Old stuff; a little bragging

Homemade Advent Calendars

In Norway and Scandinavia there is a tradition of having a so-called Julekalender (the Norwegian word for an Advent Calendar) starting on the first of December, and ending on Christmas Eve.

I want to share with you two of my home made Advent Calendars. An Advent Calendar is a special calendar which is used to count or celebrate the days of Advent in anticipation of Christmas. Today, most advent calendars are made for children, but the first is my sister Anne’s Calendar. She was in her’s forties when she got this from me. Two years ago she got this filled with chocolate and other sweets gift wrapped. It is really simple sewn. The heart is made of many tiny scrappy pieces just glued to the linen by using appliqué-vlise. Stippleseams are both decorative and easy to make. A pocket is made by folding a quilted fabric on the quilted linen-top and small parcels of sweets were put in this pocket. Each parcel had a ribbon with a number at one end and these ribbons were hanging outside the pocket. This way she could see which parcel she should take each day during Advent. Free motion-quilting is used and I sew “Hjertelig” (meaning sincere/hearty) to her.

The second one I made for her twins when they were one year old. They are going to be 16 years this summer, so time passes quickly :-)

The pattern is from a very dear book of mine. 24 rings are sewn on the Calendar so wrapped gifts can be hung by them. Beginning on the first day of December, one parcel is opened each day, counting down the days remaining until Christmas Eve, from one to twenty-four where the 24th gift often is bigger or more expensive than the others.

Thank you Anne for sending me the pictures so I could brag about these Julekalenders.