Christmas advent calendar finished

I finished this a while ago. I am really happy with it. Its not perfect I am not a quilter. I think it looks good and it will last us lots of year's. There is no hand sewing at all on this I used the sewing machine for all of it.

 I just stitched in the ditch to sew the binding down to the back of it. I used a gold silky by Gutermann on all the quilted detail and also to stitch in the ditch that way all you see if you notice the thread is a little sparkle. I used to do cross stitch and I had the red, green and gold sparkly embroidery thread. I hand sewed this I just kept looping it past the centre then when I was finished I cut all the loops so it looked like a pompom. I used these colours as the picture used identical colours underneath I just gave it a 3D effect. I may add other little thing here and there if I feel inspired. I have thought of a bell for the little raindear and beads on the christmas trees. 

Sewing a Christmas advent calendar

With allergy's advent calendars aren't something you can just buy of the shelf. I have wanted to sew one for a few years now but I always leave it to late and the panels are sold out. The other week I noticed my local craft shophad some

Christmas stuff out and this lovely snow man was there.At this stage I have lined all the pockets and sewn them on by machine no hand sewing here. Which I think looks fine as you can see in my close up of the pockets. I have to get some padding and fabric for the back and to make loops to hang it up. I will fill each

pocket with two small goodies for the girls to find each day on the count down to Christmas.

Kwick Sew 3694

Bad photo I know but the ones my 5YO took weren't any better. Supper easy to sew even with the slippery fabric. Bohemian evening knit from spotlight. This is a size small but as you can see the sleeves are not 3/4 length on me and its not as fitted as I would like. Hard to tell in the photo as the fabric drapes really nice so its okay. I will make the next one in a xSmall and maybe adjust the sleeves as they are too baggy when they get to my wrist but if I push them up they fit my arm like a 3/4 sleeve would. I will make more of these there is a sleeveless version too.

Pineapple Shawl crochet finished

This vintage doily inspired shawl was easy to make. I made it smaller than the pattern as I wanted it to wear as an accessory rather than to keep warm. I am going to buy a broach to pin it together in the place I want it as its quite versatile. This kind of pattern takes a bit of concentration as each row has a variety of stitches repeated all the way across. I missed a few that I didn't fix and some that I pulled 3/4 of a row out as they would have been too obvious. I have already started a jumper for my 2yo and will then do the same one for my 4.5yo.