randomness and tonsils

Monday is here again, and with it  has come grey skies and swollen tonsils for my lovely 6 year old.  Sad to see him feeling so rotten, only yesterday he was flinging himself around like a loon and when asked what he was doing said he was 'being a Victorian Hamster Warrior Champion', as hastily illustrated here (with added fireworks):

I love the randomness of children's creative minds, the way they pluck seemingly disparate concepts and combine them in new and hilariously unpredictable ways.  I could do with a bit of that sometimes, I think I often tread quite a well worn path with my own creativity.  Here's hoping for a quick recovery for M, and that a bit of his crazy 6 year old randomness rubs off on his old Ma while he's at home. 

Rachel x

bargains old and new...

There's a vintage market once a month near my house, and believe it or not I hadn't been yet, even though it's been going at least 3 months already...but last Sunday I treated myself to a mosey around, and picked up these lovely cups and saucers -

despite the fact that I've got no room in my cupboards, I couldn't resist them.  So they're sat on a shelf looking pretty, along with this gorgeous tin and next to my favourite ever curtains (the ones is the background of the photo).  Yum. 

Have a lovely day, Rachel x

a new obsession...

Hello, and happy sunny day to anyone who reads this! 

If you are a facebook friend of mine you might have noticed that I occasionally (ahem) pin something onto a board on something called Pinterest.  You might also be a fan, in which case apologies for telling you what you already know, but for anyone who hasn't seen it yet, Pinterest is a way of building an online collection of images (and video, but I'm not even going there!), and sharing images with other people.  These are links to a few of the 'boards' that I've been filling with lovely things this week (please click on the text not the image)...

pattern

colours

vintage loveliness

all of the above images, indeed most of the images on my boards, I have found through Pinterest itself, though I have also uploaded some images of my own and linked to some from other online sources.   

as you can see it has some wonderful inspiring stuff on it, and for anyone interested in design, or in developing an online identity (sorry, I hate the word 'brand'!) in order make contact with other creative people and/or potential customers, it is a lovely place to spend a few minutes each day.  however, if is also alarmingly easy to spend a few hours there if you have them to spare, so my recommendation comes with a warning - only join if you have good self discipline, or a lot of time on your hands!  I'm not very rich in either, so today is a test of my self control - I have some spare time now, but I also have a messy house and lots of fabric waiting to be turned into lovely cushion covers, so I will not be doing any pinning for a few hours....

have a lovely day. Rachel xx

just a few of my favourite things...#2

Half term is here and I'm wading through a sea of lego and being asked for snacks every 2 minutes, but despite the chaos I'm managing minutes here and there to collect inspiration; here are a few of the lovely things that have made me go 'ooh' this week...

this lovely print from the wonderful mrs eliot books, which is continuing my yellow theme, and just feels really fresh and lively.  Chevrons, zigzags and triangles are really appealing to me at the moment - here's a contemporary fabric I'm loving today -

It's from Hus & Hem which has got lots of fantastic Scandinavian design for around the home; I also love their prints and greetings cards.

While browsing Hus & Hem I found something to solve a crafting dilemma I've had for a while: 

it's a diy mobile - I wanted to make mobiles when the boys were babies and thought about doing it with sticks, but didn't want it to look too 'handmade' - these lovely coloured hangers are perfect for hanging things made out of anything you like - paper, fabric, shrink plastic...time to play!

Speaking of playing, it's time to go...the lego is calling! 

Have a lovely week, 

Rachel x

sunshine yellow

For a while this morning the sun was streaming through our dining room window, and it encouraged my thoughts to turn again to my growing love of yellow.  I found myself noticing some lovely yellow items around our home, and was inspired to arrange them against one of my new bits of fabric:

the sunshine's long gone now, but it brought with it a taste of spring, and the daffodils that will soon be appearing on all the green spaces that we will be revisiting with the warmer weather. Yay! 

a visit from the postman...

I love the postman, look what he brought today...

some yummy cushion covers and lampshades will be made very soon, hurrah! 

And for those of you with slightly more grown-up tastes:

another recent purchase; each repeat is happily just about the right size for a rather wonderful looking cushion cover.

Hope you're all having a happy day.

Rachel x

you never know what you might find....

When I was younger and was busy misspending my youth in a shared house with a lovely bunch of friends, we would never buy what we needed straight away - partly because we were always skint and spending our cash on partying, and partly because we lived in an area with a lot of skips.  We used to verbalise a need; 'We need a watering can'...and lo, on a trip to the shops or a walk to the park, there would be just what we needed waiting patiently to be found.  

Nowadays my trust in 'the great god skip who will provide' (as we used to call him/her/it) has waned somewhat, and I'm quite likely to nip off to Ikea the moment a need has been identified (well, we always need wine glasses), but sometimes my lovely skip deity still likes to surprise me - check out what I found in a pile of junk outside a house being done up round the corner!  The paint is a bit tired, and I will definitely be lining the inside with vintage wallpaper, but I am properly delighted with my lovely new mid-century bathroom cupboard. So keep your eyes peeled, there could be treasure lurking round the next corner....

remembering what's important

I'm really enjoying having this space to collect all my thoughts and special finds in one place, but since starting this blog last week I have realised just how little time I have to devote to it! So today it's a short post, and here's a picture of the main reason I have so little time for my own creative stuff:

It's a blurry shot cause he never stays still for a photo, he's too busy zooming around - he's amazing, and before I know it he'll be at school with his big brother.  So today I'm remembering how precious his toddlerhood is, and how lucky I am to be able to spend every day with him. There will be plenty of time for indulging my fabric/design/craft addiction in the years to come!

Hope you all have a great weekend. x

these are just a few of my favourite things...#1

Happy sunny day!

It is freezing cold here but bright and clear and spring is in the air.  Today I am saying goodbye to grey winter with a look at a few of my favourite black and white treasures from the wonderful world of the interweb, yes I am often all about rainbows but I do love the crispness of black and white.  Though as you'll see from 3 of these beauties, it works particularly well with a little bit of colour thrown in too! 

First up, a rather lovely cushion from Scandinavian brand Bantie at the ever fabulous Heal's, which not only ticks my black and white box but has birds all over it too! (Slightly bird obsessed of late, more of them another day!)

Yes I know I've got a house full of fabric and I can make my own cushion covers, but that doesn't mean I can't love other people's too!

Next, with a lovely splash of red to brighten our day, these gorgeous Miss Badger stackable coffee cups by James Ward from his Etsy shop:

He's got lots of different animals on his mugs, but Miss Badger reminds me of the Frances books by Russell Hoban, which my Mum used to read to me...I think maybe Miss Badger is Frances grown up?!

Here's a pattern I've been lusting after for a while, and it's not a crush that's fading, so one day I might have to give in....

It's from Marimekko at Heal's, a truly iconic brand at a shop to match - some of my favourite fabrics from my collection were from Heals in the 60s, though I've got very little by Marimekko....a lack that I must remedy one day.  This design comes in cushion covers, tea towels and oven gloves, so if you're a matchy-matchy kind of person, you can co-ordinate to your heart's content - as long as you've got a bit of cash to spare!

And lastly, with a fantastic splash of daffodil yellow to celebrate the sunshine and anticipate the coming of spring, this stunning wallpaper from MissPrint, which was brought to my attention  by the Queen of design blogging, Bowie Style at print & pattern:

What can I say? I love it.  Yellow used to be the one colour I didn't really get on with, but over the last few years it has crept up in my estimation to become a favourite - it doesn't suit my colouring so I can only get away with accessories, but I think it'll be turning up a lot more around my home. 

So there we are - a few moments in my day spent in design heaven.  Now I'm off to get on with a few mundane but necessary domestic tasks, I hope to be back tomorrow with more eye candy.

Rachel x