood strike!

 

Posted in Fabric, Posts about Quilts, Quilt Blocks | 20 Comments

one month

hazelonemonth

I loved taking Max’s monthly photos on quilts, and hope to do the same for Hazel. This time around I thought it would also be fun to try to get one of Max and Hazel together as well, though that will likely require a bit of bribery! (As it is, whenever Max sees a quilt on the floor and the camera in my hand he’s all smiles thinking a lollipop is in his future.)

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Anyway, this first month? A bit of a challenge! It’s definitely been a big change going from one to two. Hazel is wonderful when happy, but right around week 3 became increasingly fussy, which has been hard for all of us. I’m holding out hope that things will turn around soon!

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fabrics, and friends who love fabrics

bookhou

Is there anything better than a friend who knows exactly what you like and who surprises you with it? I think not! (Even better when that friend is a fabric lover too!) Phiona is one such friend, and she seems to have my fabric preferences nailed. I don’t recall mentioning how long I had been wanting some of the hand printed fabrics from Arounna of Bookhou (the answer? a long time!), so I was surprised when she showed up recently with a scrap bundle of all the prints.

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Each piece was about 7″ x 9″, and as usual, my goal was to use them together and to see how large a quilt I could make while still having these prints be the focal point. I added in a few darker colored solids and a bunch of neutrals and while both kids were sleeping (at the same time!) the other day, I cut everything up into 2 1/4″ squares.

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And next time I have a bit of time I hope to get them up on the design wall. Now that a month has passed since Hazel was born, things are just starting to get a bit less crazy and it’s been nice to find little bits of time to play with fabrics!

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