Ready or not, here Christmas comes! With the simple turn of the calendar page, holiday merriment (and panic) has set in. Fear not! We will be posting many holiday crafts this month for you to create in the nick of time. (pun intended)
Kicking off our December of gift-giving projects is this Christmas Countdown Pillow designed by Melony Bradley.
materials
For product information, see sources below.
• Fairfield Processing Home elegance pillow form,18” x 18”
• 19” square cloth napkins (or if larger, cut to 19” square), two
• Jacquard Products
Dye-na-flow in Scarlet
Lumiere in Citrine and Metallic Gold
Cernit Clay in No. 011 Bordeaux and No. 023 Brown
• National Nonwovens WoolFelt in Black and Cottage Red
• Fabric scraps in a script print, solid apple green, apple green with white dots, red ticking, and white or other light colored muslin
• The Warm Company Lite Steam-a-Seam
• Sizzix
Bigshot die cut machine
Bird in Cage die cut
Number die cuts
• 1” number stamps and pigment ink (black), 1-1/2” thin wood circles (12), Aleene’s Tacky Glue and Fabric Fusion, assorted trims (such as gold braid, red rickrack, 3/8” preprinted ribbon with words, and 10mm acrylic or crystal flat backed rhinestones)
• clothes dryer (optional), hand drill and small drill bit, iron and ironing surface, paintbrushes, plastic water container and water, Recollections Jeweled Scrapbook Embellishments*, scissors, sewing machine and thread (contrasting or coordinating), sewing needle and thread (black), straight pins
*Available through Michael’s.
instructions
1. In plastic container, mix Dye-na-flow with water in a 2:1 ratio. Submerge folded napkins and allow to sit approximately one hour. Remove from mixture and rinse. Allow to air-dry or toss in dryer. Press with iron on medium setting.
2. Cut five 3” squares from each of the fabrics. Press in seams 1/2” on all four sides. Pin to front of one of the pillow squares in an alternating pattern, spacing evenly. When all squares have been pinned, use sewing machine and contrasting or coordinating thread to straight stitch squares in place.
3. Following manufacturer’s instructions, fuse scraps of Black and Cottage Red WoolFelt to fusible webbing. Cut fused felt into sizes needed to cut numbers, paper side up. Use die cut machine to cut numbers, referring to color photo for numbers needed.
4. Fuse into place on squares. Use black thread and a straight stitch to secure in place on pillow.
5. Paint six of the 1-1/2” circles Metallic Gold and six Citrine Green. Referring to numbers fused on squares, stamp alternate numbers to complete numbers to 25. Drill holes at top and bottom of circle.
6. Using Tacky Glue to adhere circles to squares. Allow to dry, then use black thread to sew circles to pillow using several stitches in and out of drilled holes, from back to front of pillow. Knot thread off at back of pillow square.
7. Use assorted trims and Fabric Fusion to line edges of squares; line top and bottom only or one edge only as desired. When adhering rhinestones, use Tacky Glue. If desired, use machine to stitch fabric trims in place.
8. Using Bird in Cage die cut, cut bird from fused Cottage Red wool scraps and wings from Black scraps. Fuse in place randomly on pillow square, then use machine to straight stitch in place.
9. Use Tacky Glue to adhere Scrapbook Embellishments onto pillow, then, if desired, hand sew into place.
10. Place pillow right sides together. Straight stitch left, top, and right edges together using a 1/2 seam allowance; leave bottom open for turning. Turn pillow right side out and insert pillow form. Sew bottom together using sewing needle and a whipstitch.
For questions regarding this design, please contact Melony at melonybradley@msn.com.
Sources
Aleene’s
(800) 438-6226
Fairfield Processing
(800) 243-0989
Jacquard Products
(800) 442-0455
http://www.jacquardproducts.com
Michaels
(800) 642-4235
National Nonwovens
(800) 333-3469
Sizzix
(877) 355-4766
The Warm Company
(800) 234-9276
Special thanks to designer Melony Bradley for sharing this pillow project with our readers. Please visit Melony’s blog for more creative inspiration, and holiday ideas!
That Advent pillow is really cute. THANKS for posting a list of resources/contacts, too. That’s really helpful
Love and hugs from the ocean shores of California, Heather 
This is sooo pretty, looks better than a store bought item. –sllvncookie