Advent Calendar

I am starting Christmas posts early this year. This year we had my Brother and Sister-in-law. I was excited but had no idea what to do for them. My only goal was to be done by Thanksgiving. My sister-in-law mentioned that she wanted an advent calendar so I went to work finding one that was spectacular enough for their family. While looking my friend Ashley directed me to this beautiful Pottery Barn Telluride Advent Calendar and well... I fell in LOVE!!!

I let them open it over Thanksgiving so they could use it all Christmas season. This calendar is no longer available but it was $70, which is way to expensive. My friend also directed me to this blog. She decided to copy the calendar as well so I pulled some of my inspiration from her. So, this will be my first tutorial blog. That's right, I am so excited. I am not sure how well this tutorial will be but I hope it inspires someone. It is definitely to late this Christmas, but keep it in mind for next Christmas. So here we go.

This calendar was done completely out of felt and embroidery floss. I don't think the calendar cost more than $10 so it is cheep but takes a lot of time and energy to finish. So go and buy a lot of different colors of floss and felt. Part of what makes this advent calendar so great is all of the colors. Your next step is to take a small pair of scissors and begin cutting out each of yours squares. My squares were 4" x 3.5" and then I cut out all the small pieces. Be creative! Here are my squares before I started embroidering them.
I used 3 types of embroidery stitches that were all very easy. A back stitch, running stitch, and french knot. Each square took me about 45 minutes. Take your time and add detail, that's what makes it fun to look at. You may want some to just be colorful and easy to embroider to take a break from intricate small stitches. So here are my finished squares.

Poinsettia and Candy Cane

Presents and Stocking

Santa and Snowman

Penguin and a random square

Drum and Jesus in a manger

Santa's Sleigh and Mittens

Gingerbread man and Rudolph

Circles and Holly

Argyle and Partridge in a pear tree (okay, so it's not really a Partridge in a pear tree it is a Swedish Christmas bird but I thought the other description sounded better)

Fireplace and Irish Christmas knot (which I didn't like and didn't end up using)

French Horn and Wreath

Hot Chocolate and Christmas Tree

Ornament and Bell

All of them together

The next step is to protect your stitching and, in turn, all of your hard work. So buy some iron on fusible interfacing (light weight) and cut them the size of your finished squares

Now iron them on to the back of your squares. This protects all of your stitches and will help make it last longer.

Next I cut a Christmas tree out of wrapping paper (because that is the only paper I had that was that big). This was so I could get the Christmas tree just the way I wanted before cutting it out of felt. I bought 1 1/2 yrds (I think I really cant remember) of felt on the bolt and cut out 2 Christmas trees. I laid all the squares down and arranged them just the way I wanted and then embroidered the numbers on them. At first I wanted the numbers directly below the squares but I didn't have room for that. I then pinned the squares down... with 5 pins a piece. When you start stitching them down your don't want them to move.

Back stitched around 3 sides of each one to form a pocket. After doing this for all of them I embroidered the snowflakes on. After all of your finishing touches cut out your truck and pin that (right sides together) to your tree. Put the trees right sides together and use your machine to sew around the tree leaving and opening on the side that is about 12" long. Clip all of your points and turn your tree inside out. Stitch the opening closed and do a running stitch around your finished tree to hold in place. Now cut out your star. Sew around your cut out star but leave a 3" opening. Turn right side out and do a running stitch around the outside. Hand sew to the top of your tree.

VOILA

Now you have a beautiful felt hand made advent calendars that will become a family heirloom. You can but candy in each of the pockets or you can make a felt star to move to each of the days. I really hope Lacey and William liked it. I certainly did. I will be making one for our family next year (or this summer). I just don't have time this year.

So there you have it. My first EVER tutorial. I know I probably didn't explain some things very well so if you have any questions just leave a comment and I will answer it. However I maybe just flattering myself because it is possible that no one will follow this tutorial. ENJOY!