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

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

making progress...

Hello lovelies, how are you today?  I am getting better, hurrah!  Still getting tired after not doing much at all really, so lots of sitting down after tiny jobs like loading the dishwasher, but yesterday I actually left the house for the first time in 4 days, and didn't fall over, which felt like a major achievement!  Thank you all so much for the lovely comments, it's so comforting to get such lovely messages from you all.  I'm glad you all love my cat cushion as much as me, I will be coming back to him another day, as he has a twin who I'd like you to meet...

I am just popping in today with a tiny detail of our new kitchen, which although not finished is actually working beautifully!  We only have the tiling to do, but I don't want to show you the whole room until that's done as it still looks very unfinished without it.  But the other day Frank reinstalled one of my favourite things, a long shelf which runs right across the wall above the doorway...it's a tiny room so we have to make the most of any little corner that we can utilise for storage!  After my lovely man had put the shelf back up, I had fun doing this...

Aaaah, so colourful!!  Being able to display so many of my favourite tins in one place has brightened my week no end.  Hurrah! 

Hope you're having a lovely sunshine-blessed week,

Rachel xx

if we can't have sunshine...

...then we need colour!  Oh my goodness another week has passed...and what a cold and miserable one it has been!  I know we are all obsessed with the non-appearance of spring, it is really getting silly now...

Here is a lovely colourful thing that has cheered me up this week...

... gorgeous wallpapers from Ada's fantastic Etsy shop!

Last Sunday I held another Vintage Fabric Market at Paper Village, my local craft shop.  Unlike last time when it was just little old me and a table full of fabric, this time I was joined by another local Mum who has an enormous collection of beautiful vintage buttons!  As you can imagine it was a lot of fun...

a small selection of Naomi's gorgeous buttons...

and a few more!

 
Preparing for the day was fun too, as I really needed to buy a bit of new stock!  Here are a few of the lovely new (to me) fabrics I took with me...

a stunning geometric design by Peter Hall, who designed some of my favourite Heals fabrics...

a vibrant vintage Jonelle floral pattern...

a huge scale print on lovely thick cotton...excuse the rubbish photo, it was a very grey day!

and a lovely floral barkcloth which proved very popular.

I really enjoy selling in person, it's fun to meet people who love fabric as much as I do, and to see the big smiles on their faces as they walk away with an armful of gorgeousness.  I'm sorry to all of you who have been waiting patiently for ages for me to set up my Etsy shop; my youngest is starting pre-school after Easter so hopefully I will be able to make the time then...if the sun comes out so I can take some decent product shots!  In the meantime, I am selling a few bits through my facebook page, and you are more than welcome to message me for details if you see anything you like here or there.

I must thank you all for your lovely comments on my last post, sorry I haven't been replying...I have managed to pop over to a few of your blogs this week, if I haven't left a comment on yours I hope you know it's nothing personal.  I'm hoping to get back into a good routine of blog reading soon...I miss you guys when I don't get a chance to catch up with what you're up to!

Hope the stupid arctic weather isn't ruining your weekend, I'm supposed to be doing something exciting tomorrow but I'm not sure if the snow is going to scupper my plans...I'll let you know what happens either way...in the meantime, stay warm!

Rachel xx

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

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

 

so very lucky...

Hello lovely friends!  I hope you've had a great Christmas...ours has been very nice...lots of relaxing at home in our PJs watching films and munching delicious treats.  I seem to have been living mainly on brie, mince pies and port!  I have taken a break from the computer and also apparently from my camera - realised earlier I've hardly taken any Christmas photos!  I'm a bad blogger...

But we still have festivities to come...my sister is visiting from London so we are gathering at my Mum's today for Christmas round 2, and are then heading east to Sussex for further fun and games at New Year with much-loved-not-seen-often-enough extended family.

As I have been neglecting my camera I don't have much to show you...but I would just like to share one gift with you which has made me very happy...

This is a detail of my new bedroom curtains!!  I haven't hung them yet because our bedroom needs some work...decluttering, some more shelves, a lick of paint...but when these are hanging at the window I will be beside myself with joy.  They are 60s, Swedish and stunning.  

There are many reasons why I am lucky - some deep and profound to do with love and family, some basic and fundamental to do with having a home and enough to eat...but today I feel lucky for the frivolous-but-important-to-me reason that I have beautiful new curtains.  I hope that you have also received gifts that make you feel lucky, if you share them on your blog let me know so I can pop over and have a peep!

Rachel x

local loveliness...

Hello, how are you this week?  I'm slowing down, getting ready for Christmas and looking forward to time off from all the usual routines...the school run seems to get harder every morning!  It's been so cold here, though we've been lucky with bright sunny frosty mornings...but I'd still rather be tucked up under a duvet watching movies with my boys than hustling them out of the door...

I had a busy weekend, starting with the Christmas Fair at Max's school; I'd been staying up late to make stock for a few days beforehand, but as usual the buzz of the fair kicked in and I enjoyed setting up my stall...

 

 

I had great fun painting and decorating this little display house and styling it with little vintage goodies; though I'm not sure about my lovely assistant's novel method of 'helping'...

Luckily lots of M's friends were there so he frolicked off to wreak mayhem while I enjoyed some quiet moments before the crowds flooded in....well, not crowds exactly - but it was busy enough.  I sold enough to make it worthwhile being there, and got some commissions for the New Year, so all in all a fun and successful day! 

Later on M's school took part in the local annual Lantern Parade, which was a brilliant community event involving children from at least 3 different schools and many individuals from all over the area.  It was a cold evening, but the kids had an amazing time as the traffic stopped and we took over the streets as dusk descended...

M's class have been learning about ancient Egypt this term, so they designed a Zombie Mummy lantern...

it looked pretty spooky as the sky got darker!

the parade finished in a park, where as well as all the handmade lanterns we were treated to a glowing hot air balloon...amazing.

After all that we went to a friends house where the kids ran riot while the adults warmed up with cocktails...a busy but very lovely day! 

Sorry it's taken me till now to share it with you...as you probably know I am guest blogging over here this week...if you haven't popped over to see what I'm up to there, please do!

Hope your Christmas preparations are going smoothly, it can be a stressful time of year.  I'm feeling pretty calm so far, but there's still a lot to do!

Rachel x

an exciting day...

What a start to December! Yesterday I went to the Vintage and Handmade Fair in Chipping Sodbury, a little market town near Bristol.  There were lots of lovely stalls selling all kinds of gorgeous bits and pieces...

on the Country Cottage Chic stall there were vintage Christmas tree decorations...

lovely toys and books...

and I loved this elephant from a set of vintage wooden circus toys!

There was also a huge stall run by the lovely Lizzie Van Hasselt with all kinds of amazing vintage loveliness...

stunning french fabrics...

and buttons...

a very special pair of gold party shoes!...

and all so beautifully styled.

 
I also met the lovely Woo of The Devil Makes work, but do you know - we were so busy chatting I forgot to take any photos of her beautiful stall!  Sorry Woo!

Obviously I love vintage fairs wherever they are, but the main reason for going to this particular one was that I knew the lovely Donna Flower was selling some of her vintage goodies there, and I wanted to have a look at her fabrics in person, and of course meet the lady herself.  I follow Donna's blog and I had left a comment telling her I was planning to go...little did I know she would bring some really special fabrics just for me to look at!  But the sun is shining and we're off out for a walk, so you will have to wait until tomorrow to see if I bought anything....

Hope you have a lovely sunny Sunday!

Rachel x