Splash of colour - December

We've finally caught up with the rest of the country and had some snow here.  But not very much at all - just enough to dust the pavements, sprinkle the roads and leave us with unexpected patches of ice.

Walking with the children to school this morning I thought how there had been just enough snow to suck the colour away from the world, and leave everything with an air of monochrome.

Watching where I walked and stepping carefully along the icy pavements, I found the pattern of everyone else's footprints rather hypnotic after a while.

But even with the sun not-quite-properly risen, all the colour had not completely vanished.  There were still C's neon yellow running gloves - paler than usual under a snowy crust, but still bright.

And O's mad, pink, puffy coat and pink wellies.

Looking warily sideways, as her brother saw the opportunity to approach with two (neon yellow) fistfuls of snow.

And at home there are more vibrant splashes of colour.  I've been sewing Christmas presents for my family all week, and my absolute favourite thing I've made, is this bag of felt monsters for one of my small nephews.

I didn't use a pattern for any of this, just rummaged around on Flickr for some felt monster inspiration and dived right in.  There are so many good felt monsters out there!  I particularly love this sweet one and these small felt monster wallets.  The felt I've used is pure wool felt from Myriad, and it is by far the nicest felt I have ever bought or worked with.  So soft and thick, and doesn't set my teeth on edge in the way that squeaky acrylic-blend felt does.

The monster case is a simple, lined, zipped bag, made with my very last piece of Very Hungry Caterpillar fabric.  You can still find this fabric online if you rummage around.  The spotty end pages of the book were always my favourite when I was small.

You can see other people's splashes of colour in the Flickr group here.  I'm off to get warm with a cup of rose-scented tea, and finish off my pile of hand-sewing.