Monday, March 30, 2009

A lot of sewing and a weekend trip


I spent a tremendous amount of time at my sewing machine last week.

I got quite a bit done but I know that there are some time saving techniques that I need to utilize and that's what I'll work on this week.

On Friday Hans and I headed down to Maryland to open up Miss Kitty. Here she is with a cute little zippered door installed into her winter shrink wrap.

We spent the next morning freeing her of her winter coat and I'm glad to report that the plastic is recycled into highway barriers.




We had to use the opening to load all of our stuff on board and for some of us it was a tight fit.

This wasn't a weekend of sailing though, it was a weekend of getting the boat ready for the season. Even after scraping our knuckles, grinding our knees on unforgiving fiberglass, Hans whacking his head multiple times in cabin doorways, and my suffering a vicious assault from Miss Kitty who unfolded and dropped her salon table across the top of my foot (in addition to my foot, my feelings were hurt too, as I had praised her all weekend long!), we had a good time anyway.

And I lost two games of Scrabble so when Hans asked why I didn't take a picture for my blog I told him that some of his words were too questionable (I hate losing!).




Before landing on this piling, this little fellow spent a good deal of time at the top of the mast issuing instructions to us while we stripped Miss Kitty of her thick and unwieldy plastic covering.

I don't think Hans heard him because he was busy trying not to toss me overboard while I issued my own shrill instructions.

Sometimes I can be bossy.






We also had to clean up Miss Kitty for charter season and after last year we made sure we thoroughly cleaned her interior.


We swept, dusted, and even vacuumed out drawers.

But the most fun was after scrubbing both heads (on my hands and knees!) and I found that I had to crawl into the refrigerator to clean it's drain.

The refrigerator is in the hinged double door in the counter top as seen in this picture.
Believe it or not once that top is removed I can sit down in there.

And since I'm claustrophobic I didn't find Hans' comment, about putting me in there the next time I act up, very funny!!



Anyway, here are some of the things I've been working on (not a good picture as my wine bags are way in the back, but I was in a hurry).

While we were in Maryland we stopped at a wine store and the manager commented on my purse (My 3 in 1 purse, the one with the wine cask and cork fabric above) and when he found out that I made it he asked if it were possible to make some for him to sell in his store!

Now what do you think?

I said "sure", but for some reason I felt kind of silly and I think my face turned red.
So I'll get a few made and take them on our next trip down to the boat.

We'll see how it goes from there. I have a feeling that friends and family may be receiving wine themed purses for birthdays and Christmas if these don't sell!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi, I read your blog and enjoy your writing - you have a great sense of humor:) You should really publish your pattern and sell it. And you will probably do well marketing it at liquor stores and wine shops and specialty shops that send out gift bags; and then there is etsy...you'll do great. bev

laura said...

Thanks Bev!! I would like to try etsy and even artfire but my computer skills are severely lacking. I need to find someone who can guide me through photo shop and also how to create a banner etc... Hey, thanks for reading my blog!!

Karin said...

What a beautiful boat. I love the organization inside. How splendid!

That is so fun that the manager of the store commented on your bag. It's one of those crossroads moments where one has to decide to dive right in!

Thank you for visiting my blog. Your blog is so fun and charming. I'm going to earmark you.:-)

laura said...

Karin, you wouldn't believe how organized this boat is! I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that one of the reasons we chose her was for her tremendous storage and ingenious layout. We swore we wouldn't look at anything less than 38 feet and she's a petite 35 feet. And I'm certainly at a crossroads right now, at almost 50 it's time to take some chances!!

Kathi D said...

Miss Kitty looks wonderful, and so do your bags! I think they will sell, so you'd better make more if you want gifts.

I hate losing at Scrabble, too.