Sitting and making

I am spending some quiet time at home, making things and resting up. These little mice are a work in progress. They are not hard to sew, but they are quite fiddly, especially when you don't have magic sewing hands.
When I was growing up, in the 60s and 70s, soft toy making was very popular. Some of my mum's friends produced the most amazing animals, dolls and figures. She had one especially talented friend who made tiny felt mice, much more complicated than my pattern, which she dressed in little hand stitched Liberty print dresses and aprons. The village Women's Institute would run craft competitions and the standard of entries was amazing. I can remember a whole family of knitted Wind in the Willows characters - Toad, Mole, Ratty, the whole gang. I am sure this is why I enjoy the whole Mollie Makes magazine phenomenon so much. It's a real burst of nostalgia with a contemporary spin.

Here is my workstation.

And, I did have to leave the house once, on an emergency dash for boys' sport socks. They were left off the summer holiday shopping list. The nearest source was Matalan, which is where I spotted this:

A welcome splash of colour amongst the mustard and ginger shades....