When my children were little we had a felt advent calendar with a tree and little plastic ornaments with velcro on the back. Each day you took an ornament from the calendar and stuck it on the tree. Its beauty was its visual simplicity as they counted down the days till Christmas, and I didn’t have to answer “How many days…?”
Over the years, some ornaments disappeared under the refrigerator or our chocolate Lab chewed them to bits, and, without replacements, the calendar ended up in the dustbin. Luckily, the children grew older, learned how to use a regular calendar, and it was forgotten.
Until now. My daughter has children and was looking for a similar advent calendar. Neither of us could find one we liked.
Of course we couldn’t — we were looking for a replacement for the one from years ago. My solution? Design one. Maybe even better. I told myself I should be writing, not sewing, but some projects are too tempting, and since I don’t make Christmas cookies, why not?
This calendar is about 15″ wide by 35″ long. I bought the ornaments first — felt
stickers from JoAnns (from the regular sticker section and the Christmas aisle)– and then made a paper pattern for the entire calendar. This way I was sure the ornaments would fit in the pockets. The back is two-sided with iron-on interfacing inside. I cut and ironed the strips for the pockets, marked and measured them, and used stencils and paint for the numbers, then sewed them down. I used stick-on Velcro for the backs of the ornaments. The entire thing cost less than 15 bucks and one afternoon. Gotta love those coupons.
My sentimental daughter was teary-eyed when I gave it to her I hope her family enjoys it for many years (to be sure they do, there are extra ornaments in a pocket on the back).
And now, back to writing!
Linda K. Sienkiewicz is the author of In the Context of Love: a new contemporary fiction about love, lust, and family secrets.
Angelica Schirrick had always suspected there was something deeply disturbing about her family, but the truth was more than she bargained for.
“Linda K. Sienkiewicz’s powerful and richly detailed debut novel is at once a love story, a cautionary tale, and an inspirational journey.” ~ Bonnie Jo Campbell, author of National Book Award Finalist, American Salvage, and critically acclaimed Once Upon a River, and Mothers, Tell Your Daughters
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