History

The little dress that Petal is wearing was inspired by this little vintage dress.

Made in a soft pink cotton pique , it is made to fit a little one.

 It was in fact made to fit me more than 50 years ago.

It was made using this pattern which is even older having been used for my cousin originally and she was born in 1954.

It was made by Mrs Tully I think.

 She was the one with the sewing machine that could do fancy stitches and for a while I think everything she made had machine applique and machine embroidery.

This little outfit was also worn by my little sister and more recently by my little Kate.

 Well about 13 years ago it was worn by Kate, where did those years go...

And now maybe it will manage to stay around and be ready for another generation in 10 to 15 years .

In the meantime it hangs in my studio area 

and serves as inspiration for little dolly clothes for little dolls like Petal.

Winner

The winner of the give away is Dixie.

Congratulations and thanks to everyone who entered and who waited patiently for me to draw the winner.

 Dixie, if you could email me with your details that would be great.

My email address is littlejennywrendolls@live.com.au

.

These six gals will be in the shop in about 4 hours, 10.30pm my time, check here to find out your time

And I haven't forgotten the give away, I have just been busy. 

I will announce the winner tomorrow.

Those of you who are interested in buying one of my dolls sometime might be interested in this post over on my dolly blog

Just so good.

                                 

Have you been watching  le Tour this year?

Did you watch Cadel ride the perfect time trial?

Did you see those mountain stages and wonder at how they could do all that and how Cadel was ever going to catch up?

Isn't it just so good that he has finally won and that an Aussie has finally won?

Isn't it wonderful too that Mark Cavendish won the green jersey?

Aren't they all just amazing?

Give Away, just because...

I am organising a little give away for here on the blog.

I seem to have an extra copy  of some of my vintage Little Golden Books and vintage doll clothes patterns and a couple of embroidered doileys that I don't really need.

I'll sort through them properly in the next couple of days but if you would like to go in the draw to win this little parcel of vintage goodness please leave a comment here. 

I will draw a winner on Tuesday 26th July.

Shaun

This is little Shaun, the last of the red headed dolls from my July 14th Shop update

He has found his new home but there will be new dolls available on July 28th in my Etsy shop.

I'll let you know when they are ready to go into the shop.

Imagine

Mrs. Miniver morning

Crikey , if that movie trailer doesn't get your heart pumping then you must be asleep.

The sun is shining but it's a little too cold to sit outside even in a sheltered spot so I'm watching Mrs Miniver while I stitch and knit and make dollies and drink tea.

I'm gagging for a brew as they say, do you want a cuppa?

egg

The chooks have started laying again. 

Go chookies

Well one clever hen has started but I'm sure the others will follow along any day now.

What a pretty present it was to find an egg in the laundry basket.

Vintage pillowcases, our pillowcases, airing in the sunshine.

I need to share three lovely blog posts with you today.

The first is from the Susan Branch blog. Susan is a wonderful artist and author and she is sharing one of the beautiful rooms in her house here

The second is a beautiful blog post by my friend Julie, the creator of the lovely and highly desirable Little Cotton Rabbits. 

You can read it here

And the third is a wonderful article written by Tricia and showing how she has made a beautiful child friendly home and if you look closely you will see one of my little dolls who has become Immy's best friend. 

You can read it here

Nature

Yesterday mum came round and decided she would like to weed the bulb garden under Katie's bedroom window.

Katie planted ranunculas and tulips ( I think) and there are lots of different daffodils and hyacinths in there as well.

My mum loves to weed, she loves to restore order.

She did, accidentally, ha ha, prune the rose that grows outside the loungeroom window, the one that has the beautiful ruby hips through the winter when the rest of the garden is sleeping. 

Oh well, we must have order.

The gate was left open last night and just when the sun came up the chooks ( hens) took a stroll into the front garden and had a wonderful time scratching in the freshly denuded earth.

Nature strikes back, human order can't be forced on her for long.

Standing in the kitchen  this morning doing the washing up and watching the birds flitting around i noticed what looked like catkin buds on the pussy willow tree

I went out to investigate and sure enough at the very top there are buds just forming, all silvery and glowing in the sunshine.

The pussy willow tree is behind the garage and there is a little bit of shelter , a suntrap, and the chooks were there enjoying some winter sunshine.

Where they were scratching around I noticed some snowflakes flowering

so pretty, so perfect.

And the hellebores are flowering too.

Nowhere near Spring but she is sneaking in none the less

Travels with Lunette

Look at this gorgeous picture of little international traveller Lunette taken by the lovely Fabs.

I thought you might like to catch up on Lunette's adventures.

This is where I work.

 Tidy today but yesterday it was covered in all sorts of bits and pieces getting the doll ready for the shop.

It's a peaceful space today.

 The dolls are waiting to be packed up and shipped off and I am having a slow day.

Little dollies

Megan,

Imogen,

Erin,

Carrie

and Annie will be in my Etsy shop in about 1 hours time.

The Work

Today I will be coiffing and dressing these little dolls plus one more ready to go into my etsy shop tonight.

That means that I have been working hard on these five dolls for the past 10 - 12 days so that they will all be ready at the same time.

That means that I have worked fairly constantly each day, from round 9am until round 5 pm, 

with breaks for putting the washing on, hanging the washing out, bringing the washing in, lighting the fire, bringing in wood, sweeping the floor, tidying here and there, going to the shops for food supplies.... 

You all know how it goes. 

I try to keep on top of things or I will go under.

 Down down into the abyss of mess that makes you just want to be anywhere but at home.

 So I do a little here , a little there, I do my morning routine, and my pre dinner routine  and the house, except my work area,  looks mostly  presentable until I give it a thorough going over on Saturday morning.

 And that is it.

 I have become my mother,

 getting my jobs done, 

cleaning up as I see things to keep life peaceful 

and then on  Saturday morning it's time for  'the work',
trying to stay on top of things. 

 And always, always, taking time for a quiet cuppa in a sunny corner or beside the fire.

let the chimes ring out

I have never heard of anything so silly

Over the years I have made many many boy dolls as custom order dolls. 

Often when I put little boy dolls in the shop they are slow to sell, but they are very popular as custom orders.

This year though I have had only one boy doll to make and I don't think there are any others on the horizon.

Funny how things go.

This little guy has headed off to be a best buddy for a little boy who turns 1 on Sunday. I made his big sister a doll for her first birthday about 4 years ago.

 That's pretty special.

Source: None via Jenny on Pinterest

Have you visited Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Jenny on Pinterest

One of my favourite Little Golden Book illustrators is Corinne Malvern.

She illustrated 17 LGB in the 1940s and early 50s

The children she created are just adorable.

and I love the  clothes of the day