Sew Seasonal Blog Hop – Starts today!

It’s time to deck the halls with boughs of holly (fa la la la la), make some egg nog (what is that anyways?!), pull out some Christmas tunes and get festive!

Okay so you don’t have to do all of the above (it is only the 1st November after all), but it’d be lovely if we could get that festive mood happening! We quilters are such organised types (don’t laugh, I’m sure some quilters are anyways) that I’m sure Christmas sewing has already started happening. If not – now’s the time! The Sew Seasonal Blog Hop starts right now! Yay!



Alyce from Blossom Heart Quilts and I have designed 25 Christmas themed patterns to get you feeling super Christmassy. Or at least in the mood to start humming Christmas carols. Each day for the next 13 days, we have some fabulous bloggers sharing projects made with our patterns. But it gets better. You can download our patterns (for free, no less!) and make your own Christmas fabulousness (linky party at the end of the month to share what you've made and maybe win a prize!)!



You can find the patterns in our Craftsy stores. They are free for the duration of the blog hop. Pretty awesome, right? Paper pieced patterns are here and Ornamental patterns are here. Go on, grab em both, you know you want to!

Not sure what fabrics you have on hand to make these fab patterns?  Chrissy from Sew Lux Fabrics has set up a special discount code on Christmas fabrics in her shop! So if you need supplies, be sure to check it out. The code is "sewseasonal10" and is for 10% off all Christmas fabric (Joy, Blitzen, and Sentiments) through November 18th. A charm pack or layer cake will work perfectly for these patterns!

But wait, there’s more! No really, you’ll have to wait. Or at least scroll down for the “more” part.
First though, let’s build the anticipation and check out what I made with one of the paper piecing patterns to kick off the blog hop! My block is the paper pieced stocking block.



With a bit of cute fussy cutting, some flash stitching and a whole bunch of pillow stuffing, I now have two sweet Christmas cushions with pockets just waiting to be filled with Christmas goodies!



I printed out the stocking pattern to make 7” blocks. Fussy cut these perfect little fabrics and whipped these blocks up in no time.



A little bit of cute red fabric for the back and they were done! I didn’t include a closure on these cushions, just stuffed them and sewed them up. Of course that means they take up a bit more room when storing the Christmas stuff. I perhaps didn’t think that aspect through too well.

I did think about the pockets though!



I wanted the pockets to be big enough to fit little presents on Christmas day, or at least some chocolate coins. They’re traditional for Christmas! At least in our household. These little pillows will sit at the end of the kidlets’ beds on Christmas Eve along with their Santa sacks.



I had planned to embroider the kidlets’ names onto the cuffs of the stockings, but let’s be honest. Embroidery and I aren’t friends. Besides, my kids have personalised fancy pants stockings that I made them previously. They’ll have to content themselves with that.

So! There’s my project to kick off the Sew Seasonal Blog Hop! And this is just the beginning! Here’s the line up for the rest of the blog hop:

1st November: Kristy from Quiet Play & Alyce from Blossom Heart Quilts

2nd November: Marieka from Bespoke Bites & Jane from Where Jane Creates

3rd November: Susan from Patchwork N Play & Kelsey from Kelsey Sews

4th November: Janice from Better Off Thread & Erin from Missy Mac Creations

5th November: Lucy from Charm About You & Rebecca from Making Rebecca Lynn

6th November: Charlotte from Lawson and Lotti & Amy from Amy's Crafty Shenanigans

7th November: Jess from the Elven Garden & Cindy from Live a Colorful Life

8th November: Elaine from Dashasel Sews & Kelly from Jeliquilts

9th November: Beth from Plum and June & Fiona from Finding Fifth

10th November: Juliet from Tartan Kiwi & Fiona from Celtic Thistle Stitches

11th November: Taryn from Pixels to Patchwork & Anorina from Samelia's Mum

12th November: Megan from Jaffa Quilts & Jane from QuiltJane

13th November: Gemma from Pretty Bobbins

I guess I’ve kept you waiting long enough – you want to hear about the “more” part of this blog post right? Well the fabulous Fat Quarter Shop is offering a great giveaway! A $35 gift voucher here at Quiet Play (plus you ought to check out Alyce’s project for today too! – perhaps another giveaway (not-so-subtle-hint-hint)).

Giveaway!

$35 gift voucher from the Fat Quarter Shop!

So how do you win this fantastic prize? You’ve got to be in it to win it! I’m trying out rafflecopter for the first time, so give it a whirl and enter up to 4 times for this giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck and thanks for joining in the madness fun! Check out all the details of the blog hop here and find out how you can enter the linky party to win even more prizes!

A big thanks also to our fabulous sponsors for the blog hop – make sure you check them out!