My last UFOs for the Year - Done!
A couple of weeks ago, I created a post about 5 changes I'm making to Christmas this year - and I've loved hearing from many of you about changes you're making. I confess to you all that although I had been working on being realistic, there were two projects which I knew I needed to get done before Christmas Eve.Stockings - one for my grandson and my granddaughter.In our family, the get together is held on Christmas Eve, and we do food, fun, presents and stockings. With 5 granddogs between my sons, a puppy or two has been known to be added to the mix in year's past; I wouldn't have Christmas any other way. Last year, Hadleigh was 10 months old - and she got a basket instead of a stocking because, well...Nana lost control of the sewing room. I don't think I scarred her, but I'm also sure I needed to put one together for her - and if I'm going to make her one, why not her brother (cuts down on next year's UFO list, right?)Stockings are a big deal in our family. I had a big one from my crafty nana as a little girl - when my husband and I married, I found he didn't have a special one (they used adult socks in their house), so I made him one, then my older son, then my younger son. This was the 80s, and rather than quilted stockings, we all have felt and sequined Bucilla (remember them?) stockings, which are on the smaller size. It worked.When my daughters in law joined us, each got a stocking made for them. I have a book by Eleanor Burns full of Christmas patterns, and in there is a stocking pattern that I have used several times. Including this week.I confess, I had no grand plan for either of the stockings...I keep a bin of fabric that's Christmas themed in my closet, and that's where the inspiration for Hadleigh's stocking came came from - that and some amazing Christmasy leftovers from my Island Batik days. This was all 'winging it', with some help from my Cricut (the tree and her name), and my sewing machine. I have a button jar, and that's where the tree garland comes from. It works for a toddler...and I'm hoping it will work for an older girl too. After I put it together, I realized that it looks like the Spode Christmas china..One down, one to go...and back to the bin. The Pearl men love their plaid (it's a year round obsession), and this fabric just seemed to work for him. I think it's something i had used for table coverings back in the day, so this is a green project. I used the cricut cutter (and there'll be more coming on that in the future) again for both his name and the gingerbread men themselves. I embellished with more buttons and some fabric paint (I can see a couple of places where I went heavy on the 'icing'), but oh well. I hope he likes his stocking...he's 6 months, how will I tell?So with that, I have finished my last 'to do' for this month, and most likely the last of my APQresolution projects for the year - I really don't see another finish. Here's the page from my quilter's planner mini which I keep handy on my sewing table. I don't expect you to be able to read my handwriting, but the top list are the items 1-12 that I selected to finish for the year. I finished 5 (a 6th one not on the list), and I worked on a 7th one. There were more projects that have been added (although I don't think that there are as many of them as I took off the list...net net, I'm probably down 3 of the items...that sounds like a great exercise to work on in the last week of the year.I will definitely work with this list again, but for now, I'm heading back to Ringo Lake.Linda