Too many things to finish

At the moment... scrambling to finish our first handmade advent calendar inspired by Inchmark, making presents for our neighbor who's going back to France for good, making Christmas presents for relatives, cooking, baking, and hectic days at the office.


Growing up in the Philippines, we had a lot of traditions but we never had an Advent calendar. I only found out about Advent calendars when my husband introduced it to the kids when they were 2. So the past couple years we've bought those which comes with a chocolate in each date. And now, I decided, it was time we had something that we will last for years to come and not so commercial hence all the late nights.

The kids keep asking when will it be Christmas and when can we start using the calendar... Audrey has already picked out which ornament goes into which date and pocket. Being a girly girl she likes pink stuff at the moment...


One thing I'm excited and can't wait to start sewing with is this recent purchase of vintage fabric. These are very traditional and are typically from the Dongbei Province in China. The level of detail are just amazing and is not anymore evident in the fabric you get at the market nowadays. Apparently these dates back to when you need to have a coupon to buy fabrics, probably around the time of the Cultural Revolution. I just love the goldfish motif. There's 2 fabric weights - lightweight corduroy and medium weight cotton.


Chinese characters mean 'double happiness'... goldfish or fish in general symbolize abundance.



The peonies in full bloom means: fortune comes with blooming flower. Peonies are always an auspicious element in a lot of Chinese paintings.