Sneeky peek, snow, and a video (not crafty, but thought I'd share!!)

Hello!!  I've got so much to share today I don't know where to start!!

OK, first up, a little teaser of some gorgeous new images from LCI, and it's just a teeny weeny peak, if you want to see the image in it's entirety then you'll just have to wait until next week!!  There are more peeks on some of the other DT's blogs  and on the challenge blog too - links in the sidebar...

In the meantime the current "Loves Me, Love's Me Not" Challenge is still going but next week the LCI team are having a blog hop to celebrate the launch of the new images along with a brand new challenge

and as always there are lots of fabby inspiration and gorgeous images with the added bonus of prizes!!  Whoo hoo!!  Why not grab the banner for above for your sidebar as a reminder?

Well it's been snowing here in the UK and I am seriously aching from having to dig ourselves out - whoever thought of putting a house on a top of a hill with a long drive!!  Uhhh, muscles I didn't know I had ache after sweeping and shovelling this lot out of the way!!

At least the kids enjoyed themselves on their personal sledging hill :-D  Although Sam did discover snow isn't as much fun when you wander into a bit that is deeper than your wellies are high :-D  LOL, such a bad mummy for finding that amusing :-D

The other thing we have been doing this week is following the progress of some friends as they competed in the Historic Monte Carlo rally in their 1965 Mini, they had a few issues along the way, not least dodgy time penalties for missing a time check when the stage was blocked by a fallen tree, and then by a recovery vehicle, but they came 117 overall, second in class and were the second highest placed UK team - they posted a short video of them in a transit section - here - and oh my word those mountain walls look scary!!  We know they wanted to do better, as they were hoping for a class win, but at least they and the car have come home unscathed :-D


Gosh, that was a bit of an ecelctic post!!  Little bit of everything :-D

Back tomorrow with a card, so normal service will resume, and hopefully the PC is being fixed as we speak so I should be able to post a bit more often and visit your blogs a bit more regularly!!  It only took HB 2 months to admit defeat and take it to the professionals, something that I would have done the day after it went wrong, but no, he was determined to get it sorted!!

Thanks for stopping by

Sue xx

Another lovely day, two cars and and (mini) adventures

Weekends shouldn't be this busy!

Yesterday was the fab Scrapbook Sisters Birthday Bash, then HB and I went out for dinner to celebrate my birthday - we didn't stay out late, but it was lovely to be able to have a meal together without worrying what the kids were up to!!

Today was an early start as I went to the Scrapbook Sisters Treasure Hunt with my friend Vicky who goes to the same fortnightly class.  I was driving (both of us in headscarves in a vain effort to stop the wind making us both look like scarecrows) so most of the pics are on Vicky's camera but think we got some good ones.  I understand Karen and Julie were lurking and have got some candid ones too... they'd probably have got more but we kept getting lost!! At this point I'm going to say that it was not the fault of navigator or driver, but whoever wrote the hunt that Karen and Julie bought off of the internet left quite a few important instructions out - most of them turn left or turn right, or straight on - all of which would have helped!

We were doing quite well for the first few questions but ended up driving round a one way system repeatedly... hmmm....  we gave up on the instructions and followed our noses and somehow got back on the right road, but by this time we were both tired, grumpy and hungry (as was the car, which spent more time in reverse than is normal!!)  As we passed the place where we were meant to be meeting for lunch we made the decision to give up and lounge on a village green instead, a bit of a cop out I know, but hey, it's Sunday, so I think we can be forgiven.

Needless to say we didn't win, but had a great time anyway.    Here's a few pics of the prize giving and the winners!  You can see more pics here

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Whilst I was there I got a text from HB to say he had managed to get the Mini going... now this has been a source of great consternation over the past week as it ran initially last weekend and stubbornly refused to fire after that.  Once they realised their schoolboy error ( :-) ), and ordered more parts to replace the ones that had been innocent casualties it still wouldn't go... he was getting more and more frustrated... by process of elimination he finally sorted it and its now going!!  Whoo hoo!! 

Here's a pic of HB having driven it down the drive - it went back up too!!

And my word, it sounds rather lovely, the engine my Dad built sounds all brummy (is that a word??) and with that whine that a proper mini should have.  So now it moves under it's own steam (or should that be petrol??), so a few more little bits of tinkering to the suspension is required, carpets to order and go in and it's pretty much all finished. 

Oh, and despite my pronouncements that I wouldn't drive it, did I have a little go up and down the drive?? 

You bet I did, couldn't resist :-)

Thanks for stopping by - back to crafty stuff tomorrow

Sue xx

Still crafty, but completely different :-)

As some of you may know my HB has been restoring a classic Mini for the last 6 months or so.  I've more or less been on child minding duties while he's been in the garage tinkering, but I have been roped in to sorting the interior

This was scary as I've never done upholstering of any kind before, let alone on a car!

When the car arrived it was black and white, but had previously been blue - check out those blue velour seats!!  They have worked really hard and are doing a really good job and it's nearly there - the engine is pretty much the last thing to go in and that should be in the next week or two, and the wheels are off being stripped and redone (whatever it is that they do to wheels :-) )

I can't find the pics of how it looked when it first arrived, but by the time this one was taken, most of the paint had been removed, panels were cut out and replaced as needed (and there were quite a few that needed!)

Then followed gallons of Waxoyl to help prevent the rust ever coming back, litres of underseal and seven (!!) coats of primer before they packed her up as it was too cold for a couple of months for them to be in the garage. 

In early March she went off to be sprayed...

Since she came back they have been busy putting her back together - parcels of bits have been arriving more or less daily and I've stopped asking about the budget :-)  Honestly, for such a small car there are is an incredible amount of components :-). Most of them are new if the originals could not be reconditioned.  It's been a bit of a family thing, with HB, BIL and FIL doing the bodywork, my Dad doing the engine and gearbox. 

It's odd, but the number of people that have fond memories of these little cars, you can see why they are an such an icon!

So.. a few sneak peek pics of how she's shaping up

Ooh, my contribution of the day???

Well the top and bottom rails of the dash have been covered in suede, the middle is carbon fibre stuff - the holes are going to have more dials and a stereo in them, and a she's getting a new steering wheel, when we can agree on which one we like :-)

The headlining is now some lovely black fabric as opposed to the original 1980's vinyl, but no point taking a picture of that as it just looks like I've left the lens cap on :-)

Here are the sun visors I stripped back to the frames and re-foamed and  re-covered in the same suede used on the dash - I'm chuffed with these!!  (should have brushed the nap before taking the picture though!).  I know we could have bought some on eBay, but they are so expensive, and weren't what we wanted so I stuck to the custom route and made them myself.   They were actually pretty easy to do... if you don't count stiching the tops up by hand that is :-)

I've also covered the rear bins and rear wheel arches with the suede too... we had a set of black seats in storage already, but I'm hankering to make some suede and black leather seats seeing as how well what I've done so far, maybe not for this one...

I'll share a pic of her once she's all finished...

I'm thinking about doing a mini book (no pun intended!) to record the project - probably should do two as she will be going up for sale more or less on completion to make room for the next one (!!) and I think it would be nice to give something to the new owners.  I'm kinda resigned to the fact that we'll probably lose money on this one, but as only 6% of all the old mini's ever made are still on the roads then maybe it's preserving a piece of motoring history, and it makes HB happy in the same way my crafting does, so I can't grumble too much!

Sorry it is a bit alternative tonight, but making these visors was as near to crafting as it got today :-)

Thanks for looking

Sue xx