Home for the Holidays

Make your living room merry and bright. Decorate store-bought items with fabric scraps in seasonal colors for fast and easy holiday decor. (See the following slides for instructions to make the items featured in this photo.) Drape a cozy quilt over your sofa for cuddling in front of a fire.

Buy the quilt pattern here.

Spell out season's greetings on your mantel or a side table. Customize block letters found at crafts stores by spray-painting them gold, then covering the fronts with favorite fabrics that match your decor. Add evergreen sprigs and small ornaments for an extra pop of color.

This season home decor is all about texture so trees covered in plush fabrics are the perfect accessories for your mantel or tabletop. Cut fabrics to fit around assorted sizes of foam cones, secure the fabrics with straight pins, and embellish with trims, costume jewelry, and candlesticks for a high-style forest. Fabrics are from the Kozy Cuddle collection from Shannon Fabrics.

Stockings don't have to be elaborate patchwork. For a simple option that comes together quickly, embellish a basic sock pattern with fusible shapes that use up your scraps.

Get the basic stocking pattern and tree appliqué shapes pattern here.

Add a hint of the holidays to a couch or chair by stitching a few extra throw pillows, such as this striped one. Sew together twelve 2-1/2x12-1/2" strips and add a 12-1/2x24-1/2" backing rectangle to make an easy pillow cover. Fabrics are from the Belle Provence and Tool Time collections, both from Northcott.

Turn pictures of your quilts into custom gift wrap. On your computer, size an image of a quilt to fit the desired-size sheet of paper, then print it in full color. If you have scraps remaining after wrapping gifts, use them to make decorative bands or gift tags.

Transform your kitchen and dining room into a festive gathering spot. Bring warm touches to the table with bright colors and fabric decorations. (See the following slides for instructions to make the items featured in this photo.)

Add holiday color to your table with a beautiful table runner. To machine-quilt our scrappy Log Cabin table runner, we used a machine blanket stitch with 40-weight metallic thread in the needle and cotton thread in the bobbin. TIP: Use a Metafil needle to allow for smoother stitching and less breakage when using metallic threads.

Get instructions for making this table runner here.

To give purchased napkins a holiday theme, at one end of each, fuse flower petals in the shape of a poinsettia and add a button to the center.

Get the free petal pattern here.

For a one-of-a-kind cake plate, fuse seasonal fabric to a cardboard cake round and cover it with a plastic protector such as self-adhesive shelf liner or fusible vinyl so you can wipe it clean.

Dress up a chandelier to top a picture-perfect holiday table. Use fusible web to join two layers of fabric. Cut the fused fabric into 1-1/2"-wide strips with a rotary cutter that has a scalloped-edge blade and intertwine the strips with greens.

Customize the cook's look: Transform a purchased tea towel into an apron and add a pocket made of a cotton print.

Buy the apron pattern here.

Create festive wine bottle wraps, perfect for gift-giving. Cut 6"-wide fabric bands, embellish them with jumbo rickrack, and add hook-and-loop tape to the ends. Most fabrics shown are from the Joy collection from Kate Spain for Moda Fabrics.

A die-cutting machine and decorative-edge punches make it easy to embellish gift bags and tags. Cut holiday shapes from fusible-web-backed fabrics. Fuse motifs to paper gift bags and cardstock gift tags, covering them with a press cloth to prevent scorching, Holly, tree, and circle dies are for the AccuQuilt Studio fabric cutter. Shape top edges of bags with scrapbooking edge punches. Punch two holes near the top of each edge and tie bags closed with a cute ribbon bow.

Soften shelves, a bar, or a buffet with a stack of red-and-white quilts. Guests can easily grab them when it gets chilly at night.

Turn your guest room into a sanctuary of seasonal serenity. Limit the palette to two colors, such as blue and white. This classic color combination has staying power, which means with a few accessory swaps you could make it work well through the winter. Begin by draping a favorite quilt across the foot of the bed. Finish by accessorizing the room with an assortment of other blue-and-white treasures. (See the following slides for instructions to make the items featured in this photo.)

Get instructions for making this bed quilt here.

Warm up a headboard by wrapping a quilt over it. To avoid pinning the quilt in place, use small clip-on drapery rings as loops for a festive ribbon-tie closure. This quilt pattern is available in Sew Scrappy™, Volume 2, from the editors of American Patchwork & Quilting® magazine.

Buy this quilt pattern here.

Grouped en masse, yo-yos are stunningly simple items that add flair to any space. Wrap blue fabrics strips around a foam wreath, then attach assorted blue yo-yos with hot glue or pins. Hang the wreath with a satin ribbon.

Get the yo-yo circle pattern here.

Get step-by-step instructions for making yo-yos here.

Add pops of color to a silver tinsel tree with cool blue yo-yo ornaments. To turn a yo-yo into an ornament, sew an 8" length of perle cotton through one edge of the yo-yo and tie the ends in a knot to make a hanging loop.

Get the yo-yo circle pattern here.

Get step-by-step instructions for making yo-yos here.

Turn photos of your quilts into artwork. On your computer, resize pictures of your quilts to encompass an entire quilt, a single block, or a portion of the top. Then give the adjusted photo file to your print provider and ask to have it stretched over a photo canvas frame. The result should be an edge-to-edge print that looks great as part of a grouping. The big advantage: You won't need to worry about fading, dust, or damage to actual fabrics.

Make your guests feel welcome by adding little extras to their room. For example, fill an embellished canvas bag with great reads or lotions. We used metallic embroidery floss to sew fabric squares on our bag. Fabrics are from the Avalon collection by Jason Yenter for In the Beginning Fabrics and the Marblehead collection by Ro Gregg for Fabri-Quilt. A made-just-for-you scarf wards off winter chills and makes a great take-home gift. Fabrics are from the Indochine collection from Dear Stella and the Dylan collection by Whistler Studios for Windham Fabrics.

Get the scarf pattern here.