Finished

I realized it's been ages since I updated. I think summer just slips by and I forget to say things. There isn't a lot happening in Bedlam. Kids are wild. I send them outside. They come back in because it's too hot. They are wild again. Rinse, repeat.

I have accomplished one thing this summer, however. I made this:



I still have to put it together, but this is the front for Sarah's new Christmas stocking. I'd say there's at least 100 hours in this. My goal was to have it done by July 31. I missed it by two days. I finished up at midnight last night.

This is the stocking that started the whole thing:



I started that one when I was pregnant with Sarah, when I was positive I was having a boy. I knew I was having a boy. I was so sure. I didn't guess with any of the others. ;) I set the stocking aside after Sarah was born, and ignored it for years. About four years ago, I picked it up again and finished it for Joshua. I intend to do one for Rilla by Christmas, Matt's and Libby's the next year, and the year after that Steve's and mine.

Many years ago, when I was a teenager and gas was a $1 a gallon, my mother subscribed to cross stitch magazines. (There's a magazine for everything.) Better Homes and Gardens had one that was my favorite to look through. They started publishing a Christmas stocking every year designed by the same person so they coordinated with each other. I loved those stockings and I determined when I was married with babies I would make one for all of us. BHG published a book with all the stocking designs I loved together, so my mom got it for me as a birthday gift after I had already started Joshua's stocking. Now I have them all and the book has our names written on it next to each design I'm doing. These stockings will be the last cross stitch I ever do. It's just not my thing anymore. I'm glad I will have the stockings though. Heck, I may even do some for grandkids eventually. gotta keep everybody matching. ;)