A Trike-Trailer, A Drawer, & Dishcloth Knitting

Greetings lovely friends & readers

Those that know me well, know my absolute LoVe of old vintage trikes ... I have four of them in varying states of disrepair.

 This one above is still looking pretty with the last of the pansies blooming, but these will sucumb to mildew soon as it's getting warmer here.

This trike above left is probably my "best one" as far as condition goes.  It has always stayed up on my covered deck so doesn't get the weather & the Grandkids have ridden it frequently so I keep it oiled & running smoothly.  

The trike trailer was purchased from the SPCA Op Shop ($12) late last year.  I had been asking The Mr to weld a loop to my trike so I could hook the trailer through it  .................... but I was still waiting ....................

During my deck clean-up in my last post I found an old wire hook & managed to find a gap under the trike tray that I could screw this into quite securely.  I was delighted 😊 - I gave the trike & the trailer a good scrub as they were both looking green after the winter.

As I knew I wanted to sit potted flowers in them, I lined each tray with an offcut of oilcloth to help prevent the wet pots sitting against the surfaces & rusting.  

I planted some mixed colour petunias into six terracotta pots I already had - 3 for each tray.

How happy this little set makes me every time I look at it.   And if the Grandsons want to ride around on it still, then it's simple to lift the pots out & away pedalling they can go  ............

This old drawer was found at Mum's Hospice Shop at the same time I bought the Pansy Planter Box.   I thought it might make a handy addition to my craft room.  It had originally been bolted to a desk so I removed the old hardware from the back.  It was actually formica but I thought it should chalk paint up okay.

You can see I removed the handle & painted right over it the same colour.

I gave it 2 coats of chalk paint in the colour Vintage White.  It went on really grainy - to be honest I think this was more the paint than anything wrong with the surface of the formica.  I tried thinning my paint out but it still went on like this.  I very lightly sanded the roughness out afterwards but still wasn't happy with it.

The drawer had a chunk out of one corner but I was able to fill this with some polyfiller.  I came across a large sheet of decoupage tissue that I'd been gifted last Christmas & decided to use this over my paint.  This was my first time using this tissue & it went on really well using mod-podge.  Once dry I coated it again with mod-podge as I find this seals everything & makes it wipeable.

The sheet was large enough that I did the top, the drawer front & also managed to line the drawer base. 

I tied a Tilda swing tag to the handle & soon filled it with crafty bits & bobs.  I was really pleased with the finished result after being not so happy with it originally.

And it fits in just perfectly on my sewing bench 💙

The last time I delivered an Order of Potpourri to Brandy's Botanicals Deb asked me if she could try some of my knitted cotton dishcloths to sell.  I was more than happy to oblige as I just love knitting these up - 

here is the free pattern I use.

I decided I needed to come up with a nice packaging method that was not too overly fancy but presented them nicely. I tied a brown paper belly band around them & then made up some swing tags that I printed off onto brown paper & cut out.  

I was pleased with the simple but effective way they looked.  I had enough cotton in my yarn stash that I was able to knit 10 different ones to send down to Deb.

  This way people can pick them up & feel the softness of them but also Deb can package them up with a soap easily enough if she so wishes.

Last month Alec had his first ever Grandparents Day at his country school - they have been cancelled in recent years due to various Lockdowns.  He dressed up as a Wizard & I dressed up as a Granny 😉 (!!!)

(I promise to have a proper cat update in my next post - Little One is fine & dandy & No - they are still not getting along)

Thank you so much as always dear friends, for your visits here today,

With much love & friendship to you all,

Julie & the furry three x0x0x0