Monday, December 22, 2014

Keep It Simple Make It Fun #34

Hello everyone!  Merry Christmas this week!

Here's what I've been up to:

The White Stocking: A Quilted Satin Stocking Tutorial.  I wrote this post this week--how I machine quilted some Christmas stockings on white satin for a new holiday tradition for my family.  It's on a previous post for you to share.
This week's customer's quilts pile--all quilted and bound.  Pretty good stack.  The two bottom are king-sized bed quilts.
And..for my favorite project shared from last week:

This week I would like to feature Tanya Quilts in CO.  I loved her combination of hand embroidery and patchwork.  This post has a lot of beautiful features of different variations of this combination.  Great work Tanya!



Now it's your turn to share your latest and greatest projects.  Remember, if I choose to feature your project next week, you get a free PDF download of a quilt pattern from me (that I designed).  Thanks!




Sunday, December 21, 2014

The White Stocking: A Quilted Satin Stocking Tutorial

Hello everyone!  I hope you are enjoying getting ready for Christmas.  I am!  I was inspired this year by the poem "The White Christmas Stocking" by Carolyn Cox Canaberra (shared below).  I thought I would try it with my children--which meant that we needed a special white stocking.

However, how do I make it special?  Muslin is so boring. I'm way tired of piecing--and piecing white squares on white doesn't have much affect.  Indeed, this project wouldn't require patchwork.  What to do?

 A few years ago, I had a customer bring in a quilt with a few satin squares on it.  I loved how machine quilting looked on it so I thought I would use satin to make some elegant machine quilted Christmas stockings.

I think they turned out beautifully.

To start, I used 1 yard satin and 1 yard muslin and loaded them on the quilting machine.


To get free-motion machine quilting to pop, a separator line is needed.  I do these lines first to divide my FMQ areas.

After the area is separated, fill in the the FMQ as desired.
Ooh, isn't quilting on satin dreamy?  I think so.


I used a 8 1/2" by 11" piece of paper to sketch out a stocking pattern.  This stocking measures 10 inches long with a toe depth of 7 inches.

I cut out the stockings on the fold.  Yield: 4 stockings with the quilting horizontal and 1 stocking with the quilting vertical.

Sew with right sides together.  I used orange thread so you can see the 1/2 inch sewing line.  Satin frays easily so a larger seam is necessary.   Also, I used contrasting thread in the bobbin so you could see this muslin is the wrong side facing up.
Bind the top with lace and whip-stitch on a gross-grain bow.
I sure had fun with it.  This was a fast 3-hour project.  Not bad (as long as you have a quilting machine).

Isn't that satin stitch definition grand?  Humm...for my next whole-cloth, I think I'll use satin.


  THE WHITE STOCKING
(adapted by Carolyn Cox, Canberra)

‘Twas the night before Christmas as I walked through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

The presents had been wrapped and placed under the tree
I paused, tired, excited, and then giggled with glee.

The stockings were hanging and were beautifully filled
No one had been forgotten, though the credit card was billed.

As I looked at the scene with the stockings on the ledge.
I noticed one was empty, the one on the edge.

Where's the Spirit of Christmas - What have I done?
The children's stockings are all full, except for this one

It was the stocking intended for the child of Bethlehem.
The White stocking for Jesus that was hung up by them.

Of all the people at Christmas, that might be forgotten
How could I not remember the Fathers Only Begotten?

Only He had been left out of the festivities.
As we planned and prepared all, for our families.

As I pondered, I realized this just was not right!
It was His birth that was being celebrated, after this night

I resolved then and there to remember the Lord
And quickly made changes that were easy to afford.

I hung the white stocking in a special place in our home.
And corrected the atmosphere to provide a more spiritual tone.

On Christmas morning I gathered the family together
And each of us wrote on a special piece of paper,

We gave Jesus a gift which we placed in the stocking.
A sincere change of heart, not there for the mocking.

The white stocking hung in our home as a symbol for us
Of the true meaning of Christmas - the Savior, The Lord Jesus

So take your white stocking and hang it with pride
Remember the Savior, put his gift inside


Merry Christmas!!!

BTW, I am sharing this with the Santa's Sweatshop Link Party and Porch Swing Quilts.