The Not Quite a Tar Heel Quilt

One of my favorite parts about quilting is being able to give gifts to people that are as unique as they are.

I stealthily asked my friend what her nursery theme was. (Hint: ask months before the birth and in passing – new moms love to talk about this stuff and usually forget conversations 5 minutes later. Pregnancy brain is real.)

She was having a baby boy and is a huge Tar Heels fan – but she didn’t want to go overboard on either blue or official Tar Heel merchandise. She wanted soft blues with grays and creams to suggest the Tar Heels, but without Nike swoosh stripes everywhere. And she’d gotten a sheep mobile on Etsy.

So I started to hunt for “blue sheep fabric” everywhere. Spoonflower, Fabric.com, JoAnns, eBay. And I finally found this adorable collection on Fabric.com.

For a pattern, I found this on JediCraftGirl.com – simple but super cute.

I stitched in the ditch for the straight parts, but decided to experiment with some wavy lines on the curly-headed sheep.

I was super excited about this “Tar Heel but Not Quilt” turned out and she uses it every day!

Plus I made her some bonus blocks out of the scraps.

Go Heels!