Waking up to frosty foggy mornings; listening sleepily as my 3 year old recalls his monster-bashing dreams over a bowl of hot, maple syrupy porridge; crunching our way to the park through fallen leaves; the anticipation building as Christmas comes into view...
It certainly has been an eventful Autumn for me. Events that shall not be named - certain exciting new business events that remain a secret, and certain difficult personal events that have thankfully now been resolved - combined with all the love and joy (and a little exhaustion...!) of raising a very spirited boy have made for a more emotionally concentrated few months than usual, with circumstantial highs and lows fighting to dominate my mood. But despite the testing moments, it seems that life's little pleasures always win. And I have been moved to be able to enjoy those little pleasures that have always pleased me so much, but now with my not-so-baby boy, who, for the first time, is really taking notice.
As we move into wintry territory, and what feels like a new chapter in my life, I find myself filled with hope, excited not only for the coming month, but for the coming future. And in the meantime, I am trying to remain mindful of right now. Always looking forward, but remembering to slow down and squeeze every last drop out of the build-up. Like most things, the time spent leading up to the climax is what should be savoured most of all...!
So, in order to squeeze every last drop out of the Festive Season, I made an Avent Calendar using an(other!) old frame and pockets to be filled with ideas, plans, reminders, the odd treat - anything and everything to inspire us to make each day leading up to Christmas count.
~ Advent Calendar ~
I started by rummaging through my scraps of felt to combine with a completely adorable Japanese cotton from The Eternal Maker, and made 24 pockets (10 x 12 ish cm) with a tunnel loop across the top so they could be strung and hung across my frame using the same method from my last frame repurpose.
Planning the layout before embroidering and appliquéing the numbers... To be honest, I found this part pretty tedious. While I love the idea of embroidery, I simply don't have the patience. Sort of how I feel about knitting with ultra fine yarn... Hopefully one day I'll have more time for endlessly intricate projects!
Definitely worth it though, and now the fun part: filling each pocket with notes, things to do on each day, a wishbone I saved from the last roast, a lucky penny for his money box, odd treats and trinkets... you get the idea.
P.S. My apologies for dingy shots, to be blamed entirely on dingy weather!
This is great! I like the idea of repurposing a frame like this...
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This is just beautiful - I love the colours and the work you put into the pockets and the ideas you had for filling them. I am just filling a string of little stockings (one for each day) for Gemma and was just wondering what I could put into them. Love to you and V x x Nikki
ReplyDeleteThis is so lovely. I'm making a similar advent calendar this year, but without the sewing...just trying to come up with the 24 cute things to do to fill it up with!
ReplyDeleteThis is such a beautiful post! - and I love the idea of the little notes. This is also something that could be done on any month - even (or maybe especially) January! Little notes of cheerful things to do in those long dark months... I might need to try to sort that out for myself! Em x
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful Advent Calendar, and I love the idea of putting little trinkets and activities for the day inside each pocket rather than candy. It's perfect, and I bet your son is going to look so forward to counting down each day until Christmas.
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