life moves pretty fast...

...you don't stop and look around for a while, you could miss it.

Well apparently my blogging mojo is on some kind of extended holiday...hope it's not a gap year!  To remind myself, and you, that I am a blogger (of sorts), here's a few pics of recent shenanigans round my way...

Amazing bundle of fabric joy for my birthday, from the gorgeous Modflowers...

cushions made for our local Arts Trail (and my quilt - for display only!)...

 

Gorgeous birthday presents from my boys!!! Brooch from here, purse from here...

and a couple of new tins to add to the kitchen collection.

The boys enjoying Upfest, our local graffiti festival...

a happy picture by eldest boy that makes my heart swell with joy...

 

and him playing on our new family toy.

Wild garlic picked on a woodland walk...

and our walking companion!

Recent boot sale booty, a Figgjo Flint casserole dish...

and a small but powerful bit of childhood nostalgia!

 

In among all this I have been buying fabric, selling fabric, and trying (and failing miserably) to not let my house get taken over by piles of fabric!  I desperately need a studio or sewing room, but our house is tiny and we're not moving any time soon so for now I just have to muddle through.

I hope you're well and happy, and enjoying the sunny weather we've been having...long may it last!  Thanks so much for reading, sorry it's been so long since my last post, hopefully it won't be as long till my next one!

Rachel xx

holiday fun...

Hello lovelies, here I am again, late to the party as always, but I hope better late than never!  How has your Easter break been?  Here are some pics of mine...

Egg (and bunny) hunting...

Our Easter breakfast table at my Godmother's beautiful house in the country...

Homemade mini churros and chocolate sauce for breakfast = happy kids!

craft activity inspired by Jane's fabulous lolly people...

kept the boys entertained for hours!

a springtime visitor to a friend's garden!

I hope you've had a great time, whatever you've been up to.  We've also been busy with lots of house stuff; the continuing kitchen saga and an ongoing, perpetual attempt to declutter.  My facebook page has been keeping me busy, with some fabric flying out the door as soon as it arrives...I will take some more photos this week and update you on the latest additions to my stash! 

Today I have gained my 195th follower - welcome Debs and thanks for finding me!  I think I'll have to have a little giveaway when I hit 200, to say thanks to all of you lovely people who take the time to read and comment - it makes my day that so many of you enjoy what I do here, when I find the time to do it!

Schools go back here tomorrow so today we are watching a movie with the boys, and going to a friends later to let the kids go feral while we eat & drink to celebrate, finally, the arrival of spring.


Enjoy the rest of your Sunday,

Rachel x

lately...

Oh my goodness it's been too long since my last post!  So to get me back into this blogging lark, here are some pics of recent goings-on round my way...

some of the lovely bits I won in Caroline's giveaway...

signs of spring...

hearts and pancakes (weeks ago!)...

another lovely spring flower...

a bonfire with friends...

our local city farm allotments have been yarn bombed!

my amazingly talented friend Cath made this tiny diorama which hangs in her living room...

crocuses are one of my favourite spring flowers...

a few finds from my weekend away - back at the beginning of Feb!

I never mean to take long breaks from blogging, but the last few weeks have flown by - I can't believe it's March already!  We have been given some 2nd hand kitchen units - our kitchen was in dire need of refurbishing so the last couple of weeks have been spent stripping artex (vile stuff!) off the ceiling, and plumbing, and living surrounded by the contents of our kitchen in boxes.  It's nearly finished but we still have the tiling to go, and as Frank's doing it all himself it's still going to be a week or two before we can stand back and admire the final result.  It's been hard work but it will be worth it!

I've been buying lots more fabric to restock for my next fabric sale so now the sun is putting in occasional appearances I'll take some pics and let you all have a sneak peek... :)

I hope you're enjoying the start of spring...I've been terrible at keeping up with all my favourite blogs (it was impossible to sit at the PC when Frank was working so hard in the kitchen - would have made me feel awfully guilty!) but I hope to catch up with you all soon.  

Thanks for reading and welcome to my new followers - lovely of you to join me here!

Rachel xx

this moment...

  

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Via Soulemama.

Have a lovely weekend.

Rachel x

this moment...

 

  {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Via Soulemama.

Have a lovely weekend.

Rachel x

time off...

Hello, how has your weekend been?  Mine has been rather special...I've been away.  With friends, and no kids...I know - exciting!!  This was the view from our window...

and this was the view when I looked up...from the hot tub!...

For 2 nights I stayed here with some amazing friends.  We laughed and danced and ate and drank and watched films and painted our nails and stayed up late and wore silly wigs and slept in late and read trashy magazines and NOT ONCE did I have to wipe someone else's bum or make someone else a snack or tidy up a mountain of lego or think about anyone elses' needs but my own.  It was heavenly.  

It was the first time since having M, over 7 years ago, that I have been away from my family.  By this afternoon I was missing them, and it was brilliant to see them and get all the hugs and kisses and 'I missed you Mummy's that were showered upon me when I got back. 

But those 2 days were precious, and I feel soooo relaxed.  I'm going to try to hold on to this feeling for as long as I can.  And we've already booked to go back next year.

I hope your weekend was great too.  

Rachel x

that was the week that was...

So here we are, at the end of half term (we're lucky, it's an in-set day today - yay!)- it's been a very full week-and-a-bit, in the best possible way - lots of fun with friends and family and not too much squabbling and tearing out of maternal hair!

One thing that has slipped this week has been taking photos! I have been a bit rubbish in that department, must try harder - but here are a few that I remembered to take...

last night's sparkler fun...

a terrible photo, but this is my gorgeous sister meeting Floyd for the first time...

 

cuteness personified! (apologies to anyone not doggy-inclined!)...

the best pumpkin at the halloween party (not carved by me I must add!) ...

fun in the sun at the adventure playground...

a bit more autumn colour, got to enjoy it while it lasts!...

 shadow play!

Just a small selection of the fun that was had.  We also visited friends, went to the theatre, did some sewing, made mess, tidied up, made mess again...I can't wait for the next school holiday!  Though I do need a bit of time to get ready for Christmas, I'm not one of these amazingly organised people who starts buying presents in the January sales...are you?  

Oh and thanks for the comments about the rainbow flames - they were really beautiful, and were created by sprinkling some crystals called Mystical Fire onto the fire - one sprinkle lasted ages, and they're available here...we didn't get around to ordering any for bonfire night, but I'm definitely going to stock up for future fiery fun!

I hope you had a great week last week, and have another great one this week! 

Rachel x

autumn splendour...

Yes I know we're all posting autumn pictures at the moment, but hey, you can never have too many pictures of trees, right?  After a very grey week last week the sun has come out here, and the light is beautiful.  We went for a lovely woodland walk on Saturday, and I'm very glad I took my camera...

 

 

 

 

We all felt better for spending time out in nature, and a certain furry someone really enjoyed himself...

It's very hard to take photos of him outside, he never stays still for long enough - most of them end up as a silvery blur!  I hope you're having a good week.

Rachel x

100th post!

Happy Friday!! Usually today would be my one guaranteed, quick and easy post of the week - but this is my 100th post - and though not a big deal to anyone else, it feels significant to me, and like a 'this moment' picture wouldn't be quite the thing.  Here's the picture I would have posted today...well, I still am!

But what to write about?  Well, blogging about blogging sometimes makes me feel like my brain is eating itself, but over the last week or so something interesting has happened in the world of blogging, which you may already know about.  The lovely Pip Lincolne, of gorgeous uber-blog Meet me at Mikes, has started an online Blog School, and I have joined.  It is free, and is aimed at people who want to start blogs, or who have them already and want to learn how to make the most of them.  It is a nice way to come across and connect with new (or new to you) bloggers, and has a really active Facebook group where we are sharing questions, giving each other useful feedback and posting links to interesting and relevant articles.

In the past I have not generally been very disciplined when on courses.  Like a lot of things in life, I start with a quick burst of enthusiasm, then find myself falling behind when I get (all too easily) distracted by other things...well, the same is true now, but it feels ok to just read along with the lessons, comment on the FB group, and pop over to other people's blogs to have a mosey around.  It also helps that I've already started my blog, and made decisions like Blogger or Wordpress, what name to choose etc...not that I don't sometimes doubt these choices, and wonder if I'll make big changes in the future, but for now I'm pretty happy with this little space I've created. 

If you fancy joining us, please do...just follow the links above.  It'd be lovely to see you there!


Hope you have a great weekend,

Rachel x

this moment....

 {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Via Soulemama.

Have a lovely weekend.

Rachel x

blog catch up...

Hello, I'm back from a much needed break from the PC, having been getting on with lots of busy life stuff!  The summer seems to be drawing to a close, the evenings are darkening, the air is cooling, and M has started Year 3!  

We made the most of the last days of the summer break, with lots of lovely day trips out to Bath, Glastonbury, Bristol Harbourside, parks, woods, anywhere but home really. 

 

 

The long months of winter will be here soon enough, and then we can snuggle up and draw the curtains....

talking of curtains, one of the jobs we finally got around to over the summer was putting up vintage curtains in EVERY ROOM of the house - Yay!!  I bought them all on Ebay, and they have been lurking in my fabric cupboard, waiting for F to be in the mood for putting up proper old fashioned curtain track.  I can't take nice, styled pictures because all the windows desperately need cleaning, so here are some close ups...

...oh dear, as well as never cleaning my windows, I don't iron!

not a great photo, but it'll be nice to remember the summer light when winter is here...

the boys' room now has vintage Conran robots, yay!

 

  

I'm enjoying having some mid-century loveliness in our bedroom...

So, maybe all the rooms need repainting, and the whole house is in dire need of decluttering, but at least when I shut the curtains in the evenings I have some more lovely vintage patterns to look at! 

Hope you're having a good week, whatever you're up to.

Rachel x