Movin' On Up

Hey there!

I've said "Seeya Later!" to Blogger and got my very own domain name (oooh fancy!).

So hop on over to thekieffercollective.com and check out the new digs.  Seeya there!

Legging Lovin'

I don't know who ordered an early Fall for southwest Ohio, but let's just say I'm less than thrilled about it.  Didn't Summer just start?  Like a month ago?  I checked the temperature this morning at 7:45 and it was 48 degrees outside.  In mid-August.  In the Ohio River valley.  UN - HEARD - OF!

So naturally, I started digging around for long leggings and cardigans and the rest of my Fall wardrobe when I got dressed this morning.  I work from home, and we live way out in the sticks (if you're unfamiliar with where "the sticks" are, it just means I live 15 minutes from a city limit in any direction), so I don't always leave the house each day.  Or for a few days at a time.

So my usual outfit in Fall months consists of long leggings, tank tops, and cardigans.  And then for Winter, I add boot socks (on the outside, yo - 80's style) and chunky sweaters over the tank top or a long sleeve shirt.  I'm weird about sweaters touching my bare skin for some reason, so I always wear a tank underneath.

I have a total of 10 pair of leggings in my stash, mostly black, but a couple of charcoal grey and navy are in there for some variety.  Out of these 10, I have one pair - ONE PAIR - of black ones with cute gold zippers at the ankle, that don't have some sort of paint or bleach on them.  So I had to part with a few of the oldest ones this morning, and start looking for their replacements.

I'd like to get new ones that are suitable for wearing outside of the house, since I tend to wear them out in public even when I'm not working.  I mean, who doesn't love a black legging with a riding boot when there's a chill in the air?

My usual go-to places have been Old Navy (cheap and easily replaceable) or New York & Company (better quality and the sizes just seem to fit me better).

Forver21's sister brand Love21 is one of my favorite places to visit on the web.  I always find cute clothes that are more age-appropriate than what the regular Forever21 line offers, and the prices are just as good.  It's either order online or fight the high school girls for a dressing room at the mall's F21 store.

I found these this morning and am really coveting them:

The motorcycle-inspired knee panels and ankle zippers are too good to pass up.  Especially at $15.80.

I've also had good luck with the Simply Vera Vera Wang leggings at Kohl's. The fit is good, with a higher waist than the juniors' sizes that Kohl's carries, and it looks like they've added some fun colors this year.  The fabric is also more matte and thicker than what Old Navy carries, so there's no worrying, "Can you see my underwear through these???"  Plus, they're on sale for $15.99 right now, so these could be my new go-to everyday "work outfit" leggings.  I'm also loving this pair but I'm not sure if I'm brave enough.  Maybe those will be just to wear at home, too.

I'm also thinking of spicing up my out-of-the-house leggings by adding a pair of faux leather ones.  I'm not hardcore enough to rock a full-on leather legging (don't let the nose piercing fool you), so I'm loving the pieced-leather look of these:

They're also from Love21 and are just $19.80.  And don't worry, those aren't stirrups at the bottom - I'm not that 80's.  That's just a poor choice of footwear for the photo shoot, if you ask me.

And then Express has these, with a "scuba" faux-leather panel running down the side for a slimming, lengthening effect.  They also have them in variations with the panel on the front, and a full-on faux leather leg.

So there you have it, a few of my favorite options for my favorite pants when it gets chilly out.  I've got my shopping list ready and am ordering them soon, before I get paint on my last remaining pair.

Barn Quilt Update

Soooo . . .

Is it really almost the end of summer?

It looks like the last time I posted, I was thinking about barn quilt designs.  And no, it didn't take me five months to do it, just to write about it.

So here goes.

I found a website that explains the meaning behind some common barn quilt designs here.  I made one for our barn, and then another one for our Realtor, who actually just lives up the road from us on a chicken farm.  I chose "Hen and Chicks" (see below, left) for hers, and "Prosperity" (see below, right) as our pattern.

So I went to Lowe's and bought a 4x8 sheet of 3/4" thick plywood and cut it in half, so that I had two 4' x 4' pieces.  I started by priming them with two coats of white primer, so that I had a nice primed surface to paint on.  Since these are made to be hung outside, I wanted to make sure that the paint would adhere well.  I also coated them with a clear, UV-resistant and waterproof acrylic sealant to keep the colors from fading over time, and to keep the wood from getting wet in the rain.

I laid my patterns out in AutoCAD and then measured how long each line or section would be.  Then I got out my pencil, T-square, and ruler and make my marks on the boards for where each line would be.  I just used acrylic craft paint to fill in the colors for each section, with two coats total, to cut down on seeing the brush strokes and get even color.

So here is how ours turned out:

We did have to put it slightly off-center on the front of the barn, since we wanted to still be able to open the loft door (just to the left in the photo above).  Although we don't go up there much, we didn't want to block it in case we needed to use it sometime in the future.

Patrick climbed up the ladder and steadied it on the top step, while I backed up and made sure it looked straight from the end of the driveway.  I think I was more nervous than he was!  That puppy's heavy.  He mounted it by just driving some long nails right through it - we didn't bother with adding a hanger on the back or mounting a cleat to the barn to hang it on.  You can't see the nails at all, since it's up so high.

We've had several of our neighbors stop and ask about it, and have received lovely compliments from them.  I'm so glad that they like it as much as we do!  It makes our house easier for people to find, since we can just say, "Look for the big white barn with the blue, green, white and magenta barn quilt!"