The Swallows at the Library

Finally from the 1st of June the libraries have opened again. The Swallows have taken over the vitrine at our local library. 

John is here with the Swallow's flag Titty made, and Roger is learning to signal with his new semaphore flags. He still has to look up the signs from the sheet of paper in front of him.

Titty and Susan are here, showing some of their clothes and their flower blanket. Their quilts are still at the quilt show at the Villa Cooper which had not opened yet by the time this was put up.

On the bottom shelf are all the Swallows and Amazons books.

The only two translations are here, showing the map of the lake and Wildcat Island. The yellow brochure at the bottom of this photo is about the Unicef dolls.

No Swallows without their friends. Some photos of Dot and Dick had to be there, if only to show the fun one can have with simple fabric dolls.

To fill the space available I took my two other literary dolls, Emil and Ida Svensson along. The Finnish readers will easily recognize them, as Astrid Lindgren's books for children are very popular here, and have been for decades.

New look for the Spring

Auntie Melanie has sent us all new cardigans and trousers for the Spring! Aren't they good looking? Before we could pose for this photo, Auntie Ulla needed to sew a blouse for me. I had a jumper for the Winter and a frock for the Summer, and now I finally have a blouse too.

The weather here has turned upside down and we have snow and sleet today.

Stay safe and take care of yourselves!

Yours,
Titty

Day 24

Merry Christmas everyone! See you next year.

Day 16

Finally, the first duffel coat is ready to wear. Mr K. made the buttons I showed some days ago. The hood required so much material that the remains of a felted, worn out cardigan were not big enough, so I made a collar instead. I'll be wiser with the next one!

Day 7

We had a little snow and frost over night, and we popped out without coats (not sewn yet!) to feel the fresh air.

Roger wanted to try if the ice on the garden pond was good for ice skating.

Ooh that silly little boy! He can swim, but if the ice breaks, the water is literally ice cold, and it is hard to get back on the slippery ice. Fortunately he is very light, and I managed to cast the other end of my scarf to him and drag him back to firm ground.

Safe again! Time for a nice cup of hot strong tea with two sugars, maybe three for Roger.

Yours,
Susan

Day 4

Good morning!

All four kids finally have their PJs and nighties. I used vintage materials. Susan's and Titty's nightgowns are from used nighties. Roger's top is from a leftover scrap from PJs my mother has made for my brothers when they were little. It was just three little scraps, so I used new solid fabric for the bottoms. John's striped PJs are a tribute to my mother. In her style I managed to make both the top and the bottom from a sleeveless PJ top she had made in a small child's size from obvious leftover scraps. She had cut  the parts sidewise, piecing the facings, and had added a narrow binding around the short cap sleeves (see bottom edge of John's PJ top). I just had to turn the top sidewise to cut the bottoms from its back, make John's top back with a center back seam and use a different fabric for the underside of the collar. The collar top also has a seam in the center. Needless to say we all slept very well!

Night at the Library

This week Auntie took us to the local library for an adventure with the nice librarians and a bunch of soft toys. Over 30 of us were there!

Dogs, teddy bears, baby dolls, a piggy, an octopus, a snake ... we had such fun. Roger and I played some football with the other boys .

There was a little campfire, and all guests could have some tea by it, or hot chocolate. We were given tea as we are British.

I think some grilled sausages there too.Titty was cutting some Christmas spirited bookmarks with the help of the librarians. Her photo is at the end of this set. We were also shown how all the machines and printers work, and how to look for a book by its title or by the author.

A whole set of photos was made with us alone. The Instagram text here says that we are Unicef dolls and inspired by the characters of the Swallows and Amazons novels.

Here am I with the Finnish translation of the first book about us.

Susan with a matching color book cover.

Titty with a book matching her quilt - the librarians knew without saying which quilt belongs to each of us. Aren't they clever?

Roger with Auntie Ulla's Finnish edition of Swallowdale. The other books have not been translated into Finnish.

Finally there was a good night story before we all cuddled under our quilts and blankets for the night. Some monkeys needed a banana before they could sleep.

All those links are to the photos the library published on their Instagram. The library ladies sent these photos to Auntie today for this blog post. And here we are ready to be taken home on Thursday afternoon.

It has snowed a little again, and it is not at all so dark even the days are getting shorter by several minutes per day.

Everyone who stayed the night at the library could take home a certificate stating that and telling a little about the visit. There was also a list of recommended reading for children at different ages. It was a good list, and we have seen many of those books here on the bookshelves too.

We also got a paper photo of the whole group so we can remember our new friends. We had a very good time. The librarians asked if we would like to come for a longer time in the Winter, so that many people could meet us, and we agreed with pleasure!

On behalf of the Swallows

John

Touch of Winter

A little while ago I took one of my Unicef dolls, John, out for a walk and to run some errands. We saw trees full of rowan berries.

There were lingonberries in the forest, perfectly good even after some night frosts. They get a sweeter taste after a frost bite.

On the following Sunday morning a week ago it started snowing a little. This willow was the only tree or bush with leaves, all the trees were naked.

By six in the evening the landscape had changed white. The snow remained for several days but is now almost gone again. We have minus degrees so it feels like the Winter is coming. Up here we have four proper seasons, but we have names for the "between" seasons as well: autumn winter, spring winter, spring summer and autumn summer. This is definitely autumn winter until we get proper snow and proper cold weather, and the calendar says it is December.

The Swallows and a Midsummer treat

Hi everyone,

this is another post from Titty and the other Swallows, just a little bit of sewing related. The next post will be about knitting again.

Midsummer and Summer solstice, the longest day and shortest night of the year. You really notice the difference up here in the North. The Finns have their white and blue flag up all night only for this night, so we took our Swallow flag out too.

Auntie has a new young English friend who will soon take care of Dick and Dot Callum, so she made them a Coot Club flag.

The boys were testing it before Auntie Ulla sent it to England.

This family has a tradition of eating pancakes with strawberry jam and whipped cream for a Midsummer treat. Auntie helped us make our portion in our size. This would be a perfect meal to prepare on a campfire, but as there has been no rain for a long time, campfires are not allowed! They could start forest fires, so there is a warning on the radio and TV weather forecasts. Anyway, Susan will know how to make them now. Well, how does this look:

And afterwards, the boys had eaten their bellies so full that they could hardly sit up! Roger wanted to lick the plate so no cream and jam would be wasted. He thought he could save washing the plate by doing so!

In the garden most of the roses are pink or red, but this yellow one is my favorite!

We stayed up so late last night, waiting for the darkness that never came, so I think I will join the others and have a little nap. We will wake up when Auntie makes afternoon tea.

Your friend

Titty

Titty's Secret Project Revealed

Hi again, Titty here in my new summer frock among the primroses.

Auntie and I finished the secret project, and John and I climbed a local mountain for the launching. It is the Swallow flag for our sailing boat in the books by Uncle Ransome, but as we don't have a boat here, we will take the flag to new places we are going to conquer.

John helped me put up the flag but here I wanted to pose alone with it, as it is my idea and my design, Auntie Ulla just helped with the sewing.

Yesterday it was like it was snowing in bright sunshine, just click the photo and you can see yourself. It was just the hairy seeds from the aspen! They flew in our teacups when we had afternoon tea on the veranda.

These violas or pansies appeared on the gravel by the front steps, growing from the seeds of last year's summer flowers in a planter just a meter away.

We have been living quietly without any adventures to mention, so there is not much to report. I do like my new frock! It has daisies printed on the fabric and tiny green buttons on the back. Next on our wish list are a summer skirt or frock for Susan and a shirt for Roger. Auntie just keeps cleaning her windows and washing laundry and ironing and cooking and when she is not busy like that she is just lazy and reads books when she should be taking care of us and our clothes. Window cleaning n the middle of the pollen season and with rain forecasts for the rest of the week! I'm just saying. It is not very comfortable to sit in a wool sweater and long trousers waiting for a summer outfit, when the sun is shining and the temperature is almost 60 degrees higher than when I got the winter clothes. - Sorry Auntie, but it is true. I could help you pick nice fabrics to get you started. I hope you will let me write here again some time, I would love that.

Yours,

Titty Walker

Greetings from abroad

Hi everyone,

this is John writing. It looks like we have taken over Auntie Ulla's blog, but she has really not finished, or even started, anything on the quilting front, and all she has knitted lately has been stuff for us. I think anyone can imagine how much clothes four children need! She will be back some day, this has not changed into a doll adventure blog.

Thursday last week was sunny, and the ice had finally melted so I had a beach photo taken in my travel clothes. We saw the first butterflies and chaffinches!

Have a closer look, I got to borrow Roger's scarf as I con't have one yet and he didn't need it.

Mr K. and Auntie Ulla took me along on their traditional trip to Germany! I had my own luggage, and naturally my birth certificate. We don't need a passport when visiting Auntie L.

She is Mr K.'s sister, and she has a big balcony. I had to climb up her trellis when I saw the dangerous lizards! Maybe she has trained them to look after her and protect her from wasps or something. I was scared anyway.

We visited the big fly fishing event Erlebniswelt Fliegenfischen. I was just hanging around Rio and half expecting to see the Amazons there. It turned out that this Rio was not the river but a brand name for some fly fishing products.

Uncle Ransome is a keen fly fisherman, so he could also have been there, but I didn't see anyone just like him. - Outdoors there were casting performances almost all day, so a proper warning was necessary.

A Scotsman was by the river, showing his skills. It made more sense, as there can't be any fish in the shallow plastic pools put up on the lawn!

As the sun was shining, Auntie let me change into my sailing sweater and shorts.

I had a little rest and a nap under a tree, enjoying the sun. I don't think I will get a tan with this complexion. Auntie Ulla told me that white cotton will get the bright whiteness back when dried on the line when the sun is shining.

After the fair we saw another one. There was a village Spring festival in Auntie L.'s town. Was the young girls' fashion of bare ankles spreading to grown up men? We saw a couple of them like this, with only top part of their socks showing a bare leg and ankle, and very short socks in the shoes. Strange!

The parade was led by this pair of horses and it was very long, with several marching bands. and all kinds of clubs and societies represented.

When we came back on Wednesday night, the weather had turned cold here, and in the morning everything was covered in snow again! I hope the butterflies find somewhere warm to wait for the Spring to come back.

Regards,

John

Tea time

This is Titty reporting again. Auntie was not in such a good mood. Here you can see why:

She had finished John's shirt and helping him to try it on when she noticed that when zigzagging the seam allowances together in the sleeve she had caught the sleeve fabric with a fold, and then cut through the fold. She tried to undo the outer zigzag stitches to make it look OK when the truth was revealed. Well, for a couple of days John had to wear his thick wool sweater, but now the shirt sleeve is fine again. Nobody will notice that it is a fraction shorter than the other one.

See here, both sleeves are still too long, so John can grow some more!

It looks like Spring is on the way. These snowdrops came through the old snow yesterday.

The pond has been frozen through all Winter and the ice is still very thick, but now it is floating on water at least.

Susan and I had tea together. Auntie has just the one cup left from the set of 4 she had when she was little, so we took turns.

Auntie Ulla made this blouse for Susan, and I can tell you she was very careful with her scissors this time. I think she ought to sew something for me next. I know Susan needs a lighter skirt for the Spring too, but I'm stuck with a wool jumper and long trousers, and Roger could use a shirt too.

Anyway, I think Susan's blouse is pretty and I know I will get to use it when she grows out of it. Oh, I almost forgot, the "something nice I planned with Auntie" I mentioned last time, well, it is taking time. Be patient!

Yours ever,

Titty