Monday, March 31, 2014

Glamping Week Begins



Yay! Camper Glamping Week! Yes, I named it Camper week but I just didn't like the sound of it and so I made the executive decision to change the name to Glamping Week. I've got all sorts of fun stuff for you this week and I have LOTS of work this week. Let me catch you up just in case you missed something. We bought a vintage Serro Scotty Camper to redo and take out west this summer on a trip. You can see my original post here.


I have fallen in love working on Lucy, that's her name, and I have given you some updates along the way. I'll admit that I haven't been that good at filling you in. So we have a little test run mini trip planned soon and this baby has got to be finished....in a week! (I'll fill you in in just a bit on all of the progress.) For these past few months as I have had "Camper Brain" as we call it here, I've come up with some fund stuff that's camper related. Did you see my little pin cushion up there? Yes, that's one of them, there will be more rings like that all week long.

While all of this fun is going on, I figure we need to have a Give-A-Way as well. Here is the prize and the entry form, please share so everyone can get in on the fun. :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And now I will catch you up on the last 8 months of the camper.


The inside had good and bad. First the good...The floor and the structure underneath were very sturdy and well taken care of.


You can't see very well in the picture, but the floor has little specks of gold glitter in it. Very retro and the only damage was a blob of black spray paint that we will hopefully be able to remove.


The bad, the roof, or what's called the overhang. There was a lot of water damage. These vintage campers are made from plywood, 1x2's and aluminum. There's not much holding these campers together so when they get wet, they rot easily. 


We wore our dust masks and removed ALOT of rotting wood. That took a long time.


We eventually got it so we could breathe and it didn't smell to terrible.


Next, I replaced most of the wood cross beams. They are what's holding the camper together. I also sealed and then re-sealed all of the outside. Every little screw, pin hole, crack, edge, you name it got some kind of sealant.

When replacing the cross beams, I had to take the outside off at both ends. It was the only way to get to the rotted wood. I had to replace a floor beam at the back as well.




Next, I moved onto the outside. The outer body was in good shape except for a dent that I am assuming happened when the previous owners backed in to something. The small metal railing that is supposed to go the corner where the two sides meet up was not big enough after the damage. Now let me stop here and say, we were never out to recreate the exact Serro Scotty that it was in 1969. We wanted to keep as much as we could but we have done some things that vintage restorers would cringe at.

How I fixed the bumper was one of these things. As someone who just wants to have fun camping int a super cute camper, here was my solution to the bumper. Ductwork, I found it in what is now my favorite department at Lowes. This aluminum is for heating and cooling vents. It happened to be a nice corner shape. I did some cutting and was able to screw in two larger corners.


After getting the outside in shape it was time to work on the kitchen. The cabinets were all needing to be rebuilt. We decide to cook outside and avoid the mess inside so we opted to leave out the stove, which meant I could get another drawer in the cabinets.


The cabinets still need some painting and there is caulking to be done, but it's getting there. I found the counter top at the Habitat for Humanity Store. It was 6.00 and the metal trim is for carpeting, but it worked well as metal edging.


I insulated everything.


And installed the all important air-conditioning. Can't glamp without it!

This is where we were at the end of January. We took it to the camper shop to get a new water tank, a water heater and pump installed, and a battery/electrical system put in. We now have Lucy back as of this past Saturday and the work has begun. I'll show you more tomorrow, especially all of the sewing I have been doing.



Back to the photo WAY at the top of this post... Here's what I did to make this Camper Pin Cushion.
The pin cushion was made using my pin cushion in a cup pattern that you can find here. I left the top two rings off. The camper was sewn on the top and the bunting was made with little scraps of fabric and my new Pin Cushion Bunting Pins. More on those and other things you can do with them and the little campers later in the week.

Go enter the Give-A-Way and then tell all your friends!

Be back tomorrow,








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Thursday, March 27, 2014

Sneak Peek - A Walk In The Woods


Hello, I don't always give sneak peeks at upcoming fabric lines but I just can't wait on this one any longer. This one is close enough to landing in stores that I am going to go ahead and give you a little taste of it that will be in your favorite quilt shop in July.



It's called A Walk in The Woods as you can tell from the images it's got a fall theme. My favorite thing about this line....I have written a project book to go along with it. It's got the wall quilt shown above as well as placemats, a table runner, stuffed pumpkins and more. You'll have to wait until it comes out to see the rest, but I couldn't be more excited.

If your favorite quilt shop doesn't carry my fabric or if you are a quilt shop that wants to carry my fabric, In The Beginning Fabrics is who you'll want to contact. There wholesale information is here or you can print this page out and take it in to your shop.

And speaking of fabric, I did just list some of my basics line Hoopla and Everyday Fun in the shop yesterday. You can look for the entire collection in your favorite quilt shop but you can find a smithering of it here in the Etsy shop and on my website.


Have a great day,









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Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Announcing Camper Week!


Oh yea! It's going to be camper week next week. I am super excited. Sometimes I feel like I live a double life because I have to work on projects that you don't get to see until finished. Other times, I wish I showed you more of what I was working on but I just get going and forget to snap photos. But next week things will be different, I am declaring it Camper Week. Why you ask?

First, I have been working on lots of new goodies and projects that involve campers. I have them all finished up and I am going to introduce these new goodies next week. Second, as you know I am re-doing a vintage camper. We've got a test run of the camper coming up and "Lucy" the camper needs to get finished. Third, I just really like to have theme weeks, call me crazy, but remember snowman week in the fall?

A little more on my second reason... Lucy needs to get finished. We really thought that we would be taking her on a test run over Christmas break, ha! One thing I have learned about restoring a vintage camper, everything takes longer than you think. The whole reason we are restoring the camper is to take a month long trip out west this summer. Summer is coming and the camper is still without a ceiling or lights and we can't make the first trip a month long one, we've got to know what we need, what to change, and most importantly how to pull her. I'll give you the full recap on Monday but I will also be taking loads of pics as we work on her all week long to get her ready to go.

Now my plan could all derail quickly because the camper is at a local camper shop getting the plumbing, wiring/battery system, and new tires. They think they will be finished tomorrow but it's taken longer than we planned to get it back. I think they found they same problem as we did, everything takes longer with a vintage camper. So if everything goes well on their end and we have Lucy back and camper week will go on with a hitch, (get it a camper needs a hitch).

Here we are just after buying her, you can see more here....


Have a great day!












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Monday, March 24, 2014

New Licensing Images for My Portfolio




Hey, Hey, Happy Spring! It's getting warm here in Georgia and so I've been dreaming of planting my garden. I can't wait to have flowers in my yard again. 

Thought I would pop in and show you what's been going on behind the scenes here. It's become the time of year where I am working on my licensing portfolio, freshening it up with new work. The image above is appliqué and free motion quilting, I have a whole series of these I am working on with fun phrases. I had to buy a super small and very sharp pair of scissors to cut out all of those tiny appliqués. 


I've been painting as well. Birds, flowers, little animals and more. Of course "springy" things...

I hope you're hanging in there waiting on spring yourself, it's been a rough winter for a lot of folks. Soon enough, soon enough...

Have a great day,








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Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Sale, Coupon, and New Pattern



Hi! Just popping in to tell you about a couple of sales going on. First of all Thermo web has 20% off all of their interfacings all week. If you are addicted to appliqué like I am you might want to stock up on some Heat n Bond Lite.


I have a coupon valid all this month as well. I don't have a fancy graphic for it, but if you enter JanglesFive at checkout you'll receive 5.00 off any order of 20.00 or more. It's good at the Etsy shop and the website. (New orders Only)


Some of you who see me on Facebook or Instagram have seen me working on a sewing machine quilt. I have the PDF of the pattern finished and in the shop. Wish I could say the same thing about the larger quilt, but it needs four more blocks so you'll still see me working on it over the next few weeks. This pattern is for a four block wallhanging. Of course you could make one block and turn it into a sewing machine cover or a pillow. Then if you really love appliqué you could make a quilt with 20 blocks like me. I promise to post pictures next time I work on it. But here's a little Instagram shot for now....


Have a great day,









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Thursday, March 6, 2014

Bunnies and Carrots Garland


It's March! It's starting to get a bit springy around here, except for the chance of snow tonight :(   I have a serious case of spring fever as well as pretty much everyone else I talk to. Here's a little Bunnies and Carrots Garland project to get you in the spring state of mind. Enjoy!

Don't forget you can hover your mouse over any of the images and Pin it.


Your printable pattern pieces are here.

I'm not going to give you exact measurements here, because I don't know how many bunnies or carrots you'll want to make. Here is a list of the different materials you will need.

Carrots:
Orange fabric
Green fabric
Fusible web

Bunnies:
White/Cream fabric
White felt
Pink felt
12mm coin beads or buttons

Green velvet ribbon
Thread
Fiberfill

Carrot Instructions:
1. With right sides together fold the carrot in half and sew up the bottom and side. Turn right side out and fill with fiberfill. Set aside for now.
2. You'll need three finished leaves for each carrot. Using fusible web cut out three leaves and fuse them to another pieces of the green fabric. Cut out the three leaf shapes. Stitch around the outer edge using a 1/8" seam allowance.
3. Place the three carrot leaves together and fan out. Place these just inside the stuffed carrot.Pin so the top of the carrot is flat. Sew straight across the top.




4. Using approximately 10 inches of velvet ribbon, tie a knot around the carrot where the vegetable and the leaves come together.



Bunny Instructions:
1. Center the pink inner ear on top of the white ear and topstitch in place.
2. Place the nose in the center of the circle, using black thread topstitch a mouth and around the nose.
3. Cut two pieces of velvet ribbon approximately 10 inches.
4. Place the bunny ears, pink side down, on top of the face and pin in place. Next pin the two ribbons facing inward, just above the center of the face. (See drawing below)


5. Place the back of the bunny head on top, pin in place and sew around the outside. Leave a 2" gap at the bottom for turning.
6. Clip the curves, turn right side out, fill with fiberfill, and hand stitch close.
7. Sew the eyes on the bunny.



Assembling the Garland:
1. Tie a knot of each side of the bunny head.
2. Tie the bunny and carrot ribbons together with knots and the desired distance apart, trim any extra ribbon ends.

Hope you had fun!





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