Advent Calendar

My goal for November was to make a quilted Advent Calendar in time for December 1st.  Made it with one day to spare!

I looked at a few patterns and read several tutorials and ultimately followed the method of this tutorial by Fanny Lu Designs.  I really wanted to use the 5" squares I have collected through various I Spy swaps over the years, so my measurements don't match hers, but I did use her method of making the pockets.  I have number templates that I've used for several other projects that I traced onto fusible web for the dates.

The background is Kona Snow.  The backing is a really fabulous Alexander Henry Christmas fabric with Aloha Santa (I have no idea what it is called).  I had 2 half-yard cuts that were prizes from a promotion at a local quilt shop a few summers ago.  It was a "finish your projects" initiative, and for every 2 projects you finished off your list, you got a prize bundle of 2 half yards of fabric.  I think I finished 8 projects that summer (great incentive!) and this fabric was in two of my prize bundles.  The solid on the back is Kona Willow.  The numbers are scraps of Kona Red, Clover, & Pepper.  The red & white stripe in the binding was also from one of those prizes, and as soon as I saw it I know I would use it for the binding of the advent calendar whenever I got to it.  I love how it looks.

Munchkin still has Halloween candy so I didn't want to do chocolates or candy in the pockets.  Several days have stickers.  I bought some small dinosaurs at the dollar store, I bought a Mickey Mouse stamps set from the dollar section of Target that I split up, and I bought a package of Paw Patrol socks--luckily his feet are still small so the socks fit in the pockets!  Nothing big, but I think he will like getting a small surprise every day. 

Here it is after Husband and I filled the pockets.

Finishing the Advent Calendar was my November One Monthly Goal for the linky party hosted by Patty at Elm Street Quilts.

Halloween Costume

Yes, I realize we're now past Thanksgiving!  But I never posted about my Halloween costume.  I used the book Playful Hoodies by Mary Rasch to turn a red hooded sweatshirt into my Red Riding Hood costume.  This book is great!  I also used it to make Munchkin's Superman costume last year and there is a dinosaur sweatshirt on the horizon for Christmas if I can get it done.

I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but there is red ribbon all along the part that was cut, which is really what makes it look like a finished piece of clothing.  I don't sew clothes, but this was more or less within my capabilities.  You can tell it used to be a sweatshirt, but it's also pretty clear who I am.  I work at a community college library and I like my costumes to be recognizable by a large percentage of my population.  It was also comfortable to wear all day.

Munchkin was a dalmatian for Halloween.  I spent about $10, as I bought a long-sleeved white t-shirt, black paint, and fabric medium.  I then painted random black splotches on the t-shirt.  I asked if he wanted ears and he said, "yes.  And a tail." Tail!  I hadn't thought of that!  Sadly, I can't find the picture of the tail but he still wears the shirt, so I will take a picture next time.  I used some scrap fleece for both the ears and the tail.  The ears were glued into his fire helmet (Christmas present from Grandma last year) with hot glue.  I sewed the tail into a tube and attached it to the bottom of his t-shirt: the only sewing in the project. 

But the best part of his costume wasn't made by mom, it was made by dad.  A fire truck!

This was a large box that Husband turned into a fire truck.   It has headlights (touch lights from the dollar store) and flashing lights (the kind bicyclers frequently wear).  It is truly amazing.  A little hard to maneuver down driveways, but amazing.

 And here's our Halloween family portrait:

My Red Riding Hood cape was project number #18 on my list of Q4 goals for the globally hosted finish along. 

I Wish You a Merry Quilt ALong progress report

I am really enjoying the I Wish You a Merry Christmas Quilt Along!  Ten of the twelve blocks have now been released.  Here are nine of mine:

My deal with myself when I decided to start yet another project is that I can't buy anything for this project; everything (including batting and backing) is coming from stash. In the beginning I was worried about the lack of a unified look, but now I figure there is enough variety that scrappy will look just fine.

I've previously showed blocks 1-5.  However, I've redone two of those.  First, I decided that my original Santa's Belt (block #3) was too abstract to be immediately recognizable, so I redid it with solids.  I forgot to take a solo picture, but you can see in the center of photo above.

I liked Christmas Tree Farm (block 2) by Janda Bend Quilts so much that I expanded it and turned it into a holiday decoration (blog post coming) so I needed to make a second version for the quilt.  One of the QAL hosts is also doing quilt as you go and I LOVED her quilting design, so I copied it.  Don't you love the outline of the trees in the empty squares?

Block 6 was an angel designed by Sandra Healy.  I modified this one a little bit and am really pleased with my version.  I simplified to one background and added the tree as if the angel was putting the star on top.

Block 7 is a Poinsettia and comes from Sandy Star Designs.  My points don't really match on the leaves but I'm going with it anyway. I used one of the circles on the train die with my AccuQuilt to get the perfect circle for the center of the flower.

Block 8 is not pictured in the group photo, though I did make it.  It's a pair of presents and comes from Alice Samuel's Quilt Co.  After seeing a lot of quilters struggle with this block on Facebook, I decided to use the alternative instructions from host Pretty Piney and do the ribbon as all applique. I'm still not really pleased with it and I'm not sure I'm going to use it my quilt, to be honest. Many quilters used an alternate present block and I may look at options, or I may pick some other Christmas/winter element and use that instead.  Or I might decide these presents are fine any use them anyway.  I've still got a few weeks until all the blocks are released and made and I need to decide.

I had been saying from early on that I hoped for a reindeer and block 9 did not disappoint!  Snowy Days Quilting designed a fabulous reindeer block that is super cute!  The facebook community for the QAL has been really great and since I rarely make the blocks the day the pattern is released, I get to see what everyone else does before getting started.  I saw someone put a round nose on their reindeer and instantly knew I wanted a round nose, too.  Once again, I used one of the circles from the AccuQuilt die that is for a train.  I think maybe this reindeer needs a name.

That brings us to the current block from Cwilt Fabric & Haberdashery.  I admit, I didn't love the lantern when I first saw it.  But when I saw people on facebook putting a candle inside the lantern, I fell in love.  I used a candle and I took some of the other elements in the original block out, so mine is much simpler but I really like it.  Holly is another item that I hoped would show up at some point, and while this isn't strictly a holly block, it checks that box for me which makes me happy.

Only two blocks left!  I have decided that I want my quilt to be four by four, so I will make four extra blocks to bring my total up to sixteen.  Problem is, I don't want to duplicate anything and since I don't know what the last two blocks are, I can't make the extras yet.  Sigh.  I doubt this will be done before Christmas, but when I get down about that I just remember how much fun I'm having.

November OMG

Several years ago, I saw a quilted advent calendar in a magazine.  Munchkin was about a year old and I thought it would be fun to make while he was young.  It's been in my thoughts for 3 years now, and on some finish along lists, but I haven't done it.

Well, today is the day!  (Or, rather, November 2017 is the month!)  I am making it my one monthly goal to get this advent calendar done by December 1st.  I went through all my Christmas/winter I Spy squares and picked out 25 for the calendar. 

I'm linking up with One Monthly Goal for the linky party hosted by Patty at Elm Street Quilts.