Hello again!
It’s SUCH a long time since my last blog post, but I did tell you it was going to be a very occasional ramble & not a regular thing!!
Well, here I am blogging away, while sitting watching the sun go down; a cold glass of pinot within grabbing distance & the grass under my feet. Hubby & I are currently located in Ramsgate for a few days - we recently joined the growing number of motor-homers, & we are LOVING our new freedom!
This is our third trip out in Beethoven - just little local forays, each for a couple of nights - & we are thoroughly enjoying ourselves.
But, let’s start at the beginning - the hunt for our perfect motor home.
When we first started talking about the two of us trundling off for adventures at the weekend, we soon realised that Sew Special Memory Bears & Keepsakes was going to have to come with us!!
Running a business of any kind, let alone a creative one, is not a Monday to Friday, 9-5 occupation - no matter how hard you try to make it so (oblique Star Trek TNG reference - if you know, you know!). The urge to sew, blog, or email can strike at any time - for me it is often in the evening, after dinner - not to mention that customers send inquiries every day of the week! The whole thing is one gi-normous balancing act!
So our first priority was to find a motor home with a layout that worked for us both, even if I was sewing. There were so many considerations, & our ideas of what would & wouldn’t accomodate a sewing machine & piles of fabric changed as we went along (being a Libran, I'm indecisive at the best of times!). One of the most helpful things, we found, was to actually go to a dealership where they had a huge variety of brand new & pre-owned motor-homes, that we could have a good old snoop around. It was a real eye-opener! The sales guy, thank goodness, didn’t pressure us, although he was very keen for us to look at the latest versions, rather than the second-hand ones!
We discovered the kind of layout we were looking for, the fact that we were definitely NOT getting a new model, & that, above all, we needed SPACE. So, although it's only the two of us, we started searching for a 6 berth motor-home, with a front & back dinette, plenty of seating, & the kitchen or shower room at the back. We climbed ladders (many of the beds were over the cab - something we expected & not a problem at all), peered inside cupboards, sat at tables & inspected appliances. Hubby found several he thought would be great, but they all had one of our must-haves missing.
This list of essentials was as follows:
- front/back dinette seating (for sewing)
- Separate sofa (for hubster while I’m sewing)
- Bed area away from dinette (so I don’t have to pack away my sewing)
- Solar panel (to help power my sewing)
- Awning (for outdoor sewing)
- Bike racks (nothing to do with sewing!)
We had resigned ourselves to the fact that it was going to take a long time to find exactly what we were looking for, & that we were just going to have to be patient - not our strong suit - when an advert appeared on a well-known social media shopping page. “This is it - have a look!” cried my hubby. I must admit, I wasn’t so sure. Although it had everything we were looking for, it also had a separate bedroom, which I thought made the living space feel darker & a little cramped. However, it was local, looked to be in great condition & the seller sounded genuine when we spoke to him (fingers have been burnt before!).
We went to look.
OMG!! Talk about being in the right place at the right time! Madge, as she was called by her owners, turned out to be absolutely perfect for us! She’s massive - almost 8m long, which makes the interior spacious. I can work while others (ie. hubby!) read, watch TV or snooze, & I don’t have to pack everything away at night before we can get into bed. The lovely couple who were selling, were only doing so because they wanted something a little smaller. They were so helpful - they were us (new motor-homers) a year ago & seemed genuinely pleased for us to continue Madge’s adventures.
That’s the thing about this unofficial club we’ve joined - owners of campervans, motor-homes, & every kind of tent, are some of the friendliest, most helpful people on the planet! Everyone we meet on our little adventures recommends something - from where to get electric bikes to favourite campsites to great gadgets.
And if you’re struggling with setting up (or anything else, come to think of it), there’s always an old hand nearby to give you advice or muck in & help!
This weekend, as I said, we’re on a campsite in Ramsgate - a slightly tired old lady of a seaside town, full of fascinating history, beautiful architecture & lovely sandy beaches. We had a wonderful time wandering around earlier, with lunch in the restored Royal Victoria Pavillion (good old JD Wetherspoons!) overlooking the sands.
This afternoon, when we came back to Beethoven (so named because back in the day, there was a band called Campervan Beethoven, & it seemed fitting, given our love of music) I got to work on my next order. This is where the balancing comes in- I can only really go away if I can keep working too (nothing too strenuous, you understand) otherwise everything runs away from me!! If I was at home, I’d be in & out of my studio all weekend, in order to keep on top of everything, & that doesn’t change just because I’m off on a jolly! Thankfully, I can spread out all over the table here (oo-er!) & hubster can sit out in the sun, bbq or potter without either of us getting in the other’s way.
My ultimate goal has "maintain a work/life balance" & "all things in moderation" stamped all over it! Because I can attach interfacing, cut out fabric, pin pieces together & answer enquiries wherever I am (given a little necessary planning prior to setting off), I can also indulge in a spot of sight-seeing/ sunbathing/ retail therapy no matter where we rock up, without feeling guilty. So far, continuing these little tasks has kept me abreast of orders, but it’s only a matter of time before I will be bringing my sewing machine along for the ride!
“A change is as good as a rest” is such a well worn maxim, but so true. Even though I’m fiddling about with assorted bits of fabric while I’m away, the fact that I’m not at home is wonderfully restorative - I even had a nap this afternoon!! Hubby works hard, so these mini-breaks give him an opportunity to switch off properly too - you can’t run off to fix a leaky tap or a blown fuse if your only transport is an enormous motorhome!!
So, let’s raise a glass of something lovely (mine’s a white wine, please & thank you): long live motorhoming!
We will definitely be continuing our adventures, taking Sew Special Memory Bears & Keepsakes on the road with us, for the forseeable. I’m actually looking forward to a longer stay somewhere, so I can set up my machine & get stuck in to some stitching. I still find it relaxing, regardless of it being my job too - this balancing act is working so well for us! East Anglia is looking like a promising next destination...
Until next time…
