The Countdown to Christmas Quilt Along - Cutting

Welcome back to the next post for the Countdown to Christmas Quilt Along.  Today, we are talking about cutting out our projects.  Shown below is a copy of the schedule so you can see where we are at and what comes next:

• August 19th - Announcement of Giveaway and sponsors
• September 2nd - Quilt Along begins:  Choosing fabrics and fabric requirements
• September 16th - Cutting 
• September 30th - Applique techniques (machine, hand, puff-paint, ironed on).  The options are endless for how you would like to add your numbers to the pockets.  
• October 14th - Piecing and layout variations
• October 28th - Quilting ideas
• November 11th - Binding
• November 25th - The Big Reveal and ideas for what to put in the pockets.

If you want to see more details on the Quilt Along please go here.  Remember you can join in on the fun at any time!

I was excited to finally start to cut into these beautiful Christmas fabrics.  Unfortunately, I had to make my "pocket fronts" a little bit larger in order to fit them into my embroidery machine hoop because that is how I plan on adding my numbers.  I hate the thought of wasting any of this fabric, but hopefully when I fussy cut the pocket fronts out, I will still be able to use up the scraps in a later project!  Since I am going to machine embroider the pocket fronts, I only needed to cut out 3 pieces per pocket.  Now if you plan on appliqueing the numbers on, you will need to cut out the fourth piece.

I decided to mix up my fabric combinations with "solid and print" and "print on print" to give it a nice scrappy look.  I am doing two numbers per fabric combination, so that is the reason why you only see 12 fabric combos.

I think my favorite combinations are the red and black ones.  Don't forget to check out Janice's blog over at Better Off Thread to see see her fabric combinations as well.  I know the both of us cannot wait to see what you guys have come up with, so please link up below to share your progress.  The link up will be available for the next two weeks.

Happy Quilting!