Advent Complete!

Did you finish?  I almost didn't make it.  Jared and I bought a X-box Kinect over the weekend and I have been busy trying to perfect the dance moves to Salt n' Pepa's "Push It."  I need a lot of practice.

It was 2 a.m. last night before I wrapped things up with the advent.  Here are my ornaments for this week:

Christmas light, gingerbread man, holly leaves, and a snowman (Oscar's favorite!)

Then I made an ornament ball for each member of the family:

When more kids come along, we'll have to switch some ornaments out.

All together now ... ta-da!

I bound the edges with white double fold bias tape and added red felt tabs for hanging.   The trick has been where to hang it.  I want Oscar to have access, but not too much access.  He really likes to stuff the ornaments in those pockets, so fingers crossed that they hold up over the holidays. 

Want to see more from the Flickr pool?

I love this Nativity Advent by sahm3:

Vivian from Craft with Confidence came up with some more great ornaments, including this slice of pumpkin pie.  See all of her ornaments on her blog.

And I can't leave out Katie of So Happy, everyone's favorite Advent Sew-Alonger.  Her ornaments from this last week are more beautiful than ever (more on her blog):

Perfection!

Be sure to check out all the Advent Inspiration in the Homemade by You flickr group.  Thank you so much for sewing along with me!  I doubt I would have finished without your support.

If you didn't sew an advent, there are still plenty of ways to celebrate Christmas everyday.  I am Momma - Hear Me Roar has a great idea for a Good-Deed Advent, with one act of service every day until Christmas.  She has the good deeds strung in super cute buckets, but you could just as easily put all the service slips into a mason jar and draw one each day.

My longtime friend, Ellen, makes Gingerbread Countdown Chains with her family every year.  It was one of my favorite holiday traditions growing up, because they always gave one as a gift to my family.  What better way to celebrate the season than with a delicious cookie?

And I am following Jordan's lead by adding a daily holiday activity to our advent calendar.  Today we are walking through the annual Holiday Market downtown.

If all else fails, go out and buy a $2 chocolate advent calendar from Trader Joe's.  Or if you are me, buy two so you don't have to share with your kids.  :)

advent sew-along: week 4 - crunch time!

Fellow advent sewers ... we have one week until December 1st.  Can you make it? 

Here are my ornaments from last week: a bell, wreath, bow, snowflake, peppermint candy, candy cane, mitten, and Santa Claus.

I have to admit, though, I fell behind on my button sewing.  I have about half the buttons sewn on, and will have to catch up on the rest this week.

Here's what I'm loving from the flickr group this week:

Nativity Ornaments from Vivian Crafts - so cute!

Flickr user Igjcunha is finished and I love her quirky ornaments which include a garden gnome, mushroom, and hedgehog.

Kirsten W. is making us all look bad by cranking out two advent calendars.

Katie's ornaments are, of course, perfect. They look like they came straight from a pottery barn catalog.   She has mad skills.

Ready for your final assignment?  This week you need to ... finish your advent!  If you've been using my assignments, here's a list of what's left to do.

• Make 8 ornaments
• Sew any additional embellishments to the main calendar pieces.  I am embroidering a little note to my kids and the year it was made on the back side.
• Sew the front and back pieces of the calendar together.
• Add tabs to the top to hang.  You'll also need a dowel to hang it from.
• Put it on display and enjoy!

Can't wait to see your finished calendars.  Happy stitching!

advent sew-along: your ornament questions answered

I'm hearing a few common questions concerning the advent ornaments - how many layers are they? How do you hang them?  How do you sew a blanket stitch edge?  I don't know how to embroider - where can I learn the stitches?

Here is how I make them:

• Each ornament is two layers, because I like to hide my messy stitches and knots inside.  The top layer is decorated, and the back is a solid color, plus the thread loop.
• When I am doing little felt strips, like on this candy cane, I cut them much longer than necessary.  After they are sewn on, I trim the edges to fit.  This way, they are always the perfect length and don't get sewn on crooked.
• I am using a full piece of embroidery thread (all 6 threads) for my ornament hanging loop.  I simply tie a knot in the thread, make a loop though the back piece of the ornament, and tie a second knot inside to close it off.
• Embroidery is a valuable skill and just takes a little bit of practice!  Stitch School is an excellent blog to check out if you want to learn many embroidery stitches.  Here is a link to the blanket stitch, specifically.

One of my favorite parts of this advent project is I've been able to use this box of embroidery thread.  My mom brought it to me when Ruby was born.  It originally belonged to a much larger set of my grandma's thread collection.  She was an avid (and talented, I might add) cross-stitcher.  I love that I have a little bit of my grandma's supply sewn into every ornament!

advent sew-along: week 3

How is your advent calendar coming along?  I am just barely keeping pace with my own assignments (seriously - I finished my ornaments in the wee-est of the wee hours of the morning today).   However, it is very satisfying to have a few ornaments to stuff into those little pockets.

I started my ornaments out with four gifts (I love how it looks like there are presents under the tree on the Inchmark advent), a stocking, the star, a dove, and a baby Jesus, laying in the manger.   The baby Jesus ornament was always my very favorite on the tree growing up.

Ready for some beautiful inspiration?  This is an advent-in-progress by Katie at So Happy.

It seriously makes me want to scrap my advent and start over, copying her step by step.  I love everything about the tree.   Oh, well ... no time to start over now.  Must plug along.

You can also gather some ornament inspiration from Flickr user, Angela Allen.  I like her colors and use of buttons on the ornaments.

 Ready for this week's assignment?

• Sew on all 24 buttons
• Make 8 more ornaments

Piece of cake, right?  There is still time to catch up and join the fun!  Don't forget to share your progress in the Homemade by You flickr group.   I want to see more - especially those of you who are doing nativity advents.  :)

advent sew-along: ornament templates

It's your lucky day, advent friends!  A very generous reader, Julie, emailed me with advent ornament templates that she drew herself.   Wasn't that nice?  So instead of waiting around for me to get my ornaments going, you can all benefit from Julie's artistic talent.  Thanks, Julie!   She based many of her ornaments off the Inchmark Advent, and came up with several designs herself.

Julie recommends saving the images and then importing them into a Microsoft Word document to print.  Set the layout of the page to landscape and then size the two JPEG images to 8.5 inches wide, and the ornaments should be just right to fit a 2.5 inch square pocket on the advent calendar.

I am also making a few different ornaments, so I'll post templates for those when they are ready.  This should give you plenty to work off of in the meantime!  Thanks again to Julie for sharing her work - you can check out her other crafts at her blog, Little Jack's Corner.

Also, many of you asked how large to cut your tree.  Mine is basically going to be about 17 inches wide at the bottom and approximately 17 inches at the tallest point.  The shape is still to be determined.  I like the simplicity of the Inchmark design, but am also drawn to this whimsical tree shape from Pottery Barn Kids:

image source: pottery barn kids

The beauty of sewing your own advent is your tree can be as big as you want, in whatever shape you want!  Go crazy.  Mix it up.  ;)  Can't wait to see what you all create.

advent sew-along: week 2

How's your advent coming along?  I just barely finished my week 1 assignment late last night.  Ruby has been trying to thwart my progress, but I learned this week that it is possible to hold a sleeping baby and embroider at the same time.  I couldn't fall behind in the first week!

This is what my advent looks like so far:

It is a little more colorful than my typical Christmas decor, but Oscar is thrilled (even though he has no idea what it is).  We're going to have a lot of fun with this.


I decided to cut my backing piece a little larger to have room for a bigger tree, so mine measures 22x36 inches.  I am also doing a double layer for the back to hide my stitches and give the whole thing a bit more weight.  Once all the details are sewn onto the front, I'll sew the two layers together.

Here is your week 2 assignment:

• Cut your tree shape
• Sew the tree to your backing piece
• Sew 8 ornaments

I'll have some ornament templates posted for you asap.   In the meantime, I'd love to see what you've been up to!  If you'd like to share, post your progress to the Homemade by You flickr group.

birthday shirt, a new template, and updates

Last night I played, "how complicated can I make a simple project?"  Using Dana's 90-minute shirt tutorial, I sewed a birthday shirt for Oscar's friend (happy birthday, Audrey!).  Then I appliqued the cupcake, hand-sewed the crocheted lace trim, and used my Silhouette cutter to add the text.  Yowza.  I think it's cute.

Here's a copy of the cupcake template I sketched out (right click to save the image to your computer.  re-size and print as needed):

Advent Sew-Along

I'm so excited that many of you want to join me for this project!  Here are the frequently asked questions so far:

1)  What kind of felt am I using?  I love Rainbow Classic felt, which is made of 100% eco-fi (polyester made from recycled post-consumer plastic bottles).  It is a good thickness, comes in gorgeous colors, and very economical - hence, my favorite non-wool felt. You can buy it in yardage at fabric.com, among other places.

I wish I had a big enough craft budget to use wool felt, but that is not reality for me.  If you are willing to spend some extra money and truly make an heirloom piece, I would definitely recommend using wool or wool-blend felt.

2)  When will I be posting about the advent calendar?  Look for updates and assignments every Wednesday!

Ruby Blessing Dress

My apologies for the wait on the Ruby Blessing Dress pattern and tutorial.  Tutorials take a long time to put together, and unfortunately birthdays, holidays, and real life just keep getting in the way.  It will be posted as soon as possible!

Have a lovely weekend!

would you like to sew along with me?

I started my felt Christmas project last night.   Any guesses to what I'm making?

An advent calendar!  I've always wanted one, and I think Oscar will get really into it this year.  Last year I saw this advent calendar at inchmark journal and fell in l.o.v.e.  Isn't it beautiful?  I am going to make a very similar advent calendar, and it would be so fun to have you join me!

Here's the plan:  there are exactly four weeks until December first.  Each week I am going to do one post with an update and assignment.  I'll even offer an ornament template here and there.  You can join me in copying Inchmark's advent calendar, or come up with one all your own.  Submit your photos to the Homemade by You flickr group, and I'll showcase calendar ideas all along the way.

Want to join the fun?  Here is this week's assignment:

• Cut your main backing piece (I am cutting mine to 20x30 inches)
• Cut your felt pockets and embroider them with numbers 1-24 (my pockets are cut 2 1/2 inches square).  I am using a tight chain stitch to embroider my numbers.
• Sew the pockets to the backing piece

UPDATE:  Many of you have asked what kind of felt I'm using.  I love Rainbow Classic felt, which is made of 100% eco-fi (polyester made from recycled post-consumer plastic bottles).  It is a good thickness, comes in gorgeous colors, and very economical - hence, my favorite non-wool felt.  You can buy it in yardage at fabric.com, among other places.