Happy New Year!

You guys asked and I am delivering!  The other day on Instagram, I posted my plans for making a two-color Irish Chain quilt.  I had so many of you say you've always wanted to make one and a handful of you asked if I was going to do a quilt-along so here we are!  Let's do this!

Let me warn you though, this is going to be very informal.  No prizes and no pattern you have to buy.  Just a beautiful, classic quilt at the end of this!  Here are the details:

TWO-COLOR IRISH CHAIN QUILT-ALONG 

Register: Sign-ups now are closed.  But you can still participate!  You won't get the weekly reminder emails but you can check the blog each Wednesday for each weeks assignment and info!

Duration: 8 weeks

Dates: January 8th - March 4th

Pattern: No specific pattern but I will post instructions each Wednesday here on my blog.

Quilt Size: Twin (70" x 90") or Queen (90" x 90").  You choose!

Skill Level: All

Fabric Requirements:

	TWIN	QUEEN
FINISHED SIZE	70” X 90”	90” X 90”
DARK FABRIC (INCLUDES BINDING)	3¼ YARDS	4¼ YARDS
LIGHT FABRIC	5 YARDS	6 YARDS
BACKING (40" WIDE)	5½ YARDS	8¼ YARDS
BATTING	78” X 98”	98” X 98”

HOW TO PARTICIPATE:

- Register (above).

- Follow me @gigis_thimble on Instagram and use the hashtag #irishchainqal on Instagram to post pictures of your quilt.  I encourage you to follow and encourage other quilters in the hashtag group.  It's a great opportunity to make new quilty friends and receive inspiration on Instagram!  Plus, these are going to be gorgeous!  I can't wait to see all the different colorways!

- Check your email each Wednesday for that week's assignment and then get to sewing!

- If you stay caught up, in 8 weeks you'll have a quilt top ready for quilting.

I'm so excited to have you join me as I make my own queen-size green and white Irish Chain quilt!  These were the two colors I was deciding between but I finally chose the lighter green! 

Everyone is welcome to join this Quilt-Along so feel free to spread the word.  There's no cost to sign up and this Irish Chain pattern is beginner-friendly and timeless.  

I'll be in touch next Wednesday, friends!

Wisconsin Cranberry Pie

Well, I'm no food blogger but a few of you asked for this recipe after Thanksgiving so here it is!

I got this recipe from my sister many years ago but have been unable to find the 

original source so if anyone recognizes it please let me know!

Wisconsin Cranberry Pie

  

Ingredients:

1 unbaked 9” pie shell

3 c. halved cranberries

½ c. water

1 ¾ c. sugar

5 Tbsp. flour

¼ tsp. salt

½ tsp. almond extract

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter

Topping: 

¹∕3 c. unsalted butter, melted

¾ c. flour

¾ c. sugar

Directions:

1. In a medium saucepan add cranberries and water and bring to a boil.  Mix the dry ingredients and slowly add to the cranberry mixture.  Cook on low heat until thick.  Remove from heat and add extract.

2. Cool completely.  Pour into the unbaked pie shell.  Dot with butter.

3.  Mix topping ingredients together with a fork and sprinkle over the filling.

4. Bake at 425° for 35-40 minutes or until light golden brown.

5. Serve at room temperature or cold with ice cream or whipped cream.  Enjoy!

Click HERE for the printable version of this recipe.
You can also check out some of my other favorite recipes HERE. 
There's some oldies but goodies there!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Fresh Fat-Quarter Quilts Book Tour

The day is finally here!  It's my stop on the Fresh Fat-Quarter Quilts book tour and I am so excited!

Mostly, I am just so excited for my friend, Andy Knowlton and her beautiful new book, Fresh Fat-Quarter Quilts which is full of 12 fabulous projects!  Andy and I have been friends for many years now.  We roomed together at the International Quilt Market a few years ago, we've retreated together, lunched together, and cheered each other on over the years.  I'm just so proud of Andy, my talented friend.

Like Andy, one of my favorite cuts of fabric is the fat-quarter.  That's what I usually buy when I'm fabric shopping just for fun.  So I love the concept of Fresh Fat-Quarter Quilts.  Andy gives 12 project ideas that use different amounts of fat-quarters, ranging from 6 to 14 fat-quarters.   

One of the patterns that really caught my eye in Fresh Fat-Quarter Quilts is called Sunny Day.  Mine is quite different than Andy's version which uses sweet pinks, yellows, and greens.  I decided to use some of the Christmas fabrics that I recently inherited after my grandmother (the one who taught me how to quilt) past away.  It was such a sweet experience to be able to work with many of her fabrics.

I purchased the black print by Sweetwater and also threw in a white with green 

polka dot fabric that I had in my stash.

The greens in this quilt were quite different than anything I had in my stash though.  They are more blue-green as opposed to the yellow-greens that I have in my stash and that are more popular today.  So I was surprised to find green Minky that worked with them.  Minky was definitely the way to go; this Christmas quilt is so soft and cuddly and will definitely get used for many years to come.

The fun scalloped border "had me at hello" 

and was one of the main things I loved about this quilt.

Have you ever made a scalloped border?

I've done it one other time on my Friendship Heart Quilt.

I guess I'm a sucker for scallops!

I was going to bind it in the black print but at the last minute, I decided

red would be a better note to end things on since there was so much black 

near the edge of the quilt.  So I ended up using a red grunge fabric I had in my stash and 

I'm happy I went that route.

I love the blocks in this pattern!  

They really showcase my grandma's vintagy Christmas fabrics.

I believe she used many of them to make stockings, but I could be wrong.

The quilting design is a fairly new-to-me designed called Gemma #3 by Karlee Porter.

My quilter, Cathy Barney did a fantastic job, as always!

And finally, I have to tell you about the labels I got!  They're really simple but I love them!

I feel so professional with them, haha!  I got them from Border City Quilts on Etsy.  

You can customize them to whatever you want and the owner from the shop was really great 

to work with!  I got 20 labels for about $20 so I think they were very reasonably priced too!

This is just one of the quilt patterns I would love to make from Fresh Fat-Quarter Quilts!

It's a great book with beautiful patterns, easy to understand instructions, great photography, 

and lots of helpful tips throughout!  I hope you'll get yourself a copy!

Be sure to stop by the other blogs that are helping with the tour!

So much eye candy!!!

Nov 18:   Jen Van Orman - Heritage Threads

Nov 19:   Holly Lesue - Maker Valley

Nov 20:   Amy Chappell - Ameroonie Designs

Nov 21:   Nadra Ridgeway - Ellis and Higgs

Nov 22:   Kristina Brinkerhoff - Center Street Quilts

Nov 23:   Amy Sinibaldi - @AmySinibaldi 

Nov 25:   Jessica Dayon - Jessica Dayon

Nov 26:   Amy Smart - Diary of a Quilter

Nov 27:   Amanda Niederhauser - Jedi Craft Girl

Nov 28:   Andy Knowlton - A Bright Corner

Nov 29:   Sharon Burgess - Lilabelle Lane Creations

Nov 30:   Samantha Dorn - Aqua Paisley Studio

Dec 2:   Lindsey Weight - Primrose Cottage Quilts

Dec 3:   Bev McCullough - Flamingo Toes

Dec 4:   Christopher Thompson - The Tattooed Quilter

Dec 5:   Amber Johnson - Gigi's Thimble

Dec 6:   Melissa Corry - Happy Quilting Melissa

Dec 7:  Amanda Castor - Material Girl Quilts

A big thanks to Andy for asking me to be a part of the tour!

I'm honored and truly enjoyed making Sunny Day!

Amazon Gift Card Winners + IronEZ Discount Code

Thanks to everyone who made my mouth water by sharing their favorite Thanksgiving dishes on my giveaway post last week!  Seriously, I think I gained 5 pounds just reading your comments!  Speaking of which, a few of you asked for the Wisconsin Cranberry Pie recipe so come back Monday for that!

I also want to thank my friends at Iron EZ who reached out to me offering such a great giveaway to my followers!  I mean, who doesn't love free money to spend at Amazon (my cart is always loaded there!)?  And their generosity with the 15% off Iron EZ discount code was the cherry on top.  The good news is, I just found out the discount code "AJ15" will be good for a few more weeks (plus there is free shipping on all US orders!).  Visit their site to get yourself an Iron EZ.  And just imagine...a lifetime of not having your spray bottle fall off your ironing board!  Ha!  It's pure bliss...

So without further ado, the winners of the two Amazon $25 gift cards are...

Babiesdoc (comment #52) and Teresa S. (comment #75).  

I will get in touch with you and get those gift cards sent right off to you!

Congratulations!

Edit: the first two winners were chosen and contacted twice but did not respond within a week.  I believe their email addresses were not connected to their blogger account and they did not leave their email address in their comments either so I had no way to get in touch with them.  So I picked two new winners today, 12/11/19 (which are reflected above).

Have a great day everyone!

Thanks for stopping by!

Amazon Gift Card Giveaway + IronEZ Discount Code!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

We hosted 15 family members at our house and everything went off without a hitch!  

We ate lots of good food of course and now I'm exhausted!  I plan to do lots of 

relaxing, eating leftovers (mostly pie) and a little online Black Friday shopping today!

[Wisconsin Cranberry Pie]

Speaking of Black Friday shopping, I have a fun giveaway and a discount code for you today!

You know I'm a fan of my IronEZ, right?

I've been a long-time user of the ironing board spray bottle holder.

Without fail, my spray bottle used to fall off my ironing board every time I ironed.

It's no longer a problem though with my IronEZ.  I love it!  It's my favorite spray bottle

and the holder rotates for easy ironing board storage!

Plus, I think it's a great gift for quilters and anyone who just likes to iron 

(sounds weird but trust me, they're out there.  My mom is one of them, ha!)

My friends at IronEZ wanted to giveaway a little something to my followers today

so they've offered to give TWO $25 Amazon gift cards!  

They've also given me a discount code to share with you 

for 15% off + free shipping (US only) on their site!

Click HERE to visit IronEZ and use the code "AJ15" at checkout.

I like food.  I also like to not think too hard so we're going to keep this giveaway really simple.

To enter to win one of the $25 Amazon gift cards

leave a comment below telling me what your favorite Thanksgiving dish is.

 I'm going to start.  My name is Amber and I like stuffing and dessert of all kinds.  Oh, and pretzel jello and homemade rolls.  Okay, I clearly couldn't pick just one dish.  But you get the idea.  This is a safe place; no judgement here..  Just tell me all the foods you love at Thanksgiving and I will be drooling by the end of this, I'm sure.  I'll announce the winners Wednesday, December 4th.  Ready, set, go!

Poppie Cotton Fabric Giveaway!

Good morning!

First, I just want to thank everyone for the love on my

Gingham Farmhouse projects!  I truly love working with Poppie Cotton fabrics!  

They are so pretty and sweet and I think each line keeps getting better and better if that's even possible!  I can't wait to see what they come up with next!

Now, without further ado, the winners of the Gingham Farmhouse 

monogram panels & coordinating fat quarters are... 

#1 Little Quiltsong who said, "Such a beautiful quilt, Amber - love how it showcases the many pretty prints in the fabric line - and the pretty pillow - so cute! I love our big windows in our home that face to the back and the lovely landscaping from our surrounding neighbors, including ours :)!"

#2 Barbara Woods who said, "right this minute that it's warm! been cold in the South for a few days."

...when asked what they love about their homes.

Little Quiltsong and Barbara, please email me your name and shipping address and I will get your prize shipped right off to you!  My email is gigisthimble@hotmail.com.

I loved reading all of your answers to that question!  Thank you for playing along.

I hope you'll go out and get yourself some Poppie Cotton.  Maybe the Gingham Farmhouse monogramed panel so you can make the HOME pillow using the tutorial I posted HERE.  

It would be a really sweet homemade gift for a friend or family member for the holidays!

You can also find a list of a few shops that carry 

the monogram panel from Gingham Farmhouse in the tutorial.  

Well that's it for today friends!

Come back next week because I actually have another 

Black Friday giveaway for you!  It's gonna be good!

See you then!