Spring Forms New Friendships...

It was the bank holiday and Claudia was in the garden admiring all the Spring flowers that had just started to bloom. 

There had been so much rain lately that she thought Spring would never arrive and she so loved the fresh new scents around her and the young birds tweeting in the tall hedges not to mention all the busy bees starting to gather their sweet nectar.  She took a deep breath and sighed happily.

A large blackbird squawked suddenly which made her turn around quickly and it's lucky she did because her eyes caught sight of something rather unusual lying at the bottom of one of the bushes...

She moved in to take a closer look and what did she see!  but the sweetest little dolly you ever saw!

The little dolly was lying flat on her back and had the most delicate auburn ringlets and was wearing the most beautiful green spotted dress made from silk.

Claudia didn't know what to do at first, should she pick the doll up? 

or was she there because it chose to be?!!

"Excuse me", she said in a quite polite little voice, "Do you need any help down there?"

The tiny little doll stirred a moment and rubbing her head sat up slowly saying "Ouch!".

"Oh dear, you look hurt, are you alright?" Claudia asked rather alarmingly.

"Yes I''m quite okay, and thank you very much for asking.  So many people have passed by me these past few days and I can't tell you how many times I thought I was about to be stepped on!" answered the tiny little voice.

"Well I'm very pleased to meet you... uhrm... I'm afraid I don't know your name?  I'm Claudia".

"So very pleased to meet you, my name is Verity Hope and three days ago I was happily playing hide 'n' seek in the garden with Benjamin Bunny when suddenly a huge bird landed on the branch in the tree that I was hiding in and it snapped right off. I fell and hit my head and have been here ever since. I've absolutely no idea where Benjamin Bunny is!"

Just then, a faint thump, thump, thump sound came from around the rose bushes.  It was Benjamin Bunny looking rather worried and he had his magnifying glass with him.

"Oh I do beg your pardon Misses!, excuse me ever so much but you haven't seen my friend anywhere have you?  She has delicate auburn ringlets under her berret and is wearing a spotted green dress made from silk?"

A big smile spread across Claudia's face and at the same time Verity Hope jumped up with all her might behind Benjamin Bunny much to his delight!

"I've found you!, I've found you!!, how worried I have been thinking that you were somewhere all alone in these bushes with the darkness creeping in and all that rain we had!  Well, I shall surely sleep well again tonight knowing that you are safe and sound!" Cried out Benjamin Bunny with huge relief.

"I have an idea!", Claudia cried excitedly, how about we all play hide 'n' seek together from now on and we can all be best friends together, the three of us!!"

Verity Hope and Benjamin Bunny loved that idea and from that day onwards the little trio were inseparable....

 

and if ever you are passing by the garden on a warm Spring or Summer's day, be sure to just take a quick little peak over the hedges and you might just find a happy little trio chatting and laughing away among the pretty flowers!! 

Thank you for visiting, and do take a look inside the 

VERITY HOPE DOLL SHOP on ETSY 

for lots of magical mix 'n' match Sasha and dolly goodies!!

HAPPY DAYS TO ALL THOSE WHO STILL PLAY!

Susannah x

Where might Milly-Molly-Mandy live?

Did you ever read Milly-Molly-Mandy?

I'm in my forties now and Milly-Molly-Mandy is still my favourite set of bedtime reading books.  Even if I'm reading something else, I more often than not end the night reading a quick Milly-Molly-Mandy story and that means I end the day with happy thoughts of a quaint little village life far removed from this cluttered world we live in today.

I want life to be like Milly-Molly-Mandy's world.  I want to hoppity skip along hedgegrows past the 'nice white cottage with the thatched roof', knock on little-friend-Susan's door and ask if she'd like to come out to play.  

I want to go down to the village and pass Billy Blunt fixing his box on wheels and then decide whether raspberry drops would be better to have than toffee from Mr Smale's grocer's shop.

I spend an unashamedly large amount of mental energy imagining where Joyce Lankester Brisley might have based Milly-Molly-Mandy's village on.  Do you think it was inspired by a village local to her own childhood days?

Joyce was born in Bexhill-on-Sea in East Sussex and in one of the stories Milly-Molly-Mandy goes on a daytrip to the seaside by train so she couldn't have been far from the coast.  Milly-Molly-Mandy and her Aunt had to take the red bus to the next town to catch the train so the village is located near a town with a railway. 

 

Could the village be based on ALFRISTON in East Sussex perhaps?  

It's certainly one of the prettiest old villages around that area and it's close to Berwick town which does have a railway and goes to the coast?

Mmm... we'll never know what Joyce based her little world on but it is fun to imagine.

  Perhaps she may even have been friends with Verity Hope.

Enjoy MILLY-MOLLY-MANDY and HAPPY SEWING too!

NEW DOLLS KITS in stock JANUARY 2017

Susannah x

Autumn Cosiness...

What do you like about autumn? 

I like autumn because it's a very cosy time of year.
I love it when the evenings begin to draw in and we can shut the curtains around 4 o'clock...

get into a dressing gown early, curl up in a chair and do some craft work in front of the telly (I would like to say 'warm log fire' but this is 2016 and 'telly' is a modern delight) : )

This is a particularly cosy 1920s illustration of Milly-Molly-Mandy sitting in her dressing gown with  Little-Friend-Susan.

 I imagine the curtains are closed, a soft flickering light and the warmth from the kitchen agar keeps them happy and warm while the autumn leaves tumble in the wind outside.

Milly-Molly-Mandy 

by  

Joyce Lankester Brisley 

During these darkening evenings I am busy getting the first Verity Hope doll kits ready.  

I've chosen soft tones for the fabric to bring a sense of homely warmth.  

This is a mish-mash of some of the fabrics in the possible range.  They are all based around 1930s designs and will be used in the dresses...

The next question is how best to package the kit.  This is one idea about using an illustration rather than an image, although if I use this concept I would include actual images of each doll too, perhaps on the back cover.

Doll kits will soon be on their way.

In the meantime during a recent autumn walk (actually a newly discovered pathway I was most thrilled to discover), Nancy and I came across this beautiful autumn blossom... OR are they berries?

Excuse my ignorance but does anyone know which tree it is?
They look like they want to burst open at any moment...

Young Alice and Katy in their new Liberty print dresses wandered off to the mossy area to catch the warm rays of the autumn sunshine.  There's an awful lot to take in when you're only 3" tall and sometimes they go off for hours on end.  I know they always stick together though so am never worried about bad tempered pixies approaching them.

Here are some lovely illustrations by the wonderful Holly Hobbie.
She conjures up a perfect autumnal world in her beautiful images.  I think you will agree... 

  
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Happy days to all those who still play!
Thank you for visiting,

Susannah x

Character doll kits in the future..

Oh dear sweet 'Anne Shirley'.... how would we survive without you?

"Isn't it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive--it's such an interesting world. It wouldn't be half so interesting if we know all about everything, would it? There'd be no scope for imagination then, would there?"
- Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

"It's all very well to read about sorrows and imagine yourself living through them heroically, but it's not so nice when you really come to have them, is it?"
- Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

 

"Next to trying and winning, the best thing is trying and failing."
- Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables 

"Anne always remembered the silvery, peaceful beauty and fragrant calm of that night. It was the last night before sorrow touched her life; and no life is ever quite the same again when once that cold, sanctifying touch has been laid upon it."
- Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

 

"For we pay a price for everything we get or take in this world; and although ambitions are well worth having, they are not to be cheaply won, but exact their dues of work and self-denial, anxiety and discouragement."
- Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

 “Why must people kneel down to pray? If I really wanted to pray I’ll tell you what I'd do. I'd go out into a great big field all alone or in the deep, deep woods and I'd look up into the sky—up—up—up—into that lovely blue sky that looks as if there was no end to its blueness. And then I'd just feel a prayer.”
- Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables  

 

“Do you think amethysts can be the souls of good violets?”

- Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables   

So many hours of happy reading you bring...!!

Thank you Lucy Maud Montgomery....

Thank you for visiting and do pop back.

Susannah x