It used to be that embroidered items were all done by hand.  It would take days to stitch a name on a Christmas stocking before the commercial embroidery machines were invented.

Embroidery by hand still remains a skillful craft of many ladies.  But since hand embroidery takes a lot of time and effort, Christmas stockings embroidered by hand would be very expensive. With commercial embroidery and applique machines, embroidered Christmas stockings became affordable and abundant.

Embroidered Christmas stockings can be absolutely stunning, especially when you get to touch and feel all kinds of different materials and textures the stockings are made from.  Commercial applique machines can cut and stitch so many patterns and fabrics together so the possibilities are endless.

Today, the embroidered Christmas stockings showcase various designs in many categories.

You will find different color schemes, such as girly pink Christmas stockings embroidered with applique designs on various themes, such as princess or pink Santa or bling bling with lots of gems and glitters.  Or blue Christmas stockings embroidered and appliequed with array of designs, as well as Christmas stockings in many other unusual but popular color schemes, such as silver, black, white or gold Christmas stockings.

You can also find baby’s first Chrismtas stockings embroidered with cute pink and baby blue applique designs celebrating arrivel of that bundle of joy and embroidered with baby’s name or even a birth year.

Occupation or hobby Christmas stockings are also very popular.  Those would show off an embroidered applique, such as fishing Christmas stocking or a military Christmas stocking embroidered with a patch or a complete image.

Most embroidered Christmas stockings are aimed at kids, since kids love to have a themed Christmas stocking with their favorite character, such as Disney Christmas stockings… you will probably find just about one or more Christmas stockings for each popular movie hero and celebrity.  The more luxurious Christmas stockings are embroidered, rather than just printed.  Some of the most popular and everlasting designs are Santa, Snowman and Rudolph Christmas stockings or Christmas stockings embroidered with snowflake appliques.

Pet Christmas stockings embroidered with applique of your favorite cat or a dog, personalized with pet’s name are also available in many designs.

While on the subject of high end luxury, the embroidered applique definitely falls into that category.  You can find adult Christmas stockings made from gorgeous materials and embroidered with names.  The personalization in embroidery gives that luxury stocking that final touch – like a crowning jewel.  Buying a luxury Christmas stocking just begs to have that stocking personalized with names or intials.  Besides it being a practical thing, so each family member would be able to identify their stocking, those embroidered names give each Christmas stocking the ultimate touch of class.

Even if you purchase just a simple red and white Christmas stocking, embroidered names elevate it to the class of “classy”.

No matter what your taste or budget in the Christmas decor, no matter what your preferred color theme for your holiday design, an embroidered Christmas stocking has it’s place.  Those stockings will be a crowning jewel of that decor and focal point in your living room.

We just picked up something of concern on the news today.

Anthony Bourdain recently sat down with TV Guide Magazine, and the No Reservations star didn’t pull any punches when it came to talking about fellow food personalities. A few key quotes:

On Paula Deen: “The worst, most dangerous person to America is clearly Paula Deen. She revels in unholy connections with evil corporations and she’s proud of the fact that her food is f**** bad for you [...] plus, her food su***.”

We felt as we had to chime in on this issue because we have had the tremendous pleasure working with Paula and her staff.

A couple season’s back …

“I wake up every morning happy for where I am in life. It’s not all about the cooking, but the fact that I can contribute by using my influence to help people all over the country. In the last two years, my partners and I have fed more than 10 million hungry people by bringing meat to food banks.”