Friday 2 December 2011

let the countdown begin

I think I mentioned an advent calendar?  No?  Oh, OK then.  My mum has made me, my brother, my stepdaughter and my cousins perpetual advent calendars over the last 10 years or so.  Last year, before Christmas, she gave me another panel she had to make for my goddaughter but I didn't get round to it.  She was only just 2 last Christmas and I don't think she'd have understood, but I was determined to get it ready for this December 1st.

This is the finished calendar.  It's all on one panel and I had to cut the parcels out, press them and sew them onto the main panel.  The cutting out and pressing took ages, the sewing took minutes!


The instructions suggested using a length of dowel to hang it, but the one mum made for me has curtain rings and I just use drawing pins to put it up (I haven't put it up this year what with the yeast thing, even though I'm actually eating chocolate again...) so I thought I'd do the same on this one.  I just added some tabs before sewing it up.



Trying to sew straight and steady was tricky as each pocket is folded in on itself to form a "gusset".  I hate that word.  I have to use it at work sometimes but it just makes me think of pants.  For my North American readers, I'm referring to ladies underwear there, not trousers. 



The single pockets were a lot easier.


I backed it with some of the Christmas fabric I won in a giveaway from Pins and Needles earlier in the year.  Isn't it a shame I sewed this text print on sideways!!



5 comments:

Sandra :) said...

Every blessed one of us has sewn a directional fabric the wrong way round - and for most of us, it's actually a regular thing, LOL. I'm sure it's not just ME!! Besides - it's a design decision -- you did it for TEXTURE!!! :)

The advent calendar is adorable - your goddaughter (Goddaughter?) is going to have a lot of fun - even if she's too young to REALLY understand, she's not to young to learn that pocket = gifty or candy! ;)

The Dotty One said...

Awww - this is really cute. I hope she liked it!
I miss getting excited about advent calendars!

Ulla's Quilt World said...

Hi! Greetings from Finland! Your quilts are so fantastic! It's so nice to find other quilters all around the world!
Yours, Ulla

Digital Scrapbooking Made Easy said...

Great job; this looks awesome! If you get a chance, I'd love to have you link up to my party at http://scrapbookingez.blogspot.com/2011/12/anything-goes-linky-party.html. Thanks for sharing!

Dee said...

How fun! All of the time, effort and learning that went into this will make it all that more special! Great job!