Coming Soon...

In our October 24, 2010 post "....And the Votes are In!", I mentioned that we had decided on the light fixtures and had ordered them.  Well, just before Christmas they arrived.  They are more beautiful in person than online, and heavier too.

Now that the holidays are over, it is time to get back to work on Tilley. During the next few cold months the goal is to work on the electrical components - incorporate a 12v battery, redo quite a bit of the wiring, add in the lights we had custom made, as well as replace the old and broken tail lights with new LED ones. 

For more details I now pass you to the mechanical/electrical minded half of us - Pat - who will post The Manly Explanation of what we'll be doing next.

Sweet Surprise!

Yesterday, November 2nd, was our official, legal wedding day. In 1990 we tied the knot and became our new selves of "Pat and Lee Ann".  I say that because whenever anyone refers to us it is never Pat, or Lee Ann, or the Gillilands (which would be silly anyway since I kept my maiden name), but always Pat and Lee Ann.  It's not that we are glued at the hip, but we were friends with similar interests before we got married and we still enjoy doing fun things together.

Of course, this year being our 20th Anniversary, and as you all already know, we bought Tilley as our gift to each other.  Our fun thing to do together for the next 20, or 30, or 40 years.

We have been putting all our anniversary gift funds into making her our steampunk haven for two. As well, yesterday was a week day and we both had to work and do regular every day taking care of business chores. So I was of the impression that we would be having a quiet evening watching something interesting on the television with the girls.  Well, I was greatly mistaken.

My lovely husband set up a little surprise for me.  Here is a hint...

The candle is sushi shaped, one of our favourtie foods (which you can see in the photo, as well as umeboshi).  Some lovely ladies at a now closed Japanese grocery store gave us the candle for an anniversary a few years earlier.

Have you guessed?!
He made some of my favourite Japanese dishes and set up a romantic dinner for two in Tilley.

As Tilley is now parked in our garage and it's November in Canada, he even warmed her up before he surprised me. We had a wonderful, quiet, special meal in our lovely santuary. We spoke only of us related topics. It was fantastic!

Here's to many more wonderful future anniversary dinners in Tilley (whether in the garage or on the road).

Happy Anniversary Honey!

....And the Votes are In

We have recently been discussing what to get each other for Christmas this year.  We knew we wanted to get something for Tilley as well.  It was a hard choice between getting some lovely elegant melamine dishware from Bongenre or lighting from Arevco Lighting as talked about in the post before this.

Well, the decision was made yesterday.  We live in a quaint neighbourhood where you can walk to various wonderful stores, and since our girls were both away, and it was a lovely autumn day, we decided to go on a stroll to check out one of our gift options.  We went to Arevco Lighting - it is literally a 10 minute walk from our house - lucky aren't we!  We spoke with the lady of the establishment and told her of our recent lighting style research for Tilley, which included our favourite from her store.  The only problem was that we did not see it displayed!  Well, to our great joy she informed us that they make them!  The parts come from Italy where the brass is cast and they do the rest. 

Pat's main concern was whether it would work on 12 volts as one of his plans this winter is to integrate a battery power system into Tilley.  With no hesitation she informed us that the transformer could easily be left out and work perfectly well with the system Pat will be putting in....and the lights would then cost us less as well.

Needless to say we have decided, wholeheartedly, to get two of these fantastic lights as our gift to each other.  They will be custom made to our specifications and will be in "dark antique".  The order is in and the down payment is made!

   

Cold Weather Creeping In

As the weather has been terribly rainy and cold the last while in our neck of the woods, Tilley has been nestled snug in the garage and we have not done any more camping.  At the same time, we have been incredibly busy on the homefront and our energies have gone elsewhere.

Of course that's not to say we haven't been thinking about her, it just means we will be doing a little less for the next while as life settles into back to school and some of our favourite autumn and winter holidays.  We plan to get back to work on Tilley in the winter.  We still have a lot we want to do with Tilley like....do we fix the old refrigerator, get a new refrigerator, or simply add more storage in it's place, how to paint the exterior, how to paint the gas tank (after we buy a new one), and very important - new wiring and battery. 

Wiring is very important because we want to install some fabulous lighting.  Here are some options we have been investigating - something like this

Or this

But our favourite is this...

...and lucky for us it is for sale just down the road from our home at Arevco Lighting.  We have bought from them before and their light fixtures are all beautiful, well made pieces. Now the question is do we get it in "polished brass" like above or in "dark antique" like below????

We'll be sure to let you know as soon as we decide.

Most Often Heard

Tilley is currently taking a short siesta, but that certainly doesn't mean that she is forgotten.  Over the past few weeks we have had so many questions:  How is Tilley?  Have you been enjoying Tilley? Have you done anything new with Tilley?.... I could go on and on.

Tilley seems to have taken on a life of her own.  Twice very recently we have had people look at and then give us something while saying "That would be great for Tilley".  Yes, it's true, she's getting gifts now.

The first was at a swap meet a few weeks ago and we were looking at this...

...and a friend near us said "I think that would be great for Tilley".  Well, of course, we agreed and took it for her. It is solid metal (we think maybe brass) and looks to have been a wall sconce at one time.

The next item came when my dear husband went to a lovely artist and corset maker friend by the name of Robin Dostaler to pick up a brooch she had made for me. He arrived to find her with the brooch and this

She said it was something she has had for a long time and it came from her family and she just felt it was perfect for Tilley.

I am a little flabbergasted that people are gifting our trailer. On the other hand I am very pleased that she has taken on a life of her own and that her personality inspires people to help make her more beautiful.

Note:  We are not above accepting lovely things for Tilley - thank you!

Have Tilley Will Travel

Last week we finally had time to take Tilley on a long journey for an entire week.  We took her to our friends' campground, Raven's Knoll.  It was great to finally take a break from fixing and decorating and actually live in her.  One word to describe the experience - Sumptuous!

Evening photo of our set up.  We decided, as it is quite hot in our area right now, to not cook inside but to cook outdoors on our three burner stove.  Notice the kettle on top ready for tea.

On the inside we were ready for comfort.  Every person who came by wanted to see her insides and we proudly showed her off.  Many people were talking of looking for a Tilley of their own after visiting ours.

Here is our eating area during the day, notice the lovely pillows on the benches, you'll see them again soon.  The books on the table will hopefully one day be set on a self above the window behind them.

In the evening, the same space is transformed into our incredibly decadent sleeping area. The pillows you see in the first photo are feather and the covers come off.  Just add bamboo pillow cases and Voila! they do double duty. 
You can see the cushions that go from bench to bed, but on top is a feather mattress.  On top of that is the softest, warmest blanket we have ever owned.   The pillows, covers, mattress and blanket all come from a little shop called Quiltsetc

 

Best sleep we have ever had camping...ever!

Time for a Quickie

Since our last post about Tilley, we have not done anything new to her, but we did take her camping.  We spent three wonderful sunny days at a friend's campground near Eganville, Ontario called Raven's Knoll.  It was a joy to park and be finished with set up (of course the girls still had to set up their tent, but they didn't seem to mind so much).  We had a number of visitors come to visit and there was much Oooing and Aaahhing.  Our bed with the new feather mattress and feather pillows was extremely comfortable and we had the best camping sleep of all time.

We will have another opportunity to live in Tilley (and this time for a full week) when we attend Kaleidoscope Gathering.  We will be attending to give a Steampunk 101 workshop and hold a steampunk cocktail party on the Friday evening.

I leave you with a photo and a query

Brass and glass outdoor thermometer - we know we can attach it with earth magnets or screws to one of the larger windows.  The questions are - do we place it outdoors for an accurate measurement but possibly lose it by theft or inside for safety but not quite an accurate temperature reading....and/or.....do we use screws for more permanency or earth magnets so we can put it away for travelling.

We hope to have many photos and stories to tell upon our return from Kaleidoscope Gathering. 

Until then....ta ta for now.