Stockings ready to hang

Since I got all the pieces for finishing my grandchildren's stockings yesterday, I got busy, and I do mean busy. I haven't sewn anything this ambitious by hand in ages, so I decided do sew all three stockings by hand. It took all day, but the results are nice.

Here are Addy and Tori's stockings put together without the lining and hanger. I saw some metal snowflakes and decided to add them to the design. I used winter cream felt for the backing.

 Jordan's stocking is put together with its blue felt backing.

I went with a plain white cotton lining last year, but I had some christmasy material that I got by mistake when I ordered quilted fabric. I should have checked because the fabric should have been pre-quilted and not ready for quilting. Never one to waste anything, I used it for the lining this year and for a bit of color at the top of Addy and Tori's stockings.

I made a hanger out of the cross stitch material for Addy's stocking.

The lining fabric was so pretty I decided to use it to make the hanger for Tori's stocking.

A braided yarn hanger is all that I added to Jordan's stocking to make it ready to hang. The lining is hidden inside waiting to be filled by Santa Christmas Eve.

All three stockings and linings were sewn by hand. I can still do that - the sewing I mean. It would have been faster on the sewing machine, but I decided to put a little extra time and love into these stockings. They're done and ready for mailing now. The kids won't see them until Christmas morning, but hopefully their parents will like what they see.

Don't forget to click on the pictures to see the expanded view. Happy stitching.

Stitching with Gold

I worked on the Xmas sled stocking this past weekend and actually got somewhere. I left in old stitches that will eventually be pulled so you can see the difference between using 4 stitches instead of the 2 listed, especially when working with the gold wire. The wire reminds me of DMC's gold filament wire, which I also bought and will be using on one of the Celtic group, Celtic Christmas.

 I began the lettering too far left and the letters look faint.

As you can see, the gold thread looks much more prominent here. I'm not happy about the single thread that holds the gold in place because I can see it. 

Here the couching on the top of the sled is much clearer and I like the curlicues that form off the leaves. Much still isn't done, but there a lot more done than what I started with over the weekend.

In this closeup, you can see the individual details better.

The pine boughs are all done here as are the pine cones and the leafy detail. The leaves are made by combining the gold filament wire and the floss. Seen in person, it glitters with just enough gold.

On the left hand side, geese fly by in the cold winter sky at dawn. There are no special gold threads here, just half and full crosses and back stitching in 2 colors: black and brown, to make the geese look like they're flying.

This is a closer view of the geese. The effect is like impressionist art, more effective from a distance.









This has been a complex project, but I am glad I tackled it and am close to finishing. All that is left is the gold couching on the ribbons, some trees, a bit of back stitching, and putting on the name, and then it's time to cut out the stocking, backing, and lining for the inside and stitch it all together. I'll attach a braided hanger I already made and set it aside for Xmas. I'm already anxious to begin on the next project and the one after that and the one after that.

There are plenty of frustrations and a lot of fun in cross stitching, but for me the payoff is giving the work away to someone who will appreciate it. It's no fun keeping it all to myself.

Happy stitching.

Slowly and surely

I began the odious task of back stitching, which I often call outlining. It's the same thing. Back stitching is the type of stitch used to outline features in cross stitch. As you can see, the cardinals look much more there, even without their French knot eyes.

I began my back stitching with the church, mostly because I wanted to know how it looked with the fence and railings and if it would be more there. The church and surrounding landscape is composed of half cross stitches and it does indeed look very much there.

As I began on the sled, I noticed that the lines would not be straight if I used shorter stitches and the longer stitches would be easier to snag, hence I decided to use long stitches and tack them down in a sort of hybrid couched/back stitched method. There are some unfinished pine branches on the right side of the sled and they look much less defined as the branches on the center of the sled. I'll do the ribbon last as that requires couching of the gold wire. Best to put the other stitches in first. (Click on the pictures to get a closer view.)

In the end -- and it's still a bit away from now since I don't have a lot of time to work on the stocking -- it's all about doing the best job possible. I think this is turning out to be quite pretty. I'm please with it -- so far.

That is all. Disperse.