How to make two Christmas darlings

What’s sweeter than a Christmas dragon? A Christmas dragon with a little robin friend, of course! Two real Christmas darlings!

Follow along for a tutorial on how to combine the two quilt patterns!

A few notes before we start

• Finished quilt size: approximately 42″ x 55″
• You will need the following patterns:
  • Dragon Dreams (get the pdf or printed booklet)
  • Santa hat: free add-on pattern (get it here)
  • Little Robin (get the pdf)
• The fabric requirements for the quilt top are basically those of Dragon Dreams. Just have a little extra background fabric at hand (1 3/4 yd) and some scraps for the Santa hat and the robin and his ornament.

Cutting instructions

• You’ll need all the pieces from your Dragon Dreams pattern, except ff.
• Print the templates from the Santa hat add-on pattern. Identify the scraps you want to use for the hat, brim and pom pom based on the size of the templates.
• You’ll need all the pieces from your Little Robin pattern, except L (the bird is sitting on the dragon’s tail instead of a branch), and you’ll only need one a and one b piece each.
• In addition, you’ll need the following background pieces:
  • BG1: 2 1/2″ x 42 1/2″ (1x), pieced
  • BG2: 2 1/2″ x 44 1/2″ (1x), pieced
  • BG3: 9 1/2″ x 21 1/2″ (1x)
  • BG4: 9 1/2″ x 9″ (1x)

For efficient cutting:

• Cut your colour 1-7 pieces according to the overview table and cutting diagrams from Dragon Dreams (Fig. 2-6).
• Cut your colour 1-6 pieces according to the overview table and cutting diagrams from Little Robin.
• Background:
  • Cut your pieces according to Fig. 7 of Dragon Dreams, but instead of the ff piece, cut a 9 1/2″ x WOF strip and sub-cut your BG3 and BG4 pieces.
  • Cut three 2 1/2″ x WOF strips, join them end to end and sub-cut your BG1 and BG2 pieces (if the WOF of your background is sufficient, you may only need to piece BG2).
  • Use the off-cuts from the previous steps when preparing your pieces for the Little Robin block and the Santa hat (in case you are choosing the FPP option).

Making your dragon section

1. Make a dragon section following the Santa hat pattern (the pattern walks you though the necessary adaptations of Dragon Dreams), skipping the step of adding the ff piece.
   (The photo below only shows the dragon’s head, but be sure to make a complete dragon!)

2. Add BG1 to the right and BG2 to the bottom of your Santa dragon. Press your seams towards the BG1 and BG2 pieces.

Making your robin section

3. Make a robin block following the Little Robin pattern, but skipping steps 23, 27 and 28.

4. Add BG3 to the left and BG4 to the right of your robin block. Press your seams towards the BG3 and BG4 pieces.

Assembling your dragon and robin quilt top

5. RST, sew your robin section to the top of your dragon section and press your seam towards the dragon section.
6. Finish (baste, quilt and bind) your dragon and robin quilt as desired.

And that’s it! Snuggle up with your two Christmas darlings and have a cup of hot chocolate!

PS: How about some alternate colourways? Please enjoy the following suggestions!

• Cool blues with red/orange accents:

• Muted green with pink accents:

• And let’s call this the elf combo:

• And of course you are not limited to the Christmas theme, if you prefer a version without the Santa hat and ornament:

Let me know: which one is your favourite?