Rosie's "Milly-Molly-Mandy" dress

I recently checked out The Big Milly-Molly-Mandy Storybook from the library and it was a huge hit at our house. Edmund and Lavinia were both enthralled with the stories of Milly-Molly-Mandy's life in an English village, and I loved their gentleness and sweetness, too. They both begged me to read the stories over and over, until the book had to be returned. I plan to add some more Milly-Molly-Mandy books to our home library!


In the wake of all this, one day at Walmart, I took a stroll down the fabric aisle as I sometimes do, and the kids immediately latched onto this pink and white striped cotton as "just like Milly-Molly-Mandy's dress!" The result was fairly inevitable -- I took home three yards and promised Lavinia a Milly-Molly-Mandy dress of her own. This is an "inspired-by" version rather than an exact copy of Milly-Molly-Mandy's signature dress, as the stripes are not as wide, and there are some differences in construction.


So why, you ask, if the dress was promised to Lavinia, is Rosie wearing it? Well, I made up the pattern myself, and somehow my first bodice attempt was way too small on Lavinia, but thankfully it fit Rosie just right! And so she received the first dress and Lavinia will soon have a matching one. It is a very simple 1920s style, much like this wisteria and sunshine dress. I think it's sweet and an easy style to make!

Nursery rhymes

I've kept a book journal since 2007, writing down all the books I read and the dates I finish them. Somehow I managed to keep up a good pace when Edmund was born, but since Lavinia entered the picture, my yearly average has plummeted - though in all fairness, it's not that I'm not reading every day, it's just that these books don't have, ahem, chapters. I've decided to embrace this stage and share more of the gems I find to read with my children.


Every child's library should have some nursery rhymes in it. I've found two beautiful but out-of-print books by famous illustrators that are a joy to look at -- A Pocket Full of Posies: A Merry Mother Goose by Marguerite de Angeli (author of The Door in the Wall, a wonderful children's book I'm looking forward to sharing with Edmund in a few years) and Kate Greenaway's Nursery Rhyme Classics.


Marguerite de Angeli's book has a variety of rhymes on one side of the page, and then a full-page illustration on the opposite side, with small pencil illustrations scattered throughout the text. Since there is not a picture for every rhyme, this one may be best for older toddlers who have a longer attention span and enjoy listening to meter and rhyme.


The Kate Greenaway book has a picture and a rhyme on every page. Babies will enjoy the shorter rhymes, even if it is being read upside down. :) If you are fond of her illustrations, I recommend seeking out this book! Then find a soft old quilt and spread out under the shade of a maple tree to enjoy reading time with your children.

Reading with Little Ones

Winter is a good time to snuggle up on the couch with the kids and do some fun reading. Lavinia is not as interested as Edmund yet, obviously, but if I give her something to suck or chew on, she will generally sit beside me contentedly while I read aloud several books.

One of my favorites is a book I had as a child, A Great Big Ugly Man Came Up and Tied His Horse to Me. My copy was pretty beat up, but I found one in pristine condition at a library book sale many years ago and saved it for my future kids. Now this one is getting beat up, but that's OK. It's full of fun and silly nonsense verses, but I've always loved the illustrations the most. Wallace Tripp has a wonderful, humorous, whimsical style that will capture kids' attention, but is also amusing to adults. There are humorous details scattered throughout the pages that I never picked up on as a child, but now as I read the book to my kids I can enjoy them. (For instance, he seems to have a "thing" for English composers?! There's actually a caricature of Ralph Vaughan Williams and Edward Elgar on the very last page, worked into the illustration, that I only recognized two years ago when I was reading the book to Edmund. Wow.) Children's books that can simultaneously entertain both kids and adults are the absolute best!

I looked on Amazon, where even used versions were selling on the pricey side, so you might instead want to check your local library to see if you can get your hands on this great book!

Books, books, books

Through my recent birthday and the discovery of two very well-priced used bookstores, I've added quite a few books to my shelves lately. Here are a few highlights:

A Pictorial History of English Architecture by John Betjeman ($1, used bookstore) -- I admit, the name "John Betjeman" caught my eye first, but when I read the title I knew it would be a great addition to my library. The photographs are either black-and-white or the dingy colors of the early '70s, so the pictures alone don't make the book worth seeking out. However, John Betjeman is an enthusiastic and knowledgeable guide, and the basic information remains the same, 40 years later.

The English House by Sally Griffiths and Simon McBride (birthday present) -- I have loved browsing through this book. It features 11 different homes from various counties of England, ranging from the likes of the Tudor Country House to the Victorian Terrace House. The text introduces you to the history of each home and its present owner(s). It interests me to read how the owners have chosen to renovate and decorate their historic homes. Some of the rooms and furnishings were familiar to me from photographs and stories in my beloved Victoria magazines, so I have enjoyed getting more views and backstories beyond what the magazines provided. This book is filled with beautiful inspiration for those who love English Country style.

Romantic Style by Denny Hemming and Victoria's Secret ($2, used bookstore) -- Yes, this book was published by Victoria's Secret back in the day when it was a classy establishment! There's not a single scantily-clad female in the entire book, imagine that! Although a few touches here and there are a little dated (it was published in 1990), for the most part, the decor featured in this book has aged well after twenty-one years. Much of it is in the "English Country" vein, hence my interest. I've enjoyed flipping through the pictures (the text is less interesting) for decorating inspiration.

Do-It-Yourself Tailored Slipcovers by Sophia Sevo (birthday present) -- I was excited to receive this book because it covers a variety of chair styles and how to slipcover them. I have been talking about slipcovering our couch for a while now, but recently the idea to start a little smaller has appealed to me. :) Now I'm on the lookout for the perfect used wing chair and the perfect upholstery fabric, then away I'll go!

Simple Upholstery and Slipcovers by Carol Parks ($2, used bookstore) -- I was pleased to find this as a supplement to the above book. It goes into making slipcovers for couches and ottomans as well as the actual ins and outs of re-upholstering furniture, with step by step photographs. After looking through this book, I feel I have a pretty good idea of how an upholsterer works!! I think I might have the confidence to try re-upholstering... someday. :)

"The real way to travel..."

[Toad, disguised as a washerwoman and hitching a ride after his prison-break, feels his old cravings for reckless driving rising once again...]

"Please, Sir," he said, "I wish you would kindly let me try and drive the car for a little. I've been watching you carefully, and it looks so easy and so interesting, and I should like to be able to tell my friends that once I had driven a motor-car!"

The driver laughed at the proposal, so heartily that the gentleman inquired what the matter was. When he heard, he said, to Toad's delight, "Bravo, ma'am! I like your spirit. Let her have a try, and look after her. She won't do any harm."

Toad eagerly scrambled into the seat vacated by the driver, took the steering-wheel in his hands, listened with affected humility to the instructions given him, and set the car in motion, but very slowly and carefully at first, for he was determined to be prudent.

The gentlemen behind clapped their hands and applauded, and Toad heard them saying, "How well she does it! Fancy a washerwoman driving a car as well as that, the first time!"

Toad went a little faster; then faster still, and faster.

He heard the gentlemen call out warningly, "Be careful, washerwoman!" And this annoyed him, and he began to lose his head.

The driver tried to interfere, but he pinned him down in his seat with one elbow, and put on full speed. The rush of air in his face, the hum of the engines, and the light jump of the car beneath him intoxicated his weak brain. "Washerwoman, indeed!" he shouted recklessly. "Ho! ho! I am the Toad, the motor-car snatcher, the prison-breaker, the Toad who always escapes! Sit still, and you shall know what driving really is, for you are in the hands of the famous, the skilful, the entirely fearless Toad!"

--The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, first published 1908


Thankfully, Edmund's new toy pedal-car at Grandma and Grandpa's house will never reach break-neck speeds. In fact, at just under 18 months, he'd rather push the car than "drive" it.


My dad can pull Edmund down the sidewalk with the help of a bungee cord attached to the hood ornament. (I told Dad he really looked the part of a Grandpa with his slippers and argyle socks.) ;-)


I'm not sure who's more thrilled with Edmund's new toy, him or his vintage-loving mommy and car-loving daddy!

Edmund's reading nook

[Edmund catches a rare shaft of sunlight in his reading nook this morning --
we have been having the most dreadfully dreary spring!]
Edmund has developed a real love of books already, for which I am thankful. Almost anytime he sees Douglas or me sitting down, he'll bring us a book from his shelf to read to him. Some of our favorites right now are the "Little Golden Book Classics" vintage reprints, especially the titles that are illustrated by Tibor Gergely. His artwork has that late '40s/early '50s charm and there is always a lot to discover within each picture. Edmund's personal collection includes The Little Red Caboose, The Fire Engine Book, The Happy Man and His Dump Truck, and Scuffy the Tugboat.

Excerpt from my current reading

[I could not stop laughing at this bit... I love Dickens for sentences like this one!]

"His surname was Cruncher, and on the youthful occasion of his renouncing by proxy the works of darkness, in the easterly parish church of Hounsditch, he had received the added appellation of Jerry."

--A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, first published 1859

Excerpt from my current reading

[Three friends take a camping/boating trip up the River Thames...]

"Harris proposed that we should have scrambled eggs for breakfast. He said he would cook them. It seemed, from his account, that he was very good at doing scrambled eggs. He often did them at picnics and when out on yachts. He was quite famous for them. People who had once tasted his scrambled eggs, so we gathered from his conversation, never cared for any other food afterwards, but pined away and died when they could not get them.

It made our mouths water to hear him talk about the things, and we handed him out the stove and the frying-pan and all the eggs that had not smashed and gone over everything in the hamper, and begged him to begin.

He had some trouble in breaking the eggs -- or rather not so much trouble in breaking them exactly as in getting them into the frying-pan when broken, and keeping them off his trousers, and preventing them from running up his sleeve; but he fixed some half-a-dozen into the pan at last, and then squatted down by the side of the stove and chivied them about with a fork.

It seemed harassing work, so far as George and I could judge. Whenever he went near the pan he burned himself, and then he would drop everything and dance round the stove, flicking his fingers about and cursing the things. Indeed, every time George and I looked round at him he was sure to be performing this feat. We thought at first that it was a necessary part of the culinary arrangements.

We did not know what scrambled eggs were, and we fancied that it must be some Red Indian or Sandwich Islands sort of dish that required dances and incantations for its proper cooking. Montmorency went and put his nose over it once, and the fat spluttered up and scalded him, and then he began dancing and cursing. Altogether it was one of the most interesting and exciting operations I have ever witnessed. George and I were both quite sorry when it was over.

The result was not altogether the success that Harris had anticipated. There seemed so little to show for the business. Six eggs had gone into the frying-pan, and all that came out was a teaspoonful of burnt and unappetizing looking mess.

Harris said it was the fault of the frying-pan, and thought it would have gone better if we had had a fish-kettle and a gas-stove; and we decided not to attempt the dish again until we had those aids to housekeeping by us."

--from Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) by Jerome K. Jerome, first published 1889

Classic Christie

While at a garage sale this weekend, I snapped up this wonderful 1936 edition of Agatha Christie's Murder in Mesopotamia. It's a little musty but entirely readable, and I could not resist the Art Deco font on the cover. Plus, it's a title we didn't have in our library!


I've been collecting Agatha Christie books since my teens. My husband also owns quite a few, so when we combined our libraries, we ended up with over two shelves full. Just the thing when one needs a quick Christie fix!

Excerpt from my current reading

[From chapter six, "Various Conquests," on post-war flying...]

"The most remarkable flight of all, but one that strangely enough was almost uncelebrated in the Press, was that of M'Intosh and Parer from England to Melbourne. These were two Australian lieutenants who determined, when the war ended, to go home by air in a condemned D.H.9, bought for a few pounds. Almost every part of the machine was defective, including the petrol-pump and magneto, bolts kept working loose from the engine and propeller, the struts were unsound, the instruments faulty. They started on the 8th January 1920, had vexatious delays in France, climbed up to 14,000 feet to avoid a storm over the Apennines and then as they were about to cross the Adriatic went on fire at 3,000 feet, but extinguished the flames with a steep dive. They reached Cairo, by way of Athens and Crete, after forty-four days; the usual flying time for this distance was forty hours. Everyone there thought the two men crazy to persist in their journey, but they patched up the machine and few on east. They had to come down in the central Arabian desert because of engine trouble, M'Intosh keeping Arab marauders off with Mills bombs and a revolver, while Parer tinkered with the plane. He got her off just in time. They reached Baghdad -- the first time that the flight from Egypt had been made -- changed a broken propeller, and flew on over Baluchistan to India. Parer remarked, 'We'll fly this b----- crate till it falls to bits at our feet.' He did so, and more. When the engine failed over the Irrawaddy jungle they made a lucky forced landing; but soon afterwards a crash at Moulmein wrecked the undercarriage, smashed the radiator, and damaged the compass. For six weeks they worked in the jungle at fitting together the bits and pieces and then took off again. They crashed twice more, but somehow managed to cross the most dangerous obstacle of all, the Timor Sea, where they lost their bearings and flew blind, reaching Australia with only a single pint of petrol left in the tank. Their last crash was at Culcairn, close to their goal: there was practically nothing left unbroken of the D.H.9, but the two airmen escaped unharmed. The fragments of the machine were reassembled for exhibition in the Sydney Museum; Parer and M'Intosh were decorated by the Australian Prime Minister and given a purse of £1,000 to defray their expenses. They had already paid part of these by trick-flying and scattering hand-bills over the cities passed in their flight. M'Intosh died soon afterwards in a plane accident; Parer later operated a self-supporting unsubsidized air-line in New Guinea between the coast and the goldfields in the interior."

--from The Long Weekend: A Social History of Great Britain 1918-1939 by Robert Graves and Alan Hodge, first published 1940

Antiquing with Cheri

Uncle Tom's cabin happens to be just a hop, skip, and a jump from where Cheri lives, so one afternoon while the guys recuperated from their mountain hiking, Edmund and I drove down to meet up with her! Cheri kindly gave me a tour of her sewing room so now I can envision where she sews all of her beautiful projects, including the aprons she sells through her Etsy store, Peasant Cottage. Then she introduced me to a few of her favorite antique stores. (The antique shopping near where I live isn't much to write home about, so this was a lot of fun for me.)


I found an inexpensive copy of "St. Elmo" by Augusta J. Evans -- not a book I know much about, but I remembered that Lanier had given it a nod on her lovely website, Lanier's Books. Since I tend to share her tastes, I figured I'd enjoy reading it. And the cover cracks me up -- rather tame compared to today's romance covers, eh? ;)

I also found two silver candlestick holders so it was a fruitful shopping excursion for me. It was delightful to spend a few hours in the company of a kindred spirit -- thanks again, Cheri! (I forgot to bring my camera along, but Cheri posted a few photos from our visit.)

Vintage style

I've been enjoying the book Decorating Vintage Style from the library. It's by Christina Strutt (owner of the wonderful Cabbages and Roses) and is filled with lovely photographs of inspiring interiors. She eloquently captures why I love to have old things about me:

"When we look at vintage, we're aware of the generations that have gone before, of lives loved and lost, of possessions treasured. We feel at ease in vintage-style interiors, partly because of their coziness and comfort, and partly because the objects evoke a nostalgia for what we perceive as more carefree, innocent days."

Since we've been married, we haven't had much money to budget toward decorating -- but part of the charm of vintage style is not the monetary value of the items in your home, but finding second-hand treasures, repurposing or repainting, or collecting slowly over the years. You can't be in a hurry, which suits me just fine.


But right now I'm obsessing about finding (or making) a vintage-style quilt to act as slipcover to our couch -- an inheritance from Douglas' Gran'Molly, and very good quality, but the upholstery screams "EARLY 1990s!!!" ;)

Mother Goose

I recently sewed Edmund a cloth "Mother Goose" book from a printed panel I picked up at the Hickory Stick Quilt & Gift Shop in Hannibal, MO. The illustrations are reprints from the 1920s or 1930s and each page contains a short nursery rhyme. This simple project was made more difficult by the fact that the panels were not quite printed on the grain, which I discovered during cutting. But, the end result is fine and what's more, Edmund is happy to have a book he can put in his mouth!