Grandchildren Christmas stockings in progress

Hello there! I wanted to share the Christmas stockings that I am in the process of making this year for my two grandsons. Last year I made this stocking for my granddaughter using red, white, and black wool. I used a penguin out of an applique book entitled "A Critter Christmas" by Brandywine Design.

 I had to enlarge the pattern to fit the stocking. I cut snowflakes out of the white wool using Papertrey dies - specifically the Damask Snowflake and snowflake dies from Peace Be Still. I used the Wonderful Words - Holiday diecuts from Papertrey to cut "Peace" out of white wool. Once all the pieces were tacked down with either a blanket or whip stitch, I began to embellish them with additional embroidery and seed beads.  I machine embroidered Chloe's name on the top white band. The inside is lined with cotton Christmas fabric.

These are the beginnings of my two grandson's stockings. I have glued or pinned the applique pieces to the background so far. Next step is to tack them down and then to begin embellishing. Each of these will have their names embroidered on a white band at the top also. The little hedgehog on the first one is also from the "A Critter Christmas" book. The Santa is from a Nancy Halvorsen book entitled "Happy Holidays to You." I cut the "believe" letters using the lower alphabet dies from Papertrey. The "Ho Ho Ho" was also out of the Happy Holidays book. I may add the toe and heel patches to the second stocking also - I think it gives them a more masculine look. I'm sure there will be lots of beading done to these stockings too - and maybe a few snowflakes also. :) Sometimes I just go with the flow and add things as I go along.

These are the books I got the patterns for the appliques from. They were purchased at quilt shops.

Thanks for looking!