Shasta Love

Are you sick of my Shasta?

I had some fun today playing in my doll house. =)

We finally got our table installed.  Well I should say the BG finally got to it for me.  I might have pestered him yesterday, but he got the job done, so today I will leave him alone. (maybe)

I purchased a really nice new mattress cover, and washed and pressed all my vintage linens for the bed.

Remember the His and Hers vintage pillow cases I shared a while back? A little oxy clean fixed them right up, here’s mine:

Then I made a tiny little bed skirt so we can stash a suitcase under the bed.  I also made a little curtain with bunting to give a canopy effect over the bed. If it bothers us we can just take it down, it’s a spring loaded shower curtain rod.

And now my little fort is just the best place to sit and read.

I stopped while I was out today and got some fresh flowers, artisan bread, wine, strawberries, blue berries, and chicken salad for a little picnic and couldn’t resist taking some pics.

The purple hyacinths are from my yard, they smell SOOOOOO good!

I am content now with the new arrangement and I know it will be MUCH easier to slip into bed without having to make it up.

Enjoy your day!

Melissa

Take me camping!

I haven’t been able to stand it.  I had to put all my “stuff” out in my camper because we have been teased with some sunny, but still COOOOOOLD days.

This is what my poor little lonely Shasta looks like today.  She needs a sweater doesn’t she? LOL

We’ve been working on a new interior configuration for camping.  We get sick of taking up and putting down the table and making the bed when we are actually out camping in her. Lets face it sometimes after a long day camping and beer  around the campfire, you just want to crawl into bed!   The BG didn’t want anything permanent because he likes the larger dinette situation when we just play in her at home.

I think we have it figured out…I had to make a new set of shorter bench cushions (thankfully the fabric store still had some of my cushion fabric, ) store the longer back rest cushions in the basement , and place the long seat cushions the short way for a bed we can leave there while camping and a new table top will go between the new short cushions.

This works well for us because we can just put everything back and store the short cushions when we want it the old way

As I was cleaning up and dusting off the camp stuff, I took a look at my old Weekender Bag by Amy Butler.  I made this 6 or 7 years ago and it’s been well used. Showing signs of lots of travel between the girls and I using it. It used to have a nice crisp shape, but now looks all squished.

So this weekend I sat down to make a new one.  I shared this reproduction flour sack panel fabric a couple years ago and never got around to making anything with it for the camper.

  OHHHH wouldn’t it be cute to use for a new Weekender ?

Here’s how it turned out…

I’m in trouble now, because my girls want one!!!

Later gators!

Melissa

I’ve got wings!

So I’ve been hearing from my adoring fans, okay adoring fan…..okay just my Mom that I need to do a blog post and check in!

We’ve been pre-approved for a mortgage,  so much of our time is taken up by house hunting.  It’s quite stressful actually:  if it

has the perfect yard, then the kitchen is to small.  If it has a great kitchen there aren’t enough bedrooms….you get the idea.

We lost out on 2 homes now.  On the day we were going to make an offer,  the homeowners accepted an offer before we could bid.

UGGG…shot to the heart.

It’s fun looking, but it sure isn’t fun making such a huge choice!

We’ve spent the last few weekends working diligently on the Shasta exterior.  Sanding and prepping for the paint.

The girls helped out too!

We’ve got the front side stripe to do and the new door handle to install, but everything else is finished for our first camping trip this coming weekend!

I’ve even made the red and white polka dot awning.  Pictures will surely follow of it all set up at the camp site.

 She looks ready to fly with her new wings doesn’t she?  Oh sweet, sweet summer I am sooooooooooo ready for you!

Two weekends ago I went on a Sister and Sister-in-law trip with the BG’s sisters to Saugatuck, MI.  We had a great time. There were cocktails, condos, hot tubs,  and mucho shopping involved.

I found these cute little shakers for the shasta.

On the sewing front I’ve been making sundresses, trying to use up stash for utility quilts, and working on some of my own patterns.

It’s a bit too rainy and dreary today to take photos, so I’ll have to share another day.

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods!

Later Gators,

Melissa

Who turned the heat up?

I haven’t meant to neglect my bloggity blog, but you can hardly sit inside with this insane summer- like weather!!  86 degrees RIGHT NOW!!!

So I have been doing a lot of this:

out in my little vintage camper

where I have been stitching on these

little retro looking towels for the camper

or out shopping for cute things to put inside the camper

(The BG and I made that little shelf…he was such a doubter, but I think it turned out cute and granny-ish)

Hearts & Ric-Rac glasses….oh my I couldn’t pass them up!

I have ordered some vintage aqua melmac mugs/sugar/creamer dishes to match my salt and pepper.  Can’t wait to hang em up!

We are gearing up to do the exterior paint job, awning, and wings in the next few weeks.  I’ll be sure to take photos!

So that’s all I have been up to: antiquing, stitching, and lots and lots of new quilt design making that I can’t share on the

blog.  It’s hard to write a quilting blog when you can’t share any of the quilts you’ve been making!!!

Enjoy the day and see ya later gators!

Melissa

Everything that has been happening since the last time we met…

I started to realize that I am going to have to make a MAMMOTH post at the end of the summer if I don’t make a mid-summer post soon!  Someday I plan to have this journal printed out and I don’t want to think nothing happened to me in the summer of ’11 (hehehehehe.)

My college roommates and friends all went to the WORLD Expo of Beer in Frankenmuth Michigan again this year.  Many delicious mugs of spirits were consumed! I wore a white dress and didn’t spill anything on it the whole night! WOW, I must not have sampled enough beer.

I went on my oldest daughter’s field trip to Henry Ford museum:

Then June 17th the girls got out of school. That seemed super late to be getting out of school (at least it seemed that way to me!)

Here are their first and last day of school shots:

awww growing like little weeds huh?

We took an amazing 5 day camping trip WAAAY up north where the girls caught their first fish, we celebrated The BG’s 39th birthday,  and the Shasta had her maiden voyage.

Then off to Mom and Dad’s house for the 4th of July festivities.  This year the party was at my Aunt Donna’s house:

Then we were off to the lake at my college friends’ Alicia and Chris house to celebrate…..wait for it……my 40th birthday. yikes

I have been sewing here and there too!

I finished up the cross stitches I shared last time into two pillow tucks:

And I just finished stitching a little flower pocket by Stacy Nash…a little late for the 4th but it will be ready for next summer =)

I used up almost all the rest of my Darla fabric to make some pillows and a huge quilted comforter for the Shasta.   It was so much fun trying the scalloped edges on the pillow…not bad for my first try!

Here they are inside the camper with the bed all made up:

It’s kind of too match-matchy now with the curtains matching the bedding, but I am too lazy to make new curtains! LOL Maybe next year.

I found another set of  really cute vintage pillow cases too!

My second attempt at making scallops and my first with putting a bias binding on scallops wrapped up yesterday with the dresden plate I finally finished.

I did a little re-frame job on the stitchery gifted to me by Kathy:

And here it is on the little shelf in the camper:

Oh my goodness, congrats if you made it all the way through this post. JESSSH!

Hope your summer is AMAZING too!

Later Gators,

Melissa

Summer Greetings! Shasta Update

Hi Bloggy friends!

I have to say that this will probably be one of the few posts I make this summer. So I am just stopping in to say hello, and that I will be around but probably sporadically for the next month or two.

  We’ve just been so busy with end of the school year field trips,  summer soft-ball for the girls, and fixing up the Shasta camper.  As Sue was saying earlier, Michigan summers are just so dang short you really have to enjoy the heck out of them while they last.  Our girls still aren’t out of school for the summer yet, but we are itching to get out, travel, camp, and swim.

We aren’t done with the complete Shasta renovation, but we are as close as we are going to be with the bigger things waiting until the fall.  OF COURSE with the exception of the FUN PART: finding/making cute decorations for the inside,  we will continue with the outside painting and wings this fall.

Here’s were we started:

We actually had so much fun working on this camper together.  We would just get a six pack of beer, turn up some great music and hang out.  It makes me wish we had another one to fix up! LOL

Then after new screens, new birch to patch water damage, new paint, new floor, new cushions….

Here’s the after so far:

We will still put new Formica on our table and the kitchen counter, but we just want to go CAMPING!! (GRIN)

Sending you all big hugs and wishes for a fabulous summer, we’ll check in when we can!

Later Gators!

melissa

edit: Kathy your awesome picture is going in there!! I forgot to put it in before I took these pic’s =(

Shasta compact update

The BG is coming along on replacing the water damaged wood in the camper.

AS SOON as he is done I am going to paint the interior a fresh coat of white, we’ll install a new floor, and then the sewing of the curtains and cushions shall commence.

We’ve pretty much decided on painting the exterior red on the bottom, white on the top, with the signature Shasta Z stripe being silver.

Here’s the cushion fabric I ordered.  I picked it up last night.

While shopping around I have been keeping my eye out for camper goodies!

I found a cute red polka dot rug at walmart,  some awesome melamine dishes at target,  and some adorable vintage pillow cases while antiquing with Mom.

I think I have decided to use my Darla fabric for the curtains??

It’s so fun! =)

Later Gators!

Melissa

Easter and a new baby (the kind with wheels)

We had a perfect Easter this year.  What a lovely, lovely weekend we shared with family.

Coloring eggs,  the Big Easter Egg hunt, making bunny necklaces, eating GREAT food, and having our own church service at Mom and Dad’s house in the morning.

The weather was beautiful (for Michigan lol) and the company amazing. We couldn’t have asked for a better time.

And to top it all off….we did it!  I got my sweet little vintage 1961 Shasta delivered this morning!!!!!!!!

I am thrilled beyond words.  Can’t wait to start fixing her up and spend hours and hours playing and camping in her! =)

I’ll post pictures as we fix her up, but here is the first before shot of her sitting in my driveway!

later gators!

melissa

Sweet vintage camper dreaming

It just might happen! We are going to look at a vintage 1961 Shasta tomorrow about an hour or so away from our house!!

Here’s a pic of my possible new baby:

It doesn’t have it’s wings but it looks like it is in pretty good shape. We’ll have to learn about restoration and get her a cool paint job, and wings,  but I think I am in love!!

Here is some vintage camper eye candy to make you drool:

source click HERE

source click HERE

source  you must click HERE and see the rest it’s SOOOOO cute.

source click HERE

I really in my heart of hearts would like a pink one

but I would like the BG to camp with me…..soooooo

Later Gators!

melissa