bring me sunshine....please!!!

Oh for goodness sake, the rain is ridiculous!  Here is a collection of some sunny prints from my Pinterest Prints and Illustrations board, to cheer up this miserable Sunday...

by Kirsten Ulve

a lovely 1960s tourism poster by Gustavo Fortuna

Love this, but can't find who to credit, boo!

by Ty Wilkins

by Blanca Gomez

by Ben Javens

Spaceface by Tad Carpenter

There, that's cheered me up a bit! Hope you all manage to enjoy your day despite the rain, or maybe you're lucky enough to be somewhere sunny?! 

Rachel x

scandi love

Happy Saturday lovely people!! It's not been raining, yippee! It hasn't exactly been sunny here either but I'll settle for not being soaked through.  

Today I am a tad obsessed with these lovely bits of Scandinavian goodness, all of which have been around for a while, but I've never been extravagant enough to treat myself (yet!)...

 this stunning storage jar by Sagaform, from Illustrated Living...

this lovely Ferm tea towel, also from Illustrated Living...

and this cup from Marimekko, which I have wanted for SO long...

and this one (they're both from Skandium)....

It's my birthday next month so I think the time has come for a bit of Marimekko gorgeousness to enter my home.  I just need to make sure I don't start looking at their fabrics; at nearly £40 a metre I can't even think about it (one metre wouldn't be so bad, but I can't choose my favourite!).

Hope you're all having a great weekend,

Rachel x

in the moment

Oh wowzers, the sun is out!! We actually made it to the park this morning, it felt so good to be out being active and letting the little one run and play in the fresh air.  And now that my lovely F is back from his solo adventure (well, 5 days of freedom and solitude feels pretty adventurous to me!) I have my camera back too - Yay!!! So here are a few random moments from today....

I said hold on tight!

apple blossom...

making snack time fun...

talking about big, little and in between (and ignoring the mess!).

The constant rain has been making me feel quite flat this week, of course not helped by having a cold and being on my own with the kids last weekend, my energy levels haven't caught up yet!  I'm finding comfort in these moments, actually feeling them and living them, trying to keep my attention present rather than mentally wandering off into past and future, what should have been done, what needs doing next.  Sometimes R will look up at me in the middle of eating his lunch or playing with his toys and say 'I'm happy Mum' in a lovely matter of fact way, just noticing where he's at in that moment and sharing his feelings.  He's teaching me to enjoy the journey. 

I hope your day is full of joyful moments too.

Rachel x

baby love

Happy Sunday! I hope you've had a nice weekend, mine has been up and down; F is away and I've got a vile cold which has totally messed with my sewing plans, but thankfully the boys have been generally pretty lovely so I am counting my blessings!

I'm very excited for my good friend Jo, who has just finished work because she is about to have her 2nd baby.  I think I'm going to sew something nice for the new little person, who is currently called Nipper, but if I didn't have the time or the inclination to make a gift, I think one of these would do very nicely...

one of Manda McGrory's stunning new Chevron cot quilts, from Treefall Designs on Etsy...

 

 a lovely bamboo Tree Friends mobile from Petit Collage...

this gorgeous vest by Scandinavian brand Snoozy, from Little Lollipop Kids...

or maybe one of Ellen Giggenbach's cheerful new Board Books from Templar Publishing.

So here we are, Sunday evening rolling round again, F will be back late tomorrow night and I will be one half of a parenting team again, rather than doing (or in the case of housework, mainly not doing) everything by myself.  I'll be so pleased to see him, and the boys have missed him loads.  I have coped fine without him but it's definitely easier and more fun with him here!

Hope you've had a lovely weekend,

Rachel x

Muffin Recipe!

As requested by the lovely Tanya of Pomme De Jour, here is the recipe for the muffins I made yesterday - I originally found the recipe on a lovely blog called Heart of Light , but I've adapted it a fair bit so I suppose it's mine now!  Because Frank's borrowed my camera I can't share a photo of mine, so here's one I borrowed from Heart of Light...

It's such an easy recipe, because it's in cups so there's no faffing about with scales:

1 &1/2 cups wholemeal flour
1 cup bran (I use oat bran but wheat bran's fine too)
1/2 cup soft brown sugar
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds (I used sunflower a few times but they turned green in the muffins!)
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda
3 teaspoons Cinnamon
2 teaspoons Ground Ginger
2 medium or 1 large carrots, peeled and grated
2 apples peeled, cored and grated

Mix all the above together, the apple tends to form soggy clumps so a fork can be useful for making sure it's mixed thoroughly, 

then mix together:

1 egg, beaten 
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
1 & 1/4 cups of milk (you can use a dairy free alternative such as soya or rice milk)

and add slowly to the dry ingredients, mixing thoroughly.

You'll end up with a pretty sludgy mixture, bake it at 180* (Gas mark 4ish?) for 20-25 mins, it should make 10-12 medium muffins - if you use a silicone muffin tray rather than paper cases,  oil it first to avoid sticking.  Test the muffins with a skewer to check they're cooked through.

Enjoy!

Have a lovely weekend, Rachel x

some recent finds...

Not much time today and no camera for taking new photos, so here's a few vintage treasures I've come across over the last couple of weeks, glad I remembered to take pics before F borrowed my camera!

6 lovely padded hangers for 1 whole pound!! I love our local junk shops so much...

a green mid-century vase and cut glass fruit bowl, and a blue Stavangerflint bowl, 

all from charity shops and less than a tenner for the lot...

 

and after all those bargains, I got a bit carried away and treated myself to these beauties!

The storage jar was from Ebay; I saw a vase in the background on a photo on Pinterest, (originally from Jane Foster's blog) and fell in love with the pattern.  It was quite a challenge tracking down a piece because I didn't know the name or maker, but while I was looking I came across the lovely cruet on Etsy, so that also had to be bought...no wonder I'm being careful this month!

The weather's been pretty vile today, so we've stayed in baking one of my favourite recipes - carrot, apple and oat bran muffins.  I have made loads so we can have them for breakfast every day till F comes home, which will cheer my mornings up and save time on making endless piles of toast for my insatiable boys!

Thanks for popping in, hope you're having a lovely day.

Rachel x

what was I thinking?

My lovely partner F has just left for a 5 day jaunt on his own - it was originally my idea as he was stressed with work and needed a break, but now that he's gone I'm wondering what on earth I was thinking!  

So I'm on my own with the boys till early next week - I may not have time for much blogging, especially as F's borrowed my camera (his is a chunky DSLR, mine fits happily in a jeans pocket) - I'm already feeling a bit lost without it!  It's going to be a busy few days, the boys will miss their Daddy and the evenings will feel very quiet - a good time to get the sewing machine out.  I have just invested in a cutting mat, ruler and rotary cutter so that I can cut fabric for patchwork more accurately (I'm always a bit ashamed of the insides of my cushion covers!).

Here's a few projects that I've seen on Pinterest lately that I find inspiring; I think I could manage something along these kinds of reasonably simple geometric lines.

well what do you know, it's a rainbow....

block by Platty 82 via Flickr

love the yellow among the blues....

by  Manda McGrory of Treefall Design

plains and patterns, squares and triangles....

by Rita of Red Pepper Quilts in Australia, inspired by a tray designed by Maria Holmer Dhalgren

Now this is the kind of thing I aspire to in my dreams...it's by Lu Summers of Summersville, and I wish I had a 100th of her talent and discipline, it's so fabulous!

What I have noticed is that most of the quilts that I really like are made up of all or predominantly plain fabrics.  And most of my fabric is really not what you could call plain.  So thank goodness for the ever wonderful Jane Foster, for showing me how to make vintage patterns work in a patchwork project!

So I plan to start simple, use a mix of plains (if I can find any!) and patterns, and I think the time may have come to try something a bit bigger than a cushion cover....wish me luck!

Rachel x

more vintage loveliness!

As promised, here's a few pics from the Vintage market last Sunday - I'm trying to be careful with the cash at the moment (after getting a tad carried away earlier in the year - damn you, Ebay!) so I was actually quite glad that I didn't see anything that made my heart flutter.  

There was enough prettiness there to be a treat for the eyes though, my favourite stall was called Vintage Village, which has a permanent base at Lye Cross Farm Shop, Redhill in Somerset.  I stupidly didn't ask the name of the lovely woman behind the stall, and I wish I'd taken a pic of her daughter too, who was wearing the most fabulous 70s jumpsuit ever - a totally vintage loving family! Here's a bit of eye candy from her stall...

some pretty patterns (none of them cotton, thank goodness - I only buy natural fibres!)...

some nice china bits and pieces, I was particularly taken with the green Staffordshire mugs...

this lovely little basket was in mint condition, and beautifully co-ordinated with the doll's dress...

and lastly, I am kicking myself for not buying this 7" just for its' sleeve - what was I thinking?!

I definitely took my economising too far there, and I just know that I'll end up vainly looking for it next month!  Ah well, I just have to accept that I can't buy everything with a rainbow on it, even this little gem found on Etsy by the lovely Lou and included in her latest treasury....imagine playing a rainbow record on a rainbow record player!

Thanks for popping in.

Rachel x

so pretty!

Look what the lovely Modflowers has made already with one of the pieces of fabric I gave her in our fabric swap - she only got that lovely big flower in the post yesterday!  I love how she's combined it with the other fabrics to look like a landscape with the sun setting behind a field of flowers.

Pop over to her blog to see more, she's a very talented maker with a fabric stash to rival mine.

Hope you're having a nice relaxing Sunday,  I've just been for a potter around our local monthly Vintage & Flea Market, I was very restrained this time! I only bought one little bit of fabric for the grand sum of 2 whole English pounds.  If I get a chance I'll take a photo of it later to share with you another day. 

Thanks for stopping by,

Rachel x

treats in the post!

Yippee, within an hour of listing those lovely fabrics yesterday I had my first sale, here it is all ready to wrap & send...

I'm also doing fabric swaps with the lovely Modflowers and the wonderful Jenny of The Custards,  I sent these on Thursday and I'm hoping they might arrive today, though that may be over-optimisitic!

I'm afraid the reused tissue paper and hastily hand drawn labels look a bit naff, I need to invest in some pretty washi tape and some business cards and stickers - so I hope I sell some more fabric soon...

I'm off to the Post Office now to send my first Ebay parcel, Yay!

Happy Saturday, hope you're having fun.

Rachel x

Woohoo, Ebay shop is go go go!!

Wow, I have been grateful for the sunshine today, the boys have been busy playing in the garden which has meant I got a moment to look through my fabrics. 

It didn't take me long to realise a tipping point has been reached (well, passed a while ago...) - I can't buy any more till I get rid of some of what I've already got!  So I decided to just crack on and get started, and take it one step at a time...no time like the present!  So here's what I've listed in my Rainbow Vintage Ebay shop so far....

some pretty 60s floral barkcloth (hmmm, slightly creased I notice!)...

 

a gorgeous 70s Scandi DIY cushion cover (if you're not into sewing, I take commissions!)...

and my favourite ever Dekoplus fabric (not all of it of course, but I do love to share fabric joy!) ...

so there you are, if you are a vintage fabric addict like me, maybe it's time to treat yourself?

I will be listing a few more pieces over the next week or so, so keep an eye on my Ebay shop!  

My Etsy shop is still in development, it takes a bit more time to set that up, and when that launches there will be a little giveaway here on the blog.  In the meantime if one of my lovely followers orders from my Ebay shop, I will waive the postage charges...so get in there and snap yourself up a postage free bit of loveliness, and please feel free to share this on your own blog if you think it's the kind of thing your readers would like to know!

Thanks for popping in, hope you're having a lovely day.

Rachel x

Delights from Denmark

Happy day!  Yesterday the sun was out and my thoughts turned to bright simple patterns, the essence of 70s Scandinavian fabric design.  I do find that bold and joyous patterns like these brighten up even the greyest of days...

 

 

all of the above fabrics are sold by the lovely Junette Bay over in her Etsy shop, I am currently waiting excitedly for some vintage wallpaper from her (yes she sells wallpaper too, she's dangerous!).  Good to enjoy some Danish deliciousness that doesn't involve pastry, especially after all those Easter treats.

I happened to have a look at her blog yesterday, and what do you know, she's having a giveaway!! Her blog has stacks of followers so I'm sure I won't win this one, but it's got to be worth a try, no?   Good luck and have a lovely day!

Rachel x

my first treasury

Hello, hope you're having a nice Easter! 

I've been spending my odd spare moments putting together my first Etsy treasury...no prizes for guessing the theme, it was a no-brainer really!  I haven't figured out how to display the whole page here, (I'm still a treasury novice) so here's a sneak preview...

   

and you can see the rest of it here.  

Have a lovely break where ever you are. 

Rachel x

a week off...

Happy Easter! Hope you're having a nice break over this weekend. 

Thank you all for your lovely comments about the lampshade, I went away last weekend and when I got back there were so many of you saying such nice things, but I was ill and didn't get around to replying to each one, sorry! 

I appear to have (hopefully temporarily) lost my blogging mojo, after a few days away and then having a bug which wiped me out.  Looking back over the month it seems laughable that I thought I could set up my Etsy shop by now, I am finally learning that everything takes 10 times as long as I think it will when looking after small children, so I'm putting that project into a mental box marked 'give myself a break' - when the little one starts nursery I'll have more time for creative stuff, until then anything I achieve is a bonus!  

Our school holiday so far has included:

jumping...

  playing Pooh sticks (on the bridge where Christopher Robin played it)...

looking after a friends' hamster...

and a day at the seaside...

Tonight the big one is off for his first sleepover at a friend's house, and then we have a whole week more of fun and frolics. Yay!

Wishing you lots of fun whatever you're up to.

Rachel x