Christmas in July 2026
Click HERE or on the image above for a complete playlist for Christmas in July 2026 (updated daily).
Welcome to the 2nd Annual Christmas Quilting in July series!
What is Christmas (quilting) in July?
This is a month-long celebration of festive sewing and quilting. Each day from July 1-25, I’ll be sharing a short, creative, holiday-inspired video and blog post to help you get a head start on your handmade gifts, décor, and projects. I can't wait to share everything I have in store!
Isn’t it too soon?
I often get comments like: it is too early to think about Christmas! My response is this: As quilters and sewists, July is a great time to start planning for the holiday sewing season. July offers a low-stress time to plan, organize, and even start projects. From my own experience, I have been super stressed out in November and December working on projects that I don’t even enjoy the holiday season. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a lot of the holiday sewing completed so we can actually enjoy ourselves? Also, July is usually when all the new holiday quilting fabrics hit the market! And lastly, it is fun!
What can I expect?
Daily videos from July 1 - July 25, all intended to get us quilters ready for the holiday season!
Three Q&A videos with my husband, Brendan. These will be each Wednesday during this event. This was so popular last year that I just had to bring it back.
Newsletter exclusively for this event (sign up HERE) with bonus tips, projects, and more!
A Parade of Christmas Quilts Event: I really wanted to get the community involved a bit more this year, so I reserved one video just for you to show off you own holiday quilts and projects! Email me photos at info@sewthedistance.com with a little blurb of information about the project. I will feature it on July 21’s video! The deadline to send it to me is July 19 at midnight.
Patterns! Projects! Tips! Tricks!
Tons of laughs, fun, and a welcome break from the summer sun.
Why Christmas in July?
You might be wondering… Why Christmas in July? Fair question—and one I’m sure will come up a lot—so let’s answer it right off the bat!
1. Holiday fabrics are hitting the shelves now.
July is when most quilt shops start stocking their festive fabric collections. It’s the perfect time to scoop up those gorgeous holiday prints while they’re fresh and plentiful!
2. We love making and giving handmade gifts—but the holiday season gets busy.
If you’ve ever found yourself finishing a binding at midnight on Christmas Eve (raises hand!), you know the struggle is real. This series is designed to help you get a head start, so you can actually enjoy the season and have a few handmade treasures ready to go.
3. It’s just plain fun.
Who says we have to wait until December to get into the holiday spirit? A little festive creativity in the middle of summer is good for the soul!
So, grab your scraps, your favorite festive prints, and join me each day in July for a quick, merry-making project or tip. Let’s make sure this the year we stay ahead of the holiday hustle—while having a blast along the way!
Let’s Get Started!
We’ve all been there: it’s mid-December, you’re surrounded by half-finished quilt blocks, a mountain of loose threads, and you're operating on three hours of sleep trying to finish a gift. This year, we are changing the narrative! Over the next 25 days, I’ll be sharing quick tips, scrappy projects, and fun ideas to help us get ahead of the holiday hustle. Let’s get a jumpstart on our giving lists now so we can actually relax and enjoy December!
Let’s talk about time, the one constraint we have that we can’t control. After all, we can adjust our budget, projects, and our gift list, but time? Nope. We all get the same amount. With only 176 days until Christmas, it is time to get a handle on time! Let’s plan together!
It is time for our Christmas Quilting in July Sew Along! YAY! Today we will get this party started by making the Holiday Crunch Time quilt. The quilt block used in this quilt was originally called Broken Courthouse Steps, but many people have adopted the name Potato Chip Block because you can’t just make (eat?) one of these, and it is true. This is a super fun block! Sign up for my Christmas in July newsletter and get the pattern for FREE along with a bunch of other goodies all month long.
If you don’t want to use scraps to make this, you can use a jelly roll. Each 2.5” x WOF (width of fabric) strip will yield (9) 4.5” pieces. You would have JUST enough fabric in a 42 piece jelly roll to make this quilt. Keep in mind that to have the same effect as the one shown, you will need (14) strips of each color.
These coasters are so much fun to make and are super easy, too! Each coaster is made of (5) 5” squares and (1) 4.5” piece of scrap batting. That’s it! Come have some fun folding squares and putting together these coasters for anyone on your gift-list this year! You could even make some for yourself!
I have been making these for many years (over 25!). They are fun, quick, easy, and are the perfect gift for anyone. They are versatile, too! Imagine making one for a football fan out of fabric featuring their favorite team or making a bunch for coworkers or friends. I hope you enjoy making these as much as I do!
I know, I know. It isn’t a project, but we have to do some background work to be successful, right? I promise to be back to projects soon. In this video, we are talking about making a list. I take you through my systems and explain what works for me. I hope it helps you, too!
In today’s video, we are going to talk about using what you already have to make gifts. We will look at UFOs (Unfinished Objects), WIPs (Works in Progress), flimsies (quilt tops), fabric, and more. I am even brave and show you what I didn’t finish from last year’s Christmas in July event! Let’s not make it harder on ourselves. Not every gift has to be something we started with the recipient in mind. ❤️
We had a great time answering all the questions you had for us! If we missed a question or if you have a question you would like to ask, we have two more Q&A sessions coming up! Submit your questions to info@sewthedistance.com or ask in the comments of any the videos in this series.
For today’s project, we are getting into the holiday spirit by making this quick and easy loop garland. I used a thrifted table cloth for mine, but you can also use yardage. I hope you have fun making these loops!
The thrift store is full of hidden treasures just waiting for a second chance! In this video, I'm sharing creative ways to transform secondhand finds into thoughtful handmade gifts. You'll see ideas for repurposing items, reworking them into something new, and reclaiming fabric for your next sewing or quilting project. Discover plenty of inspiration for creating meaningful gifts on a budget, then join me and see what possibilities are waiting on the thrift store shelves!
Buying Christmas fabric doesn't have to mean filling your shelves with prints you'll only use a few weeks each year. In today's Christmas Quilting in July video, I'm sharing simple strategies for choosing fabrics that can do double duty, building around a favorite hero print, shopping your stash, and one of my favorite ways to stretch your quilting budget even further. Join me for practical tips that will help you get more from every yard of fabric!
Looking for a fast, fun, and functional stash-buster? These fabric corner bookmarks come together in minutes and make the perfect handmade gift for the avid readers in your life. Grab your favorite holiday scraps and sew along!
Looking for a quick sewing project that's both useful and gift-worthy? In today's tutorial, I'll show you how to make a simple fabric book sleeve that's perfect for protecting books, journals, planners, or e-readers. It's an enjoyable stash-busting project that comes together quickly and makes a thoughtful handmade gift for the readers in your life!
What does it mean to be handmade? In today’s video, I discuss this topic, along with giving five tips on how we can make our quilts and projects semi-homemade. I talk about using a longarm service for not only quilting, but also basting and binding; buying quilt tops and quilt blocks to finish yourself; using quilt kits; buying premade binding; and using cheater prints. I hope this helps take some of the pressure off and allows you to enjoy the creative process.
We had a great time answering all the questions you had for us in the second Q&A! If we missed a question or if you have a question you would like to ask, we have one more Q&A session coming up! Submit your questions to info@sewthedistance.com or ask in the comments of any the videos in this series.
Just wait until you see all over the items (yes, plural!) that I made with this thrifted holiday pillow sham. In this video, I will walk you through my entire thought process from beginning to end as I keep this beauty out of the landfill. I had so much fun with this! I hope you enjoyed coming on this journey with me.
This easy and fun quilt works up super fast using just three (1) cuts of fabric. The pattern I made using these bar units is called Basket Weave because it looks like woven fabric.
For the sample I made, I used Christmas prints. Here's how I did it:
Fabric A: Green
Fabric B: White
Fabric C: Red
After cutting (10) 3" x width of fabric strips from each (Fabric A, Fabric B, Fabric C), sew units together in the following strip sets:
Green, White, Green (make five strip sets)
Red, White, Green (make five strip sets)
After strip sets are made, cut into 8" unit squares to get (25) of each. Arrange and sew together.
NOTE: You will have one red, white, red strip set left over using this method.
What else can we do with the blocks from yesterday? Let me show you! We are going to slice them up and see what we can make out of them.
Before the holiday sewing rush begins, there are a few things you can do now to make the busy season easier! In today’s video, I’m sharing three ways to prepare, from getting your sewing machine and tools ready to stocking up on essential supplies and scheduling your longarm quilting. A little planning now can save you time, money, and stress later!
During Christmas Quilting in July 2025, I showed how to make a table topper out of two of my favorite quilt blocks: the 4-patch and the half-square triangle. While planning for this year’s Christmas Quilting in July event, I found leftover four patch blocks from this project. This inspired me to come up with a new way to use them, which turned into these adorable (and easy!) four-patch fabric holiday tree ornaments!
Supplies Needed
Fabric:
(1) Dark 2.5” x 10.5” strip OR (4) dark 2” squares
(1) Light 2.5” x 10.5” strip OR (4) light 2” squares
Batting: 3.5” square
Ribbon (hanging loop): approx. 6”
Turning tool/Chop Stick
Scissors
Clips or Pins
Optional: Button and needle and thread
Optional: Glue Slick
General Quilting Supplies
Ready to be inspired? This video contains over 100 quilts and projects that are sure to get you into the holiday spirit! Just a word of warning: After watching this video, you may have sudden urges to dig out all of your holiday fabric, buy new fabric, and start watching holiday movies! I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed putting this video together. Such amazing quilts and projects!
We had such a great time answering all of your questions! We cover it all in this episode, from personal questions, woodworking projects Brendan has made, and Kris’s strong opinions about digital prints, starch, and more.
A handmade gift is already special because of the time and thought that goes into making it, but a few extra details can make it feel even more personal. In today’s Christmas Quilting in July video, I’m sharing simple ways to make handmade gifts feel special, including adding labels, care instructions, and a little note about the story or inspiration behind the project. I’m also sharing some fun ways to secretly figure out what someone likes before making them a gift.
It is hard to believe there is only one day left after today! Time sure flies when you are having fun! In this video, I show how I finish the Holiday Crunch Time quilt block, talk about how I will finish it, and discuss pattern variations. And just like that, we have a holiday quilt almost finished!
That’s a wrap! Thank you so much for all how watched, commented, emailed, supported, and laughed with us this July! I had so much fun! I hope you did, too!
