Today will be the first of two posts as I participate with Sarah’s blog hop 12 Days of Christmas in July over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict. I have a sew-along embroidery project for you that you can also make with some fussy cuts if you don’t have an embroidery machine.

So many of us now have wonderful embroidery machines that can make fabulous stitched motifs and lettering. I created this wall hanging so you can use some of those designs. For my project, I have chosen four Santa Claus designs. For your project, choose four designs in a holiday theme (or whatever you like) and work this week on stitching them out. They should be able to fit on a 6-inch finished square (6-1/2-inch unfinished cutting size). Mine are from a discontinued embroidery card, but you can find lots of Santa designs online right now, many on sale in July. Then pull some Christmas fabric scraps for the patchwork.

Fabric requirements are :
1/2 yard of background fabric for embroidery motifs, cut into 4 pieces
2-1/2-inch squares – 45 total of a variety of prints
1 fat quarter for the inner border
3/8 yard fabric for the outer border
Additional fabric for backing and binding
Notions – stabilizer and rayon embroidery thread, cotton thread for assembly and quilting, embellishments such as seed beads as desired.

Stitch out four designs of your choosing.

Then, trim your images to 6-1/2-inches, centering the embroidery in the space. I find a square up ruler works well for this.

If you do not have an embroidery machine, look for motifs in Christmas panels or fabrics. These small panel flowers would work well.

Or, find a print that has motifs you can use, like these cardinals or ornaments. Fussy cut with the focus in the center.

You can also use some slow stitching motifs, like cross stitch or crewel embroidery.

If your motifs are too small, just add some fabric framing to bring them up to the 6-1/2-inch cut size needed.

So, this week do your cutting of the squares, find some fabrics for borders, stitch out and trim your motifs, or find four small panels or prints to fussy cut. Next week we’ll assemble the project. I’ll have a pdf for you on that post with all the instructions.

One more idea for using your embroidery machine. Embroider the words Peace, Joy and Noel on white wool and make into ornaments. These are made with the jumbo size covered button kits you can find at the big box fabric retailers. Lace trim and pearl cording add some glam.

Are you getting started on Christmas sewing?

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P.S. If you downloaded the pdf for the Quadrille Borders, there is a mistake in the naming. The lullaby and table topper are the same, the column marked Lullaby should be Throw Size. You can correct your copy or download the new one – Quadrille Borders.