Now that the holidays are over it's time to start thinking about...the holidays! I already shared the pretty Aurifil thread set I bought in mid-December HERE, and that I'd ordered its companion book, A Merry Christmas with Kim Schaefer. It arrived and while there are a couple craft projects I probably will never make (an ornament tree or banners, for example), there are many that I do want to try, like the adorable fabric gift tags, a pretty table runner and place mat, and maybe if I'm feeling ambitious one year, a quilted tree skirt.
I am definitely going to make the Squares Pillow because funny enough, it calls for pinking the edges of fused applique squares. As you may have read, I got the vintage Singer pinking attachment for Christmas and even though I did test it out, haven't had a reason to use it on an actual project. I'm excited to give it a try and see how the squares turn out.
I did order some Christmas fabric after the holiday. The first is a layer cake by Moda that I got from Craftsy (along with some more scrumptious cuts I'll share later). Under the Mistletoe is by 3 Sisters and the pre-cut pack contains 42 10" squares of really lovely prints. While there is a poinsettia design the rest are actually quite non-holiday specific and anything made from them wouldn't be glaringly obvious as a December only decor item.
Connecting Threads is where I purchased a fat quarter bundle called Christmas Sparkle. I haven't ordered from them since I fell in love with Moda fabric but because I wanted to buy both the book and another Foot Pedal Get a Grip pad (the most amazing non-skid pedal mat that I love, love, love. I've had 
my first one for a year and now that I have more sewing machine 'stations' I wanted another so I didn't have to move it so often. It's the only one I've found that truly works to keep those machine pedals in place), I added in the fabric to my order. This bundle is very Christmas-y and has a lot of sparkle. I had to search my own blog to find my How to Fold Fat Quarters post because I couldn't remember how to do it and Connecting Threads always ships them flat. I agree with myself in that it is much easier to see what prints are included and it's a great way to display the fat quarters in a container. I really enjoy ironing them flat and then folding them into tidy rectangles. The designs are quite pretty and since the projects I make from the book are only going to be used occasionally, the quality of this fabric is adequate. I can just play and have fun making the gift tags and runners and not worry about using up expensive 'quilt shop' pre-cuts.
Here are some closer pics of the prints. I'm going to be spending the next few months putting some Christmas crafts together and I'll be way ahead of schedule for December 2016!
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