On Sewing and Exciting News

I can't believe it's so long since I last posted!  I have been busy with life and although I have been dipping in and out of my favourite blogs I have simply run out of day!

I have decided to try to experiment at bit more with my sewing as I am still very new to it.  I found some great ideas on the Hobbycraft website including animal toys to make complete with patterns to download.  Aren't these fish fab? :)

I have tried to post a link but can't work it out . Try http://blog.hobbycraft.co.uk/21-animals-to-make-with-fat-quarters/?

There are loads of ideas on there and I would like to try making a cushion or two as well. Watch this space!


With the thought of warm weather approaching, our thoughts turned to get-aways and making the most of our free time this year.  OH decided he would like to buy a caravan as it would be bigger than the motorhome and we wouldn't be stuck on site without a car as we are now.  We are getting older and have a bit less energy than a few years ago and, quite frankly, the idea of having a car to explore in convinced me that it was the right thing to do.  So...we took the plunge and collected our new caravan a couple of weeks ago.  We traded in our motorhome and with the cashback we received we bought a used vehicle to tow it with.

There is a lovely kitchen for me to (not) cook in!

 

 The lounge area is very comfortable and we can actually sleep on the bench seats if we decide we can't be bothered putting up the double bed :)

 

 

Actually the upholstery is plainer than it appears in the photo, I think the flash did something strange to it :? It is much nicer than it looks here.....

The shower/bathroom is much bigger than the motorhome one and it has a heated towel rail which will come in useful on cooler days to dry the towels on (or to air my undies! I hate putting on cold clothes!)

This is me getting excited about the new bathroom......I don't get out much, you see....

We are hoping to explore the UK as much as possible this year, starting with Cornwall in May.  I can't wait......

Our first trip was about 4 miles from the dealership to Cheltenham racecourse in order to try the 'van out rather than take it home to find that something didn't work and then tow it all back again.  Cor...it was a steep learning curve.  We were trying to set it all up and firstly the rain lashed down then it hailed so we sat in the car until it eased off.  It took 2 hours to set up...2 hours!!  But, once we had, it was lovely and warm and very cosy.  We stayed 2 nights and (fingers crossed) it all seems ok.  After a bit of practise we think we will get it down to around 45 minutes.  It took around 30 minutes max in the motorhome so we need to get into a proper routine, I think. There is no way that I will drive the new car either (button for handbrake, are you having a laugh?) and no way on this earth that I will tow :/  OH has driven vehicles of all shapes and sizes but even he has to concentrate more when towing.  At the moment I am a nervous wreck when travelling.  I sincerely hope I will be able to relax during a journey eventually....

Does anyone have any tips for setting up quickly?  Do you each have a specific job to do to speed things up? Help!

Thanks for popping in, I will try not to leave so long before my next post x