The Stockings Were Hung...

So last week I finally made Becca a Christmas stocking.  I saw this stocking a few weeks ago, tweaked it and made it my own.   OK, quite honestly, I couldn't figure out the directions the first two times I read it, so I just winged it.  Not exactly the same but good.  :)

When I finished, Colleen asked why Becca got a prettier stocking.  It is definitely the prettiest of the stockings.  So pretty in fact that when I first hung it up I felt a bit uncomfortable.  Like it was a stocking that would be found in a matchy-matchy-home-decor type of house - not ours.  We don't have a great place to hang the stockings, so we hang them from the window latches.  I think I actually like that better than having them on a mantle because it spreads the Christmas decorations though out the house.

So let's take a look at the other, less pretty, stockings - a journey if you will - following the development of my tastes and skills.

The red stocking on the left is mine.  It was made for me when I was a baby by my Grandma Doreen.  She knit it and it says BABE on the side.  I always thought it was cool that my stocking was super long and had bells.

On the right is the stocking I made for Brian the first year we were married.  His stocking from when he was  a kid had been eaten by the dog.  :(  I think I wanted to go for a masculine rugged country feel.  Not what I would choose today.  It is made of flannel and unlined.  Unlined?  How far we have come.  :)

This is Emily's stocking.  I made it when my husband was in graduate school.  I remember sitting on the craft store floor and setting out the pieces of felt and figuring out exactly how many I needed.  You know you're poor when you don't want to spend 25 cents on an unnecessary piece of felt.  :)

Aleah's stocking.  Still in graduate school, but with a larger stipend.  :)  Made of flannel, fleece and buttons.  The back side has snowflakes made out of white buttons.  I must have had a lot of time that year.  I still really love this stocking.

Colleen's stocking.  Ok, she did get the short end of the stick.  When I was in college, my roommate's mom made each of us a stocking one Christmas and I hung onto mine.  One year Emily decided that she didn't like her stocking.  (She was a real pill about it.)  So I cut off the cuff of the stocking that said my name on it and replaced it with the red cuff.  When Colleen was old enough to need a stocking I already had this one and she liked it so...  that's just what she got.  A hand-me-down stocking.  If it was ugly I would feel sorrier for her, but it is totally cute.  I might applique on a big C on the heal to dress it up a bit though.

Kate's stocking was made a bit before I did the Crazy Quilt Along.  Can you tell?  I really like all the reds, the polka dots and the touch of green rick-rack.  So that is our stocking journey.

It snowed a few days ago and is starting to snow again.  Snow is so much prettier than dead grass.  :)   I hope you all have a great Christmas!