Holiday Wishes Quilt Along by Fat Quarter Shop

Christmas in July? Can you imagine that? I know it's so hard to feel Christmas right now with the super hot weather and tanks and shorts and flip-flops. But I think this new quilt along will bring you straight into the Christmas mood if you sew together with us!

Fat Quarter Shop was very kind to send me a copy of "Holiday Wishes" book by Sherri Falls. It's an amazing book with 12 different projects to sew for Christmas, from cozy pretty quilts to table runners to tree skirt. There's something to sew for everyone to gift and share!

It was so hard to choose just one thing to sew in the book. When I finally decided to make "Comfort & Joy Mini" Christmas project, I realised that there isn't many Christmassy fabrics in my shelves. I wanted to use 1930s reproduction fabrics but they did not quite stand out for this joyful sewing. Then I thought, hey, there is the very colourful and happy Flower Sugar (by Lecien) that I collected for so many years! So I rushed to take out the big bag (yes I put the same collection in the same bag) and smiled the biggest smile. They are just perfect for this sewing.

So this is my Comfort & Joy Mini!

The vibrant colors and prints make this mini quilt extra cheerful! My kids all love this and kept asking me to hang it up the wall! ^_^

The cutting instructions were confusing to me initially because I'm not used to labelling and reading in alphabets. It was so tough to relate the cutting to sewing by just reading through. So I dragged making it for some time. Until the night before, I decided to start cutting the fabrics because time was running out. I diligently labelled all the patchwork pieces as in the instructions. This step is so important and I'm glad I didn't skip it.

The next day when I started sewing, I was so surprised it took only one hour to piece the mini quilt top together. Only one hour! Just in time for two Elmo shows to end for my kids! It was a total breeze sewing with the labelled pieces. No squaring up at all. Everything just fits as it was to be. It was a very happy sewing because I'm so lazy to trim while sewing.

To make sure it's a mini quilt made from all Flower Sugar fabric, I had to rummage through my stash and was SO lucky to find the one and only piece that was just big enough to be the backing.

The wavy quilt was a last minute decision all because I wanted to quilt in the fastest way. So I'm very thankful for machine quilting this time! However, my machine quilting skill is not fantastic so it made the mini quilt wonky. I was sad at first but since there was no time to waste, I continued to quilt in the same way till the end. And it turned out so much better than I expected! It was a win-win! The mini quilt looks wonky but in a joyful way that it looks like it's dancing!

I love the gingham binding so much too that I was still happy even though there was only a fat eighth of it! I tried piecing them together so it does not look mismatched.

All in all, this is one sewing I truly enjoy and it looks so good on the wall even now it's not Christmas yet. It's the fastest sewing for me using a pattern. And one of the prettiest thing on my wall right now. xx