It's a Wrap

There are times when I just don't know enough to put my hands in the air and back away from the sewing machine, and this past week was one of them. With the journal covers in hand I couldn't resist the temptation of trying a Christmas stocking or two. I think I must thrive on the thrill of the deadline.

Anyway, out came the Christmas fabrics and pattern and I was off to the races. I hadn't made these before but it's the same pattern for the stockings that I showed you last year - the ones that my sister Betty had made for the Official Cookie Tester and I a few years back. I have been wanting to try them for years so I figured there was no time like the present.





The green check fabric is the lining - fun!

They are lots of fun and, with so many potential combinations, I can see more of these in my future. And the quilting was fast on them too. I didn't want to go through the hassle of marking them and then removing the stitching lines so I used a little painter's tape.

I loved not having to draw the quilting lines.

For the first one I aligned the tape with the edges of the prairie points using my ruler and then stitched along both sides of it. Then I removed the tape, placed one edge along a quilting line and stitched alongside the other; when all the lines were completed in one direction I did them in the opposite direction to create a grid.

The line of prairie points helps cover the start of the quilting too.

The tape also helped keep the prairie points out of the way of the stitching. One piece of tape did both sides of the stocking and it was much faster than marking and removing the lines.

Love this fabric combo

For the upper section/cuff I marked a few lines because it was quilted in a different pattern. And on this one I went back to the variegated blue/green thread that I've been using for the journal covers.

The second one went together even faster

On the second stocking I tried a different quilting pattern and ecru thread - vertical lines through the sock and diagonal lines on the cuff. To make the diagonal lines closer together I just placed the tape half way between the first two lines and followed from there.

The longest part of putting these together is the hand stitching for the binding, but even that goes together relatively quickly; prep a few of them and it's relaxing hand stitching in the car or in front of the TV. So, a few new additions to add to the the craft table at the bazaar.

Ready for the finishing touches - at 6 a.m.!!!

And, despite my best laid plans, I was burning the midnight oil to finish off a dozen little birds with beads and ribbon (I'm blaming it on having to do a trip to Toronto for 3 days).

Sweet tweets

Regardless, they all got finished and to the church in time and another Holly Bazaar is now in the books...M