Rippling Kitty

As you already know ... I bought an old campervan in May and called her Kitty.  She was 19 years old last month..... so she is an old lady.  But she still has plenty of life left in her, which was demonstrated by the fact that the day after I bought her we went on a 500 mile round trip!

Since I purchased her we have done 1000 miles together.  Not bad for two old girls LOL.

Kitty has an elevating roof which makes it the best of both as when driving the roof is down so less drag (so less fuel used) and just push the roof up when parked so that I can stand up inside throughout her length (except the cab area).

Kitty has a 4-burner gas hob, a sink and drainer, a large fridge, and room for 4 people with seat belts while travelling. 

But I prefer to have the seats set out so that I have a small sofa to sit on and this leaves the single seat and the passenger seat (which swivels round) for inside seating in the camper.

Even with my crocheted blooming flower cushions on, this seat looks drab, especially with the crazy curtains that were in Kitty when I bought her.

I decided she needed brightening up before very much longer.  I've done a bit to the outside as you saw in my last campervan post, but the inside definately needed something on the upholstery.  I don't possess a sewing machine so I decided to crochet some loveliness.

..... and here she is!  My very first ripple blanket finished in May this year in readiness for buying a camper. Thanks to Lucy at Attic 24 and her amazing blog containing really interesting stuff and brilliant patterns.  You might notice my blooming flower cushions are from Lucy's blog too :-)

The blanket has been made from leftover acrylic yarn from other projects plus some specially bought yarns in lovely bright colours.  It took a long time to crochet as I was a bit foolish and didn't do a smaller project while I learned the pattern.... so I ended up pulling it out a few times when I realised that the pattern had gone wrong (after sometimes crocheting for over an hour).  Lucy did warn anyone crocheting the ripple to try it out on a smaller swatch..... but I thought I was clever lol.

I'm over half-way through a cover for the single seat in bright ripply loveliness to 'match' the sofa.  I'll be sure to blog with pictures when I'm finished it.

More campervan adventures soon.

with blessings, Willow xXx



Lovely Kitty Campervan

I thought you might be interested in my campervan, Kitty.  She's an old girl.... nearly 20 years old.... but lovely.  She is a transit van with a factory conversion and elevating roof.

I bought her in May and the very next day I drove her down over 200 miles to Avebury for a week camping in her (will blog about that soon) doing a round-trip of 500 miles!  All I had time to do was to wash out her cupboards and fridge.  Being desperate to decorate her on the outside I had to wait for some rain-free time.

Here is what she looked like when I first bought her...

she already had the blue and gold stripes down the side and said Campa on both sides and on the front



I ordered lots of lovely stickers from Hippy Motors and waited for an ideal day.  the weather was terrible on each day that I could spare the time to decorate her.
 
I really wanted to get her done before I went on a meet-up with friends in Oxfordshire at the Rollright Stones (blog coming soon)

the 20th August was the day!  sunny but not too hot..... no rain..... no wind..... so I could start. 

I first decorated the side panel....

with a golden hare gazing at the moon.

the next thing I did was start decoration on the bonnet and I decided on Kokopelli

but the day was so lovely I had to make the most of it and headed off to some local lakes... which is where the above bonnet photo was taken.

so the next part of the decorations had to wait until the 28th August.... just in time for going away and meeting friends on the 31st.

I added a little guardian angel to the bonnet under Kokopelli.

if you have ever driven an old campervan, or been stuck behind them on a hill, you will know how slow they are. 
so the next sticker to go on Kitty was.....

"If you think this is slow wait until we hit a hill"

..... and then...... "Home is where you park it" which had been bought for me by M several years ago when I first voiced that I wanted to 'Live the Dream' and buy a campervan.

I managed to take off the word Campa from the bonnet as it was tatty .....

...and decorated with squiggles to cover where it used to be.

I'd had an idea for the side panel with the hare so that was next to be finished....

..... with stars, fairies on mushrooms, and fairies flying through the sky.

close-ups of fairies on mushrooms........

....... and fairies reaching for the stars

But the passenger side still had nothing on it..... I loved the fairies so much that I decided to repeat them on the other side.... but much bigger and bolder....

..... with a cute little Hippy Motor's car and driver.

I finished off her bonnet with some lovely silver stars.

So this is Kitty Campa's decorations............. so far :-)

Now.....dare I go onto Hippy Motor's website and order more stickers???  LOL.

Hope you enjoyed meeting my lovely Kitty.  I'll blog about her interior next time.

with blessings, Willow xXx

A Catch-up In Pictures ~ Part 5

In the catch-up we are now well into August

August 2012 continued .....

My next trip was to meet up with some wonderful friends at Conisborough Castle near Doncaster in South Yorkshire.

at the picnic

as it kept spitting with rain we decided to have our picnic under the ancient beech tree

our group ranged from small children to adults over 60 (and a lot more.... but I dare not post the ages lol).... and we were joined by two of our canine friends. 

it was the weekend of the re-enactment.....

....which was exciting for the kids :-)
while us adults just chatted, ate and chatted some more LOL
we had a lovely day out and I can't wait for the next one when we all meet up again.

Kitty the campervan and I went on a trip out for an afternoon to some local lakes for some peace and quiet (I'll blog about Kitty next time)

I made a cuppa and sat re-reading my Stonewylde book by Kit Berry in readiness for the release of book 5, Shaman of Stonewylde, in October 2012

at about 7pm I headed home but the light was so lovely I stopped in a layby......

..... to photograph the shadows on a field of corn

the photos didn't come out with the same beautiful colours that I'd seen that evening.... but then cameras can't pick up the subtle things without being manipulated can they.

I've had such a busy summer and haven't really told you all that I did.  I'd love to tell you about my wonderful adventures away in Kitty.... but that will have to wait for another time.

well that is it..... all the summer updates for now....
five of them......

as quoted from Stonewylde books "Five, always Five"  LOL

next time I'll be writing about the decorating of my lovely Kitty

til then.... blessings, Willow xXx

A Catch-up In Pictures ~ Part 4

gosh!  I seem to have done a lot this summer :-)

August 2012 continued......

Anyone been to Hutton Le Hole?  it is a lovely village in North Yorkshire that has the best little village folk museum I've seen.  all the museum is outside.... a bit like Beamish... but on a small scale.

here is the village shop and post office

inside the shop reminds me of my childhood

 a fab model village

... and the gorgeous Max



The sun was shining on our coach trip to Whitby in North Yorkshire.... one of my favourite coastal towns

my friend B and I had a great lunch..... this was considered to be a sandwich but was a great meal.  we washed it down with a bottle of chardonay as neither of us was driving

Whitby is a very hilly town and the houses are all terraced up from the sea

I captured the sun in the sea..... can you see the bright white spot on the water?



here is a close-up

~ to be continued ~

my next visit was a picnic at Conisborough Castle, near Doncaster in South Yorkshire but that will be in part 5

with blessings, Willow xXx

A Catch-up In Pictures ~ Part 3

here is part 3 of my catch-up in pictures of my summer of 2012 :-

August 2012 .....

A friend had a BBQ to celebrate the launch of The Black Pearl..... a play boat in the garden for his grandchildren. 

it was a great BBQ and the children and adults had a wonderful time.  some were even dressed as pirates.

amazingly the rain held off for the whole afternoon!

This is just outside my house where the rain ran down the road like a river!

M and I had a day out at Ogden Water in West Yorkshire.  it is a lovely place full of wildlife....

including this bee.....

and a busy little spider



this root system on the banking was amazing!

away from the reservoir was a little path that followed the stream

then walking got a little tougher!

although the larger waterfall wasn't very spectacular due to lack of rain on the hills, this little one made quite a splash :-)

~  to be continued  ~

the next trip was to Hutton Le Hole.... a beautiful little village in North Yorkshire.... but I'll write about that next time :-)

with blessings, Willow xXx



A Catch-up In Pictures ~ Part 2

as promised here is part 2 of my summer 2012 in pictures:-

July 2012 .....

a lovely day out (in the rain) at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park



one of the beautiful rescued lions from Romania



and a gorgeous female tiger.

M and I had a lovely day out in Thornton in West Yorkshire (the birthplace of the Bronte family)

here is a view from the Thornton Viaduct

.... and a view of the village from the viaduct

here is the viaduct itself

we went through a narrow style onto a narrow path between two walls and a cow decided to follow us

this is the signpost in the village of Thornton....

.... and the close-up reveals that Egypt is 2 miles one way and 2281 miles the other way.... and Moscow is 2.5 miles one way and 2506 miles the other way.  very odd, until you know that Egypt and Moscow are tiny hamlets near Thornton.

Another trip out in July was to Scampston Gardens in North Yorkshire

there are beautiful gardens full of flowers but I loved the park itself where the hall is almost hidden

the rock garden near the lake was amazing with some of the huge rocks standing 4 or 5 feet high

the refections of the summer house were lovely on the lake.

Scarborough was the next venue for an outing

it is always lovely to see the pretty little boats.....

.... and a rather large galleon!

a trip to Scarborough wouldn't be complete without a visit to the fudge shop.... yum yum.

~ to be continued ~

with blessings, Willow xXx