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Beads

Jan 18th, 2013 Leave a comment

For Christmas I bought a friend a beading kit.  I was a little nervous as I wasn’t sure if she’d like it or not.  I knew she’s thought about giving it a go in the past, but hey, I’ve thought about lots of things I wouldn’t be grateful for as a present.

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Anyway, thankfully she did and soon we were off in search of places to buy more supplies.  We soon came across a charming little shop in Long Melford, Suffolk called the Bead Boutique. 

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Now I was originally along to

a) do the driving, 

b) offer moral support, 

c) drink tea, 

and d) take a few photos for the blog. 

(Not necessarily in that order you understand, tea is always a priority on outings.)

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Well it didn’t quite work out like that, mainly because there were two charming dogs there and it would have been rude not to have a cuddle.  So in actuality I did 

a) the driving, 

b) drank tea (a little tea shop just down the road), 

c) fussed the dogs, 

d) took 3 shots, 

and e) fussed the dogs some more. 

So only a few shots to show you……

Still it was a fantastic day out.  We’re both going back for a bead making course next month, and I promise to take more photos then. Smile

Curtains and Dylon

Aug 20th, 2011 Leave a comment

Well I managed to get a piccie with my mobile to quickly show you.  This year I bought a new caravan, well new to me anyway.  In fact she’s quite old but I’m going to go with ‘vintage’.  Now the temptation was to run out and buy loads of fabric for new curtains and throws etc.  But with a Herculean effort of will I restrained myself.  Why?  Well I wanted to spend some time and get a feel for what would suit her.  Caravans are confined spaces where just about everything is multifunctional.  So the decision was made to go ‘as is’ this summer and then I could happily spend the winter making things that would be both practical and well thought out.

Then it went a little wrong…  You see Jake the dog can be protective of both me and his territory.  This means any other doggies walking past the awning (which rapidly became the dog room) would be loudly woofed at (also birds, cats, squirrels, foxes, basically anything which made a noise and wasn’t human).  He’s a big dog and has a big woof!  During the day this isn’t much of a problem, but at night – well you can guess.  The solution turned out to be the hideous pieces of fabric I found under one of the bunks.  They were the awning curtains and once up (and closed) Jake was happy to stop waking everyone for half a mile at the slightest noise.  The problem was they were revolting.  The fabric has seen better days but was serviceable, the real problem was the pattern.  Fowl, disgusting, couldn’t stand the sight of it.  Hideous was mumbled a lot whenever I had to look at them.  The solution came in a flash of inspiration and a box of Dylon fabric dye.

caravan curtains

Not being sure what the fabric actually is, I really wasn’t sure how it would dye.  Still I figured it could hardly be worse!  They started a sort of manky cream with a rose motif running down them.  I hated them so much I couldn’t even bring myself to take a before snap.  They’re now a dark green all over and the motif is only visible up close.  I hope no one inspects them closely as they were obviously made by someone with little to no pride in their work (or possibly a severe lack of time and bad eyesight).  The edges are unfinished and some curtains have the back of the fabric facing out of the awning, and some with it facing in.  However, thanks to the wonders of Dylon provided you don’t inspect to closely they look good enough to get me through.    So now I can go back to dreaming and planning what I’m going to make over the winter for my vintage mobile home…