In our Nov/Dec issue each year we use a staff photo in the edit letter as our way of saying Happy Holidays to all our readers. This photo is usually taken on the hottest day of July as we try to think about snow and Christmas trees and holiday baking.

We decided to use some of this year’s beautiful holiday fabrics to make aprons and we’d make Christmas cookies in our picture. Of course, we decided this the day before photography. We looked through the holiday fabric we had in our studio–and found enough current fabric to make the aprons . . . well, Diane and I found enough to make aprons as long as we stayed behind the counter.

We bought disposable hostess aprons to use as our guide–several of us discovered those aprons could not be ironed.

We used the following fabrics:

• Winter Friendships from Marcus Fabrics
• Have a Sheri Berry Holiday from Northcott
• Bejeweled from P&B Textiles
• Forever Christmas from Red Rooster Fabrics
• Holiday Fourish 2 and Summer from Robert Kaufman

If you’d like to make full-size aprons (instead of our fat quarter bibs) here are some guidelines and a picture of Carolyn in her complete apron.

Materials:

• 1 panel at 33.5″ wide x 32″ tall
• 1 strip of contrasting fabric at 2.5″ x 152″ long (can be pieced together from 4 strips at 2.5″ x 40″)

Trim the top corners off the panel as shown below:

Sew a 1/2″ hem on the top, sides and bottom, leaving the angled portions unhemmed

Press the strip in half lengthwise, and then press 1/4″ seam allowances along both sides. Fold both ends inside and sew to finish the ends.

Fold the strip in half lengthwise and mark the middle. To form the neck loop, measure 12″ from the middle on both sides; match these points of the strip to the top corners and pin. Continue pinning the strip along the angled edges, enclosing the angled edges with the strip.

Starting at a bottom end, sew the entire strip together, 1/8″ from the edge, and continuing through all layers when you reach the angled edges.

And then enjoy all that holiday baking!

Celebrate our new site with two free patterns: Zoo-for-Two and Lavender Fields. Both use fun, large-scale fabric for quick and easy quilts.

Zoo-for-Two is made from Urban Flannel by Valori Wells for FreeSpirit Fabrics. The QM staff knew how fun that fabric would be when we first saw it. The best thing about Zoo-for-Two is how you end up with 2 quilts from one pattern. Hope you like how we used your fabric Valori!

Lavender Fields started as the color option after I saw Willow by McKenna Ryan for Hoffman California Fabrics. But I wanted to make a throw so I changed the patch size and it needed two borders, so this one became its own pattern

Happy quilting!