It may be called a longarm quilting machine, but you can make so much more than just a traditional quilt with your APQS longarm. With Christmas around the corner, we thought we'd share a fun Christmas decoration idea you can quilt with your APQS machine! APQS Education Director Dawn Cavanaugh shared a download for an easy tree skirt pattern on the APQS blog. I love how simple and elegant the design is! With the right fabric this will easily fit in with the rest of your decorations. In the Dawn's blog post, three APQS owners also shared the different ways they quilted their version of the tree skirt. All three designs started with a simple edge to edge design. While the wholecloth nature of the skirt would make for a beautiful custom quilting opportunity, I think I would also go with an edge to edge pattern. It's going to be sitting under a tree with presents piling on top of it (and maybe even a puppy or kitty sneaking under the tree for a nap!) so your handiwork isn't going to be visible all season. One of my go to pantographs for Christmas quilts is the Holly Berries pantograph by Hermione Agee of Lorien Quilting. Like Dawn's tree skirt, it's simple and elegant. It looks especially nice with an eye catching thread like Glide's Military Gold. There are tons of Christmas themed pantographs (both paper and digital) out there. Search around your favorite pantograph designers's websites and see what you find! If tree skirts aren't your thing, you can also search for Christmas stocking patterns. Digitech patterns has LOTS of Christmas stocking pantographs available, and when I last checked they were even on sale! And if you're still looking for the perfect gift for your favorite quilter, why not a brand new APQS Millie? APQS will be giving a way a Millie with overhead lighting on Dec. 14, 2016. You can enter the giveaway once per day here until Dec. 14. Maybe you'll be the lucky winner and have a new longarm machine for Christmas!