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Monday, March 27, 2023

My Favorite Things Fabric Tour

I have been a fan of Elea Lutz' designs since I first discovered her in 2015.  
Her first fabric line was Milk, Sugar, and Flower (which was absolutely adorable; 
I'm sad I missed out on it!)  However, I did end up making a 
Christmas quilt with her second fabric line, Little Joys.


 Today I get to share some projects I made with her
most recent fabric line, My Favorite Things.  It has that 
sweet, vintage style that Elea is known for.  And she is now a designer for 
Poppie Cotton which I think is a match made in heaven!


As you can see the line is full of soft pinks, blues, buttery yellows, creamy whites
and tans...with a little pop of red!  Such a cute color palette!  There are lots of 
different florals in various scales and one of my favorite things - text prints!  
But the main print features many of Elea's favorite
things (which I'm sure most of us can relate to.)  See THIS post
on Elea's blog for more pictures, the inspiration behind this collection, 
the darling coordinating cheater print, and a free mini
quilt pattern that Elea is offering to members of her new Facebook group. 


The first project I made with My Favorite Things
was a throw-size version of my Rough and Tumble pattern.
It comes with instructions for 5 different sizes!


I had so much fun playing with 5" squares of
My Favorite Things + a few solid fabrics 
and a tan with a white dot background fabric.


I love this pattern because the blocks go together really quickly
and there is no sashing!  So it's a very fast make, overall.
I bound it with the red Good Measure grid fabric from my fabric line, 
Treasured Treads with Poppie Cotton and backed it in a
large green gingham fabric from Riley Blake.


My friend, Jen Ostler in Highland, UT quilted it for me.
She did a fantastic job, as always!  The quilting pantograph 
she used is called Fluffy Lumps.  It's a new-to-me design
that I thought complimented the scalloped/floral print in 
My Favorite Things really well!  She also quilted a tiny heart 
on the quilt for me to find - in a little game of quilters' hide and seek.  
Can you see it?


I just couldn't get enough of My Favorite Things so I decided
to make one more project with the remaining fabric I had.  But don't
worry, it was a super fast baby quilt that just takes a couple of hours to put together.


I've had many requests for this pattern called, Big Baby.
It was originally in my book, Vintage Vibe
but it's out of print now so I decided to make Big
Baby into an individual pattern which you can find in my shop, HERE.


The pantograph is called Cartwheels and the quilt finishes at 38" square.
It's a big-block baby quilt version of my Scrap Jar Stars pattern.
It goes together so fast and looks cute in any colorway!
Perfect for gift-giving!

I love this fabric line and am so thankful that I got to be a part of
the My Favorite Things Fabric Tour.  My Favorite Things is in stores now
so be sure to run out and grab some before it's all gone!

Monday, March 20, 2023

Flora's Baskets - Scrappy Version

 Hi there!  I have been wanting to share a new
project that I started a month or two ago.

It's based on my new pattern,
Flora's Baskets. 


Flora's Baskets is a pattern I designed
based on an antique quilt I saw on 
@caravanquilts Instagram feed.


[This picture is shared with permission from @caravanquilts.]

I love following that account.  It's a great resource
if you're in the market for an antique quilt!


[This picture is shared with permission from @caravanquilts.]


[This picture is shared with permission from @caravanquilts.]

If you look closely at the two pictures above you can see that the 
"flower" part in the basket block is made with diamonds
which would've had to have been made with English
Paper Piecing or Y-seams.  My block uses
traditional machine piecing.


All of that to say,
I started a new version of Flora's Baskets -
a scrappy version and I am so excited about it!


I think it's going to be so pretty.
I'm using low-volume backgrounds and 
muted pinks, blues, and yellows for the "flowers"/
"basket tops" (what do we call that part of the block?)


Anyways, if you want to make a scrappy version like me,
you will first need to get the Flora's Baskets pattern.
You can get the paper pattern HERE.
Or the PDF pattern HERE.

And then use the following info in
conjunction with the block assembly instructions
to make scrappy blocks.  This will make 2 blocks
but you can mix and match pieces so they're both unique.

1 brown square, 5" x 5"
1 brown square, 3" x 3"
2 brown squares, 2-1/2" x 2-1/2"
10 white rectangles, 2-1/2" x 4-1/2"
1 white square, 3" x 3"
2 white squares, 2-1/2" x 2-1/2"
1 pink, blue, or yellow square, 5" x 5"
8 pink, blue, or yellow squares, 2-1/2" x 2-1/2"


And then just have fun playing with your fabrics
to make as many basket blocks as required for your chosen 
quilt size.  Flora's Baskets has 3 quilt size options.
I might make a queen size because I'm loving this
project so much.  I think it will look so vintagy 
and beautiful at the foot of our bed.


I'm even saving the cutoffs and making tiny half-square
triangles out of them.  Maybe I'll make
a little pouch or bag with them someday.

I'm super excited about all of this!
If you decide to join me on any of this
please tag me on Instagram @gigis_thimble
and use the hashtags #gigisthimblepattern
and #florasbasketsquilt.

Have a great day!

Sunday, March 5, 2023

Blossoms and Buds - Emily Belle Version

 Good morning! 
I've been wanting to share this quilt with you
for a while now; I finished it back in 
September of 2022, I think.


I love this quilt because
A. It's a classic design
B. It's scrappy
C. It uses lots of my favorite fabrics from my stash
and
D. The Baptist Fan quilting gives it a very vintage vibe.

This is the original version:

It's the Blossoms and Buds 
pattern from my book,


It's amazing how different this
version looks compared to the orange version!


In the orange version
the background is scrappy and
in this version the background is all
one fabric.  They look so different!
Which one do you prefer
(and disregard the orange if that's not your thing)?


I've seen several different versions online
and they're all awesome.  There are
so many ways to make this pattern your own
depending on your colors and fabric placement.


The only fabric I bought specifically
for this project was the background fabric -
Emily Belle Liberty from Riley Blake
in the color, Magnolia (a soft, buttery yellow). 
Emily Belle comes in about 45
different colors so you could
pick the one that speaks to you!


And it's such a great stash buster!
Even the binding is scrappy!


Quilt the Rainbow gives instructions
on how to make a scrappy binding
or scrappy quilt back!
There are lots of useful nuggets of 
information in it, besides the 10
versatile quilt patterns.
You can grab the book HERE.



I had this wild backing fabric in my stash
just waiting for the perfect project!
It's called Cameo by Kaffe Fassett.
It incorporated so many of the colors I used
for the quilt front so I thought
it would give this simple quilt just
the "wow factor" it needed.


I like to label my quilts with labels from Everemblem.
I get the 2" cotton, fold-over, sew-in labels.
If you go to their site, you'll have to pick a cotton label 
and customize it from there.  They're so convenient.
Now I don't have an excuse to not label my quilts!


Jen Ostler of Dry Creek Quilting
in Highland, UT quilted it with this
classic Baptist Fan pattern.  There are many different
Baptist Fan pantographs out there but I love this particular
one because it's so traditional.  It's the
pantograph and I've used it many times!


Before I let you go, I just want to remind you
about the 2023 Quilt the Rainbow Challenge.
If you make any quilt (in any size and colorway)
from the Quilt the Rainbow book and 
post it on Instagram with the hashtag
#quilttherainbowchallenge
you could be entered to win some fabulous
prizes!  I'm giving away prizes quarterly
and you can enter as many times as you'd like!
All the details are in THIS blog post.


Well, I hope I answered any questions
you might have but if not, be sure to drop them in the
comment section below.  I love any interaction with you!
Thank you for stopping by today!