Just 280 Days 'til Christmas!

Yesterday was the first day I was able to focus and put what I consider a full day's effort in. The news has taken on a degree of sameness which makes it easy to turn off. Instead I find my mind wandering to obvious, yet serious questions-- how long will this last? Do we all have to slowly get the virus before we can go out again? When am I going to be able to go out and pick up more chocolate and Diet Coke? 

:-)

So I had a nice finish-- this is the new
Christmas Advent calendar I am working on-- all done. 

Mind you-- it's not coming out until October! I am strategizing that it just doesn't feel right to promote sales right now and no one is buying anyway, but I can really make up months of sales over the holidays this fall. So if I have a stack of new collections for the fall, we can still pull off a good year.

Yesterday, I completed the base layer-- it takes two 5x7 hoopings. This is easy to do with built-in guidelines.

I then sandwiched it together with this gorgeous Christmas print-- I believe it is one of those Hoffman metallics. Thank God for a well stocked sewing room! So proud of myself for adding the invisible pocket, by fussy cutting it. That is where you will store your pieces.

The 25 pieces are all adorable and measure about 1" each. We're going to include instructions to just make a set of ornaments for a little tree.

They are attached with Velcro dots-- when I show the finished piece to my daughter, she excitedly grabbed a charm, and of course the entire Velcro dot came with it. So I will add in the instructions just to be careful--- it's such and easy attachment method and the little ornaments kind of "float" over the piece because it raises them up-- we're sticking with it-- pun intended.

Finally, I bound the edges, and handstitched the back-- getting away from the computer is a must for me, so I enjoy a bit of handwork. 

I then made a beautiful bow, and stitched on a little sawtooth hanger-- this has become my favorite hanging method these days and you may have noticed I've used it to hang some of my recent mug rugs. A couple of years ago, I needed a sawtooth hanger, but it was cheaper to buy a pack of 250, so expect this trend to continue.

Finis!

Well, there's still some solid hours left to write instructions, but I'm saving that for the weekend. Then it all gets bundled up with the designs and will have to wait for better days! I'm going to keep mine on the design wall for now. It makes me feel happy.

Today is sketching day-- I need a break from the computer-- and I also need a "Stitches of the Sea" design-- it's all imagined in my head-- a koi pond with a gorgeous "Torii Gate" reflecting in the water. Picture the Brooklyn Botanic Garden if you've ever been. The April cottage of the month is going to be "HOPE," and yes, I had this planned before this series of unfortunate events! On the fence if I should bother with Easter... what do you think?

xox

Carol