Each year, we hang our Advent Calendar on the back of the dining room door. Starting December 1, the quilt goes up as a wall hanging, and we move our tiny paper doll family along the path through the village and toward the chapel, where they’ll arrive on Christmas Eve just in time for a candlelight service.
The Advent Calendar project started out as a personal sewing project, and was drawn from my memory of a similar calendar my mother made when I was growing up. Hers was felt pieces, which I made into a quilt-as-you-go applique version, and I’ve really enjoyed not just how that adds a three-dimensionality but also how I can continue to add details and small embellishments each year.
You can make your own Advent Calendar with the quilt-along course included in your Murder Mystery Quilt membership for 2026. The course includes all the templates plus “daily” guides so you can start now and make a house each day in December–or binge and make LOTS of houses all at once to hang your Advent Calendar before the season ends!
Want to see more? This short YouTube video gives you a real-time chance to view the current status of my Advent Calendar, and see some of the details I’ve added along the way!
The spot in our house is a teensy vestibule between the kitchen and dining room (you can still see the control panel for the 1968 whole-house radio on the wall), so there’s a bit of an echo in the sound that I couldn’t shake–but I really had fun walking through these little houses and showing them off. I hope you’ll join us for the MMQ, make your OWN Advent Calendar, and get the same amount of joy from yours that I get from mine!
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