Whew! Got it done! I've wanted to make this advent calendar wall hanging for over a year. Too many other things to do!!! (This one was for me...probably why I put it off.)
I found this pattern on Elizabeth Hartman's Oh, Fransson! webpage. I loved the look of it in her pics and decided this was the one for me! Of course, I had to "do it my way" and altered the set up of the quilt. All the sewing was done as directed in the pattern. Elizabeth's tutorial is easy to follow. She's a true teacher!
Web page:
http://www.ohfransson.com/oh_fransso...ocus.html#more
If you want to play I Spy, scroll down and compare my advent calendar with Elizabeth's. (Did not post Elizabeth's pics here.)
If not, here are the differences:
1. I turned the quilt. I needed a horizontal wall hanging instead of a vertical one.
2. I really wanted a header on top. My first choice of title was Sweet December, but thought it moved too far away from the original intent of counting down to Christmas. Thus, December was the chosen header. I put the letters in bells because it's important to me to make a lot of noise about Christ being born!
3. The numbers are in the upper right hand corners instead of lower left. Again, I had to go with what pleased my eye better. Also, Elizabeth encouraged mixing up the numbers. I tried and tried, but, alas, this time I had to put them in order. Not sure why because I like to mix things up.
4. Not all the blocks are offset the same way. This is harder to see. Elizabeth's pattern offsets them by a half an inch or so. I liked this because if you mess up a little on cutting or sewing, it's not as noticeable. When I was lining this up in the horizontal orientation, it wasn't as pleasing to my eye. How to fix that? The corner blocks are centered in their space. It breaks up the repetition of the offset.
5. This one is not obvious either. My pockets have a lip. It was an "oops" mistake that turned out ok. I attached the numbers before I read the instruction about a 1/2 inch seam at the top of the pocket. Oops! So, I brought up the inside pocket fabric so there was enough room to reinforce the top of the pocket. I did a satin stitch over the seam. Wa-laa! I like the look! I was pining over hiding all that fun fabric inside the pocket. Not anymore!
That's it! I must say, this was the best pieced quilt I have done yet. All the seams matched perfectly! The quilt is not quite square, but that's probably due to my quilting and pulling on the quilt top. Still have much to learn. I stippled all over the white fabric and had to swing around all those delicious pockets. Delicious??? Am I thinking about filling them again next year already? You bet!!!