Trash Picked Tuesday: Tricycle chopper!

You may remember this trike which I trash picked a couple of years ago. It wasn't in the greatest shape; the back platform was all wobbly and it could no longer be ridden. But nevertheless, I had held onto it out in the shed, intending to use it as a garden prop eventually.

Well, a couple weeks ago, my son (age 6) got this idea that he wanted to make a go kart. He is very good at taking things apart and fixing them, so I let him have a go at this trike and see what he could come up with. He took it apart himself and separated out the usable parts. He prepped them and painted them himself- even bought the supplies with his own money.

He had a very specific idea of what he wanted to do, but at his age, with limited drawing and design skills it was hard for us to communicate on what he wanted the adults to do with power tools! After a little frustration on our part, we finally helped him bend the frame out, attach a new rear axle and lay a floor for the kart.

This is what we ended up with- kind of like a tricycle chopper:

It's still not quite done- he wants to put on some plywood sides and two seats. I'll see if we can find two kids' chairs at the thrift that we can take the legs off, and we'll get the plywood cut. Then he gets to attach the sides and paint them- he's going for a yellow and black color scheme, aka the yellowjacket. (I just found out that I am severely allergic to bee stings, so we thought we'd bite back a bit!)

A New Edition to the Family

The bicycle family, that is!

Here at Chez QT, we love our bicycles. I ride my bike for exercise several times a week, often pulling behind  a trailer for my kids. You may recall last Friday's post about the new trike I got for my youngest:

 I have two vintage balloon tire bikes which I absolutely adore:

Hers- my "daily driver" a Mercury, made by Murray. It's basically a 1990s re-issue of the 1946 Westfield Crescent.

And his- a red Sears Spaceliner, c.1960. 

I never pass up an opportunity to acquire anything vintage bicycle-related! So when my mom got a brand new Trek, I immediately asked if I could have her old bike, a 1960s Schwinn Suburban.

My mom put many many miles on this bike. And at age 71 she still thinks nothing of packing up and going 10+ miles on her new bike. 

This is my first geared bike (it's a 10 speed) since I was in high school. I rode it around in the yard for quite a while yesterday trying to get the feel for shifting gears again. It's a little bit slippery, and I'm not used to the handbrakes either. But it's a nice comfy road bike and I plan to take some longer rides with it. Once I add a basket to the rear rack I might even be able to take it grocery shopping- probably a 10 mile round trip.

Thanks, Mom!

Flea Market Friday: sTrike my fancy, Vintage Tricycle!

As I sit here writing this indoors while the rain is pouring down, it seems an unlikely day for yard sales! Yet, a couple hours ago we returned from one of the best yard sale days ever. This morning we originally intended to do a little thrift shopping to stock my etsy store. We did do that eventually (and it was a total bust) but got sidetracked at a few yard sales. And am I glad we did! 

The best score of the day was this vintage trike we bought. Ain't she sweet? It is not a reproduction. I'll tell you the price at the end of the post so you get there without having to call 911!

Whoever had this when it was new didn't play with it much, that's for sure!

It's a "Foremost" brand from JC Penneys- made by Western Flyer in the 50s or 60s. Just a couple scratches to wax out and it will be virtually mint. I think some bullet-shaped grips for it and a bell would be fun.

 Then we found this awesome chalkware wall plaque for my son's room. The frame is chalkware and the photograph insert of a hunter caught with his pants down is actually an 5x8 postcard, dated 1956. I bought it for $1 without really looking at the subject matter, but we all got a good laugh out of it when we got it home.

 Here it is with some of his other wall hangings in his room- fits right in!

This is the haul from the rest of the stops. The green frosted milkglass vase, the enamel ware bowl and the 2 tupperware canisters will end up in my etsy store. The FireKing loaf pan I'm keeping- it matches a casserole dish I got from my grandmother.  The red plastic box is full of vintage dime store plastic airplanes- just going by the aircraft type, there is nothing in there newer than the mid-1950s (For you Cold War buffs, a B-36, F7U Cutlass- two of my all time fave weird airframes- and Boeing 707 are the "newest".) 

OK, ready for the price? Ten dollars. :)

Our New Look

So what do you think?

It's definitely better, but still a work in progress.

I plan to change the photo banner regularly, even though it's a real pain in the butt to crop stuff without knowing what dimensions would be best. It seems trial and error is the only way to get things to fit right, unless I'm missing something somewhere that would help.

That photo is one I took while on a bike ride last weekend (that's my bike)- look for an upcoming post on that ride.