"A Christmas Carol" Stocking

Last night I pulled my needlepoint stocking from the box where it's been sitting for years. I just HAD to have it and spent quite a bit of money on it, but then it was put aside in a move, and I forgot about it. Once we decided on the "Stocking Along", I decided I had to make it a priority and finally get to work. I'm going to go over to the yarn/needlepoint store next week and select the fibers to use. I'm not sure if I'll do all wools, or some specialty fibers, too. I didn't want to do an ivory background for fear of it getting soiled looking over the years, but in looking at the design, I think it would be the best choice. It will be fun to take pictures of this to share with you as work progresses throughout the year.

A Quilted Surprise

First of all, I can't believe I haven't written anything here since last November!! I'm always planning for Christmas, but just haven't been over here writing anything or sharing my plans and projects.

When I was going through some boxes in my crafts room recently, I found these items at the bottom of the box. About 12 years ago I bought a few panels of this Christmas fabric. I cut the panels apart and used a few of the smaller designs that year to make ornaments as gifts. I think I did a small wall hanging for a friend, as well. I had so much fun making those smaller items that I decided to hand quilt around all the designs. I did that, and for some reason, they all ended up in a box and were never finished. I think we moved shortly after that, so I forgot all about them.

My friend Heidi recently suggested a "Stocking Along" and I remembered the two stockings in the box. My plans are to finish these two as my first project (they just neat a cuff or binding at the top, as well as a ribbon so they can be hung). I'm going to use them as gift bags for two of the people on our Christmas gift list. I'm hoping to do almost all homemade gifts this year, so I thought a homemade gift bag would be fun, too.


I'm going to finish this little tree into a small wall hanging. As you can see, I handquilted the entire thing, and to finish it off, I'll sew on some buttons and charms.

I think this panel of the two angels will be finished into a pillow.

These three larger panels in the first picture are all handquilted, too. I think I was originally going to make them into pillows when I started the project years ago, but now I've changed my mind. I'm going to make them into tote bags! Two will be used as gift bags for Christmas gifts (like the stockings), and I think I'm going to keep the center one (the one on the left in the picture above) for myself and use it for my current stitching or knitting projects.

There are so many other items in that same box that are almost finished, and I think I might pull items from there throughout the rest of the year and finish them up. Several are cross stitch pieces that just need the final finishing touches, some are crocheted or knitted, and there are a few sewing items. When I just looked again I saw that 2 or 3 are decorations I wanted to make for Halloween, so I'll be finishing those this year.

I have a few other plans for the "Stocking Along" and will share those plans and pictures over the next few days.