Stocking craftiness

Poor kid #2. Nothing is the same as it was for coddled #1. By the time #2 comes along, you're lucky to get anything into their baby book . . . ever. I've got a few scribblings down in Jude's, but it's a far cry from what Sophia's was by this time. So I decided that by golly, he was going to have a great stocking for his first Christmas, one way or another.

Then I figured out what I was going to be making for Christmas gifts this year, and the stocking got added into the mix as another item on the list. And to be honest, it went to the bottom of the list, because he wouldn't know if it didn't get done, but other people would know if I handed them a half made something or other.

The past couple months have been filled with a flurry of stitchery. I have gone thru four spools of thread in the past three weeks alone . . . when a friend called to ask if she could borrow a spool of white I replied "Darn! I knew I forgot something at Walmart today!" because I had finished off two of them that week and didn't have any left.

This past weekend I finally finished my last (almost, not quite . . . one small one yet to do) project beside Jude's stocking. Monday the plan was to get cranking. And then somehow the laundry, dishes, and kids ate up the day, and no stocking. (Is this sounding at all like the making of Jude's baby quilt?!)

Tuesday. I finally started the stocking, and by the time I went to bed I had the top halfway done. Phew! Yesterday I woke up determined to finish, and for once I met my goal! Unfortunately, it was also the day that Sophia decided she would try responding to everything I said with "no" . . . we had temper tantrum fun ALL DAY, so that was nice . . .

I wanted the kid's stockings to match in design but be different colors, and thanks to Nanny (my grandmother) I had six beautiful calico fabrics to use for Jude's. I already had the white fabric on hand (leftover from his baby quilt!), so just had to cut and sew.

Sophia's stocking . . .

Jude's stocking . . .

Thanks to iron on interfacing, the letters were super easy . . . just choose a font from the computer, print out the name, and trace onto the interfacing (backward), which should be ironed onto the wrong side of the fabric. Cut out, iron onto stocking, voila!

Together . . . along with the nativity, our only decoration other than the tree . . . maybe next year I will start my projects earlier and have my act together enough to do some other decorating. But hey, Jude's stocking is done and blogged, and it's only the 22nd!