Christmas Stocking Swap: Make Mine Modern!

Leslie and Miranda of the Melbourne Modern Quilt Guild hosted a Modern Christmas Stocking Swap, with these guidelines:

• Stockings should be Modern and use Patchwork/Quilting
• Now, you can’t have empty stockings so along with the stocking, include up to $10 worth of goodies!
  This could include: sewing supplies (thread, needles), chocolates (yum!), ribbons, rick rack, fat quarter, or buttons, anything fun you can think of.

My secret partner Margaret has received the stocking I made, so now I can reveal all! When working out the design, I thought about my partner, who is a skilled quilter. I also thought about what inspires me about modern quilting, and well as the inspiration I find in traditional patchwork.

One of the things I find most inspiring about traditional quilts is the way they are shaped by necessity and the availability of materials. I'm finding my scrap bag is my biggest source of inspiration, so that's where I started.

To make it modern, I decided to use a non-traditional colour sceme of red and aqua, combined with natural linen. These fabric come from three quilts I have worked on this year: Big Red; Finn's Sailor Suit quilt; and the Little*A quilt. The cuff is machine-pieced and the star uses the English paper piecing technique.

Marg is a talented quilter and needleworker, so I wanted to include something she could use and might not already have. This handbag-sized sewing kit is based on Rashida Coleman-Hale's pattern in her book I Love  Patchwork. My version has mini embroidery scissors, spools for embroidery floss, a seam ripper, pincushion and needle keep.

Happy Christmas Marg and all the Modern Quilters, and special thanks Leslie and Miranda for organising this great swap!