Christmas in July: Merry Little Christmas

 It's the middle of July...the sun is shining...flowers are blooming...

So of course it's the perfect time to start planning for Christmas! 

Over the next two weeks, we'll be sharing all things winter holiday related with you. The fabrics are available in stores now, so you can get started on your favorite reindeer, snowflake, or Christmas tree quilt pattern now and be done before the holiday rush begins! 

Crank up the air conditioning, pull out your wool hat, and enjoy our Christmas in July series!

Today we have our last holiday line to share with you (the Christmas in July blog hop starts tomorrow!). We're going bright and funky, introducing Merry Little Christmas by Holly Helgeson. Christmas takes a modern spin with a palette of magenta, citron, lime green, and turquoise! Stylized trees, reindeer and holly are mixed with geometric snowflakes, ribbons and bows, and tossed ornaments. Add a little flair to your holiday spirit with these bold prints! 

Don't forget the panel! Motifs from the coordinates take center stage in this fun design. 

Looking for a free quilt pattern? Try "Christmas Windows," which features the panel surrounded by patchwork borders. It's available as a free download on our website. 

Click here to download the free quilt pattern.

Click here to see the entire Merry Little Christmas collection.

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Christmas in July: A Festive Season

 It's the middle of July...the sun is shining...flowers are blooming...

So of course it's the perfect time to start planning for Christmas! 

Over the next two weeks, we'll be sharing all things winter holiday related with you. The fabrics are available in stores now, so you can get started on your favorite reindeer, snowflake, or Christmas tree quilt pattern now and be done before the holiday rush begins! 

Crank up the air conditioning, pull out your wool hat, and enjoy our Christmas in July series!

Jackie Robinson is back, and with more feathered friends! Her new holiday collection, A Festive Season, features vibrant red cardinals and ornaments nestled among evergreen branches and holly. Touches of metallic gold add an elegant accent, and black and cream serve as background colors, allowing the reds and greens to pop off the fabric. 

The panels:

The coordinates: 

We asked Jackie to talk to us about A Festive Season:

Why did you decide to feature cardinals and ornaments?

We don’t have cardinals in Montana, but I grew up seeing them in my backyard. Because they’re red, they’re a festive bird. But they also are only in the U.S., so we added in the ornaments to make the fabric appealing worldwide. Also, the cardinals can just be “winter” (as opposed to holiday), and the ornaments add more of a Christmas feel.

Tell us about the cardinal prints.

They’re my favorite. I just love them! The birds are hand painted, and they’re beautifully detailed and shaded. I created embroidery designs from them. One of the prints has the birds spread out, so you can isolate and fussy cut a bird.

I have a bathroom that changes design almost monthly. I now have a beautiful set of cardinal linens, including embroidered towels, inspired by this collection.

Let’s talk about the stripe.

It’s the same stripe formula that I’ve done in the past—one section is 2-1/2” wide, and makes a good binding. Of course there’s the wider section as well. I include little ¼” chunks to be seam allowances. I like the paisley version too. The paisley goes well with both the cardinals and the ornaments.

And the panel?

It features four big blocks and three little ones, for the best of use of space in the panel size. The metallic gold braid around the edges adds interest. There are so many great ways to add metallic accents to designs. The panel blocks are featured in a BOM design (see more below).

Tell us about a few of the prints.

I’ve used a paisley before, but we added some holiday feel to it with holly. Holly is very much an ongoing theme in my holiday fabrics—it works for everyone. We have some holly looking plants here in Montana called Oregon Grape.

I also really like the tonal ornaments—they can be treated like a regular tonal print and used in backgrounds of blocks. I especially like the cream design.

Our website features a few free quilt patterns using Jackie's collection.

First, Festive Cardinals & Ornaments by Heidi Pridemore (you choose which panel and border print to use!) 

Click here to download the free quilt pattern.

Festive Runners by Jackie Robinson (again, you choose which panel to use!). Pattern includes table runner, queen-size bed runner, and placemats. 

Click here to download the free quilt pattern.

Jackie has a variety of patterns using A Festive Season on her website as well. Click here to see all of Jackie's A Festive Season patterns.

Ornamental Ornaments: 

Jackie also designed a 4-month block of the month pattern, A Festive Tree BOM:

Dancing with the Stars:

Click here to see the entire A Festive Season collection.

Click here to find the free patterns for this collection.

Click here to visit Jackie's website and see more of her patterns.

Click here to see Jackie's coordinating embroidery collection.

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Christmas in July: Mulberry Lane

 It's the middle of July...the sun is shining...flowers are blooming...

So of course it's the perfect time to start planning for Christmas! 

Over the next two weeks, we'll be sharing all things winter holiday related with you. The fabrics are available in stores now, so you can get started on your favorite reindeer, snowflake, or Christmas tree quilt pattern now and be done before the holiday rush begins! 

Crank up the air conditioning, pull out your wool hat, and enjoy our Christmas in July series!

Take a trip to Mulberry Lane today, Cherry Guidry's new holiday collection. These scenic fabrics are so adorable that you'll want to move right in! We asked Cherry to tell us about Mulberry Lane. 

What inspired the Mulberry Lane collection?

When my children were young, we lived in a town with a quaint little street called Mulberry Lane. These homes were decked out to the max for the holidays, and it was one of our favorite roads to visit around Christmas.

Tell us about a few of your favorite prints.

There’s the little street scene with all the cars. I love the street, the movement going on, and all the snowflakes.

I also love the holiday fun print—it has the little bubbles with scenes in them.

I really love what happened with the blenders in this collection. There are six different colors, and they works so well for applique. Plus, these can stretch into the entire winter season, not just Christmas.

How did you come up with your palette?

Of course we had to bring the aqua back—I started with a deeper turquoise that you see in the snowflakes. There’s also a darker blue in here. I love the non traditional holiday colors, but I still wanted to include red and green. I love the way the lime works with the bright red.

Can you talk about the patterns you’ve designed using Mulberry Lane?

First there’s the Mulberry Lane quilt, a good sized throw. It’s all applique; blown up versions of the houses, cars and scenes in the fabric. I especially love the little row of cars at the bottom. All my patterns are available with SVG files, so if anyone wants to cut the applique pieces that way, they can.

Snow Crystal—I love stylized shapes, and this snowflake is no exception. It could be Christmas-y, but depending on the palette, it can work all through the winter. I love the open space ready for fabulous free motion quilting.

With Winter Star, I wanted to include more piecing. In the center of each block is an appliqued snowflake. There are two sizes—one bed-sized, and the other more of a throw.

I have the vintage ornament quilt along on we all sew.

I’m also doing a quilt along on Bernina’s Blog, We All Sew. It’s called the Vintage Ornament Quilt. The idea came from playing with an Irish Chain design. I wanted to see how I could include applique in with some type of simple chain. I have four more blocks to post (one each month), so there’s plenty of time to join in. At the end, I’ll talk about how to quilt it.

Thanks, Cherry! Cherry has offered to give away three free patterns (Mulberry Lane, Snow Crystal, and Winter Star). For a chance to win one of these patterns, leave a comment below letting us know which fabric you like best in her collection and why. Giveaway open through Monday, July 24th at 11:50 pm EDT. 

We also have a free quilt pattern available on our website, Snowy Village, using the panel from Cherry's collection. 

Click here to download the free pattern.

Click here to see the entire Mulberry Lane collection.

Click here to find the free quilt pattern. 

Click here to visit Cherry's website, and find her patterns and blog. 

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