Introducing our Judges- Irene Hoofs of Bloesem

Today we are introducing our very special guest judge Irene Hoofs- director and editor of Bloesem and B:Kids.  Irene is one of soo many people's favourite professional bloggers and was voted 13th for 'The World's Best 50 Design Blogs'*!

We are in awe of Irene's amazing ability to not only provide lucky all-of-us with a daily presentation of gorgeous new and favourite art, craft and design work from all over the world but to do so with boundless humility, integrity and grace. So inspiring.

Irene also manages to find the time to design a few beautiful things of her own.... and being huge fans of colours that pop, we love her Bloesem Kids Wear Neon collection.

We love her nurturing spirit and her elegant eye for innovative design with heart.  And so we feel Irene would make a great Judge and we are very lucky to have Irene on board this year. Thank you Irene!

Introducing our Judges- Joel Henriques of Made By Joel

Joel Henriques aka Made by Joel is one of our very special guest judges for this year's Umbrella Prints Trimmings Judge's Choice prize.  We love his fun, creative blog and his wonderful eye and imagination for design.  


Joel is an artist, a designer and a Dad who loves sharing his ideas for the most brilliant fun, accessible creative projects for children and their care-givers. Check out Joel's book called Made to Play and his gorgeous blog full of inspiration for children and adults such as beginners embroidery, collage, making with cardboard and so much more.  


Recently Joel caught the eye of Martha Stewart who interviewed him on her show and showcased his modern dollhouse designs (you will spy some Umbrella Prints Trimmings and a teeny tiny Amy Prior Lady Print in his modern doll house posts). 


We thought Joel would be a perfect judge because he shares our passion for finding the latent potential within all materials and he knows how important play is to invention.  We are lucky to have him as a judge this year. Thanks Joel!


x A & C

Building UP

We have just been looking through the items made by entrants from last year's Umbrella Prints Trimmings Competition 2011- there really were so many cool items made from our trimmings....flamehair, for example, made a number of items including this gorgeous coaster which really highlighted the curves and shapes in our Elephant fabric.

We have just started getting emails for this year's competition with people's links to their creation/s :-) woohoo!
You guys are awesome! We are thinking about those working away on their ideas all round the world!

The Umbrella Prints Trimmings Competition 2012 big reveal is on 31st May and in the lead up we will keep you posted with more on our super Judges and how to 'vote' for your favourites xx

Heart

Kasey's grey chair and Umbrella Prints Riverstone Hearts made into this lovely cushion.
I think we have arrived at the perfect combo.
Happy Mother's Day xxx!

by Kate

Carly & I meet many talented people in our travels producing fabric and Kate Conklin is one friend who always makes the most beautiful quilts interpreting the colours and fabrics she chooses in new ways- yes Kate is a thoughtful quilter and a lovely person too. Unfortunately being short of time means I sometimes only get to wave from a distance and shout out "hi!" across the school yard as our children go to the same school; so her blog comes in very handy for catching up on what's being made and what loveliness is happening her way.

This is a quilt Kate made recently with fabric from our Rock Garden range using her stack and slash tutorial. The white next to the natural linen fabric and the strips of our coloured patterned fabric are mixed equally across the stripes- calm and inviting. I can imagine it with white enamel garden furniture; on a leather couch or beautiful in a child's bedroom- i love it.

lucky last chance!

Last chance to buy your Umbrella Prints Trimmings for this year's competition!!!

Important Dates
International customers must order by 7th May.
Australian customers must order by 14th May.

Submissions need to be in by 30th May to be in the running to win this year's prizes!

All dates and information here!!!

happy

Wonderful Monica Hajek (Moon Ica) made this beautiful quilt from Umbrella Prints remnants.
Her daughter Femke is so adorable! Thank you for making such loveliness xox