When I got married in 2007, my husband already had a large cross-stitched stocking his sister had made for him. I wasn’t up for trying to make a stocking that matched in style, but I did want our stockings to look like they went together. So I used his stocking to make a pattern, then pieced together fabric scraps to make mine.

I used some holiday fabrics I owned (animal angels, traditional angels, holly leaves) and added other fabrics in the same colors to up the fun. Kit’s Unwritten Law of Quilting is The More Fabrics Used, The Better. Over the years, the bed quilts I’ve made have had a minimum of 13 different fabrics in them. I don’t think I hit 13 for this project, but I followed my Law to the best of my ability.

While picking the fabrics was fun, I really enjoyed stitching them together. I used free-motion machine quilting to doodle on top of my fabrics for more texture.

I love small projects like this. Enough work is involved to satisfy a quilting itch, and yet I can finish in an afternoon. The only thing better than getting to play in the studio is having finished work to show for it.

Wishing you a magical Christmas Eve and a Merry Christmas! And if you have handmade stockings up and waiting for Santa tonight, I want to hear all about them.