The Rose Cottage Hittys Return!

 All has been silent with the Rose Cottage Hittys for over a year now, but hopefully no longer...

Their home is smaller, but they are making do until they can get something more suitable...

Hitty Patience and Hitty Ethel have already set up their areas - a library/writing area for Hitty Patience and sewing room for Hitty Ethel.  The 'Hicks' Hittys, Hitty Rimu, Hitty Phoebe and Hitty Moana are trying to work out just where to put things in a smaller area.

They seem to have done pretty well overall, although Hitty Phoebe seems to have disappeared while they were working.  Hitty Natalie Rose joins them and admires their work and has a sit down and chat with Hitty Rimu.  Hitty Annabelle is reading to one of the twins.  They are pretty sure Hitty Madge is going to be delighted with her art studio and hopes she will start painting again.

Work has also been going on in the Boarding House...keep an eye out for updates.

Sewing on Saturday

Hitty Ethel has been kept busy today doing even more sewing, but then as it has been a rainy day, sometimes that is the best use of time.  A Christmas dress has been made for Hitty Serenata plus she made a dress for Hitty Madge for the KnittyHittys 'Keep your face to the Sunshine' Challenge.

We don't have any sun flowers, but we do have some pretty yellow marigolds and the yellow 'bee' dress is just perfect to represent the busy bees pollinating at this time of year.

Hitty Serenata was also pleased to have her necklace made.

Anniversary Challenge - Part Two: Museum Quality Dress

Hitty Ethel has been hard at work making Hitty Madge a 'Museum Quality' dress for the Anniversary Challenge. 

She has used some lovely fabric that is 100% cotton and combined it with some vintage trim and lace.

We're not convinced by the lace at the bottom hem though and think we might remove it...

15th Anniversary Challenge - Part One.

Much excitement here at Rose Cottage as Hitty Girls at yahoogroups is celebrating 15 years of fun on July 30th and to build up with this there is a really fun Anniversary Challenge over the next few months.

We are going to be giving a favourite Hitty a very special trunk set.

First of all we have to choose a Hitty - now that is a difficult one!

Do I choose Hitty Madge, who is definitely my favourite girl without a doubt, and whom some may considered 'spoiled' as she has rather a collection of special clothes of her own already.  It must be noted though that she does share these clothes at times, until the borrower gets something special of her own to wear.

Do I choose amongst one of my other special Hittys - as yes they are all special really...

Or do I carve one especially for this challenge.  I do have one 'under the knife' as it were, but my carving mojo is not especially active at the moment.

So therein lies my first dilemma.

The first of the challenges is to find or make a suitable trunk.  This trunk  has to be large and roomy enough to contain all the 15th Anniversary fun items we make, swap or collect.

Well Hitty Madge has made a start choosing a trunk...

Looks like she has found two sizes to choose from...

Will it be the smaller one?

She can lie down in it, but there might not be enough room for all her goodies...

Or the larger one?

This might be better:  a special compartment could be made for her to lie in at one size.

She is not sure yet - we do have another trunk in this size, currently used by another 'small person'  but it has quite a nice quote on it so we may 'swap' trunks.

The second of the challenges is to make a museum quality dress.  This dress needs to be of the quality you would imagine Hitty to be wearing in a museum one day.  So it needs to be quite different from her regular dresses.  It should be made from a natural material - so cotton, silk, bamboo, wool etc...

Well Hitty Madge has called in Hitty Ethel, the Rose Cottage dressmaker to help her choose some suitable fabrics.

I think the unseasonal 'Autumnal' weather today might be influencing them in their choice at the moment.

Not sure if all the materials they have pulled out quite fit the 'completely' natural material at the moment.

They might need to keep looking.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Further challenges are:

Undergarments Swap

1830's to 1860's Bonnet Challenge
Day Dress Swap

Nightgown Challenge
Cape/Shawl Swap

Daycap and Reticule Swap

Quilt Swap

What fun!

Thoughtful Gifts from Hitty Helen R

We haven't been able to get out and about the last few days as our person has not been well, so instead we have taken the time to get to know our new guests and give them a chance to get over any jet lag.

Hitty Helen Robertson kindly brought some lovely aprons with her and took a great delight in handing them out to various Hitty Girls.

For Hitty Ethel she chose to give her one with little pictures of scissors on as she thought it would be the perfect 'dressmaking' apron.

Hitty Ethel quite agreed and thanks Hitty Helen R very much for her thoughtful gift.

Doesn't she look absolutely delighted.

Being the story teller and resident child minder/baby sitter of the Hitty household meant that this wonderful apron was given to Hitty Annabelle.  

Hitty Helen R told Hitty Annabelle that she thought it was the perfect apron to wear when telling stories to the little ones and Hitty Annabelle quite agreed.

For Hitty Joyful, Hitty Helen R gave her one with hats, as she remembered that Hitty Joyful has a thing for hats. It is such a cheery apron, just like Hitty Joyful, and she couldn't wait to try it out in her Tea Room.

Such a happy girl.

Hitty Natalie Rose is interested in dog grooming so for her Hitty Helen R gave her a jolly pink apron with pictures of little dogs and bones on it.

A more perfect choice couldn't have been had.  Hitty Natalie Rose also thought it highlighted her pretty features beautifully.

We are all very grateful to Hitty Helen Robertson's generosity and thank her immensely.   Apparently she has two more aprons to give out but hasn't quite decided who they will suit best yet.

Hopefully our person will be feeling better tomorrow.   Five Days of head pain really is far too much!

Two more arrivals at Rose Cottage!

It seems our person is a soft touch when it comes to us Hitty girls....when she saw that two of our relatives were being placed for adoption here in England, she couldn't resist working out how to bring them home to Rose Cottage.  Fortunately a couple of other small people (aka dolls, but not us Hittys) were willing to move on to new places and once they had found homes, we were able to offer a place to the two Hitty girls.

Hitty Rimu and Hitty Moana welcome their 'carved' sister, Hitty Phoebe.

They have a big family reunion hug.

Meanwhile Hitty Madge, Hitty Natalie Rose and Hitty Joyful welcome the other Hitty girl who is yet to tell us her name.   We realised she only had her undergarments - which will never do - she didn't even have bloomers!  We suggested we take her upstairs to see Hitty Ethel.

Hitty Ethel was able to give her a dress to wear and said she will get right on to the bloomer/pantaloon making!

The girls go outside to pose for their arrival portraits.

Hitty Phoebe

Hitty soon to be named. (Possibly Tania, in honour of a friend coming to visit today)

Not the best portrait - we might have to get our photographer to take another!

A Pinafore or Two for a Tea Party Do

After hearing about the Quimper Hittys Pinafore Tea Party, Hitty Ethel set to work making some pinafores following the wonderful pattern on the Quimper Hitty Blog.

The instructions were thorough and easy to follow and it wasn't long before Hitty Ethel had made the first for Hitty Rimu.

She tries it on for size.

Pretty much perfect!

The back crosses over.

So pleased was Hitty Rimu with her new pinafore she asks Hitty Ethel if she could make another for her NZ Native Tree Sister, Hitty Moana.

Hitty Ethel was delighted to make another.

Soon it is ready for fitting.

Hitty Ethel adjusts the back straps after Hitty Moana has tried it on.

Two almost matching pinafores.

The girls are very pleased with their new pinafores.

Soon they are downstairs telling Hitty Jean all about the party.

I wonder how many more pinafores they will be able to convince Hitty Ethel to make?

Pinafores made from a re-purposed blouse.

Blue Squares Swap

Our person is busy sorting, shredding, clearing and tidying at the moment so we are just getting on with things...

We were delighted when the postman popped a package through the letter box today.

Our blue charm squares arrived and we are excited about making a quilt.

Hitty Madge and Hitty Ethel spent the afternoon sorting through them and organising them, trying to decide how they want to make their quilt.

Hitty Ethel has finished the Christmas dresses.

The sewing machine has been humming today!

Hitty Ethel has been busy sewing today and finished the last three Christmas dresses.... 

Hitty Joyful suggests they have a 'photo session' showing off the last three dresses.

Very nice girls....

...but hang on a minute Hitty Joyful has a suggestion....

Yes she seems happier now with the two red dresses on either side of the green dress!

Hitty Joyful chose the red striped dress.

Hitty Ethel wanted the green one.

Hitty Perdita Mischievous also had one made especially for her....and is very pleased with it!