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!

Sunday Outfit Post: Swirl (now with photo!)

This is my one and only Swirl dress. I bought it at a tiny little antique shop in Corning, NY that had a single rack of vintage dresses. It was marked, "Vintage housecoat, $9". I think I ran some of the customers over taking it to the register. (I also wish I had bought the 1950s taffeta evening dress they had for the same price, but it didn't quite fit me and I didn't have my etsy shop yet.)

It's a pink cotton seersucker with embroidered cherries on the top. I'm also wearing some white peeptoes that I had forgotten about until the other day when I was collecting some more stuff for the shop. Love it when that happens!

Behind me is my first canning project of the year- 8 quarts of rhubarb. I also made a rhubarb pie, but that was gone before I thought to take a picture of it. I had close to 25 pounds of rhubarb to do something with!

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. :)

Trash Picked Tuesday: MCM coffee table makeover!

A while back I did a post on this coffee table that my parents were throwing out. (Literally- it was at the curb and I trash-picked it from my own parents.) You may also recognize the country craptacular sofas that we got rid of by giving to my brother last fall. ;)

I had always liked it, but it was never very sturdy. The legs were always wobbly (I remember it being like that ever since I was little) and with the soft pine top, you could never get them to screw in tight. Plus, you can see how beat up the top was. 

Well, one night about 6 weeks ago the thing completely collapsed. Two of the four brackets that held the legs  just broke, and I could not find replacements at any of the big box home stores (big surprise).

So, now it was time for plan B. I searched the internet for replacement brackets and got sidetracked looking at some beautiful MCM coffee tables. Recognizing inspiration when it bites me on the foot, it occurred to me that hairpin legs would look spectacular with this top.

I found a little company in Ohio that makes nothing but hairpin legs in their shop, at www.hairpinlegs.com. I always try to buy American and buy from individual craftsmen and this was the perfect opportunity! They offer all different heights and finishes for their handmade hairpin legs, and the price is very reasonable. I ordered a set in natural steel and it arrived within a week.

I couldn't have been happier- they were perfect, and I knew the would be a lot sturdier than the wobbly original legs. Now I just needed to make the top beautiful again. 

After completely stripping the top and applying at least 8 coats of stain with a high gloss finish, I am very pleased with the result:

It is rock-solid- no chance of wobbling ever again!

My dad was over last night for a little belated Father's Day get together and was blown away by the table he had bought 40 years ago from a little craftsman in New Hampshire. We got him to write the name of the town and the date he bought it on the underside. As my brother and cousins will attest, it's something of a tradition for my dad to write the purchase date of things he buys on its owner's manual, so we thought this was pretty cool.  (As a bonus, you can see how we attached the legs!)

This coffee table will go back upstairs with our new MCM-inspired sofas, so watch for that post in the future.

Sunday Outfit Post

This is one of my favorite dresses. It's a 1970s vintage waitress-style dress, but with a very 1940s feel. The shoes are canvas wedges which are so comfortable- I wear them with everything. The bracelet is red, white and blue beads, strung in a confetti style- I forget the name of this type of bracelet, forgive me!

I actually took this photo on Thursday for my son's Kindergarten graduation. I wanted to wear something that was different from all the other parents but still classy and summery. I'm the only retro mom there and believe me, I get funny looks from some of the PTA moms. They're such a clique in this school; thank goodness we're going to a different school next year- I just can't stand some of them. I'd be curious to know how some of you handle people like that; it's obvious that I don't fit in and I don't want to! :P

My view on things...

This is for those of you that commented on my backyard view in my outfit post ;)

Nice, huh? That's our garden and my washline as well as our "porch swing" in front of the barn. The patio view would be off to the left of the picture- nothing but open fields and trees. If you look real hard you can see a double rainbow...

Raising Kids (and other crops ;) in the garden!

We are big into gardening here at Chez QT. When we moved in 9 years ago, one of the very first things I did was to get out a shovel and break some ground for a small kitchen garden. Well, almost a decade later it has turned into much more, and is now a family affair!

We strongly believe in sharing the workload! Our kids would much rather help out in the garden than watch TV, even on a dreary and chilly day. They just want to be outside all the time, and if they can work on a project, so much the better. 

If anyone is pondering the meaning of life or just not feeling very satisfied about their existence, do some good, hard, manual work. The feeling of a job well done with your own two hands is something that I want my kids to appreciate, starting now. Sitting on your butt playing video games (not something we do, ever) will not produce the feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction of work. Get outside and work play in the dirt!

Jayson is fixing a bluebird box, while Jay is preparing the garden for planting at our cabin. Jayson is 6, and can be trusted to use hand tools like a hammer and pliers. He has a great mind for fixing and solving problems, and will spend hours doing this type of thing. 

This is farther north than where we live, so the seasons are a little behind.

 Even Kate wants to help. Of course, the rototiller is not actually on but it's the principle of the thing... She helped by putting the dead plants and weeds in the wheelbarrow.

The rhubarb is going full blast and the strawberries are up.

Make your mark in the earth!