I’m reposting this blog entry from a year ago with an added note that a couple of months ago I decided I should make a few more stockings because I’m not getting any younger (LOL)!! I LOVE making these stockings so I ordered 3 more kits this year and plan to start working on them this winter. No, this is not an announcement (LOL) – the last 2 times we’ve announced babies it was by showing everyone a new Christmas stocking I was working on (LOL)! I”m guessing that eventually we’ll be hanging some more stockings above our mantle.

Over the years I’ve managed to cross stitch 6 stockings! Some I finished in a month or a year and others took me several years (LOL)! Here’s the story behind each stocking! Some people have asked me how I ended up with matching fabric for each stocking. I decided when I made Amanda’s that I wanted to have enough fabric for however many stockings I might have to make over the years… having NO IDEA then how many kids we would have I bought YARDS AND YARDS of the facric. I STILL have more fabric (LOL)! Each stocking is loaded with hours of prayer for that child, their life, their spouse, etc.

Amanda’s stocking was the first one I made. 17 years ago when she was just a baby I decided I should make a stocking for her. Of course, I picked the biggest project and started only 3 weeks before Christmas. It’s all I did for the WEEKS leading up to Christmas and I finished it just a few days before Christmas. I remember sitting in the first house that we had making this stocking in the evenings when days were not nearly as rushed as they are now. There wasn’t any pattern for making the cuff at the top nor the edges so I had to “wing” it. My mom has helped me finish each stocking by figuring out how to sew on the back, sides, and cuff.
The next stocking I made was Tim’s. You can see the pattern is from the same decade (LOL) because of the main picture being toward the top and rows of Christmas garland patterns at the bottom. I remember working on this stocking all the way to Kansas and back! This stocking was finished in just a few months. I shouldn’t even point this out, but I completely forgot to put the black belt on the Santa… I didn’t even notice it for a few years (LOL)! Each stocking has some sort of repair or mistake the needs to be fixed and some year when I don’t have something more pressing to do I’ll get to around to these repairs and fixes. This stocking was supposed to be for me, but shortly after I started on it we decided to have another baby and so it became Emily’s stocking not too far into the project. I LOVED working on this one because it was different than the first two. I liked how it was one big picture that took up the entire stocking. It’s hard to see, but there are lots of gold threads and beads which all took a LOT of time. Her’s is narrower than the rest and some year… way in the future I plan to take a few of the stockings apart and do some repairs to them. I’m not sure how I’ll repair hers, but it needs some help.. the edges are all frayed where my mom and I cut too close to the pattern and were barely able to attach the aida cloth to the fabric.This stocking took me YEARS to make. I would start on it and then we’d decide to have another baby and then their stocking would come first. It probably took me a good 5 years to finish my stocking. I only like to work on them in the winter – just to clarify that I’m not *THAT* slow that it would take a FULL 5 years (LOL). I LOVE nativity sets so it worked well for the angel to be Emily’s stocking and by the time I got around to finding one for myself they had this pattern. Josh’s stocking is another on that took YEARS to make… it has a TON Of detail… one year I think all I was able to finish were the trees, birds, dog, and little people (LOL)! If I remember right two Christmas’ passed with this one not being finished so I would attach it to a paper bag and stand it up on the hearth (LOL)… at least it was UP even though it wasn’t finished. I started on his the winter before he was born. After Thanksgiving dinner, I brought out the pattern and showed the grandparents to see if they liked it and I don’t remember who was first to guess that it meant we were having a baby..but someone figured it out since Christmas stockings are the only thing that I cross stitch (LOL).

Nathan’s stocking was a LOT OF FUN and a big challenge in several ways. We had a foreign exchange student that year and I think the kids all thought I was making a stocking for her. I started working on it before Thanksgiving the year before we had him. We didn’t want to tell anyone we were having another baby until after the holidays were over. So I worked on the stocking those first few months when I was too tired to do much else. The other thing that was difficult about his stocking is that if you look up above to the mantle you’ll see how there are 3 on each side all pointing toward each other. Well… Nathan’s didn’t come pointing the right direction so I had to reverse the entire thing… my mind barely works when things are in the RIGHT order (LOL) imagine how mixed up I was all the time trying to think in reverse order. (LOL). I somehow managed to finish his stocking before his first Christmas thanks to the head start I got on it the winter before he was born!