It's Friday, December 23rd, 2022.  

Two days until Christmas.  

This month I've hosted two family parties,

 bought, wrapped, and delivered all the neighbor/friend gifts,

purchased and wrapped a good portion of our family's gifts,

ate my weight in toffee, made two batches of cinnamon rolls,

made two batches of caramels (both of which ended up in the trash, sadly), 

had a girls' night out/favorite things exchange with my besties,

 did two puzzles, and lots, lots more!  It's been a great month overall.

[My favorite Christmas puzzle by Cavallini and Co.]

Today, I have been taking it easy even though

I should be out getting a few last-minute gifts

(my husband is on it though, thank goodness!)

I'm "done" and craving some rest.

Writing a little blog post isn't too hard...

So today I want to share with you my finished Seaside quilt!

I made this during the Seaside Quilt-Along I hosted

in September and October.

The pattern is from my book, Quilt the Rainbow.

Here's the original version:

[Photo courtesy of  Martingale Publishing]

Seaside is a great stash buster.  I used up tons of aquas for the background

so all I needed to buy was the solid teal fabric for the accent color.

While I was making the aqua version I also envisioned it

with low-volume fabrics for the background.  I was really excited

to see it come to life during the quilt-along, starting with this fabric pull:

I really love the soft, muted tones of these fabrics!

The quilting was a new-to-me design called Swivel Circles.

I really like it with these earthy fabrics.  Someone even said it reminded

them of seashells which is perfect for the name of the quilt!

Jen Ostler quilted it for me and did a fantastic job, as always!

I bound it with this copper print from Fig Tree's Cinnamon and Cream line

and backed it with Intrinsic Soft from Shine On by Sharon Holland for Art Gallery Fabrics.

I absolutely love that dark green floral fabric!  So pretty!

My 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!

This is a great project for beginning quilters!

Seaside is such a quick, easy make.

I really see myself making more of these in the future.

I'd love to have one in all the colors!

If you'd like to purchase a copy of Quilt the Rainbow

you can snag an autographed copy from my Etsy shop.

It includes 10 patterns to help you whittle down each

color of your fabric stash + lots more!

Check out THIS post for all the details!

So which version do you like better?

Can you see yourself making Seaside and if so,

what colors would you make it in?

Thank you for stopping by today and happy holidays to you!

Seaside Quilt Along

My next quilt-along will be the Seaside pattern from my new book, Quilt the Rainbow! 

It's a beginner-friendly pattern and a great way to whittle down

some of your fabric stash!

When: Starts September 19,  2022

It's a 6-week quilt-along.

The schedule is as follows:

Week of 9/19 - cutting

Week of 9/26 - make 9 blocks

Week of 10/3 - make 9 blocks

Week of 10/10 - make 9 blocks

Week of 10/17 - make 9 blocks

Week of 10/24 - assembly

10/31 - show finished quilt top

Where: Instagram, follow me @gigis_thimble

I'll be posting the weekly prompts every Tuesday.

Mark your calendars!

Pattern: Seaside from the book

Quilt the Rainbow

You can purchase autographed books from my Etsy shop HERE.

Or you can try Amazon, The Fat Quarter Shop, or your local quilt shop!

Quilt the Rainbow includes 10 quilt patterns to help you whittle down 

each color of your fabric stash.  I also share the meaning/symbolism of each

color, tips on cutting scrap quilts efficiently, scrap storage ideas, choosing fabrics

for scrap quilts, some of my favorite time-saving notions, and tips on making

scrappy bindings and scrappy backings.  I think you'll find this book both

useful and inspiring, plus, I think all of the patterns are timeless patterns

that will be cute in any colorway!

I can envision Seaside is so many different colorways.

Here are just a few ideas:

Classic solid black + white

Classic scrappy red + white

Low volumes with your favorite accent color

Low volumes with an assortment of accent colors!

Arranged in a rainbow configuration?

I'm planning on making something similar to this image (above).

I'll be using light, earthy prints for the background

and darker earthy prints for the accent colors.

Here are my fabrics all ready to go:

It will be very scrappy and I'm excited about the colors/fabrics!

Please note, there will be no sign-ups or weekly emails.

Just mark your calendar, grab your copy of Quilt the Rainbow and your fabric,

and look for the weekly Instagram prompts starting the week of September 19th.

Let's use the Instagram hashtags:

#gigisthimblepattern and #seasideqal

to post our progress and encourage each other!

I'll pick someone from the hashtag pool to send a

couple of Quilt the Rainbow quilt labels to the first 5 weeks!

Post your progress each week to be entered to win.

(I know this is a very tiny prize but they're useful and fun!

Maybe I'll throw in one of my quilt patterns too!)

Click HERE for a printable schedule, materials list and coloring sheet.

That is it!  Please let me know if you have any questions.

I'm excited to quilt along with you!