my week has been...

...up and down!  Started with me feeling tired after my night out dancing, and ended with me feeling very ill with a horrible virus.  Here are a few pics from it...

Another brilliant Puffin Annual...

With inspiring crafty activity pages...

and youngest boy's personal take on the face-making theme...

which was carried through to lunchtime!

some of my best friends this weekend...

and some more...I love my pillows so much, but especially the cat!

breakfast in bed...for the kids, I haven't been well enough to eat...

accompanied by some more comforting cats!  old classics are the best when we're ill aren't they?

So there you have it, another week has passed, I don't seem to be getting any better at this blogging lark, but I think I've accepted that I will just say something here when I feel like I have something to say, I can't force it.  I am cross with myself for not being better about replying to comments, but I have been trying to pop over and say hello on your blogs...if I haven't made it to yours this week, please blame the evil germs! 

I am going to have a stall at the Bristol Vintage & Flea Market on next Sunday, 28th April - I'll be selling some fabric, but also the results of an attempt at general decluttering.  I'm sharing the stall with the lovely Naomi who sold buttons with me at my last fabric market, so it should be fun.  I'll take some photos of our stall (before it all hopefully gets bought!) and I'll let you know how it goes.

Hope you have a lovely week.

Rachel xx

I'm still here...

Hello lovelies!! I really have been a rubbish blogger so far this year!  Either I'm much busier or my (already woeful) time management skills have deserted me completely - maybe a bit of both.

I would love to do a big catch up post but I've just grabbed a moment at the pc before I put the kids to bed...suffice to say I'm well, I've been doing a lot of sewing, and I'll be selling some vintage fabric at our local craft shop next weekend which is exciting.  

I totally missed my 1st Blog Birthday!!  It was on Friday - I remembered all week and then on Friday all kinds of unexpected things happened and I totally forgot.  But I think the universe remembered...Caroline of the lovely blog Scraps Of Us  has just had a lovely giveaway on her blog and she chose the winner on Friday...and I won!!  Thanks so much to her, I'm really looking forward to receiving all these gorgeous scrapbooking goodies she's sending my way...

I feel very lucky...thanks Caroline! x
 
This morning I had a wander round our local monthly Vintage & Flea Market with a good friend.  There weren't quite as many stalls as usual but that was actually quite nice - it wasn't as packed with people and I felt like I got a chance to look at everything properly.  Unfortunately my camera battery died so I couldn't take photos!  But when I got home I charged it up so I could show you these...

I love that Puffin book sooooo much!! The inside isn't as exciting and colourful as that all the way through, but for the princely sum of £1 I could afford to buy it for its cover.   Here's a detail of the back...

 

There's nothing like puffins dancing on a rainbow to brighten my day!

The blue things are 2 linen teatowels which have never been used - they look like they were printed yesterday...

...and the yellow fabric is a double sheet and 2 pillow cases - you can never have too many vintage pillowcases, right?! 

I hope you've had a lovely weekend...I am going to try to be a better blogger this coming week...I've missed reading your blogs properly and having the time to comment. 

And welcome to my new readers and followers - thanks so much for taking the time to read and comment.  I've been lacking time recently but I still love blogland so much.  Looking forward to spending a bit more time here when I can!

Rachel x

 

vintage and flea, part 2

Here's a few more pics of the Vintage market on Sunday, I got a bit carried away with my camera as you can see...

The market is held in a conference room at our local football stadium, I loved the contrast between these ladies with their pretty hats and the background picture of hairy men shouting and chasing balls!

 

a rail of pretty aprons - the fruity one was hard to resist....

I like the cheeky expressions on these 2's faces...

 

 some more lovely patterns, I was very taken with the orange, yellow and turquoise circles....

I got chatting to the lady who runs this stall, she had 2 lamp bases that need nice vintage shades, I make lampshades out of vintage fabric - hopefully we'll do a swap...could be the start of a beautiful friendship!

and finally, the curtains that couldn't be resisted....

I must take a better photo of them, but this will do for now.  Me and Lou liked the way the zig-zag pattern looks like giant ric-rac, and I'm a sucker for a daisy shaped flower, so they came home with me, along with a lovely mid-century tea towel.  My tea towel collection will be shared another day, they deserve at least one post all to themselves!

Hope today is treating you well, thanks for popping by.

Rachel x

vintage & flea - rummaging heaven!

Well much as I love my boys, I'm afraid Mother's day morning was not about me as a Mum, but about me as a vintage & retro addict.  I headed off to the Bristol Vintage & Flea Market which is held monthly just round the corner from my house, with a good friend who isn't really into that kind of thing, but loves me enough to wait with a cup of tea while I got over-excited about the stalls! 

I used to be a sucker for a box of shiny things, but nowadays I'm happy with a photo....

Love the mad expression on this deer's face!

 A lovely vintage style cat from Katie May's Bears....

 If I'd started looking through the scarves, I would have been there all day...

I found that having my camera made it easier to be restrained, if something had a gorgeous pattern on it, I could just take a photo instead of giving it a new home in my already over-crowded house.

I love these 70s M&S trays - I'm glad I already  have a matching tea towel in blues, as I really don't need any more trays but this pattern is hard to resist!

This little basket was very tempting, with its cheerful yellow and floral motif...

 

  and I love the bright concentric circles on this box...

While I was there I bumped into the lovely Lou, and we spent a bit of time ooohing and aaahing over some rather fabulous curtains, one pair of which I managed to resist (a tad too extravagant, though gorgeously scandi), and one which I didn't - a photo of them will be shared tomorrow!  After all that I allowed my friend to steer me in the direction of a nice local cafe for brunch, and then I was off home to build a den with my boys. A very good day!

Monday has rolled around all too quickly, here we are again - hope you have a good one.

Rachel x