Happy Friday friends!  

Can you believe it's September 1st?!?

That means it's time for another Five Fat Quarter Fun pattern!

Raise your hand if you're getting in the mood for Fall!  I know I sure am!  Summers are hot here in Utah and I am looking forward to some cooler weather, sweaters and boots, and all the pumpkin things!  Yay!  

This fun little quilt is called Little Spooks and I had all the "Fall feels" when I was making it.  I pulled out a cute little beetle print that I had in my stash and bought a couple of rust colored woven prints that make it feel so soft and cozy! 

This is a small quilt with no borders (yay!)  

It does call for sashing but I just wanted a table topper so I left off the sashing so it wouldn't be too big for my table.

Here's Amanda's version with the sashing:

Isn't it soooo cute!?

Be sure to stop by her blog, Jedi Craft Girl to see more pictures and 

get the free pattern!

Don't judge, but I pulled out some of my fall decorations the other day.  

Is that too early for you?  It was still August when I did it, LOL!  It's just that I still had my Fourth of July stuff up and I was too lazy to put up other decorations for one month until October 1st rolled around.  Plus, what do you even display in September???

Okay, do you recognize this quilting pattern?  I use it all the time!  It's called Interlocking Orange Peel.  I just feel like it's a good basic.  It's almost like a stipple, to me!  And I'm so lucky to have a long-arm quilter a few houses down from me.  Her name is Cathy Barney and she is soooo good to me.  She does a great job and has a quick turn around!

This is a fun little pattern.  One you could whip up in a day or two, if time permits.  And it would be great in any color scheme, showcasing some of those theme prints you have laying around that you don't know what to do with!

I really enjoyed making these blocks and think they would make a really stunning full size quilt!

Well, if you haven't heard, this is the last pattern that Amanda and I are posting for this Five Fat Quarter Fun series.  We've really enjoyed coming up with quick, easy patterns that use just FIVE fat quarters (plus maybe a little yardage to finish it off).  Be sure to stop by the Five Fat Quarter Fun Home Page for all the details about how this idea came to be and to check out all 10 of the free patterns!  

Tell me though, have you made any of these Five Fat Quarter Fun patterns?  Have any of you tried to make all of the 5FQF patterns? Well, either way - you need to check out my blog post HERE.  Amanda and I are hosting a 5FQF contest that started a few days ago and ends October 25th.  We have TONS of great prizes and will be picking 3 winners.  It's a great opportunity to stretch yourself creatively so we hope you'll accept the challenge and get making!!!  The post has all the details so go check it out!

Have a great day!

~ Amber

Fall Flowers [A New Pattern]

Hey there!  These past several months have been quite busy for me and I feel like I don't have a lot to show for them - except for the Five Fat Quarter Fun patterns!  But somehow I did manage to design one new Gigi's Thimble pattern that I'm really excited about!  It's called Fall Flowers and I'd love to tell you about it!  

It's fat quarter friendly and comes with instructions for 4 different sizes 

(baby, twin, queen and king).

The blocks are quite large, finishing at 18" square.

For my twin size version, I used a scrappy selection of fabrics from my stash.  It was quite the interesting color combo, one that was a little out of the norm for me. But I always love stretching myself in that way.

I chose to call this pattern Fall Flowers because of the little tulips made in each quarter of the blocks and because of my color pallet.  But I believe this pattern would be great in any color combo!

My friend, Cathy Barney in Alpine, UT. quilted it in Modern Loops 

and did a fantastic job!

  

Here are a couple of other versions that 2 of my pattern testers made:

The one above was made by Satomi Hoar in Fig Tree Fabrics.  And the one below was made by Susan (@thefeltedpear on Instagram) in Hello Petal. They both quilted them themselves.  Aren't they gorgeous!?!

It's the perfect time to get started on Fall Flowers and it's now available in my Etsy Shop in both paper and PDF versions (click HERE to shop).  I would love to make an even scrappier version.  Maybe one of these days!

Happy quilting!

~Amber

Five Fat Quarter Fun Contest!

Several months ago Amanda (from the blog Jedi Craft Girl) and I met up at a quilt shop in St. George, UT.  Amanda had a great idea that we should make quilts that use just 5 fat quarters.  She took the lead and designed a darling table topper called Fresh Eggs (free pattern HERE).  I kind of felt like a slacker since she did all the hard work so I offered to design one for the following month.  We enjoyed the concept so much that we decided to do a pattern a month for a whole year!  It kept us hopping and was a great way for us to get to know each other better.  Thank goodness for texting, as she lives in California and I live in Utah.

Well, the year is coming to an end and together we designed 8 patterns (plus one more coming September 1st and one designed by our friend Andy Knowlton).  So that's 10 patterns that we have available HERE for FREE!  Annnnd, we have something special planned for the last two months.  

It's a Five Fat Quarter Fun contest!!!  

And we have so many awesome prizes, it'll blow your socks off!

  Here's what you need to know:

Five Fat Quarter Fun Contest

Starts: August 25th

Ends: October 25th

Winners will be announced November 1st.

There will be 3 winners chosen!

To Enter:

Make a quilt or quilt top using just 5 fat quarters and up to 2 other fabrics that can be used for backgrounds, sashing, corner stones or borders.

Quilt must be at least 34" x 34" or bigger.

Must be made within the contest start and end dates.

Post photo(s) on Instagram using the hashtag #fivefatquarterfuncontest.

Tag us at @jedicraftgirl and @gigis_thimble.

Contest is open to everyone.
*Does NOT have to be quilted and bound to be entered. 

*Does not have to be your own design (but this might earn you bonus points!)

Prizes: 

Grand Prize Package

Long-Arm Quilting on a 65" x 75" Quilt or smaller (.015 cents/sq. inch), Batting and Return Shipping from Kaylene Parry

2 Rolie Polies from Riley Blake Designs

1 Large Spool Collection from Aurifil

1/2 Yard Bundle of Haven Collection by Stacy Peterson for Blend

Vintage Vibe Book by Amber Johnson

Biscuits and Gravy Layer Cake and Cake Mix Recipe Cards from Moda

Moda Fat Eighth Bundle

Scraps Made Simple Book and Sew Cute Bookmarks by Lori Holt

$25 Gift Card to Brew Stitched Etsy Shop

Maker Valley Enamel Pins (2), Tote Bag and Pattern

3 It's Sew Emma Books and $50 Gift Card to the Fat Quarter Shop

I Love House Blocks Book from Martingale (donated by Amanda Niederhauser)

Scissors from Warm Crochet

Notions from Therm O Web

Product by Soak

2nd Place Prize Package

2 Rolie Polies from Riley Blake Designs

1 Small Spool Collection from Aurifil

Vintage Vibe Book by Amber Johnson

2 It's Sew Emma Books and $25 Gift Card to the Fat Quarter Shop

Notions from Therm O Web

I Love House Blocks Book from Martingale (donated by Amanda Niederhauser)

Scissors from Warm Crochet

Product by Soak

3rd Place Prize Package

2 Rolie Polies from Riley Blake Designs

1 Small Spool Collection from Aurifil

Vintage Vibe Book by Amber Johnson

1 It's Sew Emma Book and $15 Gift Card to the Fat Quarter Shop

Notions from Therm O Web

I Love House Blocks Book from Martingale (donated by Amanda Niederhauser)

Scissors from Warm Crochet

Product by Soak

Judging:

Winners will be chosen based off of photos in the hashtag #fivefatquarterfuncontest pool.  There will be 3 judges: myself, Amanda Niederhauser and Andy Knowlton.

 You can make any pattern out there (as long as it uses just 5 fat quarters and up to 2 background fabrics) OR you can test your creativity and design your own 5FQF pattern!  Be sure to tag us on Instagram (@jedicraftgirl and @gigis_thimble) and use the hashtag #fivefatquarterfuncontest to enter!  We can't wait to see where your creativity takes you!  Good luck!

~ Amber

Preppy - A Five Fat Quarter Fun Pattern by Andy Knowlton

It's August 1st and you know what that means!!!

It's time for another Five Fat Quarter Fun pattern!

This time, Amanda and I invited a special guest designer to create a free quilt pattern for you that uses just 5 fat quarters (plus backyard and sashing fabric).  She's our friend Andy Knowlton 

who blogs at abrightcorner.com.  I've known Andy for a long time.  Even roomed with her at Fall Quilt Market a few years ago.  She is such a talented pattern designer, long arm quilter and blogger + a super sweet person and friend!  Be sure to stop by her blog to see what she's up to!

Andy designed a fun pattern this month called, Preppy, that I absolutely love!

I'm not going to share too many pictures of her quilt here.  You need to stop by her blog to get the rest of the details about her cute, cute quilt and to get the free PDF pattern!

I made mine a little smaller than the pattern because I needed another baby boy quilt to gift.  I loved how quickly and easily it came together!

Choosing colors was the hardest part of making this quilt but once I decided on my 5 fat quarters everything else was smooth sailing! I knew I wanted to use primary colors and this text print as the jumping off point.  The scalloped print added balance.  The only fabric I had to buy for this quilt was the back.  It feels so good to use your stash doesn't it?

I found the backing fabric for 50% off (which is always exciting).
It's Wheels 2 in blue by Deena Rutter for Riley Blake Designs!  Isn't it cute?

My friend Jen Ostler quilted this for me. She free-handed little swirls on it and did a great job.  It's been a while since I've used a free hand quilter.  Do you prefer computerized or free hand quilting?

Preppy is one of those patterns that would be perfect in any color scheme.
I definitely think I'll use this pattern again and again!

Be sure to stop by Andy's blog HERE for the free pattern.
We want to give her a big thank you for helping us out with our
Five Fat Quarter Fun series this month!  It was such a treat to have her join our team!

Five Fat Quarter Fun - Rustic Pines

Well, good morning!  I'm writing to you from downtown Nashville, Tennessee!  I'm here, exploring this beautiful city with my little 12-week old nephew while my sister and a few of her friends enjoy one last hurrah together before my sis' BFF gets married in a few weeks!  I love the excuse to spend time with my sister and darling nephew, in this town that I've always wanted to visit!

Though I'm strolling the streets here in blazing hot Nashville, it doesn't mean we can't talk a little "Christmas in July", does it?  I've been working on another Five Fat Quarter Fun pattern and I'm so excited to finally share it with you!  Amanda suggested "Christmas in July" for the theme this month...so this simple tree pattern came to be!

When I walked into my local quilt shop (American Quilting in Orem, UT.) a few weeks ago, it didn't take long before I settled on these beautiful, subdued, soft as a babies' bottom, fabrics by Minick and Simpson for Moda.  The line is called Snowfall and it was glorious to work with!

Some people have asked if wovens unravel and stretch a lot, but I didn't have either of those problems.  I loved every minute of working with this line and the gentle colors make me happy.

As far as block construction goes, I decided to keep it really simple with a little raw-edge applique!  I think the frayed edges around the trees will add a nice touch to this already cozy quilt!  Plus raw-edge applique makes these 60 degree triangles a breeze to put together!

I have to thank my friend, Cathy Barney for doing a beautiful job quilting this.  I chose an off-set cable design that just screams "winter".  I used this same cable design on another Five Fat Quarter Fun quilt.  Any guesses which one it was?  Read to the end of this post to find out the answer!

  

This quilt finishes at 62" x 73 1/2" and all it takes are 5 fat quarters + some yardage.  I decided to mix things up a little bit this time and choose 6 different backgrounds (plus a 7th for the sashing and border!) to give it a really scrappy look!  I'm such a "scrappy" girl.  Maybe it's because I learned to quilt from my grandmother, who also loves scrap quilts and that make-do mentality?  So, are you a "scrappy" person or not?

So, if you're ready to get started on Rustic Pines, 

click HERE for the free pattern.  

If you decide to make this or any of our other Five Fat Quarter Fun patterns be sure to email or tag us on Instagram @gigis_thimble and @jedicraftgirl and use the hashtags #fivefatquarterfun and #rusticpinesquilt.  We'd hate to miss seeing your lovely creation(s)!  Stop by the Five Fat Quarter Fun home page (HERE) to see all the other free patterns!

Finally, we hope you'll stay tuned until next month!  We have a guest designer designing August's pattern.  We love her and her designs and can't wait to share another great pattern with you!

Xo, Amber (and Amanda, Jedi Craft Girl)

A: If you guessed Cabin Fever (from January), you were right!

Five Fat Quarter Fun - Star Spangled Pineapples

If nothing else, I'm making these Five Fat Quarter Fun projects!  I feel bad that not much else is happening around here but I AM having so much fun working with Amanda on these projects!  And a quilt a month?  That's not too bad, right?

So Amanda lives in California and I live in Utah.  We're in constant contact because of these monthly patterns we're publishing for you.  We're taking turns designing them each month and when I found out what Amanda's plan was for June I was so excited!  I hadn't jumped on the Pineapple Quilt bandwagon yet but when I saw her red, white and blue version (with pinwheels!) I knew she knocked it out of the park!  And I knew I just had to make it!

My quilt only has red and blue pinwheels (no white ones).  I guess since mine has a lighter background I thought it would look better with darker pinwheels.  Also, the placement of my red stripes are random and Amanda's are all the same.  So do whatever floats your boat.  I love scrappy so that's what I did!

Cathy Barney in Alpine, Utah quilted my quilt using a pattern called Diagonal Plaid.  I haven't used that design before but Amanda and I both thought it was perfect for a pineapple quilt.

Most of the fat quarters I used were from my stash.  The red striped binding (MODA) was from my stash too!  These projects are a great way to use up fabric from your stash!  I also love the idea that if you're walking through a fabric store, feeling over-whelmed and wanting to buy stuff but don't know how much...you can just buy 5 coordinating fat quarters and you're set!!!

Be sure to stop by Amanda's blog HERE for more photos and the free pattern.

This is such a fun quilt to make.  Perfect for summer!

Sooo.  Are you going to make this or any of our other Five Fat Quarter Fun projects?  If so, be sure to tag us on Instagram @jedicraftgirl and @gigis_thimble and use the hashtags #fivefatquarterfun and #starspangledpineapplequilt.  We don't want to miss any of your beautiful creations!

Happy quilting!
~ Amber