Boxy - A New Quilt Pattern

Monday, March 28, 2022

Hi friends!
I have a new pattern I wanted to tell you about today.

Meet Boxy:


Boxy is a 5" square-friendly pattern that is very beginner-friendly!
It's a great way to use up some of those random charm packs you 
probably have in your stash!


It comes with instructions for 3 size options - Twin, Queen, and King!
This is the twin size.  It would be a great quilt for gifting
as it is pretty quick to put together and would look great in any
color scheme!


I cut 5" squares from my stash for the main prints and then paired them
with bright, happy solids to give this version a summery vibe!  The binding fabric
is a Tent Stripe from Tula Pink's Pom Poms & Stripes collection (color - Poppy).


I used this colorful print for the back.  
It's called Asian Circles in Pink by Kaffe Fassett.
Isn't it fun!?!


Jen Ostler in Highland, Utah quilted it for me with this new-to-me
echo square design called Symmetry by Patricia E. Ritter.
Jen recommended that design and I think it was perfect 
for this quilt!  Thanks Jen!

I have paper and PDF patterns now listed in my shop.
Click HERE to grab yours!  I can't wait to see your version! 

Happy quilting!

Alpine Paper Piecing Block

Wednesday, March 16, 2022

 Hi friends!
Today I have a little freebie for ya!

My local quilt guild is doing a sampler quilt this year
and they've asked every member to contribute one
9" finished quilt block pattern and sample block.
Every month 3 people will share a pattern.
We can make our own sampler quilt using the patterns
in whatever colors we choose but for the 
sample blocks we are supposed to use bright colors.
Once everyone has shared their pattern we'll put all of 
the sample blocks into a charity quilt to donate. Sounds fun right?


So today I am sharing my block pattern with you!
We're supposed to share a block pattern that represents something we like or a 
quilting method we like to do.  Well, I live in Alpine, Utah
and I'm surrounded by big, beautiful mountains!  
I love to hike and enjoy the beautiful views around me.  
Here's a picture of me and some friends from last summer. 
These mountains are in American Fork Canyon and they're 
just a short drive from my house!


I combined my love of the mountains with my love of paper piecing
and designed this block called the Alpine block.


The green Flying Geese and brown Plus represent trees and the pink
corners represent mountains.  The blue represents the sky.
I think this block would be cute in any colorway though
and when put together with more blocks in alternating colors it creates a cool
secondary pattern reminiscent of a design you would see
in a kaleidoscope!


Basic paper piecing knowledge is required for this block.
I am not going to explain how to paper piece here but I do have some tutorials
that I've done in the past that you might find helpful if you're
new to paper piecing or just need a refresher on this method.



MATERIALS NEEDED FOR 1 BLOCK:
- Elmers washable glue stick
- Scissors
- Rotary cutter, acrylic ruler & cutting mat
- Sewing machine, coordinating thread & iron
- Trash bin
- 4 pink 4" squares (mountains)
- 8 green 2-1/2" x 4" rectangles (trees)
- 2 brown 2" squares (tree trunks)
- 1 brown 1-1/2" x 4-1/2" rectangle (tree trunks)
- 8 blue 2-1/2" x 5" rectangles (corner sections)
- 4 blue 2" squares (tree base section)
- 16 blue 3" squares (Flying Geese corners)


ASSEMBLY

Step 1: Print the pattern HERE.
The printed tree sections with trunks should
measure 3-1/2" x 4-1/2" from the outer thin black lines.  
The rest of the sections should all measure 3-1/2" x 3-1/2".
Roughly cut the sections apart.


Step 2: make 4 of the corner sections. 


Trim each completed section on the outer thin black lines.
Each section should measure 3-1/2" x 3 1/2".


Step 3: make 4 of the tree sections
(2 of them have trunks on them and 2 do not).




Trim each completed tree section on the outer thin black lines.
The tree sections without trunks should measure 3-1/2" x 3 1/2".
The tree sections with trunks should measure 3-1/2" x 4-1/2".


Step 4: Sew a brown 1-1/2" x 4-1/2" to the bottom of a tree with trunk section.
Press and trim the excess brown fabric.


Sew the remaining tree with trunk section to the bottom of the above unit 
as shown below and press.


Step 5: Lay out all of the sections as shown below. 


6. Sew the corner sections and trees without trunk sections together
in rows as shown below.  Press.


7. Sew the rows together.  Press and carefully remove all of the paper so as to
not stretch the fabric or pull out any stitches.


The block should measure 9-1/2" x 9-1/2" unfinished.


I hope you enjoy this free pattern!  Please let me know
if you have any questions and if you decide to use this pattern
and post about it on Instagram please tag me @gigis_thimble and
use the hashtags #gigisthimblepattern and #alpineblock.

Happy quilting!

Holly Jolly Block of the Week

Sunday, February 27, 2022

 Hi friends!
Today I want to share a project I finished recently
that was designed by one of my Instagram friends, Jessica Dayon.
I've collaborated with Jessica before HERE and HERE and I'm
always amazed at her proficiency and creativity!
She is so generous with the number of free patterns and quilt-alongs
she offers and she truly has a great eye for design.
Last year Jessica offered this sampler pattern called the 
Holly Jolly Block of the Week.  She used the Holly Holiday fabric line
by Christopher Thompson for Riley Blake.  The pattern was offered through a free
quilt-along Jessica hosted and the pattern is still available on her blog HERE.
I decided to go a completely different route than Jessica and use blues, creams, and
browns instead of traditional Christmas colors.  I had in my stash, this Nature's Basket 
layer cake by Blackbird Designs for Moda that I wanted to use.  I love seeing how different 
a pattern can look through fabric/color choice!
I also pulled a lot of coordinating fabrics from my stash 
to make it extra scrappy!
I found it helpful to tape the blocks to my wall so I could
determine color placement as I went.  There were so many fabulous
block patterns included in this pattern.  I would love to make full quilts 
out of several of them.



Sampler quilts provide a great opportunity to learn and stretch our skills!
I seriously LOVED making each and every block!
You may have noticed that this flower block is not in the original version of the
Holly Jolly Block of the Week.  I omitted the 3 tree blocks and used this pattern
that an Instagram follower sent me.  She used one of Corey Yoder's flower patterns with my 
Summer Stars block as the center!  I appreciated her sharing the idea with me and 
think it turned out pretty cute!
Two other changes I made to the pattern -
1. I kept the week 6 Peppermint Bark blocks as Pinwheels (not peppermint candies).
2. I enlarged the outer border from 3" finished to a 5" finished border so I could
use up the last of the light blue floral fabric I had in my stash.
I had my awesome quilter, Jen Ostler in Highland, Utah quilt it with an all-over
swirl and feather design called Citrine.  Sometimes I lean towards custom quilting
on a sampler quilt but I think the all-over quilting keeps the focus on
the quilt blocks instead of the quilting.  I'm really happy with the quilting on this.  Thanks Jen!
For the back of my quilt, I used this tan and white plaid fabric that
I received from my grandmother after she passed away.  I love it and
think it's perfect for this quilt!
(I just have to throw in this cute picture of my sweet dog Molly in front of
my Holly Jolly quilt.  She's my little sidekick.)
I absolutely loved making this quilt and I'm so happy
with the way it turned out.  I highly recommend it if you're looking 
for a way to try out lots of different blocks and expand your skills!
Visit Jessica's blog HERE for this free pattern and many more!
Thanks for stopping by today!

Scrappy Pineapple Block Video Tutorial

Monday, January 31, 2022

 Hello!  It's week 1 of the
Scrappy Pineapple Quilt Quilt-Along and I am so excited
to finally get this party started!


There are over 300 of you who have joined the QAL.
I can't wait to cheer each other on and see all of your
beautiful Pineapple quilts come together over the next 36 weeks!

Thank you for joining me on this venture and thank you for your 
purchase of my Pineapple Block Paper Piecing Papers!
You can find those HERE if you're just joining us.
Click HERE for the rest of the details on the 
Pineapple Quilt Quilt-Along.


As promised, I have a video tutorial on
how to make this block.  You can check it out on YouTube HERE.
I also have printable instructions for you HERE.


I've also gotten a few questions on how to decide colors and 
color placement.  There are so many possibilities. My advice to those of you
struggling to decide is to (A) look on Pinterest or through Instagram hashtags
for inspiration and pick something that speaks to you.  (B) Consider picking 
something you REALLY love or a color palette that is timeless since this is a
very time consuming project.  You want to love it forever!  


 Finally, please post your weekly progress on Instagram to help inspire
and remind others.  Tag me @gigis_thimble and use the hashtags
#gigisthimblepattern and #perfectpineappleqal so we can see all
these beautiful pineapple quilts in one place!
(@jenfinwill on Instagram suggested that last hashtag
so she gets to choose a free pattern from my shop!  Thanks for the
great suggestion for our QAL hashtag, Jen!)

I think that's everything. Hopefully you will find the video +
printable instructions helpful but please let me know if you have
any questions.

Happy stitching friends!

Snowball and 9-Patch Quilt

Monday, January 24, 2022

If you're looking for a quick, scrappy way to use up 
some of your fabric stash this is a great quilt pattern for you!


Snowballs (in this case a black square with cream corner triangles) 
and 9-Patches are a classic pairing that look great in any colorway!

This project started because I had some of the black text fabric leftover
 from the back of my Giant Star quilt using the line Urban Cottage by
Urban Chiks.  You can see that post HERE (it's worth checking out, it's 
another super-fast, beginner-friendly project!)


I thought that fabric was cute (and it always feels good to use up random remnants
in my stash) so one day, as I was heading off to a sewing retreat, I grabbed it + some 
cream and black fabrics to go with it and ran out the door without a plan in mind.  When I got to the
retreat I asked my friends what pattern I should make with those fabrics and we quickly
landed on the classic Snowball and 9-Patch pattern.


I did some quick quilt math (I'll share all those numbers below)
and got about half of the blocks made that day.


I was short just enough black text fabric to make 2 snowball blocks so I supplemented with 
another black fabric from my stash for those 2 blocks.



I had my friend Jen Ostler in Highland, Utah quilt it for me
with the Cassava panto.  I've used that panto a couple of times before; 
it's a good one!  A huge thanks to Jen for doing another fantastic job.


I did a 9 x 9 block layout.  The blocks finish at 7-1/2" each
making the finished size of the quilt 67-1/2" x 67 1/2".
This pattern is very easy to adapt to your own desired size.


FABRIC REQUIREMENTS
2-1/8 yards of black fabric for blocks
3-7/8 yards of assorted cream scraps for blocks
5/8 yard of fabric for binding
4-1/4 yards of fabric for backing

CUT
(41) 8" squares (black) for the Snowball blocks
(164) 3" squares (cream) for the corner triangles on the Snowball blocks +
(360) 3" squares (cream) for the 9-Patch blocks for a total of 524 cream 3" squares.
8 strips, 2-1/2" x 40" for the binding

 MAKE
41 Snowball Blocks
40 Nine-Patch Blocks


I actually used a few black print remnants from my stash for the back of this quilt.
It always feels so good to use things up!



The binding was from my stash too.  So if you're keeping
track, that makes this quilt 100% from my stash and that makes
me a VERY happy girl!


The labels I use are from Ever Emblem.
You can customize any of their labels.
I like the 2" cotton fold-over, sew-in labels.


My neutral, scrappy, make-do, classic loving heart is thrilled with how this quilt turned out.
I truly believe beautiful quilts can be made with high-quality CUTE
fabrics and a really simple pattern.

Hope you found some inspiration here today.
Thanks for stopping by!
Amber