Christmas In July Blog Hop!

Welcome to the "Christmas in July Blog Hop" hosted by Melva of Melva Loves Scraps!

I am excited to join in to share some ideas about holiday crafting!  I always enjoy this kind of event that prompts quilters (and cross stitchers!) to focus on a specific category of projects to encourage getting some work done on them.  

Like many quilters, I often have trouble getting all of my holiday projects done in time -- usually because I don't start thinking about working on them until November or December, LOL!  I did "Christmas in July" for the first time last year and worked on two projects with mixed results.  

The words I chose for my MODA "Letters To Santa" quilt top.

My color scheme for last year was Red, Green, White/Light, Black and Gold.  I say the results were mixed because while I did get this top started,  I didn't complete it until December.  This year, it is still waiting to be quilted which is what I thought I'd be working on this time around.  However, a July 4th weekend camping trip and my husband being on vacation these last two weeks has definitely gotten in the way of that plan!

The other project I started for "CIJ" last year was this one:

That WIP is a "Scrap Squares" quilt using 2-1/2" squares that I cut from the "LTS" leftovers and from my Christmas stash as I auditioned fabrics for that top.  The plan was to use the squares to surround some holiday-themed panel blocks to make a lap quilt.  The project was influenced by the "Scrap Squares" quilts that I've seen quilt designer Pat Sloan make so many times.

Pat calls it "making a bonus quilt while making other things".

At this point, I still need to work on the layout of it and piece it together.  However, while working on that project I happened to come across this:

It is a tutorial for making a "Patchwork Bow" by pattern and fabric designer Liza Taylor of  Liza Taylor Handmade for her "Summer Sewing Series".  As long as I've been a quilter, I've always looked out for ways I can use my scraps rather than just collect them.  When I saw this, I figured that it would be another great holiday project for the squares I was already cutting.

So this Hop is a good excuse to try making that project now!  Liza's instructions call for sewing rows of three squares together and then sewing the rows together to create a "pieced fabric" strip that will serve as the "ribbon" for making the bow.  Fortunately, I had already started piecing together pairs of squares last year in preparation for adding them to the layout of the other quilt so I had a head start on doing this now. 

Liza had used "pieced fabric" on both sides of her "ribbon".  However after I had decided to make this design, I saw a great holiday print on sale at the Fat Quarter Shop and decided to purchase it and would use it as the backing for the "pieced fabric" front.

If you like it,  I see it's still available now.

The benefit of doing that meant I only needed half of the amount of squares that Liza calls for!

After I got all of my squares pieced together,  I cut two 6-1/2" wide x WOF backing strips, seamed them together and trimmed the backing to the length of the "pieced fabric".  I then completed the "ribbon" following Liza's simple instructions that include how to mark it to create the pointed ends.  

Of course, now I also needed to make sure that I remembered how to tie a nice decorative bow.  I found this video tutorial helpful for doing that:

It was pretty simple to do and here is the finished project!!

These bows would be great to display with a matching quilt or at the base (or even top) of a Christmas tree.  It could also be hung on a front door or in a window but you'd have to be careful to check if the fabric might fade from exposure to sunlight. 

  

Now if I can get this top quilted, I'd be gravy!

If this is your first time doing "Christmas in July" or want even more tips for how to approach doing it, check out Kris O’Neill's "Christmas in July 2025" video series on her YouTube channel "Sew the Distance".  

Kris is making a video daily for the month of July with tips on how to choose, thrift and organize your holiday stash and projects.  She also has offered a few projects to make with your stash.  But don't wait too long to watch it:  Kris says this series is a "Summer Special" and she'll remove the playlist from her channel at the end of August.

And of course there is even more to see from the other participants in this Hop!  Be sure to check out all of their posts too!

"Christmas In July Blog Hop" Schedule:

July 24

Melva at Melva Loves Scraps -- Our hostess!!

Diann at Little Penguin Quilts

Carol Andrews at Quilt Schmilt

 July 25

Melva at Melva Loves Scraps -- Our hostess shares another day of inspiration!!

Vivian at Bronx Quilter  --- You're Here Now!

Gail at Quilting Gail

Linda at Texas Quilt Gal

There is still a few more days before July ends so I hope you have been inspired to pull out a project and get your holiday season started early!

To Do Tuesday: Plans for July

Another new month already?  Guess that means it's time to join everyone and check in with this week's "To Do Tuesday" over at Carol's Quilt Schmilt!

A Recap of Unfinished Things from June 

During June I had hoped to "fully finish" "United We Stand" which is a cross stitch piece and put together the parts for a quilted pillow cover made in fabrics from the MODA "Seeds of Glory" line. 

Neither got done as I spent most of the month focused on my cross stitching.  I had wanted to try making that edge finish on the little cross stitch pillow first and if successful then try it on the larger pillow cover.  

However,  after I trimmed the cross stitch in preparation to finish it,  I lost a piece of piping trim that was already prepared and which was leftover from a project from years ago.  I had hoped I'd eventually find it but still haven't so now will have to make more.  I'd still love to get both of these finished but admit I haven't made any definite plans to do so this month.   

I also had planned to finally layer and quilt a top I call "Modern Bohemia" for Rebecca's Sugar Sand Quilt Co. "Misson UFO" challenge.  

Well only two things for that got done:  I decided on the quilting plan and I reviewed the backing fabric I had purchased for it.  The good news is that the quilt is a lap quilt but the backing fabric had been purchased during a sale on 3 yard Wide-back packs at Keepsake Quilting.  I found in my notes that I had actually planned to split the backing between this project and another that also needs to be quilted so I got that done too.  

The last of the unfnished June plans were to finally start (or even finish?) blocks for a Red, White and Blue version of Edyta Sitar's Laundry Basket Quilts "Alaska" design.  The plan was to leader/ender the making of those blocks with putting the blocks together to complete the top for a wallhanging.  I had finished up the blocks for the wallhanging back in May and it has been sitting on my design wall ever since.  

The top 12" block is the smallest size I could make pieced triangle units with the Large Kaleido-Ruler.

I only got as far as making up the test blocks for the project.  I am making the Kaleidoscope blocks for the design using Marti Michell's "Small" and "Large" Kaleido-Rulers.  I've owned the Large one for years but soon realized I needed the Small one to be able to cut the parts for the pieced triangles for the size block I planned to make this in.  

That ruler didn't arrive until the second week of the month and I cut the pieces for the test blocks in the third and then didn't get around to stitching them up until the last week.  So this is a good time to start in on the plans for the month and for this week!

The Start of Christmas In July!  

For this month,  the primary focus will be on holiday projects for "Christmas in July".  I don't dare start any new ones but I can't promise that won't happen --- you know, squirrels and all of that, LOL!!!  So for "CIJ" I need to:

• "Fully finish" my little "Christmas Log Holder"  cross stitch piece 

• Finish stitching my "Letters To Santa" cross stitch piece

• Quilt the two Christmas tops finished last year:  "Letters To Santa" and "Christmas Trip Around the World".  In both cases the top, backing and binding are already prepared.   

I should note here that since I also have the same done (well, not the binding) for "Bohemia",  I'm thinking that maybe I can also plan to quilt it along with them. 

• Continue and hopefully finish the top for the "Scrap Squares" quilt started during last year's "CIJ".  It was inspired by Pat Sloan's quilts in this design and incorporates panels from MODA's "Cheer & Merriment" line.

• Oh wait, there is a possible new start laying around:  I had kitted up a project during my "7 Days of  New Year's" quilt-a-thon.  The pattern was in the December 2024 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting magazine.  I saw that it could utilize some of the stash I already had out from the "CIJ" projects and the dwindling stash of red fabrics still around from my Red & White Holiday Quilts adventure from 2022-23.  I was able to order the same feature print used in the published design and additional green coordinates for the block piecing from the same fabric line. I also found a suitable tone-on-tone background print to fill out the stash needed for that project. 

I can't promise I will get this started but I can't promise I won't, LOL!!

What's Up For This Week 

1. Since I have quilts I need to layer and baste for quilting, a big priority for this week will be to start clearing off my cutting table so that can actually happen!!   
2.  I also need to clear my design wall so I can put the "Scrap Squares" project up and finish the layout of the squares.  That will require that the top laid out on it now becomes a leader/ender for something.
3. I want to start making the blocks for "Alaska".  However, since this is not the priority project for the month (in fact not for the next few months as I had already planned out what I want to do during those as well),  I've decided to do this project as another self-styled Block of the Month (BOM).  It should be noted that "Bohemia" had been one of the projects I had tried to do this way in 2020, all the others of which are still UFOs.  If I can keep up on "Alaska",  maybe I can eventually put the others back into rotation and finally zero them out as well! 
4. Most notably for this weekend, we will be headed out on another camping trip for the Fourth of July weekend.  As has been my habit whenever we go camping,  I'll be taking a hand work project with me for the long drive there and back and for some "around the campfire" stitching.  For our last few trips, I have been taking and trying to finish my "Open Your Heart" project which is camping themed.  I actually got half of a page of it done during and after our last trip for the Memorial Day holiday so am looking forward to finishing that page on this trip.

Other Plans For the Month

1. As noted earlier, I have a wallhanging top that needs to be put together.  I will leader/ender it with either the "CIJ" projects and/or the "Alaska" blocks so I can clear it off the design wall to make space for laying out the "Scrap Squares" project. 
2. If time and projects permit this month, I will also try to continue the two cross stitch projects left over from "May-nia" and "Red, White and June":  "NY Skyline" and "Right To Vote".

"Skyline" will probably get priority there since it is the easier of the two to work on and when finished is destined for a decorating spot I've long wanted to fill.  

So that's more than enough to keep me busy this month as well as a few things identified specifically for this week.  Let's see how I do!  Go see what others have planned for the week ahead by heading over to Carol's at "Quilt Schmilt" to see what's popping up in quilt studios around the world!

Slow Sunday Stitching: Two Weeks of Red, White & June Stitching

Things have been progressing nicely as this month's "Red, White & June" stitching has continued.  So  I am linking up again at Kathy's Quilts along with the rest of the "Slow Sunday Stitching" cohort.

Stitching Has Gone Well Since My Last Report

So much so that cross stitching has been about all I've been doing on the crafting front.  Of course that has not been good for my quilt projects, LOL!  The very slow, fumbly start I had made resuming two projects started back in 2023 for "Red, White & June" has eased a bit and over the past two weeks,  I finally got into the groove of working on them.  So "Home of the Brave" (a Primrose Cottage design) stitched on an Evenweave fabric has progressed as shown:

After this, I repositioned the hoop so I can continue by filling in the stars and words to be stitched next to "Home".  After that all I need to do is fill in the bottom with one more word and a big house and then the stitching on this will be finished! 

For my Linen stitching project "Right To Vote",  I managed to almost finish the word "Votes",  add one more of the backstitched words and started on the word "for" in yellow.

I should be able to finish that word and then will need to move the hoop to stitch the "S" for "Votes" and the other backstitched words on the first line.  

I had talked before about how hard it is to stitch on this soft Linen as I am more used to stitching on stiffer Evenweaves and Aida.  Next time I use a Linen, if it is as soft as this one, I will starch it first to make it easier for me to work with.  

May-nia Projects Also Continue

I also continued with my two May-nia projects which helps explain why I've been cross stitch obsessed!  Those two have bounded ahead and "Craft Supplies Lies" is now here:

I had to "frog" some of the false start I made originally so I could put in the last motif on the bottom right.  All that's left after that is the line of yellow text that will be surrounded by a big black box underneath all the previous stitching.  The line of stitches under the center are the start of the top of the box.  Fingers crossed that the sitching on this too could actually be finished by the end of the month!  

My "New York Skyline" project has also hit a milestone: 

I've completed one page of this five page pattern, woo hoo!!  That said, this means this one will take a few more months complete.  

I also just realized that I don't have enough floss for this!  For some reason I had only stocked two skeins and now I can't find the second one and I see that it took almost a whole skein for this one page (I am using Classic Colorworks "Black Coffee").   So needless to say,  an order for more floss has also been put in.  

Well at least, all of this focus on stitching has been encouraging as well as enjoyable!  What didn't go as well as planned on the cross stitch front was a finish!  

"United We Stand" Finish Stalled!  

My plans had also been to "fully finish" my little "United We Stand" piece into a pillow.  

To do so, I was going to finally get a chance to do this edge finish I've wanted to try for forever.

I had noted it at the end of this quilt post I did back in 2021 on "Special Edge Finishes".

The pattern by Primrose Cottage had not included finishing instructions for their pictured pillow finish.  So as best as I could tell, their piece had about a 3/8 to 1/2 inch of open space around the stitching.  The instructions for the "Piped Scallop" edge finish called for 1/2" seam allowance so I trimmed my piece to one inch beyond the stitching figuring I could take off the extra 1/8" if I thought the larger allowance didn't work. 

The edge finish also requires having rounded not square corners.  Ironically the pillow pictured on the pattern seemed to have that too which I would bet would also make adding the pom-pom trim they used easier too.  Not a problem, I've added curned edges before.  My usual tool for this is my Creative Grids "Curved Corner Cutter Ruler".  But the smallest curve there is 1-1/2" inchces and I felt that was too big.  I tried the bottom of a two different sized thread spools -- nope still too big.  The perfect size to my eye was a bobbin!

The edging also calls for making piping.  Now despite the fact that I have read (and added in blog posts!) the name of this finish a bazillion times (okay, maybe a bit of an exaggeration) until now, I had been focused on the scalloped edge and had completely overlooked the "piped" part, LOL!  So reading the instructions in full for the first time, I was only now realizing that this called for piping.  However, I totally lucked up on this front.  

I actually have a tool for making piping purchased all the way back in 2008.  Back then I had belonged to the Empire Quilters Guild here in NYC and the tool and quilt designer Susan Cleveland had done a presentation at one of the meetings.  As a result, I had been impressed enough with the quilts she brought for her trunk show that I purchased this tool.  I will admit though that I've only used it once:  back in 2010 when I made this doll quilt for an Aunt of mine:

I had applied blue piping around the edge of that quilt instead of a traditional binding because I wanted the blue fabric for the binding edge but felt a traditional binding would be too strong on it.  The blue piping was just enough.  Ironically, when I pulled out the piping tool package, inside of it was a remnant of that same piping!  The fabric I had used had faded quite a bit but fortunately for me it was still blue enough and the piece long enough to be perfect for use in this project.  That meant I didn't even have to make more piping!

Unfortunately, at one point I did try to work on some quilt projects and that further filled my already cluttered cutting table (which I was supposed to clean off in prep of layering a quilt).  When I finally tried to go back to working on the cross stitch finish, I couldn't find my scrap of piping!  I can't figure out where it has gotten to.  I expect I might have picked it up along with some other fabric I was working with.  I've turned over a lot of piles and looked through things that had visited the table but still can't locate it.  Sigh!  

I'm really hoping it turns up but if not,  fortunately I have more of the cording that came with the tool so I can make more piping.  It also tells me that I have too much going on right now so need to focus more on just a few things!

To check out what everyone has been doing with their slow stitching projects, head back over to Kathy's Quilts to see what others have reported for this week's "Slow Sunday Stitching" share session!  

Slow Sunday Stitching: The End of May-nia, the Start of Red, White & June Stitching

Well Hello to June!  And hello to all visiting from another week of hand stitched wonder over at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching!

With the start of this new month,  I have come to the end of my cross stitch "May-nia" period.  As usual not as much got done as hoped but I had a lot of fun stitching and have become more comfortable working with fabrics like Evenweave and Linen during this round.  That will be a big help with projects going forward.  

Progress:  One Fully Finished!

The good news is I got one project "fully finished"!

This is "Year of the Snake" by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery and I can now call it D-O-N-E!  And better than last year's  "Year of the Dragon" I can actually get to enjoy it while there is still half of the year left!  This is the third in this series that I have done, the first was 2023's "Year of the Rabbit".  

I had planned the finish for this to look like a gift but ran short of the scraps I had of the fabric I liked for the bands around the sides.  I wound up having to piece a square of another fabric into the center on the back to make the scraps stretch and then used a bias strip of that same fabric for the "bow".   

Dare I plan to do another for 2026?  If so, I'll go back to doing it as a "New Year's Stitch" and try to finish it earlier in the year .

A Little Bit Backwards To Go Forward

It took a restart to get my "Craft Supplies and Other Lies I Tell Myself" May-nia project going!  On the plus side, I have really enjoyed stitching this one more than expected given that it is stitched on Linen and I stitch more often on Aida.  

Since I've had a bunch of stuff sitting in my stitching chair that has the really bright lamp next to it,  the Linen has often been best worked on in bright daylight if I'm sitting on the couch and only able to use my lighted magnifier.  As such, early morning sessions of a half hour to an hour have been frequent during the past month.  

That said, I totally bungled this at first!  I got a whole section done only to realize I hadn't started at the center or at least far enough in to get to the edge of the piece with space to spare for additional motifs and framing allowance.

For some reason I started it here and then realized I was waaay too close to the edge....

...to have room for this next motif!

So I had to restart it.  By now though I was more comfortable with the stitching and got further faster on the second round.

Although I'm not ripping the initial stitching until I absolutely have to, LOL!!!

A Start on a Project, Just Not as Much as I Thought

"New York Skyline" was another long desired start for last month.

The pattern image.....

...and this is as far as I got.

I thought this one would go fast since I don't have to change thread colors.  However,  a lot of counting and direction changes added to continuing to get experience working on an Evenweave fabric meant it went slower than expected.   I am pleased with the progress and love seeing the design unfold so I'll probably keep stitching on this one in dribs and drabs until it's done.

Bonus stitching this month!

We went camping over the Memorial Day weekend with my husband's co-workers again.  My cross stitch project for the last few camping trips has been "Open Your Heart" so I took it with me again.  Before the trip I was here:

At this point I had three more pages of this pattern to stitch to complete the top half of the design.  Between the drive there and back, some stitching around the campfire when the weather held and in the tent when it was raining (which it did on and off unfortunately), I managed to get halfway through one page.

I still have the top of this page to complete.

The new part added is actually the first page of the pattern.  When I started this project back in 2023,  I had chosen to do so on the fifth page (bottom center).  That was because it had both a lot of "filler stitching" which was good for long car drives to campsites.  It also had the most color changes in the piece which at the time I started this was expected to be the biggest challenge and learning curve for me.  

I'm also happy with the progress made on this.  We have another camping trip booked for the July 4th weekend so I'll have another opportunity to pick this up again before the year is out.

Only One Left Behind

I had planned to work on one more thing during this May-nia period but never got to it:   

Oh well.   Maybe I can pick it up for Sheri's (Colorado Cross Stitcher) "Cross Stitch Summer Camp" this year.  If so, this could be my "August - Try Something New" project which would be adapting a pattern for self framing.

Moving On To June  

Now that it's June, I'll once again be stitching with the Fat Quarter Shop during their "Red, White and June SAL".

As always, they have compiled a section of patterns and supplies perfect for the SAL on their webite.  For my projects,  I'll be returning to the patriotic projects I started for 2023's SAL (I missed out on doing it in 2024):

• "Fully Finish" Primrose Cottage's "United We Stand":

This will be a simple pillow finish and I have the backing finishing supplies.  What I don't have is Pom-pom trim but I've long wanted to try the special edge finish pictured here for a quilt so this little project maybe the perfect time to test it out.

• Finish Stitching Primrose Cottage's "Home of the Free"

• Finish Stitching Mani Di Donna's "Right To Vote"

Admittedly, both of the last two should be helped by the progress made on the May-nia stitching.  Working  on "Lies" which is on Linen  just like "Vote" and "Home" which is on Evenweave like "Skyline" as well as a previous "Fudge It" finish  got me way more comfortable working on both types of fabric.  So I am hoping the work on both of these UFOs will go much faster this time around.  Who knows, maybe there'll be more finishes to show at the end of this month!

Another Bonus Project

I had stitched "Patriotic Parade" in 2024 for the Colorado Cross Stitcher's August challenge.  For me, the "Try Something New" prompt was "try cross stitching with wool thread".  

I finished stitching this one up in October that year but I still need to "fully finish" it.  I had purchased this project as a kit which came with the fabric, floss and finishing supplies.  Since it too is a Patriotic-themed piece, it fits right in with "RW&J" so I'm hoping to work on completing it this month right along with finishing "United We Stand".  Looks like it'll be a another busy crafting month and that's just for the cross stitch portion of it!  

What have you got planned for hand stitching in June?  I'm sure if you need inspiration, checking out all the others that are posting over at Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching link-up will give you lots of ideas to pursue! 

Slow Sunday Stitching: A Cross Stitch Update

I'm joining everyone today at Kathy's Quilts for "Slow Sunday Stitching" to share a recent cross stitch finish!

This is Erin Elizabeth's "English Tier" just one in a series of designs that are in this format but have different themes like "French", "Stitching", "Summer", "Baking", ect.   I was attracted to this one in particular because years ago I had picked up this in a thrift store:

At the time my DH and I had been bingeing on "Dr. Who" episodes so it was a hoot to find this jewelry box that looked like an iconic London Police call box.  I've had it on display with other themed minatures and loved the idea of making an England themed cross stitch piece to hang from one of the knobs.

After purchasing the pattern I hadn't made any specific plans to start it until Pat Sloan, one of my favorite influencers, announced back in the Fall that she was going to do a sew along for a London themed quilt project!

That was just the nudge I needed to get this underway!  The plan was that when she worked on her blocks,  I'd take a few stitches in this.  Although it was patterned to be stitched on a 14 count fabric,  I planned to stitch mine on 18 count to make it smaller.  That's about as small as I'm able to go at this point in my CS journey.  To go smaller would mean stitching on very high count linens and I haven't even finished the projects or mastered the technique of stitching on the low count ones I already have in progress! 

I was about this far by the end of 2024.

 In recent weeks, Pat made a push to finish up her blocks so I pushed to finish up my stitching too.  In the end, adjusting the size did and did not work:  it is smaller but not as small as I had hoped. 

 Albeit in the finishing, I could have left a lot less space around the stitching.  I also find that I don't love the coverage I get on 18ct with DMC which requires stitching with a single thread rather than two which is something I learned when I stitched on that count fabric previously.  I recently read about a thread brand called "CXC" that I might try getting as it is supposedly a little thicker while following the same color numbering as DMC.  That would make it easy to substitute when needed for this count fabric.

With regards to the "fully finishing":  I already had the "London Toss" fabric in my stash so knew I'd use that for the backing.  I had purchased it to make a mug rug for a gift some years ago but I never got around to that project.  When I finished the stitching, I felt like it was going to need some kind of trim around the edge.  Fortunately I had just the thing:  some time ago, I discovered that my local Joann's would often package up remnants of trims the same way they do fabric remnants and like those are 50% off.  I realized these were great opportunities to stash bits for cross stitch finishings and the trim used here was one of those.

The empty bag was the one used for this project!

Unfortunately, with Joann's going out of business that source won't be available much longer!  This trim was pretty thick so I had to stitch it to the front by hand in order to manipulate the cord to go around the corners and then stitch the backing to the cording on the back.  The real challenge was finshing the ends.  Not perfect but it'll do!

Considerng that this is my second "England themed" cross stitch piece, does this make me an Anglophile?!?!    

Now to decide on what to work on next.  It'll be one of these:

I've been considering starting both of these since January.  I did start a review of how to reformat the first pattern but am still not sure about how I want to center the words and images of it.  The orginal design is one horizontal patterned piece but I want to display it in the frame shown as three individual pieces.  

There's also this one:

And another attempt at stitching on Linen!

I had started it while we traveled last month.  It is the one I'm making for myself after making one with a similar theme (but much less "snarky") for my MIL as a Christmas gift.  

If you want to see what everyone is keeping their hands busy with as we start to move into the Spring season, head on over to Kathy's Quilts and see what is sprouting in craft rooms around the world!