Preparing for Christmas

After two weeks of school holidays, Cohen started Term Four this morning. This means I have a mere ten weeks to bring you everything I have planned for Christmas. The time will fly by fast, as its always so busy leading up to Christmas but this is my favorite time of the year, so I'm excited.
To kick start my prep, I thought I'd link up a few of my past Christmas projects and also give you a brief rundown on what to expect in the following weeks.
So first up, the lovely team at FaveQuilts have featured another of my projects, and this time its my free block Christmas Star:

If you haven't seen this block before, its so pretty and you can use it for lots of Christmas projects. It's a paper pieced pattern and I've included templates to make four versatile sizes. You could use this block to sew place mats or table runners, or as a cushion front or a border for a Christmas quilt; the possibilities are endless and limited only by your imagination.
The pattern is free and you can download your copy HERE. Have lots of fun with it :)
Also check out some of the other free Christmas patterns at FaveQuilts, HERE.

Another of my free Christmas patterns are these gorgeous mug rugs. They are quite simple but so pretty and make great presents for teachers or neighbours or your crafting friends. They're a great use of scrap fabrics and they look lovely on your side table or office desk.
The free pattern includes the paper pieced version shown above and an applique version if FPP is not your thing. You can download the free file, HERE.

Over in my PDF pattern shops, I have this cute little guy. This is my Nutcracker pattern and I just love hanging him near our Christmas tree. He brings a smile to my face every time I look at him and it just wouldn't be Christmas without him :)
This is a quick and easy pattern using lots of quick corners and there's loads of diagrams etc. to help you along the way. You can purchase the PDF pattern HERE.

Yuletide is another of my Christmas PDF patterns. I love this little mini and I have seen it sewn in many beautiful fabric/colour combinations. Its another great stash busting project and its fully paper pieced and very easy to construct.
You can purchase the PDF pattern HERE.

If you're like me and have to be super organised, I also have my free Christmas Planner which you can download and print. I love this planner and every year I reprint the pages and get to work on planning our celebrations. Even though our family is small, Christmas is huge for us and keeping all my lists, recipes, notes and plans in the one place, is essential.
Start your planning today and download your own copy of my planner HERE.
So what have I got planned for the coming weeks? Here's a little list of what I hope to bring to the blog to help you celebrate Christmas with your family;

• my upcoming December mini quilt pattern will be Christmas themed (that's a given)
• a new free Christmas pattern (and its a sweet one!)
• recipes, lots of recipes, including some yummy biscuits presented 3 or 4 ways which will be perfect for gift giving.
• a Christmas inspired crocheted coaster. I've been playing around with my own crochet design for a little while now and I think I almost have it :)
• a quick and easy Christmas ornament which is perfect to pop in your Christmas cards to friends and family.
• Maddi and Michael's Christmas gift. I have been working on this crocheted blanket for months and its epic! I've had a daily love/hate relationship with this one but very soon it will be finished and ready to share. And I looooooove it! Stay tuned :)
• plus lots of links to free patterns I'll be using to add to our Christmas decor.

OK, I need to get all of this done in the next ten weeks so I best get to work; not that you can really call all that fun crafting, actual work :) I hope to bring you all of these projects (plus more if time allows) but if something doesn't make the blog then it just didn't work as I had hoped; I'm thinking it may be the crocheted coaster, we will see.

Happy Christmas preparing :)