Hello sunshine!

The sun is shinning on the long thin house, and all is fine and dandy ! I have managed to spend sometime in the garden, doing routine things like mowing the lawn, well bits of it anyway, I like to leave some of the grass long and just mow wiggly paths through it, sort of secret garden/neglected garden style! but I have also managed to sit and take stock...mainly because I was out of puff from mowing the steep incline that is the long thin garden, so moving wasn't an option! I know we have all had enough of the persistent rain we have had recently , even the BBC has gone quiet about the drought, although 2 days of sunshine they are bound to start again soon ! But the garden is looking lush ! All the buds are fat and healthy, fronds are zingy green and curly, and the red tinged baby leaves on our 100 + year old Walnut tree are looking shiny and plentiful,                                    if you don't look too hard and notice the weeds, (which have also enjoyed the rain!) the long thin garden is looking tiptop, even though I say so myself...I think I have just had an Alys Fowler moment:)

 thinking some crocheting on the hammock is in order!

speak soon.

To crochet or not to crochet !

Hello, I have not forgotten all you lovely people in blog land but routine maintenance at the long thin house has somewhat taken over any spare time I seem to have! On top of the usual routine of feeding Dogs, Cats, Chickens, Fish, and the cleaning up the menagerie demands, the human inhabitants of the long thin house have also had to contend with renovating the Bathroom,fixing a leaking ceiling, and stopping the long thin garden from becoming an horrendous overgrown jungle instead of a slightly overgrown jungle, as well as cleaning,washing,baking, Meanwhile Dolly sewing has really ground to a halt, after a few unsuccessful attempts, of which I am too ashamed to document, I am still at the beginning stage.



We are also starting to get Sunny our 1976 VW camper ready for our summer festival excursion, We are trying to decide how much of a facelift she will be getting, it might just be a cat's lick and a promise or...and this is my preferred option.... the whole nine yards ! including a new coat of paint!! I shall keep you posted and hopefully have some pics of her crochety goodness granny chic/ retro interior !



I have however managed to fit in some crochet, there is always time for crochet! and have finished a granny square cushion, and have now started on a sunburst granny square cushion, so I haven't been entirely bereft of crafty goodness !





Ho hum, off to feed the Chickens, take care, speak soon.

frustrating!

Hello,
I have just spent the past hour or so at the long thin house trying to add a Pinterest button, Find me on folksy button, and an Instagram button to the sidebar of my blog, I have been having lots of fun photographing and commenting on things, and although I think you can look at them via my Twitter updates I just thought it would be spiffy to have the little buttons at the side! but, alas my blind spot for all things computory has kicked in! I have been reading about 'plugins' and I'm beginning to think my you can't use them on the free wordpress themes, I have tried all ways, widget menus, links etc but no it is not to be, I think Husband will need to be called upon! if any of you would care to share my musings with pics my instagram and pinterest are under the name madebymim too, if any of you use pinterest let me know, I love to look at other peoples pictures,
.
Speak soon.

Yay for Miss Jean !

Well, what an amazing machine! As I mentioned in my last musings, I took delivery of a vintage 411g singer sewing machine, she is a doozy! delivered by the seller as it turned out she did not live too far away , Miss Jean turned out to be her Aunts machine , and she had had her for 22 years, since her Aunt had passed away. Miss Jean came with the record card of the lessons the Aunt had taken to learn how to use the machine, and lots of other bits and bobs, and it was so nice to hear how the Aunt who was a seamstress made clothes for the lady and her children and lots of other things too , it gave a real sense of history, I like the thought of all the things Miss Jean has made before, hopefully I will be able to do her justice, although from what the lady said my offerings won't be anywhere near as professional! I love her, all newly serviced she is a dream....off now, Miss Jean and I have things to do,

speak soon.

Hello Jean, goodbye Dolly !

Curses!! I 've done it again! yesterday was a very productive day in a 'i don't want to do it like that' sort of way. The snapshot of the calico doll pattern was my first attempt...I am now on my third, I want to get the proportions and the look right before I move to the next stage. At the moment I am using a 1960's 185k singer sewing machine or Miss Blister ( she is the little sister machine of my bigger 201k singer - Miss Brown !) to make the Dollys.

So, whilst sitting and sewing Dolly bits and not looking for vintage toy sewing machines on ebay...expect an update soon!! I happened upon a 1963 Singer 411G, now , I have a soft spot for singers, my Mother, who was a Dressmaker always used Singers, so I think it has been ingrained in me and the 411G has a very fine reputation, this one is very spiffy recently serviced, with lots of extras, and is a thing of retro beauty!! well, it is perfect for Dolly dresses and all manner of sewing goodness ! And will be delivered to my door in the very near future - today or tomorrow actually :)! so i slightly meandered from the path of busy-ness, but in a thinking of the future Dolly makes way, so it sort of counts as busy.

Today however is a different kettle of  Aquatic creatures! mollie makes slipped onto my doormat, that coupled with my inability to stop crocheting cute little coasters from a pattern found on a fabulous blog site makes me think the best thing to do is have a cup of tea, wait for the courier to bring Miss Jean (my new sewing machine!) and leave Dolly until tomorrow!

'sew' it begins !

I have started! Said I would didn't I ! Just a quick peek of my new makes, still in planning stages, I won't trust myself to use my scrummy vintage fabric finds until I'm happy with the designs, size etc. I have been thinking about making Rag dolls (there, now you all know!) for a while, I've been looking around gathering inspiration...and cool fabrics for the outfits, and thinking more and more of a primary school teacher who would bring her collection of fairytale rag dolls to school to use at story time, it was magical !....I'm going to have a lot of fun creating the outfits, I'm thinking Red Riding Hood meets steam punk ! Wish me luck, speak soon.

The best laid plans of Mim and ........

This morning I planned to get on with my soon to be announced new makes, they are still very much in the planning stage, but armed with sketch book, pencil and heaps of enthusiasm I settled down to business,a stack of vintage fabric positioned nearby for inspiration,


But within the first five minutes 'ding dong' the doorbell rings ! Suffice to say almost 4 hours and some very pleasant chit chat later I have nothing on paper and a head that is bursting with ideas to the point that I think I'll overload if I don't do something with it all soon!
Still very excited ! No more clues.... Oh alright..... Once upon a time....! Speak soon.

It's good to be back!

Well, it has been a while hasn't it! Things in the long thin house have started to settle down, recycling day has seen the last of the bottles cleared, the vintage glass cake-stands have been carefully washed up and are ready to be packed away again, and I think the celebration of my Mother in Laws life was perfectly fitting and she would have enjoyed it very much.



On the crafty side of things, apart from finishing my Blighty bunting ( which some members of the family found quite tiring!) and starting on some granny squares for a cushion cover,










I must admit to not having been very productive, but that's not to say I haven't been planning! Watch this space...all that I will say is that I shall be resting the hook and picking up a needle and ' are we sitting comfortably'.....
Speak soon :)