Spring has Sprung

It is April 1st and that means it's almost camping season for us.  As the weather has gotten warmer and the snow has melted I have been dying to get Tilley out of the garage for a clean up and to figure out what to do next.  Money will be tighter this year as we're working on taking our girls to the UK in the fall, so any work on Tilley will have to involve little money and lots of creativity. 

Next year when we're not travelling out of the country, I hope we can get Tilley's exterior painted.  But for this year....hmmm... I'll have to get back to you.

Until then, here is the pillow from Ikea I want to purchase for Tilley.

 

Special Anniversary Post

Our Wedding Anniversary is tomorrow, November 2nd, and it also marks our second year with Tilley.
Sense would dictate that I would post something not today, but on the big day, or at least about the big day.  Of course sometimes I don't make sense, but read on and I guarantee it will all make sense in the end....did that make any sense....any way....

I'm posting now because our special friends have made today their Wedding day! 

Congratulations to Shane and Brynn!

What, you may ask, has this got to do with our work on Tilley.  Well, Brynn put a little idea in Shane's head and he made us a little steampunk something .....

Say hello to our little friend.  Shane knit us a Squid! Our squid was slated to go into our steampunk library, but they gave him to us while camping, and we love him so much hanging around in Tilley that he is staying there to protect our trailer from invaders....and air kraken! 

Who wouldn't want a squid defense system?!  And such a cute one too.

We're also celebrating another wonderful Tilley related event today.  An article published in the Steampunk Chronicle about the beginning of our beautiful relationship with Tilley.  You can read it HERE

It's been a wonderful and auspicious day for our friends, ourselves and our fabulous Tilley!

Odds & Ends

In just one week since having Tilley home we have been very busy.

Last weekend we took her out for her first sleepover.  We have friends with land and they invited everyone for a weekend there.  It's currently quite rough camping, but they were kind enough to hack out some flat land for us to park Tilley near the entrance...and so we did.

It was wonderful spending time with our friends in the great outdoors, and even better sleeping inside Tilley on our new feather mattress.  It was wonderful!

This weekend Pat and I (but mostly Pat) added a few odds and ends to Tilley. First off, to add some extra comfort for future trips, I used some recycled stuffing, some second hand and dollar store purchases and a little sewing and voila...

Decorative and comfortable pillows.  I will be adding a few more as the right materials come together. As the look we are going for is gentlemen's club,steampunk, posh, cozy....how's that for descriptive...you can rest assured that there will be no frills or lace involved.

Pat used his birthday money (gift card from Lee Valley) to purchase a number of bits and decoration pieces.  One such piece we have dubbed moustachio.  One of the finest looking of all time....

It is cherry wood. This is before staining.

And after staining....

....and in its destined place of honour.


I have saved the best for last.  Pat bought some very important pieces that are lovely and practical as well.

First a puzzle....

Why would anyone put a hole in the center of a cupboard door???

Pat working hard on his secret project....

Teaser of instrument in cupboard door....and finally....

The cupboard doors with instruments installed.  There is a hygrometer, a clock and a barometer.  All very practical when in the great outdoors.  Every explorer should have them.

There is more to come, but still in the planning stages.  There is work to do on the electrics and also the propane cooker.  As well, our refrigerator may not actually work so we will need to decide on whether to fix it, replace it, or use it to store our clothes.

....Until next time.

Teaser.....

We will be picking up Tilley from the guru tomorrow....yes you heard right....tomorrow!

The first part (and a big one) will be done.  We will be one step closer to our steampunk dream trailer for two.

You can trust that there will be many photos posted when we have her back in our hot little hands.

Not being able to wait on buying luxury items for her (read us), we bought a feather bed.  It squishes into a zippered case that will fit nicely under one of the benches.  At night, after we set up the bed and bench cushions, the feather bed will go on top of those and under the sheets to give us a cozy, soft, luxurious sleep....aaaahhhh I can just imagine it now......Oh, sorry about that....

The big reveal will happen in the next day or two... until then a little ditty (on film ) from Tilley

http://www.nme.com/video/Vesta Tilley doing Burlington Bertie

Inspiration!

This past weekend we attended the Steampunk World's Fair.  While there we were able to meet Jake von Slatt and tour his steampunked bus.  It was a great place to get ideas for Tilley. 

Here are a few things we liked the most

We liked his shelves.  There are many books we would like to take for reading on rainy days.

We liked the embellishments.  Making the space cozy and rich with pillows, trims and Victorian style pieces like the clock and globe.

Lastly, while we most definitely have no space for a bathroom, we liked the homey feel of the space and the wonderful lighting fixtures.

For a more detailed account of Jake's project, go here Jake's School Bus Conversion

We hope to have Tilley back from the guru in about 2 weeks.  Once we have her back we can finally take our design ideas out of our heads and start putting them into reality.

Our Gift to Us

For our 20th Wedding Anniversary we wanted to do something really special.  As we have entered our "mature" years, we decided that camping in a tent was no longer the enjoyable past time it used to be.  On the other hand we could just skip camping all together and go on a trip far away to a foreign land....but of course after our foreign adventure we would still return to friends and camping opportunities....and a tent.

So we decided to invest in something for camping that was NOT a tent.  We thought about a tent trailer, but canvas is not water tight, and one of the things I have always hated about camping  is those late nights of listening to heavy rain hitting the top of the tent and wondering and waiting for the first leaks! This does not make for a restful sleep.  It was finally decided that we would get a hard fibreglass trailer.

Next we needed to decide on size.  We are light packers to begin with, so we really did not need something with all the amenities - like a livingroom with hydralic walls that opened out to give you even more room.  Then we saw the Boler trailers.  Compact, fibreglass and Canadian made.  Small and compact and easy to move.  Lovely.

Fun fact - the inventor named his trailer the Boler because it reminded him of a bowler hat.  How perfect for a couple of steampunks.  Thence the name of our blog Victorian Bo(w)ler.

On March 25 we found our dream Boler.  By the next day we had paid for it, had it registered and licensed and home!

And here she is

Say hello to our little friend.... until next time.