have I left it too long?...

Hello (waves tentatively)...I'm still here!  I really don't know why I have fallen out of love with blogging...it's not you, it's me...it's complicated.

I'm putting this picture in to avoid that dreaded beast, the text-only post. It has nothing to do with what I'm saying, but I made it, and it is pretty, so I thought you might like it.

I have been lurking, catching up with some of your blogs, but mainly just getting on with life, which has been the usual mix of delightful and dull, fun and frustrating, creative and crap...though always, on balance, far more of the good than the bad, thankfully.  There has been plenty going on that has been worth sharing, but I just haven't felt like sharing it...here are a few of the reasons why.

1. I am really not that interesting.  I know, I'm still the same person I was last year, when I was blogging  away like a very bloggy thing.  But I am somehow finding myself far less fascinating than I used to (this is probably a good thing).  I think it partially stems from coming across a few amazing and inspiring blogs, which are being written by people going through immensely challenging times.  Blogs like this one.  Somehow, wittering on about vintage fabric just doesn't seem that important after reading about stuff like that.  That's not to say I don't still enjoy reading your blogs about all those lovely vintagey, interiory, lifestyley, scandi-y things, I do.  This sense of mild pointlessness is directed squarely at myself, possibly because...

2.   I feel like a fraud.  I am starting to wish I had called my blog something different.  Like, um, my tiny messy home.  Or my teetering pile of crap.  Or my disorganised life.  Don't get me wrong, my house is full of lovely, colourful vintage things.  That bit is true. But it is even more full of the daily detritus of 4 messy people living in a tiny house.  I am not a tidy person; I do not like housework.  Although I love looking at gorgeously spare, airy interiors, I know that after a couple of weeks of me living in them, they would look a lot like my home does now.  MESSY.  I can aspire to minimalism, but I know I am incapable of achieving it.  This results in my life feeling quite un-blogworthy sometimes!

3.  I am a rubbish blogger.  Not just in terms of posting regularly, and writing interesting posts, but in terms of joining in all the lovely bloggy things that make blogland such a great place.  You know, linkys, awards, sharing the blog love, all of that.  It's not that I don't want to join in, it's that I am either too lazy, or too disorganised, or too shy to join in, so I don't.  And then I feel a bit crap about that.

Here's another picture to reward you for reading this far...it's not even a very good one...I told you I'm not much good at this!

4.  Most importantly, I was getting the balance wrong.  Too much time at the PC, not enough time living in the moment with my  gorgeous kids.  My youngest will be going to pre-school in September, and I did not want to waste my last few months at home with him sticking CBeebies on and farting about on Pinterest, or Blogger, or bloody Facebook.  I love all those sites dearly, and my Rainbow Vintage Home facebook page has been keeping me busy with fabric sales and likers and making lovely new online friends.  But I needed to take a step back. 

So we have been playing, and singing, and camping, and cooking, and making, and I've been buying fabric, and selling fabric, and making stuff with fabric (like the quilt at the top of this post).  But I have been very crap about keeping in touch with you lovely readers, and that has made me feel sad.  Because I genuinely like you, and have really enjoyed meeting you, and sharing with you, and I'd like to carry on doing that. I'm hoping that now I've got all this mildly discombobulating stuff off my chest, I will find it easier to just pop in here a bit more regularly, and share stuff with you without it feeling like a big deal, you know...'Oh now I need to write a blog post about that, what shall I say, oh it's too late now'...

If anyone has stuck with me all the way down to here, thank you, and here's another nice picture for you... 

As you can see, I'm as crap at ironing as I am at blogging!

I really hope you're having a lovely summer, and enjoying this amazing weather that we've been having.  I am going to go now.  But I'll be back soon.  

Rachel xx

Happy Weekend!

Hello lovelies! Just popping in briefly to share some happy pictures with you, I hope they'll brighten your day a bit as they have mine.   

Here's my latest happy-making fabric purchase, I saw a picture of this design on Flickr years ago and have been hoping to find a bit ever since, and yippidy-doo-dah I found it!! I'm such a sucker for these cheerful naive 70s kids designs, sourcing this totally made my week.  

as you can see I haven't ironed it yet...

or taken very good pictures of it!

It only arrived this week so I haven't taken  my scissors to it yet, it tends to take me a while when I love a bit of fabric this much!  As I can't bear to cut into it yet, today I am playing with some other lovely bits...

I could spend all day arranging and rearranging fabric like this, but at the end of it I feel guilty for not having actually achieved anything...so I'm off to get the scissors and sewing machine out.  I've got a couple of commissions to do, and I haven't done any sewing for a few weeks, so I need to polish my stitching skills!  

Just want to say welcome to new followers, thanks for reading and joining me here.  And to everyone who comments, thanks so much...I am struggling to reply to all every message but I love reading your comments and will try to get over to your blogs to leave a message for you there!  

Hope you have a lovely weekend!

Rachel xx

I fell off the edge of the earth...

...and landed in a big pile of fabric!  No I haven't really disappeared off the map, though blogging-wise I might as well have.  It's been too long!

Things have gone a bit crazy over on my facebook page, where I recently announced a plan to sell some packs of fabric squares for patchwork & quilting, and I was inundated with enquiries and orders.  I've spent the last week using every spare minute to cut fabric, I had thought I'd cut enough to have a few spare packs for future orders (for instance, in case any of you lovely lot wanted one) but people just kept asking for them, and if everyone who asked for one confirms their order (most already have) then I'm all sold out!  

I will cut more in future and I think next time I will announce it first here, I feel bad that my lovely bloggy friends have missed out...sorry, it wasn't intentional!  

Here are  a few pics of the fabric mountain I've been climbing for the last few days...

 

 

So, I've finally finished, though I wish I'd cut a few extra - I think I could have sold them twice over!  I'm sure I'll do it again soon, but my cutting arm is tired out so not for a while.  And some of the fabrics that I've included are now running out, so will be going into my personal stash, which means I'll have to buy more fabric for next time - what a hardship!

I hope you're well, and that you have a lovely weekend.  I'll try not to leave it so long next time! 

Rachel xx

one of the reasons...

that I've been so lazy about blogging this week...

 

I woke up in sewing mode the other day, and didn't want to stop till I was finished...I still need to sew a backing on it, I'm thinking fleece for speed and ease, so that I can get on with the next one!  I've got a friend who's due to give birth any day now, so I want to get a lovely vintage fabric cot blanket made this weekend.

I am really pleased with it, it is not perfect but I have learnt loads in the process of making it. The fabrics are all vintage, and are pretty special - Heals, Marimekko, Graziela, Conran, Dekoplus, Tampella, Boras,scandinavian, barkcloth... the result of 2 years of slightly obsessive collecting (oh dear, I'm such a fabric geek!)!  I'll show you how it looks when it's finished, and hopefully the next one will be in progress soon.
 
If any of these fabrics jump out at you and make you wish you had a cushion cover or patchwork item for your home, let me know -  I would love to make something lovely for you out of some of my vintage fabric, email me at rainbowvintagehome@googlemail.com.  

Hope you've survived the half term reasonably unscathed, the weather here has been pretty vile but somehow we have come through smiling (so far - still 2 days to go!).

Hope you have a great weekend, love and thanks for taking the time to pop in, 

Rachel x

a busy day...

So as well as pottering around our local treasure troves the other day, I had time to get my sewing machine out to try to make a dent in the list of cushion covers I'm supposed to be making...and here's the result  -

 

I'm afraid I only managed one, its a vintage 1960s Conran fabric called Prince of Quince - the first ever vintage fabric that I saw on Ebay and recognised from a favourite book, 1000 Patterns edited by Drusilla Cole. It's a lovely thick cotton (maybe with a bit of linen?) that looks like it was printed yesterday, it's in amazing unused condition. It's backed with a nice purple and blue thick woven fabric which I was worried wouldn't look right, but actually I think it works really well.  

The other cushions you can see are another one of mine made with Boras fabric, and one of Jane Foster's gorgeous vintage fabric patchwork cushions which was a present to myself a couple of years ago.  Hopefully I'll get a chance to get a few more made soon, in preparation for selling on Etsy and through local retailers.  Let me know if you're in need of cushion covers, I've got a fair bit (massive understatement!) of fabric ready and waiting for the right home! 

Rachel x