Tillie Tinkham's Sewing Circle with Sewing Bird!

A New Pinny for Hitty!

Hitty tries on Tillie Tinkham's latest creation so that Tillie can pin the hem. Tillie has made Hitty a pinafore using a Gail Wilson pattern. Hitty was carved by Judy Brown, also a wonderful seamstress who made her lovely brown frock.

Click Here for Music

Fit for a Lively Sewing Mouse and Sewing Bird.

 The book "Hitty, Her First Hundred Years" written by Rachel Field and illustrated by Dorothy P. Lathrop. The story follows the wooden doll Hitty's many exciting adventures throughout the years.

On the walls in "Tillie Tinkham's Frocks and Fashions" shoppe with Millinery and Tea Room at 863 Park Avenue are blue and silver scenes that are like diamond shaped windows looking out to fashionable folk walking about on cobbled streets. In one of the windows is a lady wearing a bonnet who reminds us of Hitty on the cover of the book "Hitty, Her First Hundred Years".

In her shoppe at 863 Park Avenue, Tillie steps back to see how the hem looks after pinning.

 "The Mary Frances Sewing Book, or Adventures Among the Thimble People" published in 1913, written by Jane Eayre Fryer and illustrated by Jane Allen Boyer.

In the book Sewing Bird tells the little girl Mary Frances about the sewing lessons and all the things that she can make for her doll:

"Why, certainly, dear little Miss,
You can learn to make all this:
A pin-a-fore, some under-clothes,
A little 'kerchief for her nose;
Kimono, bloomers, little cap,
a nightie for her little nap;
A dress for morn, for afternoon,
A dress for parties, not too soon;
A little cape, a little bonnet --
perhaps with roses fastened on it; --
A nice warm coat to keep from chill,
A dainty sack, in case she's ill:
All this and more we'll gladly teach,
If you will do and follow each--
will you?"

The book has patterns for all these things
for a bigger doll than Hitty.

863 Park Avenue, the smaller apartment dollhouse that we found after reading about it on Susan Branch's blog. The dollhouse, with its two large opening doors, reminds us of Beatrix Potter's doll's house at Hill Top.

A lovely sewing bird holds Tillie's pins.

Sewing birds were used for hand sewing.

In "The Mary Frances Sewing Book" sewing bird's beak held your work whilst hemming and sewing. Mary Frances' Grandmother says about sewing bird: "The first time she ever helped me was with my wedding dress. Yes, I love her, too, dear." Working with the sewing bird allowed you to sit up straighter whilst sewing.

I have fond remembrances of visiting a favorite elderly relative. My great grandmum's cousin Lena (who was more the age of my Grandmum) excelled at domestic skills such as pickling, breadmaking, sewing, and many others. She always won prizes for her domestic abilities at the county fair. My family used to visit them often and I would usually take a doll with me. One time she surprised me with a handmade dolly wardrobe in an old basket.

Lena had a sewing bird. I remember her sewing bird clamped on a table near her sewing machine. She was a professional seamstress and had her sewing shop in her house. Her sewing machine was in her bright cheerful yellow kitchen near an old fashioned bay window. In the window she had all kinds of plants and a canary that sang.

In "The Mary Frances Sewing Book" there is also a canary who lives in the sewing room.

Lena also quilted and made hooked and braided rugs and always had many projects ongoing.

The Sewing Bird in
"The Mary Frances Sewing Book" sings:

"I love to sit
And sing and sing --
But lesson time
Is on the wing:
Miss Never-Try
Never can-do;
Miss Never-Begin

Never gets thru."

Elizabeth, who works with Tillie Tinkham the seamstress mouse at Corgyncombe, especially likes Tasha Tudor's Mouse Mills' motto:

"Good, Better, Best, Never rest,

'Til Good be Better, And Better, Best."

Tillie Tinkham helps Elizabeth turn the wheel to make the sewing machine sew.

The photograph above was featured in our calendar "The Days Until Christmas: Amelia's Favorite Things" on our web site "Our Favorite Things" in 2008 and on our blog the Corgyncombe Courant in 2011.

My Grandmum's treadle sewing machine.

The Sewing Bird holds a tiny woven heart that Sarah made. The little heart can be used as a pocket purse to carry things, perhaps buttons or little notes!

In "Drawn from New England" written by Bethany Tudor, she speaks of how her mother Tasha Tudor made woven hearts at Christmas.

A Hitty friend gifted our "Pumpkin House" Hittys with a sewing basket of tiny buttons, hooks and eyes, scissors, and spools of thread.

Looking out one of the "windows" in Tillie's shoppe at 863 Park Avenue.

A view from the mirror of the back of Hitty's pinafore.

Whilst Sewing Bird and one of the Tweet Sweet Birdies hold the pinafore Tillie makes tiny stitches to hem the pinafore. Tillie is daintily perched atop the rose tuffet to reach her work.

The Sewing Bird in
"The Mary Frances Sewing Book".

A certificate in our old "Mary Frances Sewing Book" showing the emblem of "The Mary Frances Sewing Circle".

Tillie Tinkham's Sewing Circle

http://corgyncombecourant.blogspot.com/2014/02/tillie-tinkhams-sewing-circle-with.html
copyright © 2014 Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hitty Celebrates Christmas at Pumpkin House!

Christmas in the Parlour!

 Nanny Nettie-Kin sits by the parlour fire in "Pumpkin House" with little St. Nicholas on her lap.

We wanted to wait until Christmas to show the parlour because we were acquiring some wonderful upholstered chairs from Gail Wilson. We also got several Hitty kits from Gail Wilson for making a bonnet, a rug, and a little doll with a bed and chair.

Click Here for Lovely Music.

"Little Dear One" is just thrilled to have friends to share "Pumpkin House" with! Sweet Hitty Sue stands by the warm fire while "Little Dear One" sits snugly in the chair, holding little Hitty.

Everyone sang Christmas Carols and Nanny Nettie-Kin recited "'Twas The Night Before Christmas". What fun they all had!

The delightful Hittys and other carved wooden dolls were made by talented Judy Brown.

Ima, a friend of Hitty, stands admiring the Christmas tree with her little baby sister Lilibet on the rocking horse.

The sweet little rocking horse and the tea cupboard were made by Roy Bubbenmoyer.

The front door of "Pumpkin House",

an old New England House.
"Pumpkin House" is the large golden dollhouse that Susan Branch featured on her blog after she saw it at an antique shop.

With a fire in the fireplace on Christmas Eve, Nanny Nettie-Kin has made "Pumpkin House" so cozy!

The parlour of "Pumpkin House" before cleaning the dusty floors and before adding those little touches of home.

In "It's a Wonderful Life", Mary (Hatch) Bailey wanted the run down old Granville house. She knew she could make it into a cozy home for her family!

Under all the dust we found a marble hearth in front of the fireplace.

The floors look so shiny and nice after cleaning!

The newel post is decorated with greenery.

Tillie Tinkham, the seamstress mouse for the dolls at Corgyncombe, working on a warm flannel frock for one of the Hittys who is sitting in an old sewing bag. The old sewing bag has inside pockets going round for keeping spools of thread, thimble, and other sewing necessaries. The old spools of lustrous silken thread gleam softly in the old lamp light.

863 Park Avenue, the smaller apartment dollhouse that we found after reading about it on Susan Branch's blog. The dollhouse, with its two large opening doors, reminds us of Beatrix Potter's doll's house at Hill Top.

Tillie Tinkham has a shop "Tillie Tinkham's Frocks and Fashions" and Tea Room at 863 Park Avenue.
Ima is visiting Tillie at teatime with her baby sister Lilibet.
Tillie is clapping her mouse paws in delight to see the little baby!
Lilibet was named after Queen Elizabeth II.

Christmas cards that I am still working on!

Sweet Hitty Sue is our first Hitty. She came to Corgyncombe before Easter last year. Hitty Sue reminds us of the picture Susan Branch has on her blog of herself as a little girl when she was Brownie.

Sweet Hitty Sue loves to write! Here she sits at her desk using a quill from Phidelia Finch to write with. Phidelia Finch is the Postmistress of Finch Post at Corgyncombe. We were inspired by Tasha Tudor's Sparrow Post to have our own post for the dolls.

Trilly Tweet Sweet flies and delivers for Finch Post.

Hitty is settling in to read to little Hitty, "Hitty, Her First Hundred Years" written by Rachel Field. The book "Hitty" was inspired by an old wooden doll found in an antique shop. The doll was named Mehitabel, "Hitty" for short and the book is about her many adventures. In the book "Hitty" by Rachel Field, Hitty is carved one winter by an old peddler in the old Preble House in Maine.

Nanny Nettie-Kin

Lilibet loves her rocking horse!

When I was six and at home sick in bed with the flu I called my Daddy at work and told him how bad I felt. He asked if there was anything he could bring me and I said "Yes". At Newberry's store there was a toy section and I remembered a little red dress that I wanted for one of my dolls. I tried to describe it to him as best I could, alas the dress was no longer there, but he brought me home a little round suitcase to put my doll clothes in. I still have that little round suitcase!

When I received this Hitty at Christmas time I opened the box and gasped "It's the red dress"! I was six years old again! What a delightful surprise it was to see Hitty in the red dress!!!

This is the suitcase that my Daddy brought me home when I had the flu. It is packed to the brim with some of my doll clothes (and yes, it can shut!).
Perhaps I should pack it with Hitty clothes and go on a Hitty adventure...

http://corgyncombecourant.blogspot.com/2014/01/hitty-celebrates-christmas-at-pumpkin.html
copyright © 2014 Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daddy and Me!

"Daddy's Little Girl"!

 When I was four I decided I needed a little house all my own. I used to go over to my neighbor Ginny's to play in her playhouse. I took my Daddy by the hand to see Ginny's playhouse. My Daddy soon set about the task of making me a playhouse. In the above picture I have made ready a lunch for my guest of honor, my Daddy!

 Daddy when he was in grade school.

My father was born at home in the family's ancestral Towne-Standish house.

Some of the photographs and some of the writings on this post are from previous Corgyncombe Courant posts that can be found here on the Corgyncombe Courant and from our web site and our previous postings elsewhere on the internet.

 Before World War II my father helped his parents on their farm "Lug Tug Hollow" and he also worked for the elderly widow lady next door, where he did the farm work with horses.

 My father in his Army uniform.

 My Father and Mum on their wedding day.

They set up housekeeping in a cottage in the country where Daddy loved gardening.

"Sunbonnet Baby" Me on wheels liked to be anywhere Daddy was. Here I am looking over a tulip. That's my dog Snooks in the background.

 Eating home grown corn with Daddy.

Waiting for Daddy to come home was the highlight of Teddy's and my day. I watched out the window and was ready to take off to greet him the minute he came!

 Easter and Christmas were always special times at our cottage.

Me on the tractor that my Daddy built, which in the winter was used for plowing and driving the sled.

 What fun it is to take an afternoon sleigh ride! My father gave my neighborhood friends and me a winter drive with his green tractor. I am on the left. What a lovely view of the hills!

Me supervising the construction of my playhouse.
That's my Grandmum's sweet dog Blondie inside.

Me on Daddy's lap in front of our little house that he made for me. Up top you can see the chimney that I insisted my little house needed! Later I added little window boxes on top of the porch rail.

In the above picture I have made ready a lunch for my guest of honor, my Daddy!

For the occasion I wore the prettiest little yellow frock (my favorite) with an eyelet trimmed collar. Hung on the arm rest of the chair is my diaper bag with a place for a bottle and diapers for changing Baby. It was a pretty shade of coral and it went everywhere with Baby and me. My Baby Doll is sleeping in the crib.

Inside my playhouse I had a kitchen, nursery, and a parlour.

Daddy made me a table, chairs and a cupboard and I also had my Grandfather's high chair and a little stove in the kitchen. In the cupboard I stored my dishes, pots and pans and it is where I kept my iron when I wasn't using it with my folding ironing board.

 In the nursery I had a crib for my Baby Doll, a bathinette to give Baby a bath, and a doll cradle that was my Grandmum's that her Grandfather had made for her.

In the parlour I had my Grandfather's rocking chair he had as a little boy.

As you can see I have always loved dolls and playing house!

In the photograph above, I was  pretending I was a bride. As you can see in the photograph, there is already a wash hanging on the line! I delighted in all the flowers that were around and about my little cottage. The view from the kitchen window looked up the hill where there was a white picket fence with pink and red climbing roses. Behind the playhouse there was another picket fence with an arbor that also had climbing roses. Pink and white peonies grew going down the hill past my Mum's clothes line. My Daddy picked me a bouquet of the peonies and I told him that I would someday use this bouquet when I married him. The sunflowers were on the edge of my Daddy's huge vegetable garden. When I  was growing up my family had goats, sheep, chickens, ducks, and rabbits. The barn for the animals was across the lawn and through the lilac hedge.

How I loved honking the ooga horn on Daddy's green tractor!
I still do! Ooga is the sound it makes.

In the driver's seat on Daddy's green tractor.
Daddy planted red and pink climbing roses by the arbor and picket fence. This was down near my playhouse.

 

Daddy had a big garden. All the work in it was done with the little green tractor. The tractor is set for cultivating between the rows to keep down the weeds. In the photograph above my brother and I are sharing the tractor seat and I am almost falling off, hence my strange expression!

My father's family's Doodlebug. A Doodlebug was a homemade tractor made from car parts. In the background one can see the corn crib to the left and the pig house. Up near the woods you can see a beehive.

Me in front of the big new mailbox by our country lane. The big new mailbox replaced the little old one that resembled an old metal candle keeper. I always loved getting the mail and I did it with much enthusiasm! My father refused to put the mailbox on the "proper" side of the road as he did not want his kids crossing the road to get the mail.

My little brother always thought I was Hayley Mills!

Me on the hill above my playhouse.
How we children loved to roll down the hill in a giggling, dizzy manner!

Happy Father's Day!


Please do not "Pin" our photographs.
Please do not post our photographs on facebook.

Our email:
atthecottagegate@yahoo.com
If you receive an email you think is from me from this email, please make sure it is atthecottagegate@yahoo.com, and not just something that sounds similar.

Photographs, images, and text copyright © 2000-2018 Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson. All rights reserved. Photographs, images, and/or text may not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson.

http://corgyncombecourant.blogspot.com/2013/06/daddy-and-me.html
copyright © 2013 Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~