I took a picture of our stockings to share with you, before packing them away for next year.
I felt inspired to make stockings for our family this year and am so glad I did. I used the same wool blanket that I made Bracken’s birthday crown out of. (At one point in time that old wool blanket felted down to an odd size and became the material for many an art project.)
I made them nice and big, with an elf shape to the toe. Then I took some cotton embroidery thread and got busy. I had some grand ideas for all the decorating I wanted to do. I envisioned a different image on each one. Perhaps an embroidered elf on Jeff’s stocking? A dove?….
I made them nice and big, with an elf shape to the toe. Then I took some cotton embroidery thread and got busy. I had some grand ideas for all the decorating I wanted to do. I envisioned a different image on each one. Perhaps an embroidered elf on Jeff’s stocking? A dove?….
In the midst of Holiday Market, I got a little more realistic about the amount of time I had available to work on them and I decided to simplify. Simple stockings would be perfect, they didn’t need to be elaborate works of art.
I embroidered our names on each one, doing them free hand as I went along, then stitched on a star. I worked on them throughout a few of Bracken’s naps and after he fell asleep at night. Throughout the creation of the stockings, I had a side that nit-picked. It thought things like ‘I should have written out the letters first and embroidered over that, instead of free handing them, so they weren’t so willy nilly’ and ‘How did the star get off center on Bracken’s? That’s what happens when I work on it when I’m tired I guess’.
Oh yes, I had the perfectionist side that critiqued those stockings along the way. But then I had the other carefree side that loved those dear stockings with all their character. The side that had so much fun and thoroughly enjoyed creating something with my own hands for my family that I love so much. They had meaning to me. And on Christmas morning, Bracken and Jeff loved them, which filled me with delight.
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As I went to pack them away, I realized that they weren’t quite finished. I do believe they need a bell on the end of each toe to be complete.
I embroidered our names on each one, doing them free hand as I went along, then stitched on a star. I worked on them throughout a few of Bracken’s naps and after he fell asleep at night. Throughout the creation of the stockings, I had a side that nit-picked. It thought things like ‘I should have written out the letters first and embroidered over that, instead of free handing them, so they weren’t so willy nilly’ and ‘How did the star get off center on Bracken’s? That’s what happens when I work on it when I’m tired I guess’.
Oh yes, I had the perfectionist side that critiqued those stockings along the way. But then I had the other carefree side that loved those dear stockings with all their character. The side that had so much fun and thoroughly enjoyed creating something with my own hands for my family that I love so much. They had meaning to me. And on Christmas morning, Bracken and Jeff loved them, which filled me with delight.
.
As I went to pack them away, I realized that they weren’t quite finished. I do believe they need a bell on the end of each toe to be complete.
Love these! Looks like they’ll be cherished for many years to come 🙂
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I love them! You are right, a bell on each toe would totally complete them and maybe one of your gorgeous wood buttons too. 🙂 Ours are simple and handmade as well…though I would love one of your buttons for each.
They’re lovely! I made my husband a stocking the year we met, red velvet with a green corduroy tree stitched on. Every year I add a new decoration, the first year it was his name and a heart crossly itched (haha that’s cross-stitched) and sewn on top. A lot of years it’s an antique button or something picked up on travels.
This year we don’t have access to our stockings but when I do I’m going to sew something on it relating to our dear 17 year old nephew Matthew. He died suddenly while playing a sport he loves this past March and we feel his loss daily.
We loved em, and you