Monday 7 December 2015

December 7 – Christmas Village

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I think I have blogged about this before, but I take my chanches - if I don’t remember when or where, you probably don’t either!

Besides – isn’t repetition is the very essence of tradition anyway?

Wall hangings, both embroidered and paper ones, belong in old Swedish traditions – and not least for winter/Christmas. This is a textile one my mother made some time in my childhood, using a mix of patchwork and and embroidery. The size is 64 x 26 cm (25 x 10 inches). Mum  also used to sew a lot of our clothes, so used leftover pieces of fabric from that.

She was always sewing or knitting or doing embroidery. The house was full of it, and in her retirement years she also made lots of things for sales or lotteries at fairs for the local history society. This is one of her ‘early’ works though, which I found in some drawer or box of Christmas decorations when going through things in the House. And it is one of those I chose to keep, as it had memories attached for me…

… Because besides “itself”, this also reminds me of a minature winter village landscape that she/we used to set up on top of a bookshelf in my room at Christmas, with little houses and a church made of cardboard, and figures of home-made play-dough, all made and handpainted by mum. They stood on snowy ground made of cotton wool, sprinkled with boric acid crystals; and there was a little lake made by a mirror.

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8 comments:

  1. How nice that you have a piece of your Mother's work.

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    1. Janet, I have several pieces of her work... This one only comes out at Christmas, though! :)

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  2. It's a very pretty wall hanging, and although I like my walls (mostly) empty, even I would put this one up - especially if my Mum had made it during my childhood.
    How lovely also that she made that Christmas village for your room back then!

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    1. Empty walls I have none, Meike - so this Christmas wall hanging has found its place on a door between two rooms. And as that door is usually kept open, I can see the hanging from both :)

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  3. Sewing missed a generation in our family. My grandmother did all forms of it and was excellent. I have a cushion made from scraps of cloth and lots of embroidered napery. My mother made her own dresses purely for economy's sake but disliked doing it. I love embroidery but cannot manage it without interference from the cats. I need a cat proof room to do hobbies in!

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    1. John, while I suppose I may have inherited some general artistic talent from my mum (and her father), in my case I'm afraid it never extended to any skill with needle and thread...

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  4. it is very pretty. mother used to do the cardboard houses and a church, she put them in cotton snow on the mantle at one end and the Nativity at the other end.

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    1. That's interesting. I've never seen one besides the one we had, so don't know where mum got the idea from. We never had a Nativity scene in my parents' home though. Except a tiny little plastic one-piece that I got from elderly relatives when I was little. I still have that...

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