Quilted Stockings

Last winter my sister Karin gave me a fabric "charm pack" made up of five-inch red, pink, and teal squares.  While I think the pack was technically a Valentines theme, as soon as I unwrapped it I had visions of Christmas crafts.  

The last few years I've watched sparkly blue decorations sneak their way into holiday displays with a mix of emotions.  On the one hand, I love the Christ-centered symbolism of the traditional red and green.  On the other hand, the blue seems to add the same fun "pop" to holiday colors that purple gave to Halloween a little while back.  I've toyed with the idea of making stockings for our family for a couple of years, and this particular collection of fabric just seemed so whimsical and wintery--complete with little heart and bird motifs--that in the end it was too perfect to pass up.  Of course, now I'm left hoping that blue sticks around as a seasonal color, otherwise in a decade the kids will be stuck with sadly dated stockings.  (Future 16-year-old Robyn: "Yeah, Matthew...back in the 'teens Mom thought teal was a Christmas color.  Weird.")

The stockings aren't huge (a charm-pack can only stretch so far :), but they do meet the important qualifications of being able to hold an orange in the toe with plenty of room for hidden pencils, candy canes, and toothbrushes in the upper.  And even if they have a few funny quirks (the risk of making things up as you go!) they must have turned out ok because I had this conversation with Robyn the other day:

Me:  What do you think?

Robyn: They're the best thing you've ever sewn.

Me: Really?  What about all your Easter dresses?  And Halloween costumes?

Robyn: Um.  Those are good too.  But these are the first things that look like they could have come from a store.

All right then.  And now that Christmas is taken care of, time to go work on some of those not-quite-store-worthy Halloween costumes. 

Bryan's favorite stocking.

P.S.  Big thank-you to my sister Karin for the most adorable charm pack ever and to my sister Lynda for the JoAnn's gift card I used to buy the other supplies for the stockings.   Love you!