Introducing ”8 Days of Christmas Mug Rugs from Finland”

The last day of October means Advent Sundays and Christmas aren’t very far away anymore. Sentti & Tuuma hereby invite you to enjoy an 8-day series of mug rugs, either with Christmas theme or simply celebrating the colour red. Perhaps you’ll be inspired to make your own?

Late Autumn in Finland

Here in Helsinki people have started putting up what locally in recent years has been called kaamosvalot, kaamos lights, instead of Christmas lights.

Kaamos, polar night, is the time of year when the sun doesn’t climb above the horizon and even though we still see it here in southern Finland, it gets very dark early in the evenings. Light-therapy lamps are increasingly popular, too, in preventing Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) with its depression and other unpleasant symptoms.

Amidst the pandemic, however, it’s even more important to experience finishes, not just the beginnings of new projects, so why not combine a bit of red cheer with a small quilting project like the mug rug?

The Mug Rug Challenge

I’ve asked seven quilty friends from Finland to participate in a small challenge in which I sent each of them a fat quarter of the cheerful Star Bright fabric in colourway Dark Red by Andover Fabrics.

They’ve created a mug rug of this piece in combination with what they had available in their stashes. They could choose a pattern by someone else, or improvise and design their own.

(What mug rug? It’s definitely larger than a coaster, but far smaller than a placemat. You can put a mug and a treat on it, possibly a small plate as well.)

This is as exciting for me as it is for you because apart from my own I have yet to see any of them myself!

We kick off this inspirational series tomorrow 1 November, and finish on the 8 November next weekend.

I hope you enjoy our creations and follow the lovely ladies in social media if you don’t already.

The hashtag on Instagram is #SenttiJaTuumaChristmasMugRug, so join us and spread the cheer if you like!

The Blog Posts

Find the blog posts of this ”8 Days of Christmas Mug Rugs from Finland” challenge here:

• Introduction to ”8 Days of Christmas Mug Rugs from Finland” (you’re here!)
• Day 1 with Leena
• Day 2 with Tiina K
• Day 3 with Auli
• Day 4 with Tilkunviilaaja
• Day 5 with Teija
• Day 6 with Anu
• Day 7 with Marja
• Day 8 with Nina

We’d love to get your thoughts on these projects, so don’t hesitate to post them in the comments!