Ornaments 2015

*Just so everyone knows, most (if not all) of these Christmas posts were written in October/November and scheduled to go live now.  I wanted to get these posts written, but wasn't sure how much time I'd have with a newborn.*

Every year growing up, my mom would come up with an ornament that we could produce en masse and add to gifts for friends and family.  There was a wide variety of ornaments over the years, mostly based on our skill level.  We strung Perler beads on pipe cleaners and shaped them into hearts and stars one year, while another year (much later), we strung E beads onto wire and shaped them into stars.  My mom still does this, although my sister is now the only one who participates in the crafting process with her.  When Caleb and I got married, I decided to bring this tradition to our family, too.  You can see my previous ornaments here:  2013    2012   2011  (There's no post for 2014 because I had a really rough autumn/winter and never posted anything.  However, in 2014, I rolled out polymer clay, made impressions of fall leaves, and painted them - mostly following this tutorial.)

For 2015, I decided to sew something, because I've been sewing a lot lately and it's kind of become my new thing.  I found this tutorial for cute little stockings made from scraps, and copied it.  I sewed enough pieces together to be able to cut out 8 stockings at once - enough for 4 ornaments.  I started with pink because I had the most pink scraps, but then did green with some blue, because it's more Christmassy.

I think they turned out really cute! 

A while later, I realized I hadn't made quite enough, so I did another batch of 4 in red.  These ones are really pretty!

And these ornaments inspired my baby quilt!  Once I had my square sewn together, but before I cut out the stocking shapes, I realized that would make a really cool quilt block.  Here's a leftover piece:

Who would think this could inspire a whole quilt? :)

Love and Polka Dots,

Leah Joy