Crochet Blanket almost there...

All the individual granny squares are almost done!

Finally the end is in sight...

Soon to be 200 pretty squares will soon {I hope} become a pretty blanket.

No pictures of them/it till it's all done and been gifted.

Sorry just in case my daughter {Lolly} passes by, unlikely but not impossible.

As we enter December I get distracted, thoughts of my youngest daughters birthday and Christmas are popping into my head.

Fighting for a place in the single cell that still seems to spark!

Birthday Bunting goes up on the night of the 1st ready for Loopy's birthday on the 2nd...

that marks the start of Christmas decorating and then I'm dreaming of pretty decorations

What seems like miles of paper chains are on the list, 

I've left it too late {again} to make them from felt...perhaps next year?!

But first the blanket!  

And a name for the blanket, I cannot give a blanket away without giving it a name!

***

I have an awful feeling I need to order more white to complete it, ack who am I kidding?  

Looking at it I KNOW I need to order more white...off to the Wool Warehouse I go.

Retro Caravan Craft Space { 2 }

No photo's today

 a big *SIGH* instead

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment...

what needs doing to make my crafty space reality is so far beyond my ability that it's all I can do not to have a good old grizzle over it!

The constant rain and dark skies don't make the problems look any better.

In my fantasy world I would either buy a nice 'new to me' van which is dry or pay a professional to come fix mine.

But that is a fault in me, I like to have instant fixes.

What I have to keep reminding myself is that all good things come to those who wait and hard work brings its own rewards.

So I take a deep breath and do what I do when I want to put my head firmly in a bucket of sand...

...pop the kettle on and pick up my crochet.

I guestimate 

{I wish spell checker would stop telling me guestimate isn't a real word!} 

that I still have another 50/60 squares to go on Lolly's blanket, which I would like to have done for Christmas {this year}

So perhaps it is meant to be that I cannot carry on working with the Crafty Van...for now

And perhaps I concentrate my efforts on the blanket.

All good things come to those who wait...

{repeat, repeat, repeat}

Retro Caravan Craft Space...

I've made no secret that I would Love A Craft Space all of my own!

I have a lovely large family, but we have a regular sized house and there simply isn't enough room for all my bits and bobs.

I thought about a new shed down the garden but in my heart of hearts I knew what I really wanted was a little caravan!

As always I had no budget.  So I knew it would be a waiting game for the right little van to come along....

and along it came!

It was terribly expensive

a whole £10 was handed over in exchange for this

A 1992 {I think} Sprite

It was and still is in a right old state!

I've said it before but the 'I could do that' attitude has taken me on many a crafty/DIY venture.  

From papering the walls, ripping the tiles off the kitchen and re-tiling, endless painting, furniture restoration, crochet, baking, tiara making, sewing... 

the list is literally endless.

It had been used by a young lad working away from home and was full of fag ash, butts, filthy clothes and vile bedding.  The real cherry on the cake was the HUGE bottle of pee he had left in it.

Filthy after months on a building site...in all honesty it was tempting to leave it behind, cut my losses and run to the hills

But I didn't.

I set about clearing the piles of crap and in the process found £1.83 in change, 2 PS3 controllers and a pile of DVD's with a 2nd hand value of around £20!! Oh and a nice pair of Wrangler jeans that my son can wear for work.

Inside was, on the surface, ok-ish.  

Filthy dirty but loked quite sound...

oh how wrong could I be!

With a screwdriver, a hammer and a dream I've set about gutting the van out.  

Bonkett seating has gone, the sink and hob ripped out.  If it didn't unscrew the hammer took care of it.

I've left one seat to store the awning 

{haven't checked it yet but hopeful it will be ok}

and the washroom wall has been left so I can create a bit of a storage space for the ugly bits.

The carpet had it's own eco-system and also went to the dump.

So whats left to do?...

Deepest of Deep Breaths

It has damp, lots of damp and that will be the biggest challenge. 

This is taking me way, way, beyond my comfort zone or ability

again

You have to break a few eggs to make an omelet...

and looks like you have to almost destroy an old caravan to bring it back to glory

4 days into the project that's where I'm at.

The work will be slow, done when I can afford it.

The aim is to have it in the garden for Summer 2015...but we'll wait and see!

Tear Jerker! - #MontyThePenguin

Nearly every year it brings me to tears...this year is no exception!

Lovely

My middle son has a bear called Hector and this ad is reminding me of them...

back to blanket making