Sorry and all that

I haven't been a very good Blogger here on Tails.

I haven't really had the inclination to write here.

As my excuse I can plead my ill health which has been awful this year. I can only cope with so much  and creating little mice  and writing about them, has not been one of them.
I only have one follower and so I don't feel bad in saying that I am going to discontinue writing this blog.

I have so many projects in various guises, to carry on with, that I'm not stuck for craft work to engage in. I will still make mice but they'll be available to see on Heartfelt, my Facebook page ( which I'm sure you are all aware of ).

I'm sorry if you'll miss Tails...but there we are.
Everything good comes to an end.


This is the end of the Tail. ;)

Thank you for being with The Medlar House Mice here on this blog. We've enjoyed it.

ON to things new!

Sue

Twelfth Night Tails

It's been a quiet Christmas under the roots of the Medlar Tree. No snow, thank goodness. Little mice aren't really very happy about snow. It takes them a lot longer to find food hidden underneath it.

And talking of food.

You remember that Mrs Persimmon, is the cook who makes all the goodies for the Medlar House mice to eat?

She has been so busy this Christmas, cooking and baking, basting and brewing. She needed some help, especially when it came to the celebration of the last day of Christmas, Twelfth Night.
Here she is in her party dress.
Did you know that there are twelve days to Christmas? It isn't JUST a song.

On the last day of Christmas the Medlar House Mice have a huge party and Mrs Persimmon couldn't keep up with the amount of food she had to make.
So she called on her sister Mrs Crumble to come and help her.

Mrs Crumble lives with a boy called Toby ( he actually designed her before Christmas and I have made her specially ), but up she came on her neat little paws with her snug blue shawl and her lace pinny, to help her sister. Oh what fun they had over the Medlar tarts and Silver pear souffles.

On Twelfth Night the youngest mice are the mice who do everything. They make up the games they shall play and they do all the serving of the food. They run hither and thither doing jobs, running with messages and generally having a lot of fun.
Then of course after the BIG meal they are all very tired.

Little Ditsy Dormouse ate a WHOLE CHESTNUT PIE! It was nearly as big as he was. He's sleeping it off now. What a very fat tummy!

Old Mother Hubbard Mouse, went all the way to America at Christmouse to visit her relations in New Mexico.
Never mind, she is back now...but ...deary me....where is her dog Boneless?

Oh, he decided, she tells me, to stay in America where the cupboard is never bare.

She has another little dog now called Biscuit. He is a Wire Haired Fox Terrier Mouse Dog. I see his plate is still empty. I hope she gets him some dinner soon. Surely there are lots of scraps from the Twelfth Night dinner he can eat?

Little Philomel has a voice like a Nightingale and she sang beautifully to lull everyone to sleep on Twelfth Night. I love her stripey jacket and feathery hat. She tells me she found the feather caught in the branches of the Curly Hazel Tree in the Medlar House Garden. It's bright pink! I haven't seen any bright pink sparrows in the garden....but you never know. If the mice in the garden can be pretty colours because of their diet, so might the birds.

Shhhh, everyone is asleep now, after the Twelfth Night revels.

Happy New Year to everypaw under the roots of the Medlar Tree and Happy New Year to everyone who reads Tails from Medlar House.

Christmouse capers

Hooray! It's only three weeks to Christmouse.

Things are hotting up in the Medlar House Garden.

The Carol Singers group has grown from six to eight and Mr. Holly, the choirmaster has his work cut out keeping them all in order. Here he is in his smart red caped coat, with shiny spotty black buttons.

You remember Wensleydale the pet white mouse? He visits quite often. He's taken a shine to Periwinkle - you can read the beginnings of their courtship here.
He is a mischievous little mouse and I snapped him rolling up a snowball the other day.
"Wensleydale! " I cried as the ball went sailing over the Medlar Tree. I really did think he was going to throw it at the carolers...well...they aren't THAT bad I thought.

Never fear, there was a clattering sound. a thwack and a Meow as next door's cat went clambering up the fence. Well done Wensleydale! Here Latte ( so called because he is always latte for choir practice - ) no not really it's because he is a light coffee colour, is saying thank you to our little white mouse. That could have been nasty.
Wensleydale really DOES dislike that cat doesn't he?

Mrs Persimmon is working flat out in the kitchen making goodies for all the mice to eat. Rose is just about to eat one of her gingerbread men. Humans eat little pink sugar mice at Christmas...it's traditional. The Medlar House Mice have sugar humans to nibble on...well it's only fair!

Starflower has learned all she knows about picking wild fruits and berries from Mrs Christmouse. Here she is off to the hedgerow to look for Holly. Looks like she has been successful. They will deck the Halls with it soon but also they'll eat it in the form of jelly and other goodies. Mrs Persimmon is a very busy cook.

Visit Facebook to see all these mice on Heartfelt

Christmouse kiss.

The Christmouse season is upon us. In the roots of the Medlar Tree there is a lot of scurrying about. Miss Lemon is doing the washing of all the Christmas tablecloths and napkins which will be needed for the Christmas dinner.

Peacock has been helping Mrs Persimmon with the baking of the special Christmouse pudding...well it is Stir Up Sunday, when you are supposed to make your pudding and give it a good stir. The Medlar House Mice don't eat ordinary Christmas pud...oh dear me no. They make theirs from special ingredients like holly berries, elderflower berries and crab apples.

Here Mrs Persimmon has baked a Hazelnut cake. On the top she has put tiny little berries from the Wayfaring Tree.

Mrs Christmouse has been out in the hedgerows looking for holly. She doesn't want it to do the Christmouse decorating, she needs it to make holly berry wine, the Medlar House Mice love a little drink of that at Christmouse.

She is a very busy mouse at Christmouse. She helps her husband Father Christmouse, wrap up all the presents for all little mice everywhere in the world. THAT is a lot of wrapping paper!

Father Christmouse is so pleased that she is good at that job. He gets very stuck up with all the sticky tape! "Thank you my dear" he says and gives her a kiss on her little pink nose.

No Christmouse is ever quite right without a trip to the ballet or the Pantomime.

The Medlar House Mice are going to see the Nutcracker....well they would...they LOVE nuts.

Here are two of the mice ballerinas, Plie and Cabriole. They better get practising.

To go to the ballet, Fauna, Petal and Speedwell have been buying new dresses. They took an age to decide which ones to buy. They look so pretty in their flowery hats too!

Mrs. Christmouse will organise everyone so that they are all dressed up and ready to go when the day comes.
And everyone will have a special Christmouse chocolate from her huge box.

Which one would you chose?

A Christmouse Carol.

It's quite chilly tonight. They say we may have a frost, the first of the winter. That would be quite seasonal but I'm not sure if the Medlar House Mice will be very pleased about it. It can be jolly cold in the roots of the Medlar tree.

As soon as we get to the beginning of November the mice start getting excited, about the shows they will go to over the Festive season and in the run up to it; about Christmouse itself and of course, all the Christmouse Carols they can sing.

They have their favourites.
God rest ye merry gentle mice, It came upon a midnight feast, The Cobnut-try carol, Good King Wenclesmouse...to name a few. ;)

We have a choir at Medlar House.

There's Spearmint who sings a very high soprano. Her husband Caramel is a bass. Petunia is a very nice alto and Lavender sings mezzo soprano. That leaves Mr Darcy mouse to sing tenor. Now and again Periwinkle joins them, though she is very shy about singing in public and tends to hang around at the back.
 
Dear naughty little Wensleydale dresses up as Father Christmouse  ( he isn't shy at all ) and gives out presents from his never ending bottomless sack.

Here they all are..practicing for their concert.

They are wearing their Dickensian costumes, it helps with the atmosphere, they tell me.

Here is playful little Wensleydale playing Father Christmouse.

All these figures are for sale and can be found on Heartfelt on Facebook. If you don't have access to Facebook then please email sue @pastmastery.com.

The Medlar House Mice and I would be pleased to help you.

Christmouse Past

I must apologise for not writing anything on this blog for a long time.

I was taken into hospital over a month ago with a pierced bowel after a routine laparoscopy went wrong and have spent a long time in the John Radcliffe hospital in Oxford
I had thought that the hospital would have Wifi and blithely took my equipment ( or got my husband to bring it in ) so I could play on the net. Would you believe it...they have no Wifi at the John Radcliffe hospital!
Nothing 
Zilch!
A HUGE teaching hospital and one of the, so say, finest in the country has no facility for people to plug their laptops into the net!

I am beginning to feel better now and as Christmas is rapidly approaching ( oh yes it is ), I now have to knuckle down and get some things made for the Holiday Season.

I shall be showing you Father Christmouse soon.
And Angel mice and of course Fairy mice.

But for now, I am still recovering and taking things easy. I'll do my best to get well for Christmas.

Meanwhile here's a blast from the past. The Christmas catalogue for the London shop, General Trading in 1983.... I sold my original mice there. Quite a coup I can tell you!

Rice Mice in the catalogue of 1983

Indian Summer

The Medalr House Mice have been deep in the roots of the tree today ...it's been so hot. That, and there have been two tireless and terrible terriers, Samos ( who lives here ) and his friend Bertie Skallywag Bennett who visits, tearing around the garden.
Best to stay away from them.

The mice are girding their loins for a trip to Deepest Darkest Derbyshire for a really nice show. They so desperately wanted to go earlier in the year but snow and overturned lorries prevented them. How disappointing was that?

This is where they will be seen on Sunday.

It says Autumn but I think the mice will still be in Summer mood. There's another show here later in the year which will be for Christmas and then you'll see a lot more Christmousy things. At the moment they are still wearing big floppy sunhats and pretty summery dresses. And of course every good mouse carries a parasol!
So do I!

I have been very busy over on Heartfelt, making Christmas stockings for dogs. I know, it's only September but I have to start early, as like the mice, they are all completely hand made. This means I haven't had much time for mouse making. Rest assured more mice will be hiding themselves under the roots of the Medlar Tree soon. And you'll be the first to meet them.

Meanwhile lets hope the lovely weather continues. More chance to show off with our lovely hats and our pretty parasols.