I am SO excited to share with you my Handmade Holiday project!
Every year, I have been making simple paper advent calendars for my kiddos to do a countdown to Christmas.  This year, I wanted to make something that would LAST.  I created a quilted, circle-pocket, countdown calendar.
Supplies used:
-Background Fabric and backing (2 pieces about 24″ x WOF)
-Batting: a piece just a bit larger than your project
-about 1/3 yd. fabric for binding
-black fabric for numbers (6″x12″ piece)
-Therm O Web Heat N Bond® Lite
-Therm O Web DecoFoil™ Transfer Sheets in Black and Gold

To begin, I search for circle shaped objects to make templates on cardstock.  I used a CD, a small paint can, and a lid from a toy container.  I cut TWO circle of the same size and print for each pocket.

Then I used the templates and traced them on the paper side of the Heat N Bond® Lite.  Cut only ONE piece of interfacing per pocket. You will need to figure out how many of each size you need depending on what you cut from your fabric.

Using a dry iron, iron the Heat N Bond® Lite to the WRONG side of one piece of fabric for each pocket.

Once you have all the Heat N Bond® ironed on your circles, lay the out in your desired arrangement on your background fabric and pin in place, right through the paper, and iron them on one at a time.

 

For the pocket front, fold about a 1″ flap to the wrong side of the fabric and iron to form a crease.  Stitch about 1/4″ away from the folded edge and then trim off the excess fabric.

 

Use your Fabric Fuse™ Liquid Adhesive to glue each pocket to the front of the matching circle. Make sure just to glue around the edges to leave the pocket open.

Create a “quilt sandwich” with the front of the quilt, then the batting, and then the backing of the quilt.  Machine stitch around the entire edge of the circle with about 1/8″ allowance (or more if desired). Quilt the white space as desired. I used a small, messy pebble look (I was thinking of little snowballs!).  Machine stitch on a binding.

For the numbers, cut a piece of black fabric about 6″x 12″ and iron on a piece of DecoFoil™ Hot Melt adhesive to the top, leaving the paper ON.  Using a fabric blade and setting on your electronic die-cutting machine, cut the numbers out with your machine.  Alternatively, you could cut the numbers out by hand.
Once the numbers have been cut, peel them from your mat.  At this point, you can remove the paper on the top and place the numbers in between the parchment sheets that come with the DecoFoil™ Transfer Sheets.  Layer a piece of foil over the numbers (silver side down) and iron with a dry iron for about 30-45 seconds.  LET COOL COMPLETELY before you try and peel the foil from the numbers.

Once cooled, use the Fabric Fuse™ glue to glue the numbers to the front pocket of the circles.  And Voila, you are FINISHED!

Now just wait until December and starting planning what goodies you are going to put in each pocket!

 

 

Thanks so much for joining us for the Handmade Holidays 2015!  And a special thanks to Therm O Web and Blend Fabrics for the awesome products!

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