Something shifted recently and I felt it.

It started with a notification. Then another. Then a DM that made me put my phone down and just sit for a minute in thanks. Baby Yams families — real mamas, real babies, real quilts — sharing what arrived at their doorsteps. Holding up the quilts in the light. Wrapping their little ones. Tagging @babyyamsquilts while telling their people.

To build something then watch it come alive in someone else’s home, a tangible part of someone else’s story, has been so rewarding for me. Those images and videos make all the growing pains of founding a business well worth it.

And now — a new chapter.

The new Baby Yams website is live. Ten new limited edition quilt colorways are here. And I have been walking around with a certain kind of excitement-like Im setting things up for a party. I can’t wait for everyone to just get here already so they can enjoy. 

I designed these new colorways with intention and with you in mind — the mama, the auntie, the friend who shows up with an offering that actually means something. Each one carries a blessing. Each one is made from gorgeous Ankara, Batik and cotton fabrics. I check and package each quilt myself. There are, at most 35 units of each colorway. They truly are limited edition and each one is an heirloom before it’s ever unwrapped.

And I am just as excited about the website as I am about the quilts.

Because here is what I want for you when you land there: I want you to feel seen. I want the experience of shopping Baby Yams to feel like care — like someone thought about you, anticipated you and of course, is welcoming you. If I had a brick-and-mortar store, I would have lemonade waiting. Individually wrapped ginger snap cookies. I would sit with you while you chose a colorway and tell you the story behind each one. I would send you home with something wrapped beautifully and a handwritten note for the one you love.

I cannot do that through a screen. But I have tried — with every word on the website, with every image, with the gift wrapping option and the card and the note — to make you feel how sipping ice cold lemonade and snacking on ginger snap cookies feel like on a summer afternoon. Welcomed. Unhurried. Covered.

I believe with everything in me that Black mothers and families deserve to feel that — even when they’re shopping on their phone at 11pm after work is done or when the kids are finally asleep for real.

“Welcomed. Unhurried. Cared for. That is what culturally affirming care looks like in a virtual world.”

I can’t wait to hear how the new site feels to you. I genuinely want to know. Talk to us — follow @babyyamsquilts on Instagram and Facebook and share what you think, what you felt, what spoke to you. Show us the quilt you chose. Share your unboxing moments. Tag us and become part of the story we are building together.

I always hoped this blog would become more of a conversation than a broadcast — and our social pages are where that conversation will get to live out loud.

One more thing.

A lot of people want to write our stories. They want to define what Black motherhood looks like, what Black and Indigenous families deserve, what our wellness should cost and who should provide it. They have been doing it for a long time.

Here — in this blog, on this website, and in every one of these quilts — we write our own.

Always.