Sewing Sundays

I know this is a Wednesday and not a Sunday.  I do have a calendar ya'll!  Unfortunately, I failed to make two sewing Sundays in a row, and this project is a super special Christmas Sewing Project that would not make any sense at all after Christmas!

I made my sister- and brother-in-law an advent calendar!  I am not going to pretend that I am perfect, but I do think this a cute and personal gift that almost anyone would like!

Materials Needed:
1.5 Yards Base fabric (I used a cheap muslin)
1.5 Yards Fusible fleece (go ahead and cut it at the fold so that it is the width of the base fabric when folded in half)
1/2 yard each of two coordinating festive fabrics to make the pockets, numbers and letters
Plenty of coordinating thread for the festive fabrics
A WHOLE LOT of straight pins
Print out of the numbers in a font you like and make sure that they are big enough
36-40 inches of cording, ribbon or rope to make hanger
1 Dowel rod
Hot Glue Gun
(I used a ruler to ensure that I evenly spaced them, so I would recommend this unless you have a great eye)

1.Wash and dry all fabric.  (Believe me do not ever skip this step!)  Then press with an iron all fabric to remove wrinkles.  

2. Fold the base fabric (in may case cheap muslin) so that the selvedges meet.  Crease the fabric with an iron. Here is where you have a choice to make you can either be a cheater like I am sometimes and not cut your fabric apart and just use the crease and skip the next step (go to step 4).  I was not on this project but believe me I do not judge.

3. Cut the fabric along the crease.  

4.  Put right sides together so that both wrong sides are facing out.  I take the time to pin it in a few places.

5.  Adhere the fusible fleece to one of the wrong sides according to the directions provided by manufacturer.  

6. Follow the directions here to do a French seam on one long side only.   (or if you already know, do it!) - Believe me you are going to want less product to sew through when attaching the pockets in a bit.  

7. Cut out 10 pieces out of the festive fabric of 17 inches wide by  5 inches long.

8. Cut out 5 pieces from the fusible fleece that are 16 inches wide by 4 inches long.

9. Again follow manufacturer's direction to attach the fusible fleece to one of the wrong sides leaving more fabric at the top that is not attached to the fleece.  

10. Put together two wrong sides of the festive fabric and sew a French seam on ONLY THREE SIDES!

11.  Repeat with the remainder of the cut out pieces.  

12.  Put this fabric right side out and press smooth.  Then fold down the excess of the fabric to the back and press.  

13. Sew a decorative stitch about 1/4" inch down from the top all the way across the fabric lengthwise.  This seals up the pieces.  (At this point, I usually divide up the piece into 5 equally sized pockets and baste a stitch or two for my reference.) Do this for all five long pieces.

I pinned the numbers into the fabric to keep them from shifting while I was cutting.  

14.  I then took the second festive fabric and cut out the numbers using the template I had cut out onto card stock.  If you do not have card stock, you can just trace the pattern out that was cut out of regular paper.  (Note: If you want to speed things up, cut out little squares and stack them so that all of the fabric faces the same direction.  I did not take this step and got a few numbers that were cut out in the wrong direction...oops!)

Do you see my little helper?

15. Pin the numbers within the corresponding sections on each long piece.  

16.  Sew the numbers to the long piece of the fabric using an applique technique.  (Here is a tutorial!)

The settings I used!

Some finished long pieces

17. After all numbers have been attached, lay out the base fabric with the side not attached to fleece's right side facing up.  You are now going to pin the long pieces to the base fabric.  (Take care to not pin through the fleece.)  As you can see, I spaced my long pieces about 2 1/2 inches apart, but you can play with it to match your own personal aesthetic.  

18.  Now you are going to applique all long pieces to the panel on three sides. 

19.  After all long pieces are attached, you go back and put a decorative stitch between each number at the mark where you basted a stitch or two.  This separates and defines the pockets.  

18.  At this point, you are going to put wrong sides together and sew a French seam on the bottom and the other long side.  This leaves the top open. 

19.  Turn the calendar right side out.  Now you have a choice, where this can be the end of your sewing, or you can add their name to the top like I did for mine.  

20.  I cut the name out of the same fabric as the numbers and then appliquéd it to all layers since when I tried it with one layer, it bunched up.  

21.  Once you are done, take a dowel rod that is 1 inch longer that you calendar is wide and fold the excess fabric at the top over it.  Pin it so that you you have just a smidgen

22.  Make sure that the rod pokes out about 1/2 inch on each side of the calendar.  Using a braided cord, rope or even ribbon, you are going to make the hanger.  Start on one end with a hot glue gun and draw a bead over about 1/2 inch length of the rod.  Wrap the rod with the rope, braid or ribbon. 

23.  Figure out how much you want the calendar to hang down and leave enough slack and then repeat the hot glue and the wrapping of the other end of the dowel rod.  

You now have a advent calendar that you can fill with presents or as I did with cards saying verses for each day.  This can start a wonderful tradition in your own family or make a perfect gift for you friends and family.  Just be warned, this can be slightly time consuming!

Real Life, Real Challenges

I grew up in a small town attending an Episcopal Church and LML grew up in our current town attending an Episcopal Church.  In fact, we actually met growing up through the church since he was older than me by a few years and attending a different school. LML attended Catholic College for one year and converted while there.  While I often attended Catholic church with my best friend in college, I did not convert until LML and were getting married.
I feel that this decision was the right decision for us and truly love the church where I am a member. I love the tradition of the church and the silent service aspect of the community.  I love sitting in church on Sunday morning and listening to the concise yet poignant homily of our parish priest.  I never walk out of church without feeling some sort of Aha moment.
Now the point of this post is not to be a love note to my religion, it is instead to cover some issues i am confronting.
I long for a group of women that are in the same place as me that gather for the intent of supporting each other spiritually.  This is just not offered at my parish. I want a group to hold me accountable in my relationship with Christ.  This is not an issue in the churches we grew up attending, not that I wish to change my church.
I am feeling a little disoriented right now on my journey with God.  I am trying to take initiative and start new habit.  I bought a Catholic year bible, where there one manageable reading from each the old and new testaments.  Though I am learning from this, I still miss the discussion of a group.