A little bit retro, a little bit Christmas

Sometimes I know I make too much work for myself. I already had a present ready for my best friend's little girl R, who turns 3 tomorrow (3! imagine!!). It was sitting proudly in my presents box, because with all the little ones we have to buy for these days I actually have a presents box where I store things for later. But I digress. As I said, I had a perfectly good present ready to send, but maybe it was the windy cold weather yesterday that gave me the urge to make something extra to pop in the parcel. I had some Artesano Alpaca left over from the Snapdragon Mittens and some Rowan Purelife Blue Faced Leicester left over from the Pirate sweater (which still needs an arm finishing) and together they made a lovely combination just crying out to be an Aviatrix. Thinking about it, given that the recipient is unnaturally clever at finding nearly all the countries on the world map, this could be a very appropriately named pattern- future career as a pilot perhaps?!
The result reminds me of those gorgeous screen print illustrations they used to use on railway posters and the colour combination is, in my opinion, just Christmassy enough for November. I'm sure R's clever mummy could easily add a little something to up the Christmas factor when that time rolls around. Speaking of which, that present box really needs some topping up...

A Seasons Shelf

I know some people move into new houses and find unexpected treasures discarded by previous occupants. We've mainly found junk and hideous wallpaper. However, sometimes a kindly eye can be enough to transform trash to treasure.
The shelf and cupboard pictured above was hanging in our still rather neglected porch, holding a collection of junk mail, old aerosol cans and other rubbish. At first it was on my list of things to send to the tip, but then I realised that it was the right sort of size for the Seasons display area I'd been meaning to get around to creating for ages. In addition, the little cupboard was perfect for storing bits and pieces not needed at any given time.
So, a bit of soap and water and a few coats of paint- not a fabulous job, I'm pretending it's meant to be a bit 'shabby chic!'- and while it's no heirloom piece, it does the job.
Here it is with our 'Autumn' items...crafts from the Steiner toddler group including a Michaelmas candle, hedgehog made from a conker, mouse made from sheepswool and a pine cone and a 'shooting star' made from a conker and streamers; a collection of leaves, acorns and nutshells collected on walks and possibly my favourite, a painting of a hedgehog in leaves by P and I. I drew the hedgehog and demonstrated how to fingerpaint the spines, but P was much more enthusiastic about handprinting the leaves, hence the hedgehog is pretty comprehensively buried in autumn colour!