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!