christmas past

I am feeling reflective today (must be the sherry) so I have sought out some images from Christmas past.  A vintage Christmas card, a mitten tree from an old knitting pattern book, and my favourite Christmas poem from Peacock Pie, wonderful atmospheric poetry by Walter de la Mare with illustrations by Edward Ardizzone.

Have a wonderful Christmas, look after each other x

christmas on a plate

I am feeling a bit sentimental today, it must be Christmas, or the thought of cooking Christmas dinner for 17, or the sherry. What is the one object that means Christmas to you? For me, it's this huge willow pattern meat platter. It belonged to my grandfather, Grampie Greenham, and over its long life must have carried hundreds of festive roasts to the table in the west country and now here in London. I will be using it when my family arrives for dinner on Christmas day.

lights

No time to decorate yet but Christmas orders are now packed and sent and we have lights.

stocking up

This was one of my first products ever, back in the days when I had two screens and a kitchen table. My Icelandic Christmas stocking comes out every year and I always sell a few. This year they are selling as fast as I can make them, must be the triangles. Quite a few are heading over to USA and Australia where 'holiday' shopping seems to have kicked off early (is it early? maybe not). The elves are going to be busy this weekend.

Available in my etsy and online store

Still time to enter the great logbook giveaway! just leave a comment for a chance to win. You can also follow me on twitter (please leave a comment here too so that I know) for two chances to win. Ends Sunday at 6.00pm UK time.

happy christmas!

I am ready for Christmas now, here are some Christmas corners, lots of horses this year.  I am off to drink sherry and referee the arguments and then drink some more sherry. I wish everyone a peaceful and happy one xxx

weekend finds

I found this enamel coffee pot in the flea market this weekend, not sure about the swirly pattern but it's a fab orange and it was the wooden handle that did it for me. The Jonathan Adler elephant bank was 50p in the charity shop - funny what some people throw away! 

No sign of a Christmas tree here yet but the illuminations have been switched on! I always hang a rope of lights from top to bottom of our tall skinny '60s house, looks lovely for very little effort!

its back!

Digging around in my Christmas stocking box I found my old Icelandic style triangles design from a couple of years ago, so, triangles being a bit trendy I have put them back in my online shop and etsy store.
Available in mistletoe green on natural linen or festive red on white cotton and suitable for the smaller wish list, a greedier person might go for the larger roddy stocking!

busy family

Not the only one in the family who has been busy, my sisters latest book is out (at least I think it's her latest, I have rather lost track). Christmas Crafting (in no time - sounds good to me!) by Clare Youngs, published by Cico. Packed full of easy step by steps to Christmas lovelyness. I played a small part in the making of the book, providing various props including the tiny parcel for the mice.
And for all this sticking - you will need my favourite glue, the glue of my childhood! My father always used it to stick the pictures into the family album. Coccoina paper glue available from labour&wait. It smells deliciously like the stuff they put into the almond croissants at Costa, in fact I think it is the stuff they put into the almond croissants at Costa.

Hei

Keeping in the Scandinavian theme I have been sending parcels to Finland this week, my wallpaper is featured in this months edition of the lovely Finnish Deko Magazine - so Hei! to anyone reading this in Finland. As I am such a huge fan of Scandinavian design, it's a real thrill to be featured here. Deko is a beautifully styled magazine, like looking through some of my favourite scandinavian blogs, I wish we had a version here in the UK. It's the December issue, so a bit of Christmas is creeping in here but I have no complaints when it looks like this!

trendy string

How can string be fashionable? I don't know! But I jumped on the bandwagon and ordered 300 metres of the stuff from ebay (at a bargain price from a butchers supplier). So consequently everything was tied and wrapped with trendy red and white string this Christmas, even the cake.

happy christmas

I bought this tiny little copy of A Child's Christmas in Wales for my husband who was born and brought up in the Welsh valleys. It was published in the 60's and has charming woodcut illustrations by Ellen Raskin.
This poetic description of a child's Christmas is best read in a Welsh accent which he can muster very well after a few seasonal sherries. To the evocative descriptions of front parlours, snowy landscapes and presents, useful and useless he would add fond memories of the smell of his mam's festive cooking, she really knew how to punish a brussel sprout. Dear Marian, we will all miss you this Christmas.

I am now off to drink sherry, decide which end of the turkey to stuff and wish a Happy Christmas and thank-you to every one of my blog readers x

lovely neighbours

One of the best things about doing a sale is meeting the other sellers and I was very lucky to have lovely neighbours last weekend, a good number of them from leafy south east London. I was tempted by the softest knitted characters from sally nencini, and the coolest dressing up clothes from i wish i was a... (mainly for kids but these super-hero cuffs would make a boring Christmas party outfit look just a bit more super) But, last of the big spenders I spent my profits on these delicate vintage paper fans from winter's moon. They took me right back to finding one in my Christmas stocking along with a cellophane fortune telling fish and a shell that grew paper flowers when you put it in a glass of water. We were easily pleased in those days!

Also nearby were beautiful dresses and pyjamas from helen gordon,  lighting from helen rawlinson and vintage kids chairs from molly meg.

log pile envy

Who can't resist a good log pile! This beauty belongs to our neighbour in Spain, carefully stacked in the summer ready for the cold winter winds that sweep down off the mountains. It was the inspiration for a new design that I have just got around to printing. If I can only decide on colours I should have some loggy cushions ready for Christmas shopping. It makes its first appearance on the reverse of a super sized roddy stocking (small people told me that my bird stockings were just not big enough!) Plenty of room in this one for the longer wish-list. Available in my etsy store and online shop . All orders will come complete with a hand printed gift card!