If you've been around here much, you know

I am a sucker for red, white, and blue quilts!

I was making my Honey Locust Checkered Spools quilt in June and

I just kept envisioning it in red, white, and blue!  So I just had to scratch that itch!

I had the white background fabric in my stash.  I actually designed that print for

the Riley Blake Designs Hush Hush 4 collection.  It was originally a creamy background

with tan stars and they reprinted it in white for their Lights On 2 collection.

The print is called Seeing Stars.  I was able to use fabrics from my stash for most of the spools 

(although I did treat myself to a few new ones just for fun).

Checkered Spools is a 2-1/2" x 42" strip-friendly pattern but since

I just used random cuts of fabric from my stash, it's scrappier

than the original version.  I love it!

I even made a scrappy back for it!

It always feels good to use up random remnants

from my stash.  There's no right or wrong way to make

a scrappy back.  It just depends on what size pieces of fabric you have!

And since I was in a "scrappy" mood, I thought, why not do a scrappy binding too?!?

The best part was that I only used leftover pieces of binding from

other projects!  I didn't have to cut any strips for this particular project! I've made several

red, white, and blue quilts over the years so I had plenty to choose from!

Jen Ostler quilted it for me with a new-to-me quilting panto called

Starry Twist by Melissa Kelley of Sew Shabby Quilting.

This was such a fun project to work on in July!

Checkered Spools would be cute in any color way and is the

perfect pattern for a cherished bundle of 2-1/2" strips.

Checkered Spools comes with instructions for 2 quilt sizes.

This is the smaller, throw size which finishes at 64 1/2" x 80 1/2".

Quick sidenote:  I am teaching this class at The Garden of Quilts in Lehi, Utah

on September 12th from 2-5 pm.  I'd love for you to join me!  Click HERE for details.

If you'd like to make this pattern too, you can get the

paper pattern HERE or the PDF pattern HERE,

Click HERE to see the original version of Checkered Spools.

I'm curious if you have a favorite?

Thanks for stopping by today!

Rough and Tumble Quilt in Red, White and Blue

 Red, white and blue is one of my favorite color combos and I'm a firm believer that one can never have too many red, white and blue quilts.  I have a couple of red, white and blue flag quilts, a couple of red, white and blue star quilts, a red quilt, some blue quilts. I even have a red, white and blue Pineapple quilt.  But I didn't have a plain red, white, and blue patchwork quilt...so I set off to make one last June.

I grabbed lots of red, white and blue fabrics from my stash and decided to make a scrappy version of my Rough and Tumble pattern.  (In the original pattern, prints and solids are used in each block. But this time I decided to just use all prints.)  These blocks are simple and a little bit unique.  With a little bit of strip piecing, they go together fast!

I mixed in some chambray and a cute Americana text print to break up all of the scrappiness.

My friend, Jen Ostler in Highland, Utah quilted it for me with some wavy lines, reminiscent of a flag blowing in the wind. I love this panto for that reason and have used it several times on patriotic quilts!

If you've been following me for a while, you know I use Jen for most of my longarm quilting needs and she always hides a little object in the quilting.  Makes for a fun game of hide 'n seek.  Can you see the tiny little star in the picture above?  Jen is the best and puts so much love into each and every quilt she quilts.

One day as I was hand-stitching the binding down to the backside of this quilt, my husband saw it for the first time and said, "Oooh, I really like that quilt!" and I said, "Oh what do you like about it?"  He said he really liked the chambray and the plaid backing fabric together.  I guess it was a little more "manly" than most of the other quilts I make.  I did specifically try not to have a lot of florals in this one (I think there is just one).

I bound it in a gingham print, which I always love for binding.

I added one of my favorite labels from Ever Emblem.  They're so easy to sew into the binding so I don't have an excuse to not label my quilts!  I get the 2" cotton, fold-over, sew-in labels.  If you want to get some for yourself, you will just have to pick one of their basic cotton labels and customize it from there.

I think this is the fourth or fifth Rough and Tumble quilt I've made and it's definitely my favorite!  

Rough and Tumble comes with instructions for 5 different quilt sizes and is beginner-friendly.

My red, white, and blue version is the twin-size.  I'm excited to use it this summer for picnics, ball games and just displayed around my house.

If you'd like to grab the paper or PDF pattern, you can visit my shop HERE.

If you'd like to see my other red, white, and blue quilts you can check out THIS post.

Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope you found some inspiration here...

My Red, White, and Blue Quilts

Hey friend.  I've been meaning to share with you all of my 

red, white, and blue quilts - together in one place.  

Hopefully, if you're wanting to make a

patriotic quilt, you'll find some inspiration here!

First up is my Star-Spangled Pineapples quilt.

This is a free pattern that Amanda Niederhauser (@jedicraftgirl) 

and I created for our Five Fat Quarter Fun series a few years ago.

HERE is a link to the free PDF pattern and

HERE is a link to the original blog post with more photos and details.

Next up are my beachy, faded Stars and Stripes quilt

and my No-Point Stars quilt.

Both of these patterns are by other quilt pattern designers.

Stars and Stripes is by Camille Roskelly of Thimbleblossoms and it's available

in her shop HERE.  The No-Point Stars pattern is a free tutorial by

Allison Harris of Cluck, Cluck, Sew.  You can find it HERE.

I don't have blog posts up yet about my versions.

I want to share more details so I'll do that soon in another, separate post.

Another red, white, and blue quilt that I made

many years ago is my Scrap Jar Stars quilt.

This is a great stash-buster project!

This pattern comes with instructions for 4 different size quilts

and is available in my Etsy shop HERE.

I've also made my United quilt in 2 different color ways.  

It has 50 really simple flag blocks (to represent the 50 states) 

plus 5 stars and a heart block!  It's a fun make and very beginner-friendly!

United finishes at 78-1/2" x 87-1/2".

You can find the pattern in my Etsy shop HERE and

HERE'S a blog post with all the details about the navy one.

And you can see the low volume one HERE.

If you're looking for a really simple star/flag quilt

check out my Glory quilt HERE.

I share a free cutting chart & tutorial for Sawtooth

Star block sizes 3" - 20" plus all the details for this quilt.

Another option is a red, white, and blue Star Patch quilt!

I've made 3 Star Patch quilts (a colorful one, a red and white one,

and this one).  It was just screaming to be made up in 

red, white, and blue don't you think!?!

And for all you scrap lovers out there, I've got a tutorial

for this Firework quilt.  I made a baby-size but it

would be really easy to make it bigger.  A coloring sheet is included.

And if you're in the mood for some simple patchwork,

I've got this red, white, and blue Rough and Tumble quilt pattern.

It comes with instructions for 5 different quilt sizes and is great for beginners!

I think it would be cute to layer any patriotic quilts

with a simple red or blue quilt (like the ones that I made for my new book,

Quilt the Rainbow).

[Sew Delightful.  Photo courtesy of Martingale.]

[Patchwork Plaid.  Photo courtesy of Martingale.]

You can find both of those patterns in Quilt the Rainbow; available HERE.

I recently finished this

Checkered Spools quilt in red, white, and blue!

This is a 2-1/2" x 42" strip-friendly pattern with 2 size options.

Click HERE for the paper pattern or HERE for the PDF.

I feel like you can never have too many red, white, and blue quilts!

Do you have a favorite of the quilts I shared today?

I hope you found some inspiration here!

Happy Summer friends!

Glory Quilt

 If you've been following along with me

on Instagram you may have seen a simple

star/flag quilt I made in July.  I finally got it bound and

photographed so I want to share the details

with you today.

In June of this year, I took a trip to McCall, ID, and happened 

upon a really incredible quilt shop called,

J. Beck Home.  I was inspired by the red, white, and blue

fabrics and vintage quilts there and ended up

buying most of the above fabrics.  I had something like this

design floating around in my head for what to do with them:

I used instructions from my recently published

Sawtooth Star Cutting Chart to make the stars.

It includes cutting instructions for block

sizes 3" - 20".  Click HERE to check it out.

I made 12" finished stars for this project.

I was a little nervous that this pattern was going to be too simple

but when it was all said and done, I loved it!

The background fabric I used is a light gray/puddy color

called Celestial by Art Gallery Fabrics.

The backing fabric I used is from the Watermark collection

by Tammy Green for Riley Blake Designs.

The binding fabric is Stripes C495 by

Riley Blake Designs.

I had my quilter, Jen Ostler in Highland, UT.

quilt it for me with a 3/4" grid.  I've had that size grid done before

and loved it.  I don't think it makes the quilt too stiff

and it's just so pretty!

She quilted her signature "hidden object" in one of the

squares -  the tiniest little star!  I just love it!

The labels are 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.  I've loved the ease of these labels.

Now I don't have an excuse to not label my quilts!

My quilt finished at 63" x 93"

(so about the size of an XL twin

commercial size comforter).

I turned it sideways on my king-size bed

and it makes for a really nice coverlet!

I wasn't planning on doing a pattern

or full tutorial for this quilt but I know 

some of you want to make something similar

so here are a few more details:

Make 12" finished stars using my Sawtooth Stars Cutting Chart.

(There's a tutorial on that blog post for how to make the stars.)

Sashing and borders - cut 3-1/2" wide strips.

Binding - cut (9) 2-1/2" wide strips.

FABRIC REQUIREMENTS

Red stars: (18) 1/4 yard prints

Blue Stars: (6) 1/4 yard prints

Background: 4-3/4 yards

Backing: 5-2/3 yards

Binding:  2/3 yards 

Batting: 71" x 101"

Apparently, there was a right and wrong side to the

Celestial solid fabric I used for the background.

I didn't notice until I took the above picture.

I hope you found inspiration here today!

Thank you to @imacoffeemom on 

Instagram for helping me name this quilt.

If you decide to make something similar to this

I'd love to see it on Instagram.

Tag me @gigis_thimble and use the hashtags

#gigisthimblepattern and #gloryquilt.