a treasury of green goodness...

Hello lovelies, how are you?  I hope today is treating you well.  

I have just put together my 2nd ever Etsy treasury, hooray - why do I always think I haven't got time, it didn't take me that long!  I suppose it's just a question of what I'm in the mood for...

I'm gradually building a collection of rather lovely vintage crockery and kitchen bits,  I really must take some photos to share with you.  Most of my pieces are in my favourite palette of greens and blues, and I've been browsing Etsy for a few treats that would not look out of place in my cupboard;  here they are for your delectation and delight....

I actually already own one of these pieces, can you guess which one?  It was a favourite Pinterest pic a few months ago...and when my birthday rolled around my lovely F treated me, it was a tad extravagant but it gets used every day and I love it a lot!

Having said that curating the treasury didn't take that long, it just took me ages to figure out how to actually get it to appear here...but I did it!  A small achievement, but it has made me feel like not working for the last 8 years hasn't completely robbed me of my ability to figure out technical IT stuff.  That gives me a bit of confidence that I will be capable of setting up and maintaining my Etsy shop when R goes to nursery.  I have had to relucantly admit to myself that until I have some childcare I really can't spare the time, I don't want to look back on the years when he was small and realise I spent them staring at the computer! 

Wishing you a bright sunny day full of simple joys,

Rachel x

friday's favourite fabric

Hello lovelies, hope this Friday finds you happy and ready for a relaxing and reinvigorating weekend.  I've been busy with all the usual stuff this week - toddler playdates, dodging raindrops and wishing for sunshine, attempting to tame the chaos of our tiny house full of stuff, a teensy bit of sewing when the opportunity arose. 

Since my last post I've been avoiding looking at stuff to buy online, and whenever I feel like looking at gorgeous vintage fabric I open my cupboard and look at my lovely stash, and feel grateful for the abundance of deliciousness that I'm already lucky enough to have.  BUT...the lovely Tanya of Pomme De Jour made my resolve wobble earlier this week, when she showed me this...

oh dear.  All resolve melted, and I decided that one little treat was in order.  So now I'm back to being good, but it's a bit easier knowing that a piece of this scrumminess is on it's way to me in the post from France.  And for any of you also taken by it's charms, she has some left, and some of her other stock is on sale at a whopping 25% off - including these treats...

and these lovely bits of vintage goodness for the kitchen...

What can I say?  She is a temptress.  I think I was quite restrained in only getting one bit of fabric, no?  If you like what you see, pop over to the Pomme De Jour Etsy Shop, and don't forget to use the code Summerpomme at the checkout to get that 25% discount.  She also has an Ebay shop and a website with sales on too - I haven't looked recently at the stock in those shops, I'm being good remember?! 

Have a lovely weekend, and hello to my new followers, thanks for joining me in my Rainbow Vintage Home! 

Rachel xx

It's fabric day!

Hooray Hooray, it's fabric day!! Well, it is in my house anyway, thanks to the fabulous Modflowers - we have done a lovely birthday fabric swap, and I collected her parcel today (silly me was out when the postman came)...

She wrapped it so beautifully, and look what treasures I found when I opened the box of wonder...

Wowzers!! I am a a very happy fabric addict today, I can tell you.  I love that mini bunting so much, it's hanging in my kitchen doorway right now looking gorgeous.  

I'm hoping we can make fabric day an annual tradition, I'm sure by her next birthday I'll have squirrelled away a good few treats to share.  Thanks again Modflowers, it's all beautiful! If you haven't seen her blog, please pop over to have a look at it - she makes lovely things with all those gorgeous fabrics, and sells them in her Etsy shop, so you can get yourself a bit of Modflowers deliciousness too!

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

what a week - peacocks and sunshine...

Wow what a week, a bit non-stop but pretty much all good thankfully.  Unbelievably I have won another treat, only a day after winning these!  

Bristol artist Rebekah Leigh Marshall had a giveaway on her Facebook page, and I was the third name out of 3 pulled out of her hat - I got to choose a print, and I have chosen this (with input from F, who has to live with a lot of things of mine that he wouldn't choose, so I thought it fair to involve him in the decision for once!) ...

Isn't it beautiful?! Go and check out her Etsy shop if you haven't seen her work before, it's got some gorgeous prints and cards in it.

And now the lovely Lou has given me a Sunshine Award, which involved answering the following questions and passing them on to another 5 fabulous sunshiney bloggers:

Colour: The point where blue and green meet, variously called teal, turquoise, or aqua depending on the tone -  
            although I'm currently very keen on yellow!

Animal: Cat or bird, depending on my mood - cat for lazing about, bird for freedom (& nest building!)

Non-Alcoholic drink:  Strong coffee in the morning, Earl Grey tea in the afternoon

Facebook or Twitter:   Facebook cause I have a lot of friends who live far away. I have never tweeted, don't think  
           I would know how (or why!).
Getting or giving presents:  Giving, I love choosing just the right thing for someone. When it comes to getting, I  
           prefer to choose for myself cause I'm such a control freak - isn't that awful?!
Flower: Apple blossom
Pattern: bold 60s floral, geometric, spots, stripes - very hard to choose this one!!
Passion: colour & kids, fabric & family, pattern & parenting - variations on a theme!
Number: 5 (same as Lou, another thing we've got in common along with mid-century mania!) 

As you can see I am no good at choosing one thing when 2 or 3 will do! and now I pass these questions onto....

Caroline, Siane, Jo, Karen and Jenny

I don't know any of you lovely ladies well, having met over t'internet through enjoying each others' blogs, so I'll be interested to see what you all answer, and who you link to next...

Hope it's sunny where you are, thanks for stopping by!

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

hurrah for everything!

Wow what a week, from the ridiculous to the sublime - more illness, a broken washing machine, the usual too much boring domestic stuff to do and not enough time or energy.  And then to balance and outweigh all that, the beautiful sunshine, and yesterday meeting up with Lou of littlegreenshed.blogspot.com, who lives just around the corner from me.  

Our older boys go to the same school so we have known each other to say hello to for a while, but since I started my blog she has been full of encouragement and it was lovely to get together.  She went home and blogged about her visit, and it was funny to see my home from her perspective - she noticed all my favourite things, and made me look at my messy toy strewn house with renewed affection.  She has a lovely Etsy shop with cards of her photos and illustrations, this is my favourite of her new postcards... 

 

She's getting some A3 and A4 prints in the shop soon, I'm looking forward to seeing them!


So many people read her post and came here to have a look at my little blog, and left such lovely comments, that I'm now feeling thoroughly chuffed and and definitely reassured that people like what I'm doing; just the encouragement I need to get on and open my Etsy shop.  Now I just need to get rid of the germs and the laundry mountain so that I can make the time! 

Thanks for visiting, have a lovely day! 

Rachel x

boing! and a peek into the future

Spring is here!! Well, I might well wake up tomorrow to grey skies, but we have had a few warm & sunny afternoons recently and they have perked me up no end.  Have been looking after ill boys this week, lots of cuddles, stories and DVDs, no time for sewing but I managed to find a few minutes to rummage about and unearth a few vintage goodies I've had squirelled away.  

March is the month for (hopefully, small children and their germs allowing...) starting up my Etsy shop, I have decided to start small, with a few pieces that I love so hopefully others will too, and add handmade cushion covers, lampshades and spare bits of special fabric as and when I get the chance.  Here is a sneak peek of what I found today..

  a lovely coffee pot (and cups, saucers, sugar bowl...)

  

 some oh so mid century tea cups...

 

#4 1970s geometric coffee cups with cream jug...

 

I hope that's whetted your appetite, by the time April rolls around, these and other treasures will be available to bring a vintage touch to your hot beverages. 

Hurrah for sunshine! 

Rachel x

 

.