One Finished Stocking

Andrew's.


So - I finished one stocking.  It is a "Christmasy-boyish-match-the-cowboy-fabric-on-Luke's-stocking" styled stocking.

Obviously I'm enjoying "making" something - especially in the sewing dept.

Most of my posts, since Christmas, have been about this project thing.

I don't know.  I don't why it gets me so excited to accomplish this sewing project.

I love making something - anything - and for some reason, when it comes to sewing, I don't go nuts.

I don't beat myself up if there are errors.

So here's the thing.

When I was planning the basic red and white stockings for Ada and John, I researched how to embroider their names - and I began to learn about different stitches and I began to learn about "crazy quilts".

Who knows about crazy quilts?????  Wow.  It's my next goal and it seems like accomplishing and perfecting this would do it for me.  Crazy Quilts have much much history.

They go back to the Victorian Era when ladies learned a lot of stitches and they would piece together leftover fabric which was from their really nice dresses - hence, elegant fabrics - and then they randomly did their stitches all over the whole thing.  It was a way to display their skills at fine embroidery.

 Here are some examples.

what I realize now is that my grandmother and a lady in my church, growing up, understood this art form.  They did pillows in this style.  There is one at my sister's home in Evegreen.

It's beautiful patched in satins and velour and velvet with various stitches all over it.

so I want to do this, using the fabric from all the bridesmaids dresses and prom dresses and sorority formal dresses which hang in my closet. I've thought about so many ways I could use the fabric from those dresses - I think this is it.

I tried my hand at the concept just a little bit when doing Andrew's stocking.

See?

I made this Santa applique and used a "BLANKET' stitch to sew it to the stocking.

His left leg is overlapping the fabric on the heel.

So that's my post on the stocking and on my discovery of Crazy Quilts.

I think I would prefer they be called

Beautiful Quilts

Elegant Quilts

Creative Quilts

They don't seem crazy at all to me.