Advent Away!

Recently I jumped on board an advent calendar sew-along from Homemade by Jill. Her sewing and ideas are amazing.  The blog on this was written a few years ago, but it is still followable...she added new steps each week to follow along with.

I am a very beginner sewer in the eyes of a quilter, but to me I have just enough skills to accomplish a task like this.  Hopefully, I will get better in the process!  This project has been so fun so far and I cannot wait to delve into this hobby more fully.

Here is a picture of where I am to date...

My advent pinned down 

It is all pinned down...not sewn down yet and the idea of the shape of the tree came from Katie's So Happy. blog, with my own color choices...

Tree from So Happy. blog

Her tree is so beautiful and I could not help myself but to copy it.

First... I went down to the craft store (doesn't matter which, but I used Hobby Lobby for most things and they had felt on sale 4 for $1.00)  I obviously had an idea of what I wanted because I was going off of someone elses idea, but it took a while so make sure that when you go you do not have an appointment in fifteen minutes and end up rushing your decisions.   

IMPORTANT: You can do any colors you want!  That is the coolest thing about this project is that the color choice is yours alone....let those creative juices flow! 

What you need to get started...

•  I purchased the individual sheets (yes buy the whole sheet...about the size of a piece of paper, the squares that they sell precut are not worth it) of Classic Rainbow Felt for all the boxes and the tree portion.  
• For the backing I purchased a yard of cream felt for about $5.00 which is plenty big!  I am planning on doing a backing layer to hide all the stitches and am still rolling around the idea of putting batting inside it to give it more weight...but that is further down the road
• I used heavy duty multi-use embroidery thread for everything on this project. Again, whatever colors you want.  

Sizes

• My backing is 20" wide by 30" tall....but in hindsight I would have made it a bit bigger.  This is also up to you
• My pockets are modeled after Jill's at 2.5"x2.5" 
• The tree is modeled after Katie's at about 17"x17", but again, again, again it is your choice.  I wish that my backing had been a little bigger to support a bigger tree, but que cera cera.  Hopefully it holds 24 ornaments. 

AFTER....you have bought your supplies and cut your felt....you will need to embroider the numbers.  I used a light marker to write the number on each felt square. 

IMPORTANT:  I laid everything out after I cut it to decide color placement of the squares which was an integral part of making it pretty to the eye.  Then you can write your numbers. 

Laying out the felt squares to decide placement before writing numbers on them

 Embroidering the numbers takes time, but it is rewarding.  I used a standard stem stitch which handles turns and curves well.  I used this video to learn how to do the stitch as I was not aware of how to do it before starting this project.

Here's how my numbers came out!

Numbers 1-24

I will write a new post on how my sewing comes along.  

Well Here Goes...

My first blog post!  Ah!  I figured that I would begin this blog because I have lots of important things to share....haha...just kidding.  

I am beginning this blog to share my experiences as an educator, woman, member of the middle class and my hobbies with others, and maybe, just maybe, my experiences can help out others going through similar situations or inspire someone to try something new!  

Blogging is also kinda cathartic and I am using it as a way to express the enigma that is my late twenties, family, new pastimes, and awkward situations that I face on a daily.  I know everyone else has to have experiences that are similar and just as awkward...I can't be the only one.  

Every time I have ever googled or tried to look up information on a situation that I am struggling with, I always get a wikihow or wikipedia or something link rather than a blog.  We obviously live in a era where the internet is everything....it has all the answers *waggles fingers magically*.  The truth is that sometimes the internet does not have all the answers, and we shouldn't view it as though it does.  The true answers come from experiences and real people, but the internet can be a helpful tool that can give you the facts or stories from peers to prepare you for your own personal life experience.  Wow...that sentence is staying just like it is....all long and run-on haha.  I want to be one of those peers that can help through an experience or inspire creativity. *claps for finally getting to the point*

This is a learning process for me, so whomever....if anyone....reads this, bear with me. I'll try to post something more interesting than this monologue about why I began this blog soon!