Christmas Countdown

I wanted to create something fun for Chloe this year to mark the holiday season, something not focused around buying or getting gifts, and also to start a tradition that we as a family could continue as we grow. I got the idea for this pocket advent-type calender from a cute quilted wall-hanging a co-worker gave me for Chloe when I was still pregnant. For each letter of the alphabet, there is a pocket with a little stuffed object inside representing that letter. I knew I wouldn't have the time to make 25 stuffies for this year, but I figured I could do a few a year and eventually, by the time Chloe heads off to college, I'd have them all done! In the meantime, we're putting little ornaments in each pocket, for Chloe to hang on our "tree" (whenever we get one). The ornaments don't have to be anything special, I plan on collecting things throughout the month and asking family and friends to contribute. It can be something as simple as a pinecone, I think the fun lies in the the excitement of finding something new in each day's pocket and adding it to the tree. To start us off, after Thanksgiving dinner, D., his parents, Aunt and cousin and I all made shrinky dink ornaments together. It was fun to sit around the table, each of us coloring something we thought Chloe would like! We have a bear, turtle, clown, frog, horse, and Sailor Sam. I'll post pictures of those another time.I made the whole thing in an afternoon, using fabric and ribbon bits from my stash. I was happy to put some of those Thickers numbers to use as well. You can see that my eyeball measuring is quite a but off, but I like to tell myself that it adds to the charm! I pieced the fabric together until I had what looked like a big enough section, and then made the pockets just by folding the fabric horizontally in five rows, then stitching the rows vertically to hold everything in place.
The buttons D. and I made also from shrinky dinks, using my scalloped punch and cropadile to punch out the button shape, and then coloring them before watching them magically shrink in the toaster oven. Fun stuff! So far, Chloe has enjoyed taking days 1 and 2 ornaments out of their pockets and putting them back in, repeatedly.
Thanks for stopping by!