Good morning!  Can you believe Christmas is in 3 days!?!  

I am really looking forward to just relaxing (as I'm sure all of you are!)  I can't wait to just enjoy some good quality family time and hey, maybe I'll read a book or quilt for fun while I'm at it! 

I know y'all are probably really busy with family stuff right now (or last minute Christmas prep) so you might not be reading blogs but I thought I would do a quick Friday Favorites post in case you are following along with this new series I'm doing called, Friday Favorites.  

I thought about sharing my favorite Christmas quilt patterns with you today but figured it was a little late for that. So I want to jump ahead to the new year ~ when we're going to be ready for a fresh start and feeling the urge to get organized.  So today I want to share 3 of my favorite quilt project planning systems.

The first is a freebie from Taryn at Pixels to Patchwork.

Taryn created two different forms.  The first keeps track of all the projects you have going and what stage they're at.  The second form is for each individual project.  I like that you can include a picture of the project and make a checklist for each step that needs to be accomplished.  Don't you feel like things aren't so daunting if you just take them step-by-step?  Click HERE for Taryn's post and the free files.

The second project planning system I am loving right now is offered by my friend Holly LeSue 

at Stately Type (a.k.a. Maker Valley).

  This pack of 3 PDF files will help you keep track of your WIP's, your ever growing stash (to help you be accountable for all the fabric you may or may not be hoarding :) and all the quilts you want to start.  They're cute and I love that each page has little boxes for checking off.  Who doesn't love to check things off their list!?  These file are available for just $2.99 HERE (Holly will have 2018 files listed soon!)

And finally...the Caddilac of Quilty Project Planning (in my opinion) is ~ 

Lori Holt's Scrappy Project Planner and accessories pack! 

The Scrappy Project Planner has lots of great features, such as pages to keep track of your weekly progress, a place to sketch out ideas, a place for note taking, a section with tips and quilt-making shortcut methods and lots, lots more!  And, as a pretty sweet bonus, Lori also included 5 free quilt patterns in her scrappy planner!!!  There's also a coordinating "Today's the Day!" notepad, Washi tape, bookmarks and pens.  Everything is so bright and happy - like all of Lori's stuff.  You can visit Lori's blog HERE for more details or visit The Fat Quarter Shop HERE to purchase any of these items.

I hope these three favorites will get you thinking about how you'll be more organized in the new year!  I know that writing things down and seeing all your projects listed in one place will help you to see your progress and accomplish more!  I definitely want to implement a planning system in 2018.  I'm still trying to figure out which one though so stay tuned.

So which one do you think will work best for you?  

Do you have any other quilt project planning systems that you'd like to share?

If so, leave a comment below.

Before I sign off to celebrate Christmas with my family, I just want to thank each and every one of you that visits my blog, leaves comments, makes my patterns (or just hopes to make them someday) and those of you that cheer me on.  It means so much to me to have your support and friendship.  I have found what I love to do, what I am passionate about and I love being able to share that with you!  Thank you, thank you!  I couldn't do any of this without you.  

Happy holidays friends!  

15 Quick, Free Quilt Patterns [Friday Favorites]

Good morning!

Today, I'd like to welcome you to the start of a new series called "Friday Favorites".  

Fridays will be a fun day here on the blog, where I'll share some of my favorite quilty things with you - such as quilt blocks, notions, books, bloggers, etc.  I hope this will be a good resource place for some of our favorites.  So I encourage you to add to my lists in the comment section each time.  I'll do Friday Favorites as long as you guys are liking it and as long as I'm feeling inspired!  Also, if you have any suggestions for themes leave those ideas in the comments as well.

Today I've put together a round-up of some of my favorite, seriously darling (and free!) quick quilt patterns.  I've made a few really fast quilts recently (see HERE and HERE) which is what prompted this idea.  I figured we all need some fast project ideas in our arsenals so here you go.  I scoured the internet high and low for my favorites so I hope you like this list as much as I do! 

I'm a big believer that a great quilt doesn't have to be complicated or time consuming.  With the right fabrics, every quilt can be beautiful!  And the great thing about these quilts is that it's possible to make all of them in a day and they're all free patterns!  Can you believe that!?!  I've included the links to each one. Enjoy!   

1. Star Baby Quilt by Amy at Diary of a Quilter

2. Scrappy Gingham Quilt by Allison at Cluck Cluck Sew

3. Firefly Quilt by Megan at Canoe Ridge Creations

4. Find the Positive Quilt by Julie at Cosmo Cricket

5. 16-Patch Baby Quilt by Svetlana at S.O.T.A.K. Handmade

6. Skittles by Adrianne at Little Bluebell

7. Strip Tango Quilt by Kelly at My Quilt Infatuation

8. Fat Quarter Fizz Quilt by Sherri for The Fat Quarter Shop

9. Simple Sawtooth Star Baby Quilt by Melissa at Polkadot Chair

10. Picnic Quilt Tutorial by Simple Simon & Company

11. Hope Chest Bowtie Quilt by Amanda at Jedi Craft Girl

12. Plus Baby Quilt by Jen at Craftsy

13. Giant Heart Quilt by Peta at She Quilts A Lot

14. Hi(bear)nate by Bonnie at Art Gallery Fabrics

(There are many other patterns here as well!) 

15. Moda Love by April at April Rosenthal

Plus, one bonus pattern!

16. Simple Charm Quilt by (me!) Amber at Gigi's Thimble

So what do you think of my favorite quick quilts?  Are any of them speaking to you right now?  Tell me your favorite quick quilt pattern (from my list or your own) in the comments below.

Creating this list really got my creative juices flowing.  I think I feel a scrappy 16-Patch coming on...

Have a great weekend friends!

Utility-Style Quilts for Everyday Living Giveaway Winner

Thanks to all of you who entered my giveaway last week!

I loved reading all of your holiday traditions! 
They were all so good!  Isn't this time of year magical?

Well, the winner of the book, Utility-Style Quilts for Everyday Living by Sharon Holland 

is Sharon Browne.

Congratulation Sharon!  I know you will love this book!

Please email me your full name and shipping address so we can get that sent right off to you!

For the rest of you that are interested in getting this book please visit Sharon's blog HERE.

Have a great day!

Utility-Style Book Review + Project + Giveaway

Welcome to the fourth stop on the Utility-Style Quilts for Everyday Living Blog Tour!  

I am so happy to be able to share a new book with you today! 

If you struggle with perfectionism in your quilting, if you often find yourself stressed or at a stand-still with indecision during your projects, or you just want some beautiful new projects to make...you should check out this wonderful, new book by Sharon Holland!

The notion for this book is that if you embrace irregularity in your art you will find freedom!  Sharon even quoted Pierre-Auguste Renoir who said, "Regularity, order, desire for perfection destroy art.  Irregularity is the basis of all art." and Leo Tolstoy who said, "If you look for perfection, you'll never be content." I love that idea!  It is so true...in all facets of life!

Not only does Utility-Style have 12 creative, beautiful projects, lessons on color theory and quilt-making basics, it also has a thorough section on different types of machine quilting, a section for note taking at the end and lots of beautiful, inspiring photography!

I decided to try one of the most simple projects in the book ~ Cabin.

It's a graphic, log-cabin style quilt.

I don't think I have actually ever made a quit like this before.  Normally, I would probably choose something a little more intricate.  But I actually really, really love the simplicity of this pattern!

I pulled out some old Christmasy fabrics and shirtings from my stash.  The only thing I bought was the minky backing.  I just happened to have enough yardage to complete each "round".  But the beauty of this book is that it teaches - if I didn't have enough fabric, I could just fill in with another complimentary fabric and it would be just as beautiful!  Scrappy, unique and full of character!

It's a quick make.  I got it done in one afternoon/evening.  It feels nice to have another Christmas quilt ~ to add coziness to my home this time of year.

Melinda Raven in Alpine, Utah quilted it with this feather/swirl design.  I like that it's not super dense.  The density of the quilting and minky back make it extra soft and cuddly!

Doesn't the minky show off the quilting so well?

I think this might be one of my new go-to patterns now.  It's quick ~ it would be the perfect pattern for a baby or wedding gift.  And, it's a striking, no-fuss design that lets the fabrics shine!  I thought about making it even bigger (maybe for my son's bed?) but thought I'd stick with the pattern so you could see exactly what this book has to offer.

I really do hope you'll check out this book!  You won't be disappointed!

Be sure to stop by Sharon's blog HERE to get more details on her book and the following
15 creative blogs that are sharing more Utility-Style projects. 

Monday 12/4  Heidi Staples - Fabric Mutt

Tuesday 12/5  Amy Friend - During Quiet Time

Wednesday 12/6  Maureen Cracknell - Maureen Cracknell Handmade

Thursday 12/7  Amber Johnson - Gigi's Thimble

Friday 12/8  Karen O'Connor - Lady K Quilts Designs

Saturday 12/9  Kori Turner-Goodhart - Olive Grace Studios

Sunday 12/10  Silvia Sutters - A Stranger View

Monday 12/11  Sarah Maxwell - Designs by Sarah J

Tuesday 12/12  Jessica Swift - Jessica Swift

Wednesday 12/13  Lisa Ruble - Love to Color My World

Thursday 12/14  Cindy Wiens - Live a Colorfullife

Friday 12/15  Eleri Kerian - Sew and Tell Project

Saturday 12/16  Anjeanette Klinder - Anjeanette K

Sunday 12/17  Stephanie Kendron - Modern Sewciety

Monday 12/18  Christopher Thompson - The Tattooed Quilter

Tuesday 12/19  Susan Playsted - Hopewood Home

Also, I'm dying over this FREE project called Roman Stripe that Sharon published to kick off her book tour!  Isn't it just perfect in all it's scrappy glory?  And, it uses 2 1/2" strips (and I know you all have lots of those lying around!)!!!  So be sure to stop by her blog today!

(Roman Stripe photo cred: Sharon Holland)

Sharon has generously offered to send Utility-Style to one of you, my lovely readers!  Just leave a comment below.  For extra brownie points, tell me one of your favorite holiday traditions.  I am trying to be more festive this year and incorporate some new traditions so I'd love to hear ideas from you.  

I will pick a winner Sunday night and announce the winner Monday, December 11th, 2018.  

Note: this giveaway is open to US residents only.  

Happy quilting!

Heart & Soul Blog Tour

Good morning and happy Friday friends!

Can you believe it's December 1st!?!  I'm so excited!  It's apple cider everything around here and I'm just praying for snow!  I've really grown to love it and can't wait for the pretty flakes to start falling.

Today, I have a fun new fabric line I want to share with you!

One of my favorite designers from Riley Blake Designs, Deena Rutter, has just released a new line called Heart & Soul.  It features some pretty florals, geometrics and text prints in some of my favorite colors ~ coral, teal, gray and navy.  It even has some really cute panels:

I was lucky enough to be able to work with some of Deena's new line recently and decided 

to make another Scrap Jar Stars quilt!!!

They're such fun blocks to make.

PSA: Did you know that I have a free tutorial for these blocks that you can find HERE?

I also have a complete pattern with four different size quilts (so you don't have to do all that math!) that you can purchases HERE!  Plus, I simplified the block instructions in my complete pattern to take out a few unnecessary seams.  It's fat quarter friendly (OR a great stash buster)!

These fabrics are so pretty, don't you think?

Heart and Soul wasn't in stores when I finished this quilt so I decided to back it with this gray and white gingham fabric I had in my stash.  But don't worry, it's in stores now for all of you!!!  If I could've I would've backed it with the main floral print in blush.  It's my favorite.

These are the big jars I use to store all of my scraps (color coordinated, usually).  I got them at Walmart and I love being able to see what I've got.  Every once in a while I'll go through my scraps and cut them into squares of different sizes so they're ready for my next scrap quilt!  Hence the name for this pattern, Scrap Jar Stars.

I love that some of the prints in this line are faith based.  The panels include such sweet, uplifting thoughts and the text prints state values, such as "faith", "individual worth", "knowledge" and "virtue" just to name a few.

The modern loop quilting was done by Kaylene Parry from Lehi, Utah.  She has quilted a lot of quilts for me over the years and she is one talented lady.

One last picture for the road.  I hand-stitched the binding down on the backside while I was on vacation in California last week so I couldn't resist a photo shoot on the beach! 

Well, I hope you enjoyed this share today.  

Tell me, do you have a favorite color or print from this line?  I'm kind of dying to get my hands on one of the panel prints now.  I heard they're arriving in stores soon.  If you could, what would you make with a panel?

Stop by Riley Blake Designs to see the rest of the beautiful fabrics from Heart and Soul!
And click HERE to see my friend Andy Knowlton's Heart and Soul project.  It's so cute!!!

Have a great day friends! 

Modern Baby Boy Quilt

Good morning friends!

Just popping in on this wet, gloomy Friday to share with you two things.

First, notice anything different?

My blog got a little makeover and I couldn't be more excited about it!

I started realizing how cold and blah my old blog was looking so I enlisted some help from Smitten Blog Designs to do a little redesign.  I love the warmth they added and think it looks so much more professional.  Yay!  I really hope you feel welcome and inspired as you search around now.  Also, did you notice that I switched my domain from alittlebitbiased.blogspot.com to gigisthimble.com?  Just wanted to keep things consistent with my brand.  So welcome to my new (blog) home!

The other thing I wanted to share is a little project I finished recently.

My daughter's friend's mother just had a baby so I jumped at the chance to make a baby quilt for them!  Their home is really modern so I found some inspiration off of my Pinterest board, Quilt Love and whipped up the quickest, most modern quilt I have ever made! 

I was really drawn to it because of the modern aesthetic, the boyish colors/stripes and mostly, the quilting!  To die for, right? 

I pulled out a bunch of navy blue striped fabrics from my stash and had this pieced in about 30 minutes!

In fact, I had all the fabric in my stash - which always feels so good to use, right?

The cable quilting was done by my friend Cathy Barney.  I actually started trying to quilt it myself (you may have saw me talking about it on my Instagram Stories a while back) but it just wasn't working out like my beautiful inspiration picture above.  I only got a little bit of the first row done and was kind of hating it.  So, I just cut that part off, unpinned my basting pins and took it to Cathy!  That's why the bottom blue rectangle below is smaller than the rest.  Haha.  It's okay.  I think it adds to the modern aesthetic.

Remind me (if I ever say that I'm going to free motion quilt anything again) that it's just not my thing.  It's partly because I'm a perfectionist and partly because I don't have the time to fiddle with it.  Too many other deadlines going on.  But I do admire the skill and look up to those of you that can do it!!!

I washed it up so it would be extra soft and crinkly when I gave it to baby Gray.  Then I tied it up with some gray bakers twine and a cute tag.  (You can download a PDF of these tags from Rad & Happy's Etsy Shop!  There are 3 different sayings on an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet for $10.)  I always use these tags when I am giving a handmade gift.  It's all about the details!

I hope Mama and baby Gray are loving their gift.

Now, if I only I had time to make the other 597 quilts I have pinned on Pinterest,

I would be a happy (and busy) girl!

Have a great weekend friends!