Christmas in July Blog Hop & Giveaway

Today I am happy to be a part of Gina Martin's Christmas in July Blog Hop! Gina has a new Christmas line out called Folk Art Holiday and it is absolutely gorgeous. Just look at how pretty this pile of selvages is!

Here is the line-up of amazing bloggers that will be sharing their lovely creations during the blog hop.

• July 23rd  Becca Bryan www.bryanhousequilts.com
• July 24th  Hilary Smith  www.youngtexanmama.com <-- You Are Here :)
• July 25th  Sally Keller   www.sallysangelworks.typepad.com
• July 28th  Donna Shervington    www.donnaleeq.blogspot.com
• July 29th  Brooke Sellmann   http://www.sillymamaquilts.com
• July 30th  Gina Martin  www.patternandhue.com
• July 31st  Prize Drawings

In case you missed it, my good friend Becca over at Bryan House quilts shared some gorgeous Quilt as You Go pillows yesterday, and today I am going to share my QAYG stockings. I promise we didn't plan it this way :)

I started with a pretty pile of strips that I cut at all different widths, and turned them into some pretty awesome stockings. I have been wanting to make some matching stockings for myself and my 2 boys (the hubby and the baby) and I am so glad that I finally have!

Well I've made stockings for Jeff and I, but I have plenty of strips left over to make 2 more. So William can have one, and mystery baby #2 that we're planning on having next year will have one too!

I didn't use the wood grain for the QAYG portion of the stockings because I knew I wanted to use it for the cuffs. Since there are 4 different colors of the wood grain print, it's going to be perfect for 4 different stockings.

I kept the back simple and used the snowflake print that coordinated with the cuff. I like to have a bunch of snowflakes and wintery themes in my Christmas decorating since we don't get many  any snowy winters here in Houston, TX.

I used 50wt Aurifil #2311 for all of my straight stitch quilting. I absolutely love the color (or lack there of really) of that thread. It's a wonderful eggshell shade that blends really well with most fabrics. QAYG takes a bit of time, so not having to change thread colors between strips is a life saver.

I can't wait to finish up the other two stockings, and then I have to patiently wait for Christmas decorations to hit the stores so I can get some cute stocking holders. This year will be our first Christmas with a fireplace to actually hang stockings on! I am quite excited because I love to decorate for Christmas.

So after all my jabbering :) It is finally time for the giveaway!! Gina has graciously offered up a Layer Cake of Folk Art Holiday for one of my lucky readers. The giveaway will run from now until the end of the Blog Hop on July 31st.

 

How to Enter: 

All you have to do to enter the giveaway is to leave a comment telling me your favorite holiday tradition. Mine is from when I was little and my siblings and I would always sleep in the same room on Christmas Eve, that way no one could sneak to see our presents in the middle of the night. 

Bonus Entry: My followers get an extra entry, Just leave an additional comment telling me how you follow me :) Facebook, Instagram, Bloglovin, GFC, etc.

Thank you everyone for stopping by today, and I hope you liked the stockings I made! I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone else makes with this lovely fabric.