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