Counted Cross Stitch Advent Calendar

Hi there!

Whew! I did it! My friend Becky has displayed a beautiful counted cross stitch advent calendar in her house for several Christmases. Each year I have admired it very much. Well, over the summer, while our kids played together at her house,  we got on the topic of counted cross stitch patterns. She pulled out her pattern stash and I came across the one for the advent calendar. She generously loaned it to me and I have been working on it off and on for the past several months. Well, yesterday I put almost all the finishing touches on it and took pictures. I am so happy with this project and am very grateful for Becky's generosity. For the record, I've tried searching for the pattern to link for anyone who might want to purchase  the pattern, but I cannot seem to locate one. It's an older pattern and most likely out of print. Sorry for that! I took a picture of the pattern cover for reference. This was a lot of work, but so completely worth the effort. This is a little photo heavy and I hope you don't mind. Hope you enjoy. Click to enlarge any photo. When I couldn't work on stamping or cards, I was able to be creative by working on this project. Thanks, Becky!!

Quick story behind these clear snaps. They are hand sewn with clear thread.  This where I am completely spatially challenged. I initially thought I'd put the snaps toward the top of the square, not thinking that not all the pieces to be attached are the same height. I had already hand sewn the snaps onto the pieces you see below...at the top center of the piece. Yes, on all 25. It wasn't until I started putting the mate on the calendar squares and checking to see how they fit that I realized that it wasn't going to work. I had to take all the snaps off the pieces and reattach them to the center of the piece. Sigh...yep, I sure did. But, everything is lined up nicely now!

The calendar has a fabric backing and I had some extra that I thought would make a cute little bag to hold all the pieces. 

Here's the cover of the pattern.

On the job front, I have now been cashier trained and have taken and passed a safety and sanitation class, so I'm considered a permanent cook/cashier. I've accepted the opening at the school I've been working at since I started this job. The job itself is not very hard as in difficult or confusing. It is very busy and physical(not a bad thing, because I am never bored). In addition to rotating between cashiering, serving and dish duty (one day I'll cashier, the next I do dishes, and the following I serve), my job is to pull together/wash/cut/make the fresh fruit, veggies and salad we'll be serving on the line that day. I also pull together what's called the fruit and veggie grant food. Twice a week the students are given a healthy fruit or veggie snack. I get that ready and deliver it to the classes. For example on Wednesday, I had to cut into quarters 4 cases of grapefruit, and divvy them into bags for each classroom. Today I washed 3 cases of pears (that are individually wrapped in paper-I have no idea why) and got them ready to go out next week. Not difficult at all, but definitely takes time to do. I think my favorite thing to do is cashier though. I enjoy the interaction I have with the students for those few seconds. Plus, if I know(have memorized) their lunch number, they are all kinds of impressed. :) I got a lot of second graders to giggle yesterday when the people who supervise them turned on some music. Let It Go came on and I started mimicking singing with a pair of tongs as my microphone or I bopped around when other songs came on. Fun stuff!

That's it from me for now. Thanks so much for stopping by and reading if you got this far. Have a wonderful weekend and I hope to be back again soon!

*Ü*

Jeanne