Another cross stitch...

... is finished!

This weekend I put the final stitches in my second cross stitch contribution to the teardrop. Check out my progress on the piece in my Flickr set.

What do you think? I think it will go great with the fabric we picked for the curtains and some other kitchen accents.

You've gotta love progress!

First Things First

Last night I finished my first contribution to our teardrop build! This lovely little cross stitch by Sunset, Our Roaming Home. Once the tear is built, this beaut' will go in the cabin in a frame handmade by Jeremy, or so he promises :) I'm so excited I can hardly wait to start on the next thing! Hmmmm, what will it be?

You can buy the kit here if you're interested. It's a relatively old design but ask at a needlecraft shop and they might just have it! Click here for a list of shops near you.

Now We're Cookin' with Gas!

The other night Jeremy made this great teardrop template. He designed it with a 5x10 trailer in mind. It's all scaled out - each square represents a 3in x 3in area. In case you're wondering, its a roof rack, not antennae :)

Yesterday inspiration hit and I printed out one of the templates (we scanned it for just that purpose). The night before we were talking about putting a big, graphic wave on each side but couldn't get the proportions right. I think it was because we had the wave moving towards the back of the trailer, not in the direction the trailer would be moving, cruising down the highway. So I redrew the wave in the other direction. This is what I came up with. Jeremy was very happy.

The Tear looked great until I colored it with Crayons - boooo. So I brought the template into work and - at lunch - digitized it with my GIS software. The template is now fully interactive! I found paint samples similar to the finish we'd like to have online at Iron Mountain Wood. The colors are clear acrylic for the trailer and Monet blue for the wave. We were going to go with a white pickling stain on the trailer but, since that would come out with a somewhat blue tint, I figured the 2 shades of blue wouldn't contrast enough and clear coating it might be a better option.

Of course, you have to have Yakima racks on top. I grew up in a Yakima family so I've got loyalties - plus, I already have a ridiculous kayak set-up. You can't let that go to waste!Now I know this is only the first template creation but I'm pretty hooked. I can see all my decorating ideas falling into place. Muahahaha!

Gathering Some Thoughts

While Jeremy plans out the design of the teardrop I've been using mood boards to put my decorating thoughts to "paper". Over at OlioBoard I put this together:

Created with OlioBoard

It's pretty good for a first draft. (Notice the very rad Chevy C10 - a magnificent tow vehicle if I do say so myself. If only she were mine. *sigh*) So, at least at this stage, the design is going to be very retro, very DIY. Lots of stitchery, homemade pillows, curtains, table cloths and as many vintage camping impliments as I can find. Remember those hourglass, Tupperware salt and pepper shakers? Yes. That old metal tea kettle? Want. Those enamel plates that have seen way too many family picnics? Perfect. That money tree better start producing this year! :)

Speaking of money, Jeremy and I took our first look at trailers a few days ago. We're still trying to decide on a size, 4x8 ft seems too small. That means that your sleeping quarters are only 4 ft wide. Seems a little tight. A standard queen-sized mattress is 5 ft. But we're looking at around $600+ for a new utility trailer. It's definitely something we'll have to research. Hopefully I'll find a good teardrop forum and ask around.

If you have any suggestions, leave me a comment.

Thanks for reading!