Christmas projects under way

My mini charm packs of cheery Christmas fabric arrived from the Fat Quarter Shop, so now I'm ready to make Juniper's Christmas stocking. I got some ideas on Pinterest and think I'll go for the diagonal look of the one at middle right. 

I'm making it pretty big so Santa can stuff it with lots of goodies. It'll look something like this, except I have to organize the color runs into reds, greens, pinks, and cream. Then I'll give it a white cuff and embroider her name on it in sparkly green (because Juniper trees are green).

I also started my wool appliqué blocks from the "Tinsel" Sue Spargo pattern. That's her picture on the left and my in-progress one on the right. I'm doing my own thing for the embellishment, so my next step will be adding colorful beads instead of her embroidered ornaments.

I made the red ribbons with the whipped chainstitch. I did the chainstitch with red pearl cotton and then whipped it with a sparkly red thread. I think I'll use that stitch for Juniper's name in a fun font.

I have my bowl of stitching supplies ready to take out to the patio. Then I pulled out a selection of trims that I might use in the other eight "Tinsel" blocks.

Before I started the Christmas projects, I gave my worktable a good cleaning. I threw out the paint-stained plastic and replaced it with a clean piece where I paint fabric.

All the sheer scraps from my collage projects went in a basket and the painted scraps went in color coordinated piles on the cutting table. Now it's not such a mess in there.

Here's one more project idea, posted on Facebook during a discussion of art quilters about how nervous we are about the election!

Have a colorful day