Jikana Damaru: 08/05/09

Vintage vacations

All images above from Vintage Vacations

I recently saw gorgeous pics of Airstream travel trailers on the adorable Slices of Beauty blog so I wanted to share with you Vintage Vacations, a great campsite in the Isle of Wight where you can stay in imported Airstreams. They are decked out 50's style with floral prints, crochet blankets, and old games like tiddlywinks and dominoes. They have ten of the vintage travel trailers in total, from the 40's, 50's and 60's.

My favorite is the 1965 'Tradewind' in the first pic.

Thanks sweeties!

A few days ago I received the Spread the love Award from the sweet Bella at Beauty Does Matter and am honored that she chose me. I would like to pass it onto two blogs: the first is Knock Knocking who, among other things, makes the most beautiful wreaths to hang in your home. The second is a blog I recently found called Flower Patch farmgirl. She has the most beautiful taste and I especially love her garden pics.

Her Grace The Duchess of Tea, has appointed me as an Honorary Noble of the Most Excellent Order of the Blog Empire! I just love the badge with the sparkly crown on the aqua background. Check her out at Rose Tea cottage!

Softies...

Image copyright One Red Robin

Growing up, I was never much into dolls. Granted, at that time there were slim pickings between Cabbage Patch Kids and the pour-water-down-her-mouth-and-watch-her-pee! variety. These days, if your poppit does not have at least one 'softie' amongst her collection, you are well behind the eight-ball!

'Softies', the term used to describe handmade stuffed toys, have become a worldwide phenomenon in recent years. Books, blogs, websites, Flikr groups, markets, craft shows... softies are taking the world by storm!

It is no wonder. There is something delectably oldy-worldy about the Softy, yet the quirky designs make them oh-so-modern also. Even if you have never sewed in your life, I dare you not to feel inspired by the aptly titled book, Softies, with its array of brightly coloured creatures begging to be taken home. Best of all, the easy-to-follow instructions appear achievable even to those who require a youtube tutorial to thread the sewing machine (um, that would be me.)

One of my favorite sites dedicated to crafting and softies is One Red Robin, by the amazingly talented Jhoanna Monte Arandez. This girl is in a whole other league, designing incredible soft toys that appeal to children and adults alike. She sells the patterns to some of these softies as well. This one below, for sale on Etsy, is particularly inspirational and would make a very special gift for someone, non?

Other sites that will have you reaching for the sewing needles include:

http://softiescentral.typepad.com/blog/

http://www.softiemaking.com/

Let it be said that my own sewing skills are fairly amateur... but inspired by so much talent out there, I enlisted the help of my much more sewing-inclined mother in law to make the softie below. The pattern was borrowed from the Softies book itemised above. Made with the scraps from Fern's quilt (more on that later) and my ripped up maternity jeans (so cathartic), we lovingly crafted her one rainy day and, flushed with her success, subsequently made 3 more to offer as gifts to friends with newborn babies. She is delightfully flawed; which to me is what makes her so special. I would like to make a little fleet of softies for Fern's nursery, and maybe one day, way into the future, we will make one together.....

Polly

~ Think before you write ~

We received an interesting email today!

Not a pleasant one and one that is probably been sent with incorrect information but it made me sit back and think that while email is a great medium for communication it can also create unnecessary upset.

I sat in front of my computer putting together my response and then thought "no" don't reply as my email will also come across looking nasty and could be read incorrectly.

I am therefore not going to respond but sit on and and think before I write in hope that a much more pleasant outcome occurs in a face to face meeting!

I have been thinking a lot lately about how impatient and rude the world is becoming - where does it get us and what is it all for so I therefore have decided to take on a new policy of thinking before I act and trying to always remain positive and happy.