Homes on Wheels

Hello Lovelies,
when I photographed this charming but sadly neglected wagon we came across on our weekend walk I had no idea what it actually was.
 I called it a "carriage" in my previous post because I thought at first it was a train or tram carriage.........

Among the kind comments I received, one cleared up what it actually is......... 

Alison26 March 2014 13:25

I absolutely love your photo's The one with the wagon is great . This once was a very smart Showman's Living Wagon . My brother in-law has one and it is beautiful. If I could do links I would show you. Thank you for a wonderful blog .

Well thank you Alison for clearing up this little mystery and introducing me to these wonderful homes on wheels.

"Showman's living wagons" are home to the families travelling around Britain,
 running Fun Fairs in towns and villages. 

Of course it's always the vintage versions that are the prettiest. And it's easy to see why these wonderful examples from 30's and 40's are now being converted into new uses.

A quick internet search turned up loads of lovingly restored wagons looking as beautiful as they did back in the old days. Painted in traditional red and cream they really do make wonderfully characterful and charming holiday homes ......

source

Or garden buildings...........

source

Look at this sweet wagon sitting in a field. I think it looks a lot like the one we spotted on our walk would have looked in the past..........

This one  lives in Cornwall and is called "Duke"

And we get a peek inside, that's always the most interesting part don't you think :0)

Look at his sweet little kitchen.........

And cosy living area with so many period features. I love the wall papered ceiling and glass display cabinet with crochet edgings on the shelves.........

And a glimpse into his snug bedroom...........


And he is also a holiday rental.  HERE's the link.

 I bit more searching turned up THIS lovely blog post about a short holiday taken in Duke....Do take a look lovelies, he looks even more charming in Caroline's post.

And HERE's another holiday home, this time in Suffolk..........



Ooooh, a lovely light and fresh feel here.........



and another snug sleeping area...........

I already had a soft spot for all things caravan and camper-van, and now I am happy to add showman's living wagons to my wheeled home daydreams. I hope you enjoyed these links and images too.

Jacquie x

P.S. I'm not being sponsored for any of the links in this post....and I'm not making personal recommendations,  I'm simply linking back to the  image sources I've used of these lovely old vehicles.

♥52 Weeks of Happy♥ 44/52

Hello Lovelies,

it's that time of the week again, time to celebrate the small things that can add happiness to your days, even when life throws unwanted stress your way.

1. and 2. Handmade and Homegrown

Yesterday I went with my Mum in Law, niece and two of my boys to a craft fair. I spotted this cute-as-a-button witch and couldn't resist her hand knitted charms.

 I recognised the pattern as a Jean Greenhowe straight away, she is the queen of knitted soft toys in my opinion. I really wish I could knit when I see these lovely makes. Do take a look her patterns and  this page ,which includes an adorable image of this witch.....with a broom....ummm, maybe I could crochet her one.

Also on my mantle are a few blooms from my own front garden and an Apple ....just one of a huge bag of cooking apples given to me by a work colleague who has so many she does not know what to do with them all . I have one of these in the oven as I'm typing....smells lovely.

It's a shame I didn't get my witch before halloween  , but she was still too sweet to resist.
We had a quiet time on the day, only youngest went out trick or treating with his friends and accompanying adults.

 All three boys designed and carved these pumpkins without any help from me.....I think they did an excellent job...........the tiny one was rather tricky ......

3.. Thrifted

A new ( brand new with tags still attached ) scarf found in the charity shop. I like a scarf when the weather turns chilly. This one is so soft and I love the colours...........

4. Vintage

On our usual Wednesday outing Mum and I decided to take a detour and explore this timeless place I found earlier in the year

Look , you can just see Mum taking her own photo , towards the left in this picture.........earlier in the year, when she was very poorly , I hardly dared imagine mum would be so well again......but she is, thank goodness.

This place is by the river..........

and scattered around a little field are lots of these wooden buildings............

They are a bit like beach huts without the beach, but bigger, more like proper holiday homes . They all look so old but are beautifully maintained and full of character.
I couldn't quite believe my eyes the first time I came across them.

This one has to be my absolute favourite.....

With it's sweet little garden , including a bird table, rambling rose and  apple tree.

I just love the red and cream paintwork , floral curtains and veranda with wooden bench........

I would love to see inside. I can just imagine a little wood burning stove, comfy worn armchairs with lots of crochet blankets and rag rugs on the wooden floorboards ....... Two simple wooden chairs and a little table covered with  a pretty tablecloth and jug of flowers picked from the garden...... A simple kitchen with gingham curtains, a pot sink and little oven with the smell of baking wafting out of it ......  a  cosy bedroom with patchwork curtains, a patchwork quilt on the bed and more fresh flowers on the bedside table.....
Ooops , slipped into vintage  dreamland there :0)

I love taking the photos and writing these posts, but I wouldn't be half as much fun without your lovely comments and good wishes........they always make my week happier  ♥THANK YOU♥
Jacquie x

P.S. my latest blanket is now finished ......back soon with a Ta-dah :0)

"vintage" giant granny ta-dah

Hello Lovelies ,
today's a ta-dah day...my favourite:0)
I've just finished my second giant granny of 2011 and I'm pretty thrilled with the result. It's quite different to my first one . The colour choices I made were more subdued this time. I was hoping for a "vintage" look and I think I've achieved it....

I suppose it's my interpretation of vintage anyway :0)
There is no bright yellow or orange or pink in this blanket. Instead I've chosen grey and camel and brown  to contrast with the safer blues,pinks and greens. The brightest colour is a rich red which I think lifts the look.......

Most of the colours are stylecraft special double knitting .
For those of you who are interested the stylecraft colours I used are.........

pale rose and meadow (small balls on top)
cloud blue,camel,apricot,aster,soft peach (middle row L-R)
cream,raspberry,?lavender,grape,lemon and teal (bottom row L-R)
The other stylecraft colour I used was lipstick ( rich red )

As I wanted to include some rusty orange /brown and grey I used these from my stash. Sorry unknown origin but stylecraft do have similar colours .........

That's 18 colours in total

I wonder if anyone noticed my blanket now has a different border to this post . I wasn't happy with the pink picot edging so I pulled it back and went with my trusty double V edging in cream ( tutorial in my side bar)

Here it is  on my bed. It's not a bed blanket but I've got one of those :0)
This blanket is 56 rounds plus a border and weighs 800 grams. Which means it took 8 100 gram balls of yarn in total . At £1.50 a ball that's a bargain £12 for all this granny gorgeousness.
I started this blanket on the first of September so you can see it's quite a quick blanket to produce. I'm sure I could have completed it quicker if I hadn't been so busy. As I've said before granny squares are great projects to do when you don't feel like concentrating too much . They are so relaxing. Another bonus is the relatively small number of ends to sew in. Two for each row means 114 for the whole blanket...only takes an hour or so :0)

It measures 48 inches square and is ideal to use as a lap blanket. I love the soft drapeness of this pattern and the stylecraft yarn.
Though the colours are worked in a random order you might have noticed I've sometimes grouped darker or lighter colours and other times I've alternated light and darker shades. This was intentional as I prefer this effect. I've also  used the cream yarn quite a few times to add contrast and tie the "design" together. .....

I'm loving having this blanket draped over the back of a chair...just waiting to be snuggled under this winter :0)

I'm still having trouble commenting . I've noticed some of you lovelies are  having the same problem....lets hope they sort it out soon.
Hope your week has got off to a good start.
Jacquie x

Play Houses

Hello Lovelies , thank you all so much for your great comments on my last post. We are back indoors again today :0)
I wanted to share some beautifully styled greetings cards I found this week with you lovelies....

How sweet are these ?? I'm not sure I will be able to send them to anyone , I just bought them because I find the images so inspirational and totally gorgeous. These shelves full of pretty blue and red pots, not to mention the best flowers...tulips, roses and sweet peas ...my favourites. I LOVE   the tea cosy with it's crochet flowers too...........

How cute is this little polka dot chicken sitting on a red shelf and the pretty floral wallpaper.......

And this wooden bobbin with its pretty ribbon.......

And that blue polka dot enamel coffee pot...

The second card is even more drool worthy in my opinion....

A vintage caravan!! with pots of geraniums, more tulips and a gorgeous table and chair. Can you see under the chair,there are some vintage annuals and some polka dot pumps ... so sweet .....

And look through the window....

Gingham curtains , pretty canisters and , just visible, floral curtains too.
 You can just about see in the door..there ,on the left ....

a tantalising glimpse of a glass fronted cupboard with fabric hearts hanging from the handle. I would LOVE to have a look around this cutesy caravan. Do you think the shelves are inside ??? Wouldn't that be great !!

Since I found these images I've been having a little day dream about owning a vintage caravan too. It wouldn't have to go anywhere. I could just enjoy it in the garden...use it like a summer house . Yes that sounds wonderful . I could make it really pretty with thrifted finds and crochet cushions . I could sit in it and crochet .The little built in cupboards would make a great place to store fabric ...hey I could have my sewing machine set up on the table, it would be my crafty Wendy house :0)

Maybe one day....a girl can dream...... In the mean time I have this to share with you ....

It's my strange crochet object a little further on , and here's the other part.......

Yes it's toadstool ( well done on guessing correctly Heather:0) ).... here's the finished object looking pretty on my mantle ....

A little toadstool house .....

The pottery tortoise I found in a charity shop a few weeks back is looking pleased with this make. So am I , I even managed to embroider on a few flowers , they are far from perfect but not bad for a first attempt.The door and window are felt .
This idea just sort of evolved , as many of my projects do . To start with it was going to be a little container with a removable lid ( like Victoria's lovely version HERE ) but it wasn't working so I decided to stuff it instead. I'm not really sure when it changed into a house.

That's a lot of little projects I've been enjoying recently...it's been good fun and I'm hoping I can now pick up one of my blankets again :0)
I haven't forgotten the Hexagon tutorial...thanks for being so patient.
It's almost the weekend .Yay.
Jacquie x

Edited to Add ....thankyou Vicki for telling me where I can indeed see inside this gorgeous caravan !!..Do check out Happy Loves Rosies Blog , its stunning :0)

Vintage Colour and Pattern

Hello lovelies ,
Today was the last day of  term here , the boys now have two weeks off school to look forward to .
This morning I did a mega shop , so that hopefully I won't have to go again for a good while  and on the way home I stopped off at a charity shop as I won't get much (in fact I  probably wont get any ) chance to look in them over the next two weeks.
On the counter were lots of reels of sewing thread for 30 pence each .....

I chose a selection as they were such a bargain. I haven't bought any thread for so long I don't know what the price is for a quality brand like Gutermann, and look at these gorgeous Jewel shades....

Even better , to me anyway , was finding some Dewhursts Sylko. This is not manufactured anymore and is very nostalgic, reminding me of sewing as a child. ..........

I never really thought about where this thread was made , but a quick google search when I got home showed me it was made in Yorkshire, the county of my birth . Two of the three spools are plastic , but one is wooden......

The thread on this one is a little grubby but I couldn't resist a wooden reel ...and look what this lovely blue is called.....

Light Gobelin ????? ...........Not goblin ....took me a while to work that out :0)  Did I say spelling isn't my strong point ?

I think  the sylco threads are from the seventies (earlier for the wooden reel) and I thought the Gutermann threads were modern but now I'm looking at the first picture in this post I can see they say " made in W.Germany " so I guess they have some age too.

The other Vintage find , and one I'm equally pleased with is this Jug ......

What do you think ?

I love the geometric flower pattern .....

Close up it's pretty too , but it's the arrangement of the design that's so pleasing.....

This is what it says underneath .....Midwinter Roselle....which is from the Sixties ( Mr google told me that too :0) )....

For £2 you couldn't buy a modern jug so to get something vintage and so pretty made me really happy.
Have a great weekend.
Jacquie x

HEXAGON TUTORIAL NEWSFLASH
I have e.mailed Coats and Clark and they have very kindly given me permission to do my photo tutorial using their pattern so that should be coming very soon :0)