Creative Christmas Stockings with Island Batik

November's Island Batik Ambassador challenge is creative Christmas stockings.  We were to make a stocking, and that was the only directive; it could be any color or design we wanted.  Some challenges, I immediately have ideas while others need time to percolate.  This was one of the times that I needed time to ponder the possibilities.

Unrelated, back in September, I saw a block that Laura of Slice of Pi quilts designed for Island Batik's Woodcut Blossoms line.  She called the block Woodcut Roses and I absolutely loved it.  It wasn't too many days after I fist saw Woodcut Roses that I realized those flowers would look stunning on a Christmas stocking. I had the prefect fabric, too, leftovers from Woodblock Bouquets, a signature collection earlier this year for Carol Moellers that includes deep red-pinks, dark greens, and golds.  Perfect for a Christmas color palette!

applique laid out on the stocking

I selected a lovely cream from Woodblock Bouquets as my background.  I used Heat-n-bond Lite for the flower pieces.  When I was happy with the layout, I fused them in place  Then I layered the stocking with Hobbs Thermore batting, a thin polyester batting perfect for small projects and stitched a small cross-hatch with Aurifil Thread color 2000 and a Schmetz mircotex chrome needle.  Since the flower pieces were fused on and the stitching is pretty close together, I didn't do any additional stitching around the applique shapes.  I used Island Batik's solid white for the lining of the stocking.

 

layering with Thermore

You can still download the free Woodcut Roses pattern at the Slice of Pi Quilts website.  Laura made a beautiful table runner with hers, if you are looking for other ideas. 

Stocking back

 

 

 

 

 

layered together

Ta-da!  Finished stocking!

We haven't started decorating for Christmas yet so I tried to get a picture of the stocking hanging over my fireplace, but it looks empty without other decorations or stockings to keep it company.

Be sure to check out all the Island Batik Ambassadors to see their creative Christmas stockings!  There have been some really fun ones, and the month is only half over!

Brenda Alburl ~ Songbird Designs Megan Best ~ Bestquilter Pamela Boatright ~ Pamelaquilts Elizabeth DeCroos ~ Epida Studio Jennifer Fulton ~ Inquiring Quilter Preeti Harris ~ Sew Preeti Quilts Mania Hatziioannidi ~ Mania for quilts Jane Hauprich ~ Stitch By Stitch Custom Quilting Reed Johnson ~ Blue Bear Quilts Connie Kauffman ~ Kauffman Designs . Emily Leachman ~ The Darling Dogwood Denise Looney ~ For The Love Of Geese Leah Malasky ~ Quilted Delights Maryellen McAuliffe ~ Mary Mack Made Mine Anorina Morris – sameliasmum.com Lisa Pickering ~ Lisa’s Quilting Passion Claudia Porter ~ Create with Claudia Gail Renna ~ Quilt Haven Threads Brianna Roberts ~ Sew Cute And Quirky Michelle Roberts ~ Creative Blonde Gail Sheppard ~ Quilting Gail Andi Stanfield ~ True Blue Quilts Sandra Starley ~ Textile Time Travels Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations Suzy Webster ~ Websterquilt

 

 

Call for 2023 Island Batik Ambassadors

Island Batik is currently accepting applications for their 2023 brand ambassador program.  If you are active on social media and love beautiful batiks, you might make a great Island Batik Ambassador!

 

I love being an ambassador!  The monthly challenges are so much fun and have been so great for my creativity, artistic expression, and growth as a quilter.  You can read more about what Island Batik is looking for here, and that link also includes the application.  You have until November 15th to apply, so don't delay! 

Just for fun, here is one of my ambassador projects from my first year as an Island Batik Ambassador. 

This is Tropical Stars and was made with the Islander collection for the Star Light, Star Britght challenge in August 2019.  The pattern is Star Blossoms from the book Scrap-Basket Beauties by Kim Brackett.

Gotham Quilts has created a panel of six fun pillows to celebrate their love of New York City.  The panel coordinates with their My NYC fabric line, which I was pleased to sew with over the summer.   While of course you can use the pillow panel to make pillows, Jennifer of Dizzy Quilter is hosting a blog hop showcasing some other uses for these fun motifs.

I admit, my idea is not super original.  My son has recently started asking to visit New York City and I knew he'd love an NYC-themed shirt.  He has always loved different vehicles, so I knew I'd make one with the taxi.  When I showed him the images, he also liked Lady Liberty.  I bought 2 long-sleeved shirts from Target.

The process for these was not difficult and I didn't really stop in between steps and get many photos.  I rough cut about a half an inch outside the design, I ironed the image onto some Heat-n-Bond Lite, and then I cut carefully cut out the shape. 

rough cut, before fusing

Being sure to only have the top of the shirt on the ironing board, I fused the image onto the shirt, then used a narrow satin stitch to secure it to the shirt. 

 

Admittedly, these images are fairly large.  I think they'd fit better on clothes for larger people; my son is on the small side for his age, and I even bought shirts up a size so he'd be able to wear them for a while. I did pre-wash both the pillow panel and the t-shirts.  I'm not normally a pre-washer, but since this is clothing, I thought that I should get any shrinkage out of the way before adding the applique to the shirt.

 

Any of these images would look great on a sweatshirt or on the back of a jacket.  Or, as Jennifer's mom proved, on an apron! 

I know the assignment was "something other than a pillow" but I could not resist making the pizza rat pillow.  Fire Monkey (my son) loves it!  I put flannel on the back so it is nice and cuddly.  Cuddly for a rat, anyway!  😀

Be sure to check out all the ideas for making non-pillow items with the pillow panel from Gotham Quilts!

November 1: Jen Strauser * Dizzy Quilter

November 2: Swan Sheridan * Swan Amity Studios

November 3: Lissa LaGreca * Lovingly, Lissa

November 3: Emily Leachman * The Darling Dogwood ⮜ You Are Here!

November 4: Deborah Fisher * Fish Museum and Circus

November 5: Siobhan Fitzpatrick * CDM365 Studios

November 5: Autumn Shatto * Geometry And Joy

November 6: Laura Piland * Slice of Pi Quilts