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!

Five Fat Quarter Fun Contest Winners!

It's the moment you've all been waiting for! 

 November 1st is here and that means that we are announcing the winner of the Five Fat Quarter Fun Contest!!!! 

 First off Amanda and I want to thank you for all the love and support this last year! It has been such a fun journey to connect with all of you, to sew patterns together and to support each other. What an amazing quilt community we have. AND we would also like to thank everyone who participated in our Five Fat Quarter Fun Contest. We were absolutely BLOWN AWAY by the creativity, talent, and skill of all the entries. Truly, we wish we could send everyone a prize because we love them ALL!!!! A special thanks to Andy from A Bright Corner for being our 3rd contest judge. And we would also like to thank all our fabulous sponsors for the fabulous prizes!!! 

 And now, a drum roll please...........

ANNOUNCING THE 3RD PLACE WINNER....... 

 Caffeinated_in_the_studio - Paper Pieced Turtle Quilt 

 "Paper pieced turtle heads and tails with drunkards path bodies. 

Finished at 46x57, FQ’s are from the la vie boheme line by Riley Blake, a bit of kona espresso for heads and tails."

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 a $15 Gift Card to the Fat Quarter Shop 

Notions from Therm O Web 

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

 Scissors from Warm Crochet   

Product by Soak

ANNOUNCING THE 2ND PLACE WINNER..... 

 Melanie Collette from Hello Melly Designs and her Daisy Lane Quilt    

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 a $25 Gift Card to the Fat Quarter Shop Notions from Therm O Web 

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

 Scissors from Warm Crochet   

Product by Soak

ANNOUNCING THE 1ST PLACE WINNER..... Suzanne Jackman from Splendidspeck and her Parachutes quilt

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 

(donated by Moda)

$25 Gift Card to Brew Stitched Etsy Shop 

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

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

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

 Scissors from Warm Crochet 

 Notions from Therm O Web   

Product by Soak

Can you believe those prizes!?!  We're so excited for our 3 winners!  But there were soo many great entries.  It was so hard to choose!

 Here is a little sampling of some of the amazing quilts that were entered in the contest. Be sure to search #fatquarterfuncontest on Instagram to see all the entries and maybe find some new friends!!

Thanks again to everyone who participated in our contest and to those that made some of our free Fat Quarter Fun patterns this past year!  We hope all of you will keep on creating and challenging yourself as quilters!  

Happy quilting!

~ Amber