Let the advent begin!

Well, my father and I both made our deadlines.  He made the tree, and I got the fabric bins done.  Although I still have to do something about the numbers - so if December 1st is tomorrow, the tree is basically ready - oh wait, it IS tomorrow!   It's not like I've never stayed up late craftin' it out.  So, here is the ALMOST finished Advent Calendar.

One of my goals with this project was to use up some of the cute Christmas fabric I've been holding on to.  It's going to be fun taking this bad boy out every Holiday, and I know my kids will have fun remembering all the fabrics I used - er I mean the goodies they got each morning.

My father claims every cubby space is the same size...

Now it's time to get creative filling the bins!

Ok ok, so I have a few more finishing touches, but I am very excited about this tradition.  My sisters and I had an "advent fairy" stirring up excitement every December, and it's something we'll never forget.

I got side-tracked...

Did I get the bins done?  No.  Did I get half of them done, no, not yet.  I got into the craft room and got crafting ADD.  This is when I have a  million ideas in my head, and I start a few projects, and well, finish some.  I did get a few more bins done, but I will have to step up my bin-making game this weekend.

4 more, cute owl, a green to match a some little snowmen

So what did I work on instead of bins?  What - do you ask did I squander my precious nap-time on?  I made 4 aprons, I am calling them work aprons, because they are designed from the pattern I made up for the apron I use at work.  It's a full apron with an "X" in the back instead of ties.  I also jumped back into the goat phase, and make some little pincushion/ornaments with some goat fabric.  Don't they look busy?   I might even get them listed in my Etsy shop.

busy sewing goats 

 Do you have any unfinished projects you NEED to work on this weekend?

Numbers, fractions, probability ...

I asked my dad the other day if he would make a wooden advent calendar for my family.  In his typical style, he did not say anything.  Then I got a call "this project, what size do you want the space for the boxes?"So the pressure was on me to come up with a number.   Three inches I said. Well, hmmm.. maybe two, eh, two isn't big enough, grr... 2 and half.  It didn't really matter I was just happy to hear he started working on it.  Honestly, I did not think it would happen this year.  Of course, that is chicken counting - you know, before the egg hatches.   So then I realized, he was a roll, and I had to make 24 little fabric bins.  Normally I have time to make something like this, but I knew I couldn't put this off.  So I used up a nap-time to create the pattern, (I'm crossing my fingers it will fit into the cubby space that is 3 (?) inches tall.  My goal is to get them done this week.  So I can put the finishing touches on  the calendar during the last week of November. Here is a peek at the first three fabric bins.

3/24 (12.5% complete, if they are the right size)

I spent a good deal of time working on the pattern and finding fabrics today, so I hope I can get more sewn up tomorrow.  Hmm... what is the probability I will actually get them finished this week?  We'll see.  We have 15 days until it needs to be ready to go.