Christmas Stockings with Aurifil 12 wt

Merry Christmas!  I love this time of year.  The family gatherings, giving presents and decorating.  Since I packed up up house back in March/April I don't have access, without extra considerable effort, to my Christmas stockings so I took this opportunity to make some stockings for CoraJoan and I.

 

Since these will are just temporary stockings I went with a non-traditional Christmas color palette for the stockings and my jumping off fabric was the fruit fabric.  I pulled out the reds, navy and off white form the fruits and raided my stash for solid fabrics that would work.

 

When I was growing up my parents always included a fruit in our stockings, usually an orange.  I've read many reason why this is a Christmas tradition but in our house my parents included the fruit as part of an old family tradition, both my parents would tell us what a special treat fruit at Christmas was when they were growing up.

I used a stocking template and the quilt-as-you-go method to make this stocking.  The strips of fabric were different sizes and rarely straight but I like the randomness  I pieced the stocking using Aurifil 50 wt thread and tested the limits of my sewing machine by quilting with Aurifil 12 wt thread.  I kept the 50 wt in my bobbin and quilted away.  Everything went fine and the look of the heavier stitches give it that extra homemade touch.

For the second stocking I did a whole cloth design and again, quilted it with the Aurifil 12 wt thread.  I used the quilting to highlight each fruits in the print.  It was really cold out when I was taking these pictures but I'm glad we finally have a good covering of snow.  I also used a deer antler that my beagle brought home a few years ago for the hanger and it work really well.  My beagle actually brought home quite a few antlers one summer but most were broken or covered in moss.  With all the deer along the river I'm always surprised we don't find more antlers in the woods.

Lastly, I hope everyone has an amazing holiday with family and friends remembering above all things that God has given us the greatest gift of salvation through His Son, Jesus.  MERRY CHRISTMAS!

"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond-servant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Philippians 2:5-11