Bird Brain Designs

We are making a picket fence inside the Shoppe to keep our Shoppe Pooches from greeting customers as the dogs run out the front door! We were inspired by a really great fence in front of a Kelseyville landmark house just a block west and across the street.  I love the house too! Steve and I getting the pickets cut with me painting the base coat……LOTS of pickets!  Seems too many for just a 12’ fence plus a generous gate.  The final fence will be painted black to match our new book/fabric cases.  That painting begins tomorrow, Monday. Back to writing instructions and finishing more NEW RedWork designs for next week….Robin

We just delivered the first load of things to the Shoppe.  Lucy, the motor home, had a full garage so it has been taken to Kelseyville and all put inside – nice to be on a roll to decorating and sorting everything out! Lots more to move. Tina and Campbell were the supervisors for the guys. Tomorrow is the first visit back to the surgeon to see how the shoulder is healing.  Tina will be very thankful to lose the huge sling with the “pillow” under her elbow.

Our LONG wall of nearly 30 feet of bookcases is nearing completion.  Tomorrow our friend, Steve, will add backs and a base finishing with crown molding along the top.  Then we will paint with a soft shade of black. Our shoppe is going to look SO great!! We plan to find some worker-bees tomorrow and take over the first load of tables and anything else we can load up in Lucy, the motor home.  We are so anxious to begin the move – but do everything else in the studio too. Stay tuned!

We had a few floor glitches but the carpet is being put down.  When the old carpet and a layer of asphalt tiles were removed, damaged concrete was discovered.  The old stuff was chipped out over the pipes holding electric and telephones put in when our spot was a bank annex. My photo doesn’t show how great the carpet colors complement the sage walls.  We are so happy every time we visit the new shoppe.  A long wall of shelves are going to be built to hold our wool and other fabric bolts plus other goodies, too.  It is going to look super! Carpet installation beginnings plus the linoleum at the front door….nice!

The shoppe outside has had a facelift and looks terrific! The terra cotta paint brings out the “5 patch” tiles over the windows.  Many folks downtown yesterday remarked they had not even noticed that the façade had very vintage tiles along the front! Here is a “before” photo…..nice new look we have going now.

Everything on our website is on SALE for you.  You buy it now and we don’t have to move it into our new shoppe! Save 10% on anything you want on our website through Wednesday the 18th. Have some fun filling your wish list. Sunday I took a drive to Kelseyville and snapped a photo of the other side of Main Street.  On the opposite corner on our block is Studebakers Café.  Lovely for coffee, pastries and sandwiches.  Next door is LuLu’s Ice Cream shop.  I enjoyed a cone of Espresso Chip, yummy.  Our old carpet is coming out this morning and new will be laid later today.  Can’t wait to show you!  Keep watching this spot.

Tina is feeling so much better after a week of sitting and sleeping in my recliner.  I’ve been the sister nurse and she has been a super patient.  Thanks so much for all the well wishes for her….just will take a long time to use that very valuable right arm and hand! As she was leaving this morning to head out to the ranch, we were greeted by the flock of wild turkeys walking around the neighborhood.  This BIG boy was showing off for the ladies in the flock.  They were not taking much notice of him though!  I was the only lady who ran for her camera to snap a shot. We never know what creature will be hanging around as we leave the house.  Guess there won’t be so many surprises in downtown Kelseyville but we really don’t know yet – we may still be surprised! Enjoy your weekend.  The sun is out and it is beautiful here at the lake after our unusually HUGE storm that rolled through the past few days. 

We are getting ready for our move to downtown Kelseyville and last Monday Tina had some serious surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff on her right shoulder. She will be more or less out of commission for 6 weeks! This could make her a little crazy being so confined in a sling contraption to let her shoulder heal…we shall see. Beautiful and cheerful roses from Kendall,  Tina’s lovely daughter.  Tina declined her photo opportunity! NEW Shoppe Update All the painting is completed and two new ceiling fans are up.  We have plenty of light but we needed to stir up the air to keep our big room heated or cooled.  Our 2 beauties, already tested, are working so well!  Sometimes it is the small things that please us so much. The carpet team is arriving at 9 am on Monday…more photos after they arrive.  So far so good. Remember our ALL Website SALE so we have fewer things to move to the Shoppe!  Help us out.  Save 10% on EVERYTHING.

Redecorating is moving along so nicely on the new Shoppe in Kelseyville and we noticed what we have to move!  LOTS of stuff!! Enjoy saving 10% on everything we have on our website this week.  If you buy it now we won’t have to pack it and move it soon. Choose your favorite Spring stuff and everything else too.  Help us in our big move.  Remember our FREE shipping on orders of $25 too - more saving for you.  www.BirdBrainDesigns.net

We have outgrown my house on the hill overlooking Clear Lake and have found a new, larger spot to relocate the studio.  We are heading to a nice BIG store on Main Street in Kelseyville. Lots of room to work creating designs, shipping our internet packages and putting together patterns and kits.  A NEW benefit will be space to offer all of you who ask where our store is….a fun place to visit and shop. Redecorating is underway and the painting inside will be finished today or tomorrow.  After the rain stops we can paint the upper part of the building outside.   Spray painting the ceiling made it look like a misty snow storm. The very large front room is a beautiful sage green but doesn’t look like much in the picture now. More photos to come as we move along.  The new carpet and all our vintage cupboards,  work tables and all the other great stuff will warm this space up wonderfully. Follow our blog and be the first to know stuff! 

Use some of your Wool stash from last blog and make a pretty and petite candle mat for spring.  Print out the FREE pattern and have a fun few hours this holiday weekend to make one or two.  If you don’t have a Wool stash, we have put together all the Wool, fancy yarn and #8 Perle cotton you will need to make your candle mat.  Make your wool pattern templates with Easy-to-Use Freezer Paper . Happy Easter weekend, friends!

Spring and warm and beautiful wool.  Does that work? Yes, we have so many beautiful shades of Wool in gorgeous springy colors.  Make pin cushions, table runners and pillows for your spring decorating. Look at some of the Wool collections we have put together in lovely bunches of Spring colors. All the pieces are Fat 1/8th (16” x approximately 12”) Pastel Bundle Six pastel shades of pre-felted wool great for Easter creations and pretty pastel flowers and leaves. Lavender Light Blue Bright Olive Lemon Yellow Creamsicle Pink Another batch of shades so great for Spring and right into Summer Wool Appliqued designs you can come up with! Our Spring Garden Wool Collection have pastel shades with pizzazz.  Just a shade darker for most colors that will combine with the Pastel Bundle to really add to your wool stash. Enjoy them ALL!        Add some gr...

We have another FREE tea towel design for you to print and embroider.  Stitch a bunch of sweet and juicy cherries on a contrasting Sage Green Tea Towel from Dunroven House.    Add to your collection of 12 Fruits & Veggies designs we will be making for you throughout 2012.  They all look great and work great too in the kitchen on our Dunroven House tea towels.  You can, also, embroider each of the fruits & veggies on muslin and create a cheerful mini quilt wall hanging for your kitchen.  Have some fun!