i've created a monster -- named dh! (lots of pics)

16 years ago

Sorry if this story is a repeat -- but I know the pictures are new!

DH has a bit of a bah-humbug attitude at Christmas. But a couple years back I informed him that I was going to make a Christmas stocking for him. Once he realized this WAS happening, with or without his participation, he (somewhat belligerantly!) informed me that he wanted Santa in a beach setting.

Well, DO NOT CHALLENGE ME! So I cam up with the idea of Santa in a hammock between two palms on a deserted island and found fabric that already had Santa in beach settings on it.

Below is what I have come up with so far. AND NOW, seeing THIS, DH is suddenly insisting tha Santa have a SATELLITE TV and there be a COOLER and CORONA beer bottles at his feet. (If it sounds blasphemous to have Santa drinking, keep in mind that, apparently, this is Santa's "summer retreat" according to DH.)

I think I will try my hand at printing on fabric to make the beer bottles (and then fusible applique them on) Not sure about the rest yet. I could try to use the embroidery piece on my baby lock but I really don't want to deal with learning how to digitize the images and use it.

From what you see below I also plan to add some tiny beads and hand embroider to the water for sparkle and edging around the waves, some hand embroidery detail to the palm tree trunks, and, of course, some coconuts to the palm trees. I'm WONDERING about adding Christmas lights running round/up the trunks of the trees and into the frongs, but that might be "too much" -- we'll have to see...

PS -- DH LOVES IT so far.

Big Picture:

Applique Part:

Close up on Santa:

Close up on palm frongs:

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Comments (22)

redpenny
16 years ago
Wow that's great I bet DH does love it!
You are to creative!
Red
damascusannie
16 years ago
Too Funny! Your DH sounds like mine--a descendant of Ebenezer Scrooge if there ever was one. He loves Christmas DAY, but hates the rest of the season. Your stocking is great. Maybe next year, he'll be a little less Grinch-y about Christmas if he has this great stocking to look forward to. 8^)

Annie
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OA, Thanks. It was such a simple thing to make. When I saw it I said to myself, "Even I could do this!" DS had it whipped out in a minute. I will be making more for other occasions since I found how easy it is. Lee, Thanks for the compliments. This was one of my favorites. I love it when my "kids" (DS & Gkids) come in and their faces light up and they start noticing stuff and saying, "Hey! Cool! Check this out! Mom (Nanny), where did you get that?" Life is hard and will be even harder for their generation. I love to make them smile and give them fun memories of their Mom (Nanny). It really makes it special when DS gets interested and creates something and then says, "Make sure you tell them that I did this!" Hopefully, he will carry the tradition on with his kids and Gkids. I had bought a lot of Halloween related things after Halloween last year and was trying to find places to display it all and stuck that little string of skeletons up in the den in front of the patio door. I LOVE the rain and when I saw the raindrops on the outside of the door, I had to share. 'Singing in the Rain' must have been written for me! Yes, that is a beaded placemat you see! I usually just buy the stuff for 4 placesettings. If the Gkids are here, DH and I aren't able to sit at their table. I had picked up the orange and black plates, so I decided to try to throw a couple of placesettings at the ends for us so we could all sit together. I think it turned out ok. Complete setting Next layer I had found DD a set of 4 of these purple plates and she had told me to keep them at my house, so I use them when I need them. :o) The B/W plates are Dollar Tree plates The beaded placemats Wish I had found more than 2 of these. They look really nice IRL I found 2 of the boas at the Dollar Tree and one at Big Lots. I need to get one more purple and 2 more black to make it really nice and full all over next year. Aunt B seems to enjoy my tablescapes. She says several times a day, "I've never seen anyone with as many dishes as you have!" She had quite a few dishes and bought several more sets to pass down to our kids since we've been married. She has no children and DH has been the son she never had and our Kids have been her Gkids. She has given me many of her dishes and lots of her accent pieces. Sadly, her dementia has gotten much worse in the 5 months she has been with us. When both DH and I got hit with the swine flu at the same time and were both in bed unable to care for her, the DR found her a bed in an assisted living home here in town. She wasn't happy at first, but they do a lot of activities and she has really blossomed being with others her age and loves it now. We can still take her out for family times, so it is the best of both worlds in an impossible situation. It has been a heart rending time for us. I am so thankful that we could at least give her that window of time and spoil her a while. I did a tea tablesetting last year using the china she gave me. DS has always loved the tea parties, so he will get the set with the tea pot. It is fun to see a big 6'2" man/boy who works on cars and deer hunts loving a tea party with all of the 'frills'. He is the Baby and we married when he was still in diapers, so you know I ruined him. Thanks Syble, I am always behind everyone else here! I usually start early, but finish late. Then I have to find time for taking the pictures and getting them to Flickr and writing the post. As you can see, I am long winded, so it takes forever to post!! I tried to do 2 fall settings in 2 days so I could share all of my new buys and I forgot stuff (DS didn't even have time to add the mini-cooper... DRATS!) and my feet are killing me. That is my last time to try that. BTW.. I loved your kitchen pics so much that I put them in my favorites so I can look at them when I need a 'Pick Me Up'. What a Happy place! Yacht, It makes me the happiest when DS and Gkids are 'up under my feet' laughing and doing dumb but cute stuff to make me laugh. Life is going faster and faster as I age and I treasure each moment with them. I hope they look back at this time with me and consider it special. Your's are really getting into it too, aren't they? I really loved all of their Jack-o-Lanterns and the decorating they did that you shared with us. They 'Caught the Bug' from you. Good Job!! Hi Dominique! So good to hear from you. I miss you when you're not here. My DD loves purple, so it was fun when I found the purple accent pieces and it came together. Jane, DS laughed when he read about your 'Waldo' comment! Thanks for the compliments. I had a marathon shopping day after Halloween last year and only added a few items that I found this year. It was hard to wait a whole year before I could share it with the kids. I was so excited!! I can do creepy anytime. But I don't do spiders. The napkin rings were a set in a box and I almost didn't buy it because of the 1 spider. I HATE SPIDERS!!! I finally trained myself to not kill them outside because they are our friends in the garden, eating the bad bugs. But, I still jump and scream when I meet one while working in the yard! I'm glad you liked the 'wet skeleton' picture. The 'raindrops' shot is my favorite of all! He is on the inside and the raindrops are outside, but it was sooo great with the cloudy sky in the background. Thanks Luckygal, He is such a fun son. I tell him all of the time that he can never leave home. He is our entertainment! He has such a funny personality and is ALWAYS making us laugh. The black cats on the plates are plastic cutouts that came in a pack with some ghost cutouts. The plates just have the spiderwabs with the cartoonish spiders. I just laid the cat cutouts in the plates to 'spook it up' a bit until we sat down to eat. Thanks Luvs, I am trying to follow Judith's instructions about the layers and details. It really helps. If I don't have any height, it doesn't feel right, so I doctor it! I REALLY miss her. Such talent she has. I'm happy that she has started dropping back in. Thanks Kathleen, Even though all of the kids' settings were plastic, it is one of my favorite because they enjoyed it so much. Karen, I knew you would like this! My DD loves purple, too. I don't usually 'do the house', but I had found such great buys and DS really got into it, so I stood back and enjoyed watching him do the work! Sorry this is so long, but y'all know that once I get started I can't shut up! Betty
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AJ, Her Mother won't let her wear too many of the things I make her to school. Where we live red clay is abundant and on the play ground she gets red clay on her clothes. Since it's finally getting cold here she's letting her wear a few things. She wore the b'day outfit to Wal-Mart with me Sat and several people complimented her and she very quietly said "thank you". I don't know if she'll want to copy the dresses or hire mother and me. She's already doing me like I did mother, I'd volunteer her for anything because I thought she could make anything. Madison has me doing things for others and promises these services too. Susan
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YEP YEP, I should be weeding RIGHT NOW!!! instead I went to a yard sale and paid WAAAAAAY too much for 2 chintz plates that I had to have LOL glad you're having fun, we'll help you in any way we can to post your pics. BTW no pros here, wew're all just learning from each other. Welcome aboard!
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Since I can't find a manufacturer's name on it (I don't want to try and lift it ot look under the base), I went and took a couple of close-ups of it for you. Perhaps someone here will recognize it and be able to tell you where you can get one. Since the last pic, I've moved it from the family room into our living room, to the right of the fireplace in there. It makes for a nice cozy reading area with great views out three different windows now. Lynn
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toolgranny
16 years ago
That's just wonderful. He'll brag about it to everyone for years at Xmas.
Linda
cygram
16 years ago
How cute! Can't wait to see it when it's all finished!I think Christmas lights around the palms would look good.
kathi_mdgd
16 years ago
Laura,

That looks GR8,wonderful job.What would be neat would be to get a piece of shrink art and make a beer bottle and shrink to size,then put it in santas hand.How cool would that be??
Kathi
laurainsdca
Original Author
16 years ago
Kathi,

That would be WAY TOO CLEVER! The problem though, is that Santa already has that bananna and stupid red flower in his hand. I was trying to think of ways to get rid of the flower but can't imagine how w/out ruining Santa. I was thinking I could cut the flower out then try to create the missing part of his mustache & beard and fuse it over top but I'm afraid it would be too obvious. That I would not be able to match it up well -- none of my other fabric santas show that part of his face, in that size... Hmmmmm....
easystitches
16 years ago
Your so clever, that is adorable! Jill
nanajayne
16 years ago
Perfect! DH knew how to challenge you. The chrismas lites would be great. I used some that looked like mini lites on a pc. that I did and they were cute. I doubt they are around this time of year. Maybe you could string some with oval beads. Jayne
sew_self-taught
16 years ago
Oh my gosh Laura! I love it! ItÂs looking great. The whole thing is so fun. The hammock is wonderful! Please post again once you add SantaÂs beer, TV and what ever else your "monster" DH thinks up. heehee - it makes me smile.

Nina
grammyp
16 years ago
He must be related to my DH. His favorite song is from Jimmy Buffett's Christmas album "Ho Ho Ho and a bottle of rum, Santa's run off to the Caribbean ...." That is a great stocking.

beverly
laurainsdca
Original Author
16 years ago
Beverly -- he does have a Jimmy Buffet thing going on! His home office is done up in Jimmy decor and we've been to plenty of Jimmy Buffet concerts.

Jayne -- I did buy some beads today to see if I can make them look like Christmas lights. They didn't have oval but that would definitely look better. I may have too look elsewhere.
grammyp
16 years ago
Laura, I had some small Christmas light beads left from a project. I'll see if I can find them tomorrow.

beverly
scootersgirl
16 years ago
I love it, so creative! And I digitize, if you are interested.
Georgia
geezerfolks_SharonG_FL
16 years ago
Laura, That is wonderful!!!! Awesome stocking!! And, I think all our DH's must be in the same club!!!

For the beer bottle, consider slitting the fabric at the end of Santa's fingers and slipping a fabric cut out of a beer bottle under it making sure the beer bottle is as large as the banana to cover it. Leave the flower as is but can't think of what to do about the banana peel hanging over his hand.....

I'm using this technique with Sunbonnet Sue playing with a manatee.

SharonG/FL
laurainsdca
Original Author
16 years ago
Grammy -- thanks for checking -- I actually have some christmas light "beads/buttons" but they are way too large for these trees. My original plan was parier points at the top with a light hanging from each point. But the tree tops are much closer to the top of the stocking than I originally planned (it's pretty big, btw) so we'll have to see what happens.

Georgia -- I will DEFINITELY keep that in mind. I've yet to use the embroidery part of my machine.

I think there is too much bananna peel everywhere to get rid of it. I think Santa will have to be enjoying breakfast in the morning with last nights beer bottles beneath his hammock... hee hee.
grammyp
16 years ago
Laura, I found some large ones, but I know I have some smaller ones. We had some unexpected company drop in and spend the day so I didn't get to finish my search. I'll finish up tomorrow after work. Sorry.

beverly
laurainsdca
Original Author
16 years ago
Beverly -- no hurry. But I really think they would have to be super tiny to work. It's hard to imagine someone making them small enough for this -- my guess is that beads will be a better size -- BUT YOU NEVER KNOW. I will be excited to see what you find. And if not, I know I can find the perfect beads to fashion some.

AND, yes, I know I have a mental illness of some sort, but, well... I have an announcement: I am starting over on the stocking.

I know, I know.

But I keep looking at it and thinking I wish the whole foot was blue and the top of the waves were just above where the BOTTOM of the blue is. That would give me so much more room for the stocking to fold down over the palms.

You can't tell in the picture, but when I appliqued on the palm trunks it "pulled" the stocking in and the fabric is bunched behind the sun to hide it -- which was very preventable because even though I turned under the edges of the trunks they have fusible on back and I didn't think to, like, hello, fuse them in place before stitching them down, so I'd love to redo that part.

I also would change a couple other things just slightly but mostly I want to move the whole thing down and now that I know what goes where it's not going to take long to re-do. WELL, the hammock was a bit of a chore but I can do it while watching TV anyhow.

I told DH that if I had enough fabric I wanted to start over and he got a look on his face where I knew he kind of wanted that foot all blue too. (Never mind HE is the reason it is NOT!!!!) But sometimes you just have to live with something awhile to know you don't want to live with it forever!!!!

I have already cut out the red and blue for the new front.
crafteedee
16 years ago
Challenging... Awesome job on the stocking. Very creative. :)

Just a thought... There's a product called Liquid Applique. It dries & then puffs up when heat is applied. You could use this to cover up the banana peel & put that bottle in his hand. Another thought is that you could just put bottles scattered underneath the hammock in the sand.

If you can find a TV motif or design one, you could rig it to one of the palm trees to make it look like it's on a TV stand. Then you can design a satellite dish to put on top.
laurainsdca
Original Author
16 years ago
I think I'm going to scatter the bottles beneath the hammock -- DH may want a cooler but I want to make sure it doesn't get TOO busy. DH wants a TV coming out of the tree he's looking at (It will be up high) and then a satellite dish in the tree behind him, also up high. He is out of control, but I am having fun so that is what counts!

The bananna doesn't bother me so much as that flower. I wonder if I could recreate his mustache/beard with the liquid applique -- but I'm thinking this is one of those times when I would do better to leave well enough alone! (Which, as you can tell, I have trouble doing!)
grammyp
16 years ago
Laura, the beads are about 1/4 inch so they are quite small. I did start looking for them, then discovered my storage room is flooded, so got side tracked. I know they are somewhere, so I will look as I clean tomorrow. I think I will look thru my novelty fabrics for things that you might could use also.

beverly
crafteedee
16 years ago
You can use your first one as a trial run to see if it would work or not so you don't mess up #2.

Glad you're having fun. Otherwise...it wouldn't be worth it! :)
day2day
16 years ago
Wonderful stocking. You seem to be having a great time making it. Enjoying the process is what it's all about.Have fun.
~Geraldine

i've created a monster -- named dh! (lots of pics)

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