What Was That Book By Monica Dickens Called?

This has been a long running joke between us, as the great- granddaughter of Charles wrote many books. One of us would ask the question and then the other would suggest some of her titles.
One pair of hands? no
Man Overboard? no
One pair of feet? no
and eventually My turn to make the tea? Yes, that's it! and could you find a biscuit or two while the kettle boils?
She led a fascinating life. But I had never read any of MDs books [Not even "Cobbler's Dream" which was televised as Follyfoot. MD wrote lots of books for young adults, with many horses involved!] Until last month.

There it was on the shelf in the Library Van. It is semi autobiographical, describing Monica's time as a junior reporter on a provincial newspaper. Set immediately post war it was cleverly written- and I feel that local papers haven't altered much in 75 years. Reports of flower arranging by WI groups, funerals of local dignitaries, disagreements between neighbours, pictures of bright eyed children at fetes, and grumpy citizens by potholes. Nothing much changes.
I found myself smiling and chuckling and was well on the way to a 4* review. But I have been so tired during all this kitchen work, and it has taken me a month to read the book - I fall into bed and manage half a chapter if I'm lucky. Then in the middle of all this jollity, and the day to day struggles of living in a boarding house with a singularly horrid landlady...there is a really sad death. It proper upset me, as I am sure Thora Hird said in a Yorkshire accent once. So only 3* 
Maybe I should try some of her other books. I returned it to Dereham Library, in a bit of a hurry, and grabbed a stack of six non fictionbooks. Here they are

From Cookery
200 Airfryer recipes
OTK extra Good Things
From sewing
Upcycle
Stitches for Crazy Quilts
From Knitting
Nordic Knits for Children
From Papercraft
The Folding Lady

Like I say, picked up quickly from adjacent shelves, and not really studied carefully. Ooops...

Have you read any of Monica's books, if so what would you recommend please?

Seams Very Good To Me

 

Kirsten's April stitching was a sampler of the sort of stitch which can be used to embellish the seams of Victorian Crazy Patchwork. Isn't it gorgeous? all done in bright cotton perlé threads. We had agreed at the outset to do cover stitches over our seams when we finished all the twelve patches. These are varied and colourful.
But...neither of us has really taken the seam-coverstitching into account whilst doing our patches. These take up quite a few millimetres and would seriously encroach on the little patches which we have filled so diligently with other stitching. K and I are discussing Collaboration #4 - and wondering if that should be some sort of plainer patches, but with fancier seams...although #4 is quite a few months away yet! 

Bizarrely. just before the parcel arrived, I had borrowed this book from the library to get some inspiration. But I think most of these may prove too fancy. 
There was a picture of the author inside the back cover, and this quote 
Faith, family and friends will get you through anything...but stitching keeps you sane.
I'm clearly not doing enough stitching at the minute!
My favourite lines in Kirsten's stitching are those golden/orange "Easter Eggs" and the blue circles joined by bright pink French knots.

Message For May

 

"Are you tired, worn out
Burned out on religion?
Get away with me and you’ll recover your life.
I’ll show you how to take a real rest.
Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it.
Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.
I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.
Keep company with me 
and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Matthew 11

Wizard- From Oz!

My last surviving Aunt, Auntie Jean [Dad's Sister in law] is 100 today. She now lives in a Care Home in Perth, Australia. Here she is with nine of her ten children. I saw her in December 1997, when she and Nina [on the left] came over for the wedding of her youngest son, Brian, to an English girl. I think he is the one in the check shirt behind Nina. 

The stitching arrived from Kirsten on Thursday - details will be shared on Monday. My April piece was 'beach huts' - because of the warmer weather and recent trips to the coast. Plus the first Beach Hut I remember is the one Jean and Uncle Ted had at Thorpe Bay, Essex, where they lived in the 50s and 60s. Most days in the summer holidays they would all pack bags and walk down to the hut and spend all day on the beach in the sunshine. Easier and way cheaper than taking a dozen of them away on holiday! Then they emigrated, the 12 Ten Pound Poms - and had sunshine most of the year

Kirsten's 'flat gift' this month was also Australian. It is a Supoon, a nifty little gadget which measures out a teaspoon of cream, jam whatever, acts as a small spatula for clearing jars, and its kinked handle keeps the greasy bottom of the worktop! A lovely gift for my new kitchen, Thanks K! Enjoy the Vegemite Video showing it in use

PS I prefer Marmite myself!

Meet Lady Jane

Here are all four mice on Katie's table on Tuesday when I delivered them. The fourth is a Tudor Lady. I have decided she is called Lady Jane. 

I got quite carried away. I dug out this book, a gift from Steph and Gaz in 2018 [reviewed here] to get some ideas, particularly about 'underpinnings' I wanted to make a full Tudor skirt with a Farthingale petticoat. I used some firm fabric [insulation from a discarded coolbag] to make the shape. Then created a simple drawstring petticoat.

All topped off with a satin dress.[leftover curtain from Rosie's Worst Witch Cape] A pair of sleeves, and an overskirt made from some red and gold curtain fabric [from a sample book] with gold embroidery done on the machine Lace for a ruff - and a necklet made from an orphaned ear-ring.

Mice all dressed in their best for the Museum's Grand Re-Opening.

Well Hello, Dolly!

Thank you for all your kind words about the mice🐁🐁🐁🐁 

I mentioned yesterday that it is a hundred years since Brian Aldiss was born in Dereham. At the same time, the townsfolk were celebrating their first cinema. The Old Corn Exchange had been built in 1857 and used for various purposes until the first world war. This photo dates from about 1880.  In September 1915, it was slightly damaged in a Zeppelin Raid. 

Here it is as the cinema.You will notice that the statue on top has disappeared - it was destroyed when struck by a bolt of lightning in 1950. The Museum is featuring a special display - including the original ticket machine [which had never before left the building! 

Katie asked me for an usherette mouse. So here she is [the current manager is Olly, so K thought Dolly would be a good name] I had fun with her outfit!

Her tray of choc ices is made from a small pill box, cut down and covered with washi tape - and the choc ices are tiny 7mm long sections cut from a cheap chopstick, coloured with brown felt pen, and also wrapped in washi tape. The original girls sold cigarettes, and popcorn came much later - so choc ices seemed a good option!

Here is that ticket machine, a news report, and some vintage posters from the Museum display. I know I visited a few times in my teens, but cannot remember what I saw. I was always amused by the letters they used to spell out film titles. They never seemed to have a complete set for the longer titles [or perhaps they fell off in the wind]. Mary Poppins was OK - but occasionally they displayed things like

-NOW--HIT--AND-THE-EVEN--WA-FS
I will post pictures of my final mouse later - after Friday's Grand Re-Opening ceremony.

More Mice For The Museum!

Last Summer I was asked to create some mice for our local Museum. Katie had suggested we had a mascot mouse called Bonnie [from Bishop Bonner's Cottages] and the idea sort of mushroomed - we ended up with seven on the mouse trail. A sleepy Victorian gentleman in a nightshirt, a kitchen maid, Ann who lived in one room in the cottages, Bonnie the mascot, Sam the grocer, Ellinor Fenn [local educator] and Jethro the farmer.

This year, Katie asked if I could dress a few more mice, as she wanted to have some different displays...
Knowing I was a little bit busy, what with a bear and a kitchen and stuff, she undressed three of the mice, so I only needed to make one new mouse and four costumes.

Yesterday I took them round to BBCM, ready for the opening on Friday morning. My brief was two guys and two gals. First, a general purpose "boy" mouse [I've called him Jake] who could be used in different settings.

He just had a simple pair of dungarees and a cap - and could probably be set in any period in the last 150 years. The second male mouse was much more specific. Could I make "Brian" to represent Brian Aldiss, who came from Dereham and became an award winning Science Fiction Author.  

2025 is his Centenary Year.
In many photos he is wearing colourful braces, and often a hat

Here's Brian, holding a copy of one of his books, "Comfort Zone". I confessed to Katie that I chose that title because I could make a tiny, but neat label on my Labelmaker. She was pleased, as it was not one of the titles in her display, so it was good to have it recognised.  I am glad it will be inside the glass cabinet - if anyone did flick through the pages, they would realise it has been made using an instruction manual from an IKEA flatpack cabinet [ the pages of small print] Making Mouse Hats is difficult, because of the ears!

I will post pictures of the girl mice later in the week

🐭🐁🐭🐁