Kitchen Beginnings

Blue's kitchen countertops have been leaning against the wall in our bedroom for a couple of weeks now, ever since Michael graciously picked them up from Portland Ikea and brought them back to the island for us. We finally got to install one this weekend! They are solid beech wood, and very pretty. So we were pretty nervous about cutting out the spot for the range to drop into. Measure three times, cut once! Ok, we measured like 20 times and cut once.

Getting ready to make the last cut.

Perhaps we will make a really neat cutting board out of the extra piece.

It's a miracle, it fits!!!

J surveying his new kitchen - gotta keep my chef happy! The drawer unit next to the range is the original 1963 unit from our Airstream. When we were gutting, the drawer units and the drawers were one of the few things still in great shape, so we removed them in tact. They were already designed to fit over the wheel wells, so we planned our kitchen layout to utilize them. What a huge time-saver to not have to build drawers! J just added on the frame to support the range. More shelving and a pantry will be built in, but I couldn't help posting these exciting photos from the weekend :)

There is an amazing amount of counter space - it's awesome! The far right side will be a one-seater bar, so I can supervise J in the kitchen. It is really starting to feel like home in the trailer. Being in the kitchen and cooking up great food from our weekly summer farm share is a big part of life for me and J, so our galley design took a lot of priority in creating our floor plan. I guess I can start calling it a galley now because it is a Land Yacht and our stove came from a boat!

A Mother's Sewing Notions

My mom visited us last week and she came with a vision to help us sew the couch cushion covers for the L-shaped sofa-to-be in Blue Moon. J had rescued some gloriously cushy goose/duck down-filled couch cushions just before they went in the dump at some point last fall. We knew they would be great for our future couch, but they badly needed to be recovered. So they have just been sitting in our house waiting for...my mom! I ordered some crazy fabric after about a bazillion hours of measuring and re-measuring how much we would need (mom and I did that part entirely over skype! Oh, technology!). 

I borrowed our friend Karla's super awesome heavy-duty sewing machine. I emphasize the word "heavy" because I think it weighs 80lbs. But it sews like nobody's business!

And mom started sewing...

This was by far her proudest moment: making the zig zags line up on the zipper end of the cushion cover! I was perfectly content with un-aligned zig zags, but my mom would have none of that. She was a master seamstress in her hey-day (it all came right back!) and used to sew all of her own clothes. She said when she was growing up, her own mom made the mistake of saying "if you want to sew it, I'll buy the fabric."

I helped...a little. My talents revolve around cutting fabric, making hot beverages, and providing opportune breaks to walk the dogs at the beach.

The first cushion!! Notice the perfectly aligned zig-zag zipper :)

Then the cushions started piling up!

My mom solves the age-old conundrum of making square things fit into the rounded corners of an Airstream by making a custom-curved cushion.

Ooo, let's try it out :)

Ta da! The future couch (minus the actual couch part). The couch will be built in and have storage underneath, so don't worry, you won't have to sit on the floor when it is all said and done.

Ooo, let's try it out...

Photo shoot on the couch anyone? 

Ok, seriously, we couldn't help ourselves. It was very exciting :)

Thank you mom for your hours and hours of amazing sewing. Every time we snuggle into our couch we'll get to think of you!