Thursday, May 17, 2007

A good day were had by all


Today, 17. May, is Norway's National Day, celebration our Constitution from 1814. Norway is still young as a free nation.

17. May is the children's day, with children's and citizens parades with brass bands playing and everyone parading in the streets. No military parades involved other than military bands playing too, and the king's guard being the band of honour, playing in the capital Oslo, as the front band in the big parade before the royal castle.
A lot of info in English and some photos can be found here.

The dress code is formal, and this is the day when everybody wear their best clothes and those owning National costumes wears them.
We have many costumes, both female and male, from all over the country.
DD1 has her own National costume - the red and black one, and DD2 is wearing mine today, but in 2 years, when she is 18 years old, she will have her own too.
Both my girls has got theirs from their grandparents on their father's side, the dress and jackets embroidered by their paternal grandmother and the blouse embroidered by their paternal grandfather.
The costumes have been their church confirmation gift from their paternal grandparents, in pieces, at age 15, to be sewn together professionally, to fit, at age 18, hence the reason why DD2 is wearing my National costume, embroidered by me for DD1's church confirmation 4 years ago.
The silver jewellery has been collected over years, and are specific to each costume.

I was happy to wear other pretty clothes today.


Early this morning I put the last seams in string quilt # 3 and donation quilt # 6 this year.
I really like how it turned out and it made a dent in the blue and beige scrap strips after all :-)
This is the last quilt for donation from me for a while.
I need to pamper myself with other projects now. My right shoulder is not liking more big quilts machine quilted on a domestic machine for a while, and other projects are also wanting attention.

17. May is soon history and I hope all celebrating it have had a lovely day !

18 comments:

  1. Great finish!

    Thanks for sharing your customs and costumes. I'm learning SO much from blogreading!!

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  2. Anonymous12:42 am

    Nice photos, Hanne (your daughters are beautiful !).
    Thanks for sharing this lovely with us...

    Your string quilt will make someone happy, for sure!
    Yes, now is the time to pamper yourself, you deserve it...
    Hugs & smiles,
    Nadine

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  3. Great costumes. Also so special receiving each piece of the costume.
    Now Hanne what is happening with the Nearly Insane blocks I am missing them. Are you having a holiday from them?
    Bye for now.......

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  4. Your girls are so cute! Do they love dressing up in the costumes? It's so nice that the costumes are family heirlooms too.

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  5. What a beautiful tradition. The costumes are lovely. Thank you for sharing a part of your culture. Happy Quilting!

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  6. Anonymous3:29 am

    Fantastic embroidery and costumes! I wish Australia/England had a national costume but sadly, no.

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  7. Hanne, your daughters are beautiful, young ladies. Thanks for sharing the picture of them in their costumes. Another great string quilt for you, too. Now, take care of yourself and feel better soon.

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  8. Anonymous7:25 am

    I love the national costumes really really pretty. If I could I probably would sew a Norwegian costume - they all are sooo pretty!

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  9. I have loved the posts from everyone's Norway Day. The 'Period clothing is gorgeous. Your daughters are beautiful.

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  10. I loved learning about Norway's national day and seeig the Natiional costumes! Thanks for sharing!

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  11. What beautiful daughters you have been blessed with. I am in awe of the handwork on the exquisite clothes they are wearing.........

    Are those bare toes I see peeking out from the bottom of that quilt?

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  12. Great work on those donation quilts - 6 in 5 months. I think you deserve some time to spend on your own projects. Have fun :)

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  13. terrific job Hanne! lovely daughters too.

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  14. Those dresses are beautiful, as are your daughters.

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  15. Your daughters in their costumes are just lovely. Happy Day!!

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  16. Your daughters are beautiful, as are their national costumes. I've seen several on the blogs, but these are really special ones. Girls get them when they are 18, kind of like a rite of passage?

    Yeah, string quilt finish!

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  17. Thanks for sharing the gorgeous national costumes! Stunning! I love how the string quilt turned out!

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  18. You have such beautiful daughters, Hanne! Thanks for sharing the pictures. The national costumes are so wonderful to see - I think I remember you sharing pictures last year too. Love the new string quilt setting - I'll have to remember that one. And I love the toes peeking out from beneath the quilt!

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