I was so excited when my friend Nan contacted me
and asked if I would be interested in participating in a blog hop.
She and her friend Margaret...
who comes to find out, lives just an hour away from me.
Oh it's such a small world out there!
...oops, getting back on track here...
These two lovely girls, wrote a new book called
Yep, it's spelled correctly, but it's not the "wrapping" your likely thinking of.
This is a book on Reverse Applique and Paper Piecing...
And best yet, it's for everyone, even beginners!
I immediately dove into the book, to see what I wanted to do.
This is "Christmas is Coming", a 32" x 40" advent calendar, you might say!
I went outside the box a bit and went to the far end of the spectrum,
using lime green and hot pink instead of the traditional Christmas colors.
With that change, I decided on a black background.
Just a tad bit different than the colors they used in the book, I'd say.
LOL!!
The traditional colors are beautiful.
But most of you know...I'm nothing, if not non-traditional!
Here's a little tip for you...
I've found that fastest and easiest way for me to see
what a project will look like in different colors,
is to screen shot a photo and play with the colors in my photo program.
It's a fun way to play and I love entertaining myself with crazy combos!
The corner blocks are "reverse applique" and the star on top of the tree
is actually made separately and attached with a button!
Button, button, who's got the button?
I used wooden black and white buttons. Not the colors I needed,
so I picked up a can of silver glitter spray paint and customized them.
Now they remind me of snowflakes.
This advent calendar starts you off in
December, with all the mini 1" ornaments hanging at the bottom.
Each day you move one, up onto the tree
and on Christmas Day, your entire tree is decorated.
I must confess here...
Getting Christmas ornaments in March or April, is almost impossible.
I found these on Amazon and had them shipped, but there were
casualties along the way. Sometimes, glass and mail don't play well together.
Kinda like oil and water, I guess.
I will have to wait until June or July,
when holiday decorations start hitting store shelves, to find more.
Lots of glitz and glitter, bright and cheery colors...
and so much fun to put together.
Thank you Nan and Margaret, for inviting me to play with you!
A big thanks to "Island Batik" for providing me with these gorgeous fabrics.
