Frank and Josie's House

For past years I've tried making everyone happy and last year I made pyjamas, Christmas stockings, a big blanket, an advent calendar- the list goes on. This year I thought I'd focus on a couple of items and chose to focus on the kids. Mermaid tails My daughter had requested mermaid tails for some of her dolls and was very specific as to what she wanted: a blue crocheted tail for Rapunzel, a green sewn tail for Arial and a gold sewn tail for Snow White. "Well at least she knows her own mind", I thought. For the sewn tails I went simple and cut out the mermaid tail shapes, sewed them wrong sides together, created a small folded over waistband and placed a piece of small elastic to secure it. They were a little tight but worked although I did swear at Snow White for having fat hips (something greatly unjustified). But I had success. Then on to the crocheted tail. For this I had decided to create a scale effect by using a shell shape. I started from the stomach and worked

Last year I created an advent calendar for my children. It was made up using small amounts of Christmas fabric with simple patch pockets on a larger background. This was my way of giving the kids whatever treats I wanted to over advent. I was brought up in a household that wasn't allowed chocolate advent calendars so we always had ones with pictures. This has been passed on to my kids by my parents and they love it. It keeps Christmas about the magic rather than over-eating and consumerism. In this vein I wanted to make the calender as colourful and Christmas-like as possible. [caption id="attachment_125" align="aligncenter" width="343" class=" "] The first advent calender[/caption] I was new to sewing so kept the first one simple using only patch pockets rather than anything more complex, making sure there was an extra special, larger pocket for Christmas eve. My brother-in-law saw it and asked for one for his daughter and my sister followe