Thursday, December 10, 2009

Christmas is Coming!!!

This is what its all about!!!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Gee, it's been a while since I blogged. While discussing Christmas at my LYS last Tuesday night, I mentioned the Advent Calendar I made (and just shipped off) for my grand-daughters 3 year old Chelsea and 4 year old Abby. I know, I know... Advent started Dec. 1st... but better late than newer and the girls will have fun putting 10 or so on the tree. My Knit-In buddies wanted to see pictures and someone suggested I post it on Ravelry. Since Ravelry is only for Knitting and some Crochet and Weaving... I decided to share through this blog.

How to:
I purchased some felt (2 large pieces of dark green (tree) and cream (background), smaller pieces of red, bright green and yellow felt, circular velcro pieces (3/4") and wooden circles (1 1/2") from JoAnn Fabrics. I cut a variety of 2x2.5 pockets and sewed them around the border with black thick cotton. I also sewed the tree to the center and then put the pre-glued velcro circles on the tree. In order to make sure they stayed put... I sewed one stitch in each one in the center (tricky with the glue on the back but a piece of soap to run the large pointed needle through helped.
With acrylic paint, I hand-painted each of the wooden circles different colors and then when dry painted different symbols of Xmas on each one. When done I put the other side of the pre-glued velcro on the back of the wooden circles. Then, I painted the numbers in order on the colored border squares -- black paint on the yellow and white paint on the green and red. Add 2 dowels in a hand-sewn channel top and bottom... and voila... an Advent Calendar. Advice... start before Thanksgiving to get it to your loved ones on time!

I have been weaving several scarves on a 30 epi tencel warp... five down and I think, one more to go on the 7 yard warp. I also have been knitting colorful sweaters for the a-fore-mentioned grand-daughters. I'll mount photos soon... I promise...

Life has gotten rather busy now that I'm working part-time as a docent (part greeter, part educator, part school ambassador) at 3 different SCAD galleries. SCAD, as some may know, is a really fine "university for creative careers" and stands for Savannah College of Art and Design. I absolutely love being surrounded by art and artsy folk and having the opportunity to talk with visitors to the galleries. SCAD was one of the reasons we chose Savannah as our retirement home. The university has restored many of the downtown buildings giving them purpose and vitality. It's been a few more hours than I expected lately, but should calm down once the students are back after the holidays.