TTMT #19 It's all about the Christmas stockings

November UFO finishes

After dealing with all the preparations for Thanksgiving I knew I wanted to spend a little time sewing yesterday. I haven't had much time to just sit and sew this month. I was going to play with some scraps until I remembered I still needed to work on my November WIP from the Quilting Around the World quilt along. This month I chose 6 small stockings that I started a couple years ago. I had the fronts done but I still needed to finish the rest.

As you can see I went totally scrappy. I used Elanor Burn's Quilt in a Day Strip stocking pattern. I linked to the free pattern page. Scroll down about 3/4s of the page and you'll find the pattern. It opens up as a pdf.  I normally struggle with the cuff and little hanger placement but this time everything worked out well. It made for a very relaxing morning in the sewing room. The hum of the sewing machine is a relaxing sound for me. I do believe I have finished a UFO or at least made progress on one each month this year. My UFO bin is starting to empty out a bit.

Stockings

I was playing in my Christmas scraps recently and came up with these stockings. I only had enough red to make cuffs for three of them though. It's OK because they aren't all going to the same place. Plus, I like the odd ball green one :)

The one with the trees on the back will be going to Purple Panda's stockings for kids stocking drive. One of the others will be given away later this month as part of the 2011 Stocking Give Away here on my blog.

The lining fabric was given to me recently by my neighbor at her garage sale. 

Stockings for Kids

Lyanna over at Purple Panda Quilts is hosting a stocking drive. Lyanna works with foster children and she would like each child to have a handmade stocking of their very own this year. I know with my kids having a stocking with their name on it is a big deal. For children in foster care it is even more important.

Lyanna has gathered a bunch of quilters to post stocking tutorials on her blog every Tuesday. There is also a Flickr group to join.

Of course there are some amazing sponsors and giveaways scheduled.

I have a couple stockings that I made while practicing for this year's stocking giveaway that I will be donating.  I'm sure I will also be trying out a few of the tutorials that are posted also.

We have friends who are foster parents. They told us that many times the kids arrive at their house with nothing. Sometimes the babies are only wearing diapers with no clothes. You can imagine how important it is for a foster child to have something they can call their own.

"Please join in and help make a stocking for a foster child this holiday season and give them something they can call their own!"  ~Lyanna

2011 Stocking Give Away

***Give away closed. Congratulations Pam!! ***



This year has been flying by. Before we know it Christmas will be here. How are you doing on making your Christmas gifts? I have absolutely zero gifts made lol. It looks like this year is going to be the year of the gift card! At least I know everyone will get exactly what they want, right?

I made a new button for this year's Stocking Give Away. It even has a code box (thanks to my wonderful Daughter) to make it easy for everyone to add to their blog. Shocking!! You can find the button over there --------> on the top right side of my blog.

If you're new or just want to know what I'm jabbering about see this post. Basically it says this:

" We will be making a stocking and filling it with any fun goodies of your choosing. Your stocking will need to be made and posted on your blog in time for the giveaway. This year you should be prepared to have your blog posts up on November 28th. With the drawing to be held on December 5th. That gives everyone the opportunity to shop on Black Friday for any great deals and also gives the stocking time to reach it's destination in time for Christmas."


Your stocking can be handmade or store bought. You can give away just the stocking or you can add some goodies that may or may not fit inside the stocking. 


I will be doing mini random give aways between now and then. 

Mandy made this image for me too :)

To be entered in this mini mystery give away just add the 2011 Stocking Give Away to your blog and then add your blog link to Mr. Linky below.  Even if you aren't interested in giving away a stocking you can still enter this give away.  Want to know what I will be giving away? That's a good question...I haven't decided yet. It could be a quilt pattern, or some fabric, or..... If you would like an extra entry you can post about the stocking give away and send them over here to learn more. I'll draw a name on October 1st.

Christmas in July

I've always loved Christmas in July. I love Christmas and all it's bright lights and sparkle. I enjoy the wrapped presents even more than what's in the boxes sometimes. It's been a couple years since I really went all out at Christmas but this year I am feeling the decorating vibes again.

I'm cutting it very close with this blog post for Christmas in July! Nothing like waiting until the last minute. Pam over at Gingerbread Snowflakes joined me and some other bloggers for the 2010 Stocking Give Away. Several of us are already excited for this year's stocking give away. Pam being the organized person that she is ordered some stocking panel fabric earlier this year. She so very generously sent me a section of one of the panels. There were large stockings and small stockings on the panel(s). Pam sent me a set of small (oops I was wrong, these are the large ones) stockings.

click for a closer view

I thought the designs just screamed for some embroidery and bead accents. I think I will be making one stocking out of these pieces. I thought about making two stockings and trying to find the right backing but changed my mind. No big surprise there. I am always changing my mind alot of times at the last minute.

If anyone is interested in joining me for this year's stocking giveaway I will be hosting it again. We will be making a stocking and filling it with any fun goodies of your choosing. Your stocking will need to be made and posted on your blog in time for the giveaway. This year you should be prepared to have your blog posts up on November 28th. With the drawing to be held on December 5th. That gives everyone the opportunity to shop on Black Friday for any great deals and also gives the stocking time to reach it's destination in time for Christmas.

This year I will be giving away a stocking (or two) filled with goodies. I will also be having a drawing for prizes for those blogs that are participating in the stocking giveaway. I'm thinking that a gift basket for the grand prize would be fun to win and fun for me to make.

2010 Stocking Give A-Way

As I mentioned a bit ago I plan on having a stocking give a-way next month. I am going to make a stocking and fill it with goodies based on a theme. I thought it would be fun to have some other bloggers join in too. Everyone loves a give a-way right? It's fun to win but I also love to host give a-ways.

What I was thinking is that we do a give a-way towards the end of November. What I was wondering is how long we should hold it. One week or two? I put up a poll on the side bar so anyone interested can vote on the dates.

I tried several times to get the HTML for a button but it appears to be beyond my ability right now. At least I was able to make the picture with the writing on it :)

I also made a tab at the top of my blog to list everyone who is interested in participating. On the first day of the give away I will use Mr. Linky so everyone can link right up to their give away page.

Sound good? Did I forget anything? Oh, you need information about making stockings? I have a few links for you :)

http://www.craftandfabriclinks.com/xmas_stocking/Christmas_stocking_pattern.html  great if you have a panel type fabric

http://www.bomquilts.com/Free-Christmas-Stocking-Quilt-Patterns.php  lots of different styles

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art38705.asp   lots more

http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/make-your-own-holiday-stockings-710640/  different shapes

http://www.sewingweb.com/Projects/Stocking/   strip piece stocking

http://sewing.about.com/od/freeprojects/ss/xmasstocking_2.htm   easy

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/crafts/christmas-stockings-craft  Victorian

http://parkcitygirl.blogspot.com/2009/11/christmas-stocking-tutorial.html  my favorite


http://www.connectingthreads.com/patterns/Homespun_Christmas_Stocking_Pattern__D991099.html


A Google search will give you lots of ideas.



Anything else? Oh yeah, your stocking can be store bought or hand made. Any size is fine. I have some stockings in my shop that you could purchase. Or, I am willing to exchange fabric for a stocking ;) You can give away an empty stocking if you wish but it would be more fun if you put something in it. Some themes you could use are Baby's First Christmas, Puppy or Kitty Love, sewing or quilting, food, kid's creativity, most anything goes. Just have fun.


Now, did I answer everyone's questions? If not, ask away and I will edit this post to include the questions and answers. OK, now go over to my sidebar and vote on the date you prefer. The date with the most votes wins.

How I spent my Saturday

I decided to spend my Saturday doing some light sewing. I was hoping to make a good size dent in my need to get done list. Last month I saw a wonderful Christmas stocking tutorial over at Park City Girl's blog and knew that they would be perfect for the stockings I needed to make. I bought my fabric last month and was all ready to go when I had the time.

The pattern is actually listed on two blogs because the top of the stocking is made from Victoria's wonky star tutorial. I had two tabs open on the laptop and was flipping back and forth ready the steps from both patterns. Maybe I should have paid more attention to the actual stocking pattern because this is what I made:

 

Four 12.5" wonky star blocks. These are supposed to be the top of the stockings. Not bad if you wanted GIANT stockings but I was going for something half that size. Maybe if I read where Park City Girl said she used 2.5" squares instead of 4.5" squares like in the larger block I might have been OK. It's OK because now I  have 4 nice blocks to make a baby quilt with.

 

Here I are my four finished stockings. I'm hoping to be able to make some more before Christmas actually gets here. Not much time left though. If I was smart I would just make them throughout the year and then I would have plenty when the Christmas season rolled around again. Doubt that will happen though lol.