August Books

Bit of a mixed bag. Katie Fforde books are always quite entertaining, a little predictable but that’s ok. The Jane Austen Book Club was good but I need to read it again, I always get a bit lost when there’s a lot of characters, lol. Well Joanna Trollope, as always brilliant. This one got under my skin so much it made me want to slap a couple of the characters, but I think that’s a true success when the characters are so real!!! A real food for thought book.

I’m currently reading Pride & Prejudice again. Only the 2nd time, I was a late comer to Jane Austen, I thought they would be dry & boring & hard to read. How wrong was I????????

Bits & bobs for Lucy the caravan

I spotted these canisters at my fave vintage shop & they are just perfect for Lucy. They’re just the colours I’m planning to use in her.

I plan to use the 2 beds as lounges as Lucy will mainly be used for day trips. This means I’ll need lots of comfy cushions so I’ve started making some. I’d bought this fabric months ago thinking it would be nice for cushions.

I’d stitched this months ago & finally took time to turn it into a cushion. If you like the design it’s a freebie I found online:

http://www.wikihow.com/Embroider-the-Crinoline-Lady-Motif

I plan to stich it again, only next time I’ll colour it with crayons.

He’s so cute & very quick to stitch. Another online freebie:

http://www.thebabygardner.com/blog/2008/09/free-vintage-embroidery-pattern-courtesy-of-heather-hales/

I’m going to try & keep the put things in Lucy that suit the era she was made so I decided to crochet a dish cloth as I’m sure they didn’t have Chux then.

I found a lovely green ball of cotton on sale. I did a little googling & ended up making up my own design. Very simple really.

Using a 4mm crochet hook I made 40 chain. Skip the 1st 2 chain & do a *half double crochet (hdc) into the 3rd. Continue to work hdc in each chain across the row.
Turn, work 2 chain, then continue with the hdc’s.
This is the pattern.
Keep working until your cloth is square. I then worked a shell pattern around the edge.
Work 5 double crochet into one space, skip 2 spaces, do a single crochet, skip 2 spaces then work 5 dc’s. Continue around all 4 sides.

I hope this makes sense, although I’ve been crocheting on & off for decades my skills are very basic.

*Half Double Crochet

Yarn over hook.
Insert hook in the next stitch to be worked.
Yarn over hook.
Pull yarn through stitch.
Yarn over hook.
Pull yarn through all 3 loops on hook (one half double crochet made).

August Blocks

Yay my last 2 blocks are finished. I saved the partridge in a pear tree until last as it is my fave block. Now to join them up…………

I have so many things on the go at the moment I’m not sure when I will get to them.

I’ve even been to busy to blog & I have so many things to blog about!!!!!!

I have some very exciting news.

Guess what we bought???

It’s a little scary at the moment but hopefully it will be very pretty, very soon. It’s been used as a travelling billboard to promote a backpacker hotel in Sydney. A lot of sanding & a few coats of paint & it will be lovely.

I’d already taken down the curtains & started cleaning in this shot.

The top bench lifts up & the towel rail is a handle to pull the front down. There should be a gas stove in there but it’s missing, so we’ll be on the look out for one.

The inside is pretty much original it just needs a damned good scrub!!!!!

I did plan to take lots of before pics but after opening the door & finding it ‘very’ musty I got stuck in opening the windows, getting the cupboards open & pulling out all the drawers to try & freshen it up. I quickly took a few pics then reefed out all the mattresses, which are mouldy underneath, that certainly didn’t help with the smell.

Details: It’s a 14’ Don caravan, which were manufactured in  Oakleigh, Melbourne from 1923 to the early 60’s. We believe this one was built in the late 50’s. The interior is a very original & is in very good condition. It was owned by a family in Queensland until a year ago when it was purchased for a hotel promotion. Luckily all the changes are external & easy to rectify.

If you should know anything about Don vans I’d love to hear from you.

Oh & of course she needs a name. The frontrunner at the moment is Lucy for several reasons.

a. I love Lucy. (Lucille Ball)

b. I love the Lucy movie, The Long, Long Trailer

c. Last Saturday was the 100th anniversary of Lucy’s birth.

All name suggestions welcome.

I’m still on the look-out for a little bubble caravan As long as I don’t get carried away & end up with a collection of caravans like I did antique sewing machines, lol.

I’ve bought a few bits & bobs to go in it. I’ll save them for the next post.

 

July Books

Three quite different books, all op shop finds.

A Year in Provence was a humourous account of Peter Mayle’s first year living in France, with the trials & tribulations of renovating where time is counted in seasons rather than days, weeks or months.

The Flowers of Ballygrace is a nice story set in Ireland. & The Wimbledon Poisoner was a very humourous account of failed attempts to murder a nagging wife.

My assistant Zaphod

I decided to trace off the final block in the Tis the Season set this morning. How lucky Zaphod was on hand to help. :-)

Apparently the light box is a nice comfy spot.

July Blocks

Just a little late, though they were stitched in June. With dd’s birthday at the end of June, & 3 more in July in our home, it’s our ‘busy’ month.