Thursday, September 4, 2008

Some new purchases

For Hans' birthday I made a canvas, helm pod cover for the boat and I was very excited to be able to use up some of the grommets that I'd purchased on sale at WalMart. But I couldn't seem to get them to work properly and for once in my life it paid off to be stupid!

Why?

Because grommets that are used for boat canvas need to be either brass or stainless steel and mine were neither. If I'd been able to successfully install them, over time, they would have rusted.

So I went to a boat supply store and found the above grommets and since they are brass, I'll be ok.

So here's why mine wouldn't work and I really did feel stupid. Once you line up your grommet and washer (with your fabric sandwiched inbetween) and place the grommet tool over the whole thing, you then strike it a couple of times with a hammer. Well, I pounded the hell out of mine and nothing happened; the grommet and fabric all fell away from each other every time.

But during my garage sale when Hans and I were sitting in the driveway (fending off offers of 50 cents for things like my lawn mower etc...) I had a brain storm. Into the house I went, and out I came with a huge hammer (not my little one), and proceeded to beat the hell out of a grommet right there in my driveway.

It worked like magic (and caused my neighbors to roll there eyes yet once again).

All I needed was a bigger hammer and that's all! I'll finish the pod cover the next time we head down to the boat.























I bought this fabric after work yesterday and the colors are a lot prettier in person. They will hopefully, magically transform into a purse sometime this weekend. And do you see what the fabric is hanging off of?

An ironing board!!

Believe it or not, I didn't have one. At least not a full size one, mine was one of those tiny wooden ones and it was a pain to use. I was strolling through WalMart last night and saw ironing boards with a big $10.00 each sign, and before I could worry about how I'm going to fit in Hans' apartment this winter, I snapped it right up!!

Right underneath the board you can see Chlorox peeking at me. She has not left my side since I got home. She doesn't care to make another trip to the Big City anytime soon. Here is The Beast aka Harry Houdini. There is no locked door that can hold this girl back!

5 comments:

Mary Witzl said...

Now I can go around telling people confidently that I know what grommets are and that they ought to be either brass or stainless steel. I feel so proud!

Cute cat. Does she ever go to sea with you, or is that impossible? I'd be very scared with my cat at sea, given how she likes to explore.

Anonymous said...

Well, I just caught up on your blog. It sounds like you had a good trip even with the broken engine. I love the pit bull puppy. As you know we have a 10 year old Pit bull. She's a sweetie. One of my cats is an escape artist too.

It sounds like you are keeping busy with all that sewing and sailing. I'm looking forward to the cool Autumn weather. I am not much of a summer person though this summer has been rather nice, not too humid.

laura said...

Mary, you never know when your knowledge of the proper use of grommets will come in handy. For all you know it could mean the difference between winning or losing a game of Trivial Pursuit! And cats actually make great sailing pets but my little Chlorox would have a heart attack and The Beast would probably be alot of fun but she's not Hans' favorite and I don't feel like fishing her out of the water everytime she feels the need to escape.

Joan, something's always going to break on a boat, that's a given. Our little pit bull, Duncan, is going to be a handfull! I'm looking forward to fall weather also and I'm telling you now that you're one of the first people I'll be looking up when we sail north in a year or two!

Nikki said...

I always go outside to set grommets - using the footpath (pavement) as a base for bashing the life out of the things. Glad you got it sorted out.

Can't wait to see how you get on with my little purse kits.

Cindy said...

Oooooh, your sailing trip looks like so much fun. I'm trying to convince DH that we should get one. Not working though. LOL