By Kate MacKenzie
Special to Okanogan Living
Janet Warner quilts the most wonderful Christmas stockings. Each one is unique. She has made well over 100 stockings, some custom to order and some from a pattern. She counted her patterns and came up with an impressive 88 different designs. However, she doesn’t stop with just those patterns — she enhances them, and designs her own, often fulfilling special made-to-order requests.
She started quilting 50 years ago after marrying into a family of quilters, including her husband, Howard, and fell in love with it.
Warner started out by making regular-sized quilts and has also made many lap quilts.
She started making Christmas stockings in 2016 when she decided to make a stocking for Howard (she still doesn’t have one for herself). Her stockings are 3-D and often some of the characters can be moved around. The materials are felt, sequins, beads, cotton and thread. She double backs the fabric so that the stockings are sturdy.
She and Howard live in Seattle and Conconully, so she works on the stockings when they drive back and forth, as well as airplanes while traveling. She also hand crafts Christmas tree ornaments. Warner made the twelve days of Christmas ornaments shown in this magazine (see Page 13). The smaller objects are easier to handle when driving or flying.
What does she do with all these stockings? Some are donated to charities for fundraisers; others are made to order. She recently made one for the grandmother of eight grandchildren. She had the eight children on the stocking and matched the hair colors and skin tones.
Janet is totally into Christmas. She decorates both of her homes and also makes sleeves for cutlery for Christmas dinner tables. She said it makes the table festive yet practical.=
When asked if she had a favorite stocking she said it is a red one with a teddy bear and a tree on it.
“It’s a great kid’s stocking,” Warner said. ♦
COPYRIGHT 2022 © HIRES ENTERTAINMENT LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.