oct, 18th - fred and mabel....

day 978 / 77:

a good friend has started a small business called Fred & Mabel. with her partner (mum of Fred), they are selling vintage toys and creating beautiful cut-out images and words using gorgeous old fabrics. they are both mums who worked in the creative industry and are now trying to find that balance between having careers and being the main childminders. i love what they are doing.

they had their first stand at a Vintage Home Show over the weekend and their space looked incredible. i had to leave before i bought up all their stock, although i did snap up an old school slate board, a teapot for Limi (in pink....yes, old pink), a lace collar for Claya, the abacus in the second picture, above and the trolley horse.....i could have bought more.

they take commissions for their cut-out prints and will ship their toys worldwide. 

p.s. this is not a sponsored post :) but i do get handed these brown paper packages by Bon {see day 975 / 74}

[Limi sneaking off with the loot?]

oct, 16th - jabs....

day 976 / 75:

Claya had her first set of jabs at the end of last week. after my tough approach with Limi that completely disintegrated when they shoved that gigantic (okay, normal sized) needle into her thigh....on both sides {see day 65}, i wasn't looking forward to these jabs a second time around. 

out came the huge (okay, still normal sized) needle and i had to hold her while the nurse punctured each thigh. she handled it like a champ.....she screamed both times, like someone had just shoved a very sharp object into her thigh; huge, proper teardrops tumbled down her cheeks but then she smiled at me through the tears and all that was left were two round plasters and some hiccups.

of course, Limi was quick to offer to 'yank' off the plasters but i convinced her that the nurse had said that the plasters have to fall off naturally.....i wasn't sure that Claya needed any more rough treatment for one day.

oct, 15th - oh, the stories they could tell....

[lace bonnet]

day 975 / 74:

i mentioned awhile back that a friend's aunt was finding beautiful lace, linen and crochet vintage gems for me from the North of England {see day 951 / 50}. i get these brown paper packages that honestly give me a fizz of excitement. i now have the most wonderful collection of lace trim, bonnets, christening gowns and collars. they are all being used to provide some inspiration for our own collection. (got to love good friends who support your new ventures by passing on these gems. thanks bon!)

now to get Claya modelling these bonnets before she gets too big.

[crochet bonnet]

[collection of collars]

[lace bonnet]

oct, 13th - petersham revisited....

day 973 / 72:

it must be Autumn again in these parts....as we've started to plan our weekends around visits to Petersham Nurseries {see day 603 and day 743} followed by walks amongst the deer at Richmond Park {see day 628 and day 615}. as soon as the leaves start to turn and there's a chill in the air, we seem to get drawn to this part of London....

Petersham just seems to get better with age. there is a new garden shop and greenhouse tea-room....and i have to confess that with a young baby in the house again, i have a soft spot for any place that has great changing facilities (i've had enough kneeling on floors, balancing on laps and changing-whilst-trying-to-ensure-that the-baby-doesn't-touch-any-surface experiences in the past).

although i recently ate in the restaurant again (and had the most incredible courgette flower risotto).....we still favour the tea-room. here you line up for trays of the stew of the day and find your own spot in the greenhouse. this is usually followed by too many slices-of-cake-to-share and a pot of coffee. our only excuse being that their cakes usually have some fruit or vegetable added and are too interesting to resist: carrot cake, beetroot and chocolate, lemon poppy seed, banana and chocolate...you see our dilemma.

at least we attempt to walk it all off afterwards in Richmond Park.....

and i'm surprised that Limi remembers her 'oh deer' pose from last year {see day 616}....we haven't spoken  about it in months. anyway, Autumn it's good to see you again and Petersham, well it's like visiting an old friend. see you again soon.

editor's note: A. reminded me that the love of deer started way back on day 393.

p.s. thank you to the stunning Maegan from ...love Maegan for featuring the blog (us dot dot dot bloggers stick together :)

p.p.s. welcome to all the new followers....i hope that you enjoy the space and seeing a snippet of life in London

oct, 10th - monochrome....

day 970 / 69:

i've been thinking about giving the blog a bit of a design-spring-clean.....these are some shop fronts that have caught my eye for inspiration.....

1 + 3: james perse, 2: all saints, 4 + 5: aesop

oct, 9th - graffiti artiste....

day 969 / 68:

there has been serious drawing-mania in our house since Limi started school......the blackboard doors in the Shoebox are covered in family portraits.

in some, i have a thunderhooves (depicted by a spaghetti of squiggles) in my tummy {see day 785} and in others (like the one above) i'm more svelte and thunderhooves is out. when i asked her where Claya was in one of these images, Limi told me that she was in a different room.

i could honestly watch her draw for hours...i find her head-people with legs completely fascinating.

oct, 6th - join the circus....

day 966 / 65:

back in august, when we were at the beach {see day 928 / 27}, the circus came to town. i used to love the circus but now...it's complicated....when i was small, the circus was exotic and exciting....i remember seeing lions, elephants, girls balancing on horses, clowns and amazing trapeze artists all whilst sitting in a dark, striped tent with the smell of sawdust on the floor mingling with the candy-floss in my hand......i have really good memories of going to the circus....especially the clowns. now, with no more animals and a bit of a stigma hanging over the modern circus, it all seems a bit like a forgotten art. but on one of the few rainy days, we decided to take Limi along and she loved it.....

she especially loved the clowns and still speaks about the little clown, Lucian, who sprayed us with water and didn't want to leave the floor....her eyes were as big as saucers when the trapeze artists were flying through the air and her whole face lit up when each new act came on.......although i don't agree with the ethics of having animals in the circus anymore....there is still a teeny tiny part of me that wishes that she had also seen prancing horses and roaring lions......is that wrong?

oct, 4th - a mighty roar....

day 964 / 63:

this rattle, that i recently bought for Claya (although Limi seems quite taken with him), is by Danish company, Maileg.  he's the perfect mix of craft, colour and creativity.......we call him Roar which is what Limi called lions for months and months and months. now sadly, she's all grown up and calls them lions.

i also bought one of these bunnies for Limi (ours came in a striped dress and grey, crocheted mary janes)......she was brilliantly christened Whimsidasical by my sister, on her recent visit.

these two are now firm, family favourites.

oct, 2nd - conversations with a two year old....

day 962 / 61:

we've been talking about pets and what Limi would like when we move into something bigger.....

Limi: mama, i would like four red cats and four yellow cats and if they 

jump up onto the table, i will pick them up and say: 

'no cats, no jumping on the table'

me: wow, sweets that's a lot of cats to look after

Limi: mama, you can have one of my red cats

me: and Claya?

Limi: she can have a dog.

p.s thanks for all the lovely comments and for reading. your comments really do make my day.

editor's note: for those who have asked where the jumpsuit is from, it's from our own range - une belle époque