May 2010 Archives

I didn't mention, Sunday my orange fluffy kitty, Tabitha celebrated her 5^th birthday!  Here is a cute picture of her with my new camera.

After I excitedly got my camera yesterday I began to take pictures like mad of all the things I had planned to. 

I just recovered some glider/rocker chairs we have.  They were given to us by my mother.  Richard and I don't mind them but the horrible plaid doesn't match our aesthetic.  So a few months ago I made the living room floor a screen printing area.  I printed a design I created with thickened dye so it would soak into the material.  That worked okay, had some misprints because our floor isn't as flat as I thought.  I became a smurf in the process. 

Here is the rocker in its plaid awfulness.

Now with the newly made covers!  They are right over the plaid.  I didn't want to mess with taking the plaid off.  Also, when/if we decide to get rid of the rockers I can take the covers off to salvage the fabric I printed.  There are zippers to easily remove the covers to wash.  I made those two pillows too.  The aqua one is made of silk dupioni and I stitched some French silk antique lace down on it.  I inherited the lace from my great grandmother who was a seamstress.  The orange one is from a print fabric at Ikea.  Love that store.

Here is the other rocker with another pillow I made.  Most of those fabrics in the pillow are scraps or material samples.  This rocker sits next to our mini forest of fruit trees.

If you read my blog then you've seen this wall.  But here is a view to see the newly covered rocker in it.  I like it!

Since a couch is an expensive buy I had to make our futon work.  It needed to be more comfortable so I put a piece of memory foam on top of the futon mattress.  Then I bought a white futon cover and dyed it the turquoise color.  It's not my best dye job but it works.  Then I put lots of pillows on it.  Most of them I made.  The poppies art quilt I made a few months back was for the couch.  I thought it needed something thrown over the back.  For now this works, but I still want a couch.

This is one of my favorite pillows I made for us.  It sits on Richard's Lazy Boy chair.  [Click image to see larger]

We recently mounted all of our bikes onto the ceiling.  They were in the way.  It's a pulley system mount.  It's really easy to get the bikes up and down.

Hope you enjoyed!

Cheers,

Kyle

As I impatiently wait for my new camera to be delivered to me today, I wanted to let yall know about the new boutique in town. 

The Onion Tree is a modern gift boutique.  All the items for sale are handmade!  There is jewelry, hats, pillows, purses, and much more.  It is owned by the lovely Bridget who moved back to Wichita to start this shop.  While living in Portland, Oregon she loved all the shops that were dedicated to handmade items but saw the market was oversaturated.  She decided to bring this idea to an area that lacked a store of this nature.  It's a wonderful idea for Wichita and a great way for local artists to get recognized.

The store is open now for everyone to visit but The Grand Opening of The Onion Tree is June 5 from 5-8pm.  There will be hors d'oevers and refreshments to celebrate the occasion. 

This is a great way for those of you who admire my handmade goodies to see them in person.  Most of the items I had listed online have moved offline to be sold at The Onion Tree.  So please, everyone check it out!  I will not be able to make the grand opening as I will be out of town for a wedding but I ask that you go. 

Cheers,

Kyle

My husband mentioned a few weeks ago he stopped using one of his facial products because he didn't like throwing away the cotton pads we used to apply the product.  I told him I could make some reusable ones.  So I did. 

I made them out of some bamboo fleece fabric I had.  Cut two circles the size of a cotton round.  With good side out lay them together.  Surge, or in my case zigzag, around the outer edge of the round.  Volia, reusable cotton pads.  I washed and dried them so they are a little curled on the edges but hey they work.

For those not savvy with sewing you can find reusable cotton pads online to buy. 

Cheers,

Kyle

I whipped out this little baby quilt last night.  It's for a friend expecting a baby boy soon.  I learned a cool way to do quilted circles that I had to put it to use.  The blue fabric has little frog's on it.  I think with the circles look like portholes on a ship, thus the name.  The pictures are not the best because I'm using the old lame digital camera since my nice one died last week.

Front of the quilt.  The quilt is 28" x 40."

Here is a close up of the circles. 

The back is some green fabric with little shiny gold swirls on it.

Cheers,

Kyle

Right now, I feel like everything has hit me all at once.  I also feel like all the right doors are closing and many new ones are coming fast.  I've had the chance to meet some wonderful people and gain some great opportunities.

Because of this I am a busy bee lately.  I feel like when I have lots of things going on and deadlines to hit, I get more done.  I have a bunch of projects I need to get done before the end of the month.  Wedding gift, baby gift, art submissions, and many unfinished home projects.  I've been in the habit of lending my time to others too.  Helping a friend with the finishing touches on the office we designed.  Teenage birthday party tomorrow; I made the decorations. 

With business stuff, the list is ever growing.  I'm getting ready to register for a business ID.  This has made me see I need to reorganize things and rethink others.  I also need to recreate some new spreadsheets for my items.  I discovered while my current one is good with organizing my Etsy store, it's not so much when it comes to items for consignment. 

That's right consignment.  Many of the items I'm currently selling online are moving offline.  They will be selling at The Onion Tree, located 120 N. Hillside.  This shop will be dedicated to selling handmade goods.  Bridget, the wonderful owner, has been doing a great job on the store.  It looks really nice.  There will even be an area for teaching classes there.  You are welcome to stop by and shop now but the Grand Opening will be June 5. 

There are also some other good things pertaining to my biz that will be happening soon but I'm keeping quiet until I know more.  I'll keep you posted when I can.

Cheers,

Kyle

First off, I have to say... Happy Birthday to my kitty, Matilda!  She turned 4 years old today.  Here is the birthday girl.  She had a pink bow on but wiggled around so much it became a tie. 

This evening I finished Richard's pannier bags for his bike.  They are the same bag design as mine just different colors and embellishments. 

He is a geek so he asked for "42" to be put on his bags.  It's the answer to life from "The Hitchhiker's Guild to the Galaxy".  Richard actually picked out the fabric color and the font for his 42.  Both bags are the same.  I appliquéd the 42 down with a zigzag stitch around the edge.  I think they look pretty sharp with Richard's bike.

Here is a back view of both.

We'll be shopping all over town on our bikes now!

Cheers,

Kyle

I haven't posted a picture of my new bike!  Here it is with all its gadgets and prettiness.  Richard and I got the same bike actually.  We could only get them in one color too.  Mine is just a smaller version.  I really liked the design of the men's bike over the women's.   I plan on jazzing the bars up with stickers.  The front basket is for Matilda, one of my cats, to ride in!

Love my bike!

I just finished making my set of pannier bags.  They are inspired off the purse I carry everywhere.  They are made of 100% cotton duck cloth that I dyed purple.  The front is pieces of cotton, linen, silk, and polyester fabrics, some of which I dyed.  I put Iron on Vinyl on the whole inside of the bags to make them more water resistant.  On the sides is a reflective strip so cars can see how wide my bike is with the bags. 

Here is a close-up of the front of both bags.  They are similar design but different birdies.  {Click on the image to see a larger picture}

I put a front zip pocket on the flap to carry small things in. 

The inside is nice, big, and deep.  We want to use them mostly for groceries so I wanted to make sure we had the room.  I also added an adjustable strap so we could carry them into the store with us.  The strap unhooks on one side so you can tuck it in the bag out of the way.  I considered making the whole strap removable but I thought keeping it attached on one side would keep us from losing it. 

The back is supported with corrugated plastic, the stuff yard sale signs are made of, to stiffen it.  It has been sewn into a pocket in the back of the bag.  I sewed down the hooks with webbing.  It has been sewn down into the plastic.  They are not going anywhere.  The bungee with the vinyl covered S hook is to keep the bag from wiggling around while riding.  The bungee is removable so you could use it separately. 

I'm currently finishing up Richard's bags.  I'll post them when I'm done.

Cheers,

Kyle

This past weekend Richard and I drove to Dallas to fix up some minor stuff on our house.  We rented our house for just over year.  Since we recently put it up for sale we needed to fix up some renter damages and do some basic up keep to our house.

Richard worked outside cleaning up the yard and fixing the shed that had sustained damage over the year from natural wear and tear.  He cleaned up all the matted down leaves and planted some flowers to give our small back yard some color. 

I hate renters.  In general people are terrible to places they don't physically own.  I feel like I'm a very good renter.  Probably the only thing I can see that could be a problem is I like to paint the walls.  I cannot live in a white world.

I worked inside the house repainting all of the woodwork.  I'm saying all baseboards, doors, doorframes, and cabinets.  Our property manager thought the tenants had used a harsh abrasive cleaner to all those surfaces because you could see white marks all over them.  I discovered they were not cleaned they were painted!  All of the woodwork is off white in color.  They used generic cheap white paint all over the woodwork as if to hide the markups.  We suspect it was used to paint over dirty areas instead of cleaning.  I was annoyed by the kitchen the most since I had freshly painted the walls and cabinets before we left.  My brother lives in Dallas and was wonderful to come over and help me out.

I found an outlet cover that had been wood glued back onto the wall.  Seriously!?  Those are like 99 cents to get a new one and screw back on.  That was fun having to pry it off the wall.

I can't complain too much.  Overall, they were good renters.  We didn't have any holes in walls, rotting floors, or something else major.  It was just annoying. 

We finished up Monday morning and headed home.  The house looks nice.  Now let's hope it will sell. 

Cheers,

Kyle