Whew! Glad to check this one off the list!

Remember those stockings I said I was working on?  And that there were 6 of them?  And that someone was paying me to make them?  Well--those 6 stockings almost flew out a window today along with my sanity!

Have you ever had a project that just seemed doomed from the start?  That each step seems to have some complication with it?  And that if it was just for you, something you'd just decided might be cool, you'd have chucked it out or put it in the UFO (unfinished object) pile never to be seen again?  That has been my day today.

My plan was to have them all from different fibers, but tied together with the embroidery.  She's got a snowman theme with her decorations.

 Today was the first day in about a week that I had no commitments...no Santa Shop, no volunteering in Emma's classroom, no family obligations.  I had planned on catching up on housework (and believe me, that's a project in itself) and sewing the day away.  I made a checklist in my head of all the things I wanted to accomplish.  I was so glad to drop the kids off this morning with no makeup on and jogging pants and come on home ready to start my day...and then the stockings sucked me into their black hole of misery...


This one was from an old sweater coat I NEVER wear

But after about 3 hours of butting my head into the wall I am finished and they are done and I don't care anymore.  See, I decided these stockings should have a cuff on them when my other set did not.  I mean, the stockings I made for my family had cuffs, I knew how to do it.  And I thought with all of the fabric choices for these, cuffs would be the easiest way to add names and tie them all together.  WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!

This one's from an old corduroy skirt.  It was a dream to sew--putting the cuff on was another story!

First, I assumed I was right with my measurement instead of measuring twice and made a cut that turned out to be VERY wrong and I had to piece all of the cuff backs together.  Then, some of the cuffs didn't want to fit into the stockings they were made for.  And the pompom trim that I added to the girly stockings wanted to fight with me...literally, we almost had a boxing match, but I yelled loud enough that the trim got scared and mostly cooperated.  Good thing too, cause I would have totally KO'd it today.  I wasn't going down without a fight.



This one is some flannel I picked up because she wanted a Christmas-y theme and I knew she'd like the softness



Oh, and did I mention that my sewing machine and I have a love-hate relationship to begin with?  As in, it loves to break down on me and I HATE it when it does that!  But the bobbin case only jumped out a couple of times today and once was because one of the stockings was fleece and I needed to clean out the bobbin area...you know after 30 seconds of sewing with it.

This one is from a fleece blanket--actually a flag theme, but I cut the stocking on the bias so it would resemble candy cane stripes.

So...the stockings are done.  They are not my best work and I am hoping that my friend, not being a sewer, doesn't notice the MANY flaws involved.  And hopefully her mother, who does sew, won't look to closely either!  But I did cut her a pretty good deal to begin with considering she needed 6, so I'm not feeling too bad.  Because, honestly, the stress and aggravation these things caused me today--they should be about $50 each!!!  And no one in their right mind would pay $50 for any of these things.

This one's just plain old quilting cotton...I was running out of ideas!  ;)

I will say, that the one I saved for last was Tyler's--the quilted one.  It was not only the easiest to put together, but my favorite when all was said and done.  Go figure.  I didn't think it would be difficult, but because of the quilting on the top, I'd saved it so I could do all of my straight sewing and then put on my free-motion foot.  But after seeing how this day was shaping up, I left on my normal, regular sewing foot and just went for straight lines.  I didn't really have a pattern, I just went for it.  And now, I think I may do quilting like that for ours when I re-do them.  And no, that won't be today!  ;-)



This is a thin, gauzy green that I doubled and put some thin batting behind and then quilted with red lines.

And now that I've had a deep breath and a good rant, I am feeling more composed and ready to begin another project.  I can't decide between folding Mt. Laundry (seriously--like 4 baskets full and I'm just halfway through the washing) or cutting out the fabric for a newsboy cap for my Dad for Christmas.   Hopefully I can get both and a few other things done before Chris and the kids get home.  But first, I'm taking a chocolate break!