Wonder - A New Pattern by Gigi's Thimble

Good morning!  I hope you all had a great weekend!  Ours was pretty relaxing.  Nothing to write home about though (which is just the way we like it!)

I just wanted to take a minute to let you know about my new pattern, Wonder.  Some of you may have seen it on Instagram and a few of you may have gotten your little hands on it already

if you were one of the lucky recipients of the January Quilters Candy Box box!

I was honored to be asked to curate the January's Quilters Candy Box which included some of my favorite things:  

1. A Dream Bar (which didn't even last a day in my house) from Pot Belly Sandwich 

2. Some pretty fabric (I'd hoped it could've been Project Red from Sweetwater but unfortunately it wasn't available at the time the box contents were purchased).  But these pretty red & pink fabrics were simply lovely!

3. Two sweet little donut pins from @quiltypie on Instagram.  I can't resist donuts.  Crullers are my favorite.  What's yours?  Also, Susan (@quiltypie) makes the most amazing pins!  See my post HERE.

4. A SOTAK Needle Book kit.  I try to stay organized and this kit with it's linen cover is just my style!

5. Linen quilt labels (so excited about these!  I've been wanting some forever and what quilter can't use some labels!?!)

6. Graph paper notebook and Micron pen ~ essentials for quilt designing and planning!

7. An exclusive quilt pattern called Wonder.

I designed Wonder exclusively for the box recipients but the time has come that I can finally make it available to the rest of you.

It's fat quarter friendly and includes instructions for FIVE different sizes!

I used fabrics from the new line Project Red by Sweetwater for Moda.  I love all Sweetwater fabrics but this might be one of my favorite collections of theirs.  

Whatever fabrics you choose, may I suggest a good variation of lights and darks to achieve a similar look?

Wonder is a fun one to make and easy enough for beginners.

I want to thank Kaylene Parry for quilting it for me.  I chose a beautiful feather/swirl/pearl pantograph called Moulin Rouge by Urban Elementz for Kaylene to do and she did a fabulous job!  Kaylene lives in Lehi, UT. and I have used her many, many times over the years.  Thank you, Kaylene!

If you'd like to purchase Wonder in either a paper or PDF version they are now listed in my shop.  Click HERE.

Have a happy Monday friends!

Star Patch - A New Pattern by Gigi's Thimble

 What do you do with your leftover scraps when you're done with a project?

For the last year or so I've been trying to cut my scraps into squares so they will be ready for a scrap project whenever the need arises.  I know Lori Holt did a big blog post on this idea back in 2013 (which you can find HERE).  I've been really inspired since then by some of the amazing scrap quilts some of my friends have made using their pre-cut squares.

[For those of you interested, I cut 5", 4", 3", 2-1/2", and 2" squares when cutting up my scraps.]

So, after a few crazy months at the end of 2017 when I designed 3 new patterns - Snow Village, With Love and Wonder (I'll share Wonder with you soon, it was an exclusive pattern for the Quilters Candy Box I curated in January) I decided I wanted to do some selfish sewing.  I started making 9-Patches with some of my pre-cut squares.  I didn't really know what I was going to do with them but the idea somehow quickly came to me to use them as the background for a giant star.

Originally I was planning on doing a vintagy, medium/dark green solid fabric for the star but the fabric store I was at didn't have a huge selection so I settled upon these 3 solids (above).  Obviously I'm not the most patient person to hold out for the perfect color I had in my mind!  I just wanted to get it figured out!  The mustard yellow spoke to me for some reason so I went with that.

Note:  It's interesting to me why we choose certain colors.  I went through the whole rainbow practically, in my mind.  I knew I wanted something bright that could stand up to all the bright fabrics in my 9-Patches.  But I find that red can be overpowering in large doses.  Orange - I just wasn't feeling that for this quilt.  Yellow - I thought yellow would look washed out.  Green - green sounded good.  Blue - I love blue but thought it was a little too safe.  Fushia, Pink, Purple all seemed a bit too much for me and my house (and for this project). 

So I finally settled on this mustard yellow.  Because it has black pigment in it and is not a "true" yellow I feel like it can stand up to the bright fabrics without getting washed out. I don't use yellow very often but was excited about it and ended up feeling like it "made sense" since it was for a star.  But really, as I was making this quilt I thought - a lot of colors would look fabulous for the star.  It's all personal preference and I hope to see many different color versions of this pattern someday!

 

I wanted to use up some extra 9-Patches on the back and am completely in love with that little surprise on the simple, white back.  I've had a request to write up some instructions on how I did the back.  Would any of you guys be interested in the instructions for that?

I had my quilter (Cathy Barney from Alpine, UT.) do a new-to-me swirl design for the quilting.  It's called "Overlapping Crop Circles" by Digi-Tech Designs.  I really like how it turned out and how it keeps the focus on the quilt pattern.

After a quick photo shoot outside, it was time to bind!

I can't bind a quilt anymore without using my Binding Baby!  It's so handy!  See my thoughts on it (along with a few of my other favorite notions) HERE.

 Finished!  And then another quick photo shoot before it headed off to a quilt shop for display...

So, what was supposed to be a "selfish sewing" project, turned into a new pattern!

Star Patch is the name I chose after opening up that discussion on Instagram.

If you're interested in purchasing this pattern click HERE to visit my Etsy shop.

There are PDF and paper patterns now available!

Thanks for stopping by!

15 lovely heart quilt patterns [friday favorites]

Good morning!  It's time for another Friday Favorites!

 I have scoured the internet high and low for my all-time favorite heart quilts!  I've got 15 I want to share with you today and I hope you will love them as much as I do.  A lot of them are free patterns (a few are not).  Links are included.  

Are you ready to be inspired?

I seriously want to make all of these (a few, I already have!  Do you know which ones?)

1. Hearts on Fire quilt from the book, Weekend Quilting by Jemima Flendt of Tied with a Ribbon.

This quilt was made by Emily Dennis of the blog, Quilty Love as part of the Weekend Quilting Blog Tour.

2. Sweethearts Quilt by Cloud 9 Fabrics (free pattern)

3. Open Heart by Lella Boutique

4. Love is All Around by Nadra of Ellis and Higgs

5. Pixelated Heart Quilt by Diary of a Quilter (free pattern)

6. Heart in a Star Block adapted from the pattern, Handmade With Love by Camille Roskelley

This is Chelsi Stratton who made two of these quilts for her daughters (photo featured on her mother's blog, A Quilting Life).

7. Simple Heart Quilt by Cluck, Cluck, Sew (free tutorial)

Allison also has instructions for other size hearts and a mini quilt that uses multiple sizes together!

8. Heart to Heart Quilt by Dear Stella (free pattern)

9. Wrapped in Love Quilt from the book, Piece of Cake by Peta Peace

10. First Crush by Amanda Murphy

I love this unique pattern with interlocking hearts!

11. Jelly Roll Hearts Table Runner by Kristina Brinkerhoff (free pattern)

12. Follow Your Heart by Sweetwater

13. Chains of Love By Amanda Neiderhauser & Amber Johnson (free pattern)

14. Candy Hearts by Amber Johnson (free pattern)

15. With Love by Amber Johnson

Weren't those amazing?!?  I am completely inspired by the heart quilts I found.  Wish I could make them all (also, I'm just kind of blown away that there are so many different ways to name a heart quilt, LOL!)

So, which one(s) do you want to make?

I hope you get some time to do some weekend sewing this weekend!

Take care, my friends!