Advent calendars are often the highlight of December (other than Christmas day of course) for kids and it’s fun to go beyond the traditional candy behind a door variety. This year, slip treats and prizes into the pockets of this soft felt calendar that hangs easily on the wall or on the back of a door.

Things you need:
1/2 yard or 6 sheets of beige felt
3 sheets each of pink, mauve, green and red felt
Sewing machine and notions
Coordinating thread
Wooden Hanger
Pins
Number stamps and ink
Or
Embroidery thread and needle

Things to do:
1. Cut the cream felt into a 13 x 36 inch strip or sew 5 rectangles of the cream felt together to form a similarly size strip. Save remaining felt for squares.
2. Cut the remaining cream felt and the other colors into 24- 4 x 4 inch and 24 3-1/2 x 3-1/2 inch squares making sure you have a mix of colors for each size.

3. If you are embroidering the numbers, you’ll want to do that now on the smaller squares. If you are stamping you can either stamp now or once the project has been sewn.
4. Center the smaller squares onto the larger ones, changing the color combination with each square. Pin into place securely and stitch around all sides about 1/4 inch in from the edge of the inner square.

5. Leaving 5 inches free at the top, arrange your stitched squares, three at a time, across the larger piece of felt, spacing evenly. Pin in place and sew down, stitching right over the previous stitches on three sides, creating a pocket.


6. Fold the excess felt at the top over the bar of the hanger and pin in place. Stitch across to secure. This is a little tricky because you have to have the hanger on the left side and the bulk of the felt moving through the hole in your machine but as long as you’ve pinned the flat well you’ll be fine.

7. Hang and fill the pockets with treats!