Getting ready for Christmas

I've decided to "do" Christmas this year.  What I mean is that usually we skip the decorating, getting a tree, putting up lights, etc. because of some excuse- pregnant, toddler, pregnant, toddler seems to be the past years excuses- in that order.  But Avery is totally aware of the approaching holiday because of various decorations and displays already up around town.  And it's because of this, that I am starting to anticipate Christmas and the excitement it brings from a childs perspective.
Yep, we have a crawling, almost walking, almost one year old- and that doesn't excite me when it comes to putting up a tree.  But, we will see what happens. 

In the meantime, I figured I better get to work on some decorations.  Our supply of Christmas decorations is severely lacking.  I think we may own a tree skirt, a couple of glitter wreaths, a few boxes of ornaments, some white lights, and a few random other things.  That's it. 

We need four stockings.  Okay, the price of store bought stockings is ridiculous.  A few google searches later, and I found this tutorial.  I went to my fabric stash and pulled a bunch of fabrics.  Using only what I had (okay fine, I had to buy one fat quarter), I ended up with four really cute stockings.  My only disappointment is that the finished size of the stockings is a little smaller than I was hoping.  If I were to make these again, I would enlarge the pattern just a tiny bit.

All four stockings are made with a neutral linen, and I've quilted them with contrasting thread.  If I had a huge stash of quilting weight fabrics, I probably wouldn't have chosen the linen, but it's what I had the most of on hand. 

They were really fun to make and came together quickly.  I think I made them over a few days during the kids naps. 

Okay, funny story to wrap things up.  A couple weekends ago, I was staring at our cherry blossom tree outside.  It definitely needed a little pruning and I was eyeing a particular branch- thinking ahead about how we will hang our stockings without a fireplace mantle.  Franz quickly came outside, cut the branch down and as he handed it to me he said, "happy anniversary!"  We had been joking around all week about what gifts we were going to give each other for our five years together, since traditionally the gift for five years is wood. 

Want to see the clock in the first picture in its "Before" state?  I'll write that post up next.