Santa's Secret, a beginning...

This morning I enjoyed my holiday by sitting outside for an hour and a half stitching and sipping a hot cup of tea. The kids were playing chef in the sandbox and it was a nice cool morning. I began work on the Santa's Secret stocking. This is a stocking I have two of, one for my niece and the other for my big brother. I laughed when I laid out all the extra kits I have and told him he could pick out any one of them and I'd make it. He chose the one I picked for my niece. To me it is one of the sweetest, kid friendly looking Santa's, slightly feminine. If you knew my brother that would seem strange to you too. But when I asked he said it was because it was the only one with puppies. He is a huge animal lover and can not be trusted to enter a shelter without saving some poor dog or cat. One of the many things I love about him.

Step one is to embroider the snowflakes in the stocking front and add the sequins. If you'll notice in the picture the top has a lot of dots without sequins. I have deliberately left those off for now because when you work on the stocking those little things will snag on practically everything. And since I don't want to worry about tearing the top I will just do them at the end,at the same time I do the name. I finished Santa's hat and have started on the face. I do have to admit I am proud of the satin embroidery of the eyes. Satin stitching and French knots are my weak spots but I am quite happy with the results here. I made a change already, the snowflakes called for french knots at the points of the flakes but since I have extra beads I used those instead. Less French knots the happier I am. I did a quick count an this will be stocking 8. Fingers crossed I will soon be a pro at doing these.