Doggy bag?!

I've done some more sewing this week - prepping a backpack picnic set for Di.  I'm very chuffed with how it's turned out.

The basic backpack was a Gumtree find.  It hadn't been used and held a 4-place setting - cutlery, plates, plastic wine glasses and a small cutting board.

As experienced picnickers, we added extra essentials - a large tablecloth (with tablecloth clips), sharp knife (complete with custom sheath), purple napkins and storage containers, various co-ordinated bags/pouches as well as teaspoons and thermal mugs.

The mugs were a wonderful bargain, bought nearly 10 years ago at a liquidation ware-house for $1.00 each. As they retailed for more than $10.00 usually, we bought 20! After lots of careful consideration, I've decided to gift Di four of my stash. Generous, eh?!

The starry bag is a new idea. It's the same style as my kettle bags and loo kits but lined with leftover plastic tablecloth material. The size is generous to stow dirty plates, cups etc for washing when home again. (Now that I've made a prototype, I'll do one for me, too)!

Sharp thinking!

We do a lot of picnics, so our picnic kit is well equipped.  We usually carry two sharp knives - one for bread and the other for anything else!

A while back I made a denim sheath for our bread knife and it's non-serrated companion.

That effort (shown in the bottom collage pic) wasn't an ideal solution, so I've been thinking of a better storage method.

The denim cover will still be used, when carrying dirty knives home for washing. 

During the week we visited Reverse Garbage and bought some thin leather pieces, which were priced at $17/kg.  I only paid a few dollars for my choices.

Nick helped cut two shaped pieces, one for each knife.  They fold along the top edge of the blades.  Both pieces were wet and then folded in place around the knives, secured by paper clips.

About 24 hours later, those large paper clips were removed.  I then used my sewing machine to sew along the curved edge of each sheath.  I worked very slowly and carefully, using a longer stitch.  I sewed two rows of stitching, one directly over the other, for extra strength and security.

After checking both knives fit into their new covers, I trimmed away some excess leather.

I'm quite pleased with the result - cos I wasn't sure my machine would sew through two layers of leather.  Hooray!

Sew civilised!

I used my apple print loo bag for the first time the other day.  It worked very well (!), which then prompted me to make two more - for using when out and about in Elmer.

I'd already bought the "red dust" face cloths and had lizard print fabric in the stash.  I think it was originally intended for Vaughan but he's a bit old for it now.

The bright frogs were a more recent purchase. I bought the last available fat quarter, which meant a contrast strip was needed to create the loo bag.

My new frog and lizard kits had their first trip yesterday, though the frogs were the day's pick.

I'd also crafted a new picnic table cloth with the remaining lizard print and a bargain remnant of spotty lime green fabric.  It was super cheery for our al fresco dining and toned nicely with our picnic set.

The feather print bag in the top collage is for Di's new camping kettle.  It's a spouted billy design, so a little different to ours  - and I made this bag bigger to easily accommodate the larger spout.

Di bought a small feather dream-catcher for her new truck. As I had feather fabric in the stash, it was used for a loo bag and also featured on another bag, which holds a soft feather motif blanket. (The kettle bag uses a different feather print, which Erin cleverly spotted in a remnant bin).

Di refers to her hand-wash kit as a dunny bag which has caught on here, though we tend to use the friendlier term - DB!

Bags the loo!

Last September I made a bag for our picnic kettle.  I really liked how it turned out and have used the same method to make various other bags since - one for a pair of billies, one for shoe-cleaning equipment and now several dubbed "new car kits".

What's a new car kit? When I wanted to give gifts to all the new car owners in our family, I chose to make something practical.

I've kept a hand-towel, small soap and loo paper in Elmer for quite a few years. When we were still in Victoria, I trialed a different storage method for those items.  It worked for a while but I'm sure my new system is better.

The minion and apple drawstring bags each hold a roll of toilet paper, small hand towel (well, technically it's a large face washer) and soap. Erin's minion set has a small pack of tissues but she may choose to stash them elsewhere. I'll probably include a little bottle of hand sanitiser in the bags as well. We've visited a lot of public toilets over the years. They vary greatly in terms of quality, so we carry our own supplies. Generally soap and hand towel are enough but sometimes we do need to take loo paper. (If we are particularly well stocked, we are happy to leave a roll in the cubicle - cos we're a generous bunch)!

From time to time there isn't water available at the public conveniences, so we wash hands back at the car - cos we carry water with us, even on day-trips.  If all else fails, we use hand sanitiser!

Seam's water-tight?!

When we returned from Yowah in early October, we traveled 920km over two days - in solid rain.

Once home again we discovered the large storage box was not waterproof. Drat!

We use a tub for washing up and that was half-full of water! Amazing! 

During our transit period when we lived in a small van, it was easy to see where the roof leaked - because we could watch the drips forming along the ceiling.   It's a bit trickier to be sure about the storage box leaks.  The box roof is made from two panels and it may be that water accessed the box via that seam.  There was some sealant evident but Nick added another layer today.  Fingers crossed that works!

Out with the old ...

Our camper trailer was built to suit the needs of it's previous owner and while our requirements are similar, we don't use gas as a fuel source.

We did consider leaving the gas bottle holders in place but none of our re-purposing ideas worked, so Nick removed the rings (and the upright spare tyre mount) today.

After taking off the surplus mounts, Nick measured the space between the jerry can holders. We looked online at ready-made metal tool boxes and heavy-duty cargo crates.  None fit the space though and it seemed a bit silly to pay $100.00 or more for something that wasn't right.

While I was pondering other options, Nick went back downstairs and retrieved the smaller wooden box which he had made in preparation for our 2010 Yowah trip.

It was slightly too long for the gap but fit well otherwise. Nick cut one end off and then re-fixed the panel, shortening the length.  The box now rests snugly in the available area.

There's a bit more work to be done but our two Cobb Cookers fit into the box nicely - hooray!

We gave him a lift!

Unlike our first Fudd truck, Elmer the Gold was a standard 1996 Landcruiser when we bought him. The previous owner had not made any modifications.

In contrast Elmer the Blue was already fitted with a 2" lift.  Not only did that make him taller, it strengthened his rear suspension for towing.

The difference between the two Elmers was quite obvious when we bought our camper trailer.  The top pic shows it hooked up the day we brought it home.  (It was empty at the time).  The middle and second photos were taken after the  heavier suspension was fitted - much better, eh?!

The rear end sagging was more obvious when we had an overnight trip in August (top pic of second collage) and then drove fully loaded out to Yowah in September (middle and bottom pics of second collage).

It wasn't possible to organise Elmer the Gold's lift kit before heading out to Yowah.  The best available option was to book him into the mechanic the day after we returned. 

He's now as tall as his predecessor and after miscalculating our exits a few times in early October (ie Erin and I both almost fell out, rather than dismounting gracefully), we are used to his increased height. 

For the record, Elmer the Gold is too tall for the 2.3m height-limit of most underground parking stations! Best we remember that!