Picture Perfect (A Snap Happy pattern)

When I saw the Pen and Paper Snap Happy pattern release, I had to have it! I was so excited about it. I love photography and I felt like it would a great quilt to showcase some fun travel prints. Or, to use her tutorial to print some of my own travel photos onto fabric and have a real memory quilt. I was so excited I bought the pattern at Sewtopia in Milwaukee, even though I had no intention of sewing it during the trip.

I quickly decided on using Rifle Paper Co fabrics, because their Bon Voyage line had come out just about a year ago. I knew it would be perfect. I opted to fussy cut the feature prints and I also added in a few prints from other lines and I really love all of them. Because I was so excited about this pattern, I made it pretty quickly, for me, anyway! I didn't manage to participate in the sew along, but within a year of the release is still pretty quick for me. I'm usually pretty late to the party. 

I realize the camera colors look a lot like the colors she used for the cover quilt. And I did draw inspiration from them for sure, as much as I wish I could say it was all me. BUT, I color matched with the prints I chose. She provides exact Kona color matches in the pattern, and I didn't use that at all. 

The camera block was a lot harder than I expected, and while I tried to be precise, I definitely should have been a bit more careful. I'm glad it turned out as well as it did! It took several hours. I'm glad the polaroid blocks were so quick. I did opt to add another row to the bottom and the side to make it larger because I like big quilts. It increased the number of blocks by almost 50%, which was a lot, but it meant I had more space to use the prints I had, which I loved. 

This was the first Pen and Paper pattern I have made and I have to admit I didn't love her instructions. I found her cutting instructions to be frustrating. I felt they could have been written more clearly, but mostly I felt they were very inefficient. Which meant I spent a lot of time cutting, trying to get the pieces out of my fabric as economically as possible. Still, her patterns are adorable and I'll probably buy her Book Nook pattern soon, because it's really one of the cutest book quilts out there. And...I wouldn't be surprised at all if I made another Snap Happy. I really would like to try printing my own photos and using those.