I interupt this sewing blog to bring you news about our new baby!

Wilbur practices his snobby 'I'm too good for everyone' look.

He loves the color orange.

He told me so!

When we move onto the boat we're hoping to have Wilbur trained to go potty on a mat. We would like to think he's young enough to learn.

This mat is supposed to be Wilbur's port-a-potty. But with the warm sun on that black background, he had other ideas!!

The futon was to be "paws off" to all poochies.

But it only took one day for me to walk in on this!

Hans, who outweighs Wilbur by about 240 pounds, said Wilbur wouldn't allow himself to be pushed off!

I was trying to make a floor pillow for Wilbur and I discovered that he likes to sew too! Chlorox (who is not at all happy with this newcomer) jealously watched from our bed as Wilbur wiggled all over his fabric.

Wiggling on fabric is her job!

Here's his floor cushion made from left over Steeler fleece.

All I know is, Wilbur's a lot better looking than Ben on any given day, and a lot nicer too!!

Can you see the smoldering eyes of an unhappy kitty cat??

A truce?

Maybe, maybe not!

When I say no, I mean no! Absolutely not! No way!

So what the hell is this thing doing in our apartment?

It looks suspiciously like a dog crate.

Chlorox wants to know what all these accessories are doing here. She doesn't need chew toys, she doesn't have any front claws so she surely doesn't want a peti-cure, and when was the last time she chewed on a Kong?

She thoroughly enjoyed my afternoon of sewing (she writhed all over the fabric) but has no idea why I felt the need to make a great big cushion from my stash of fleece. With a camo theme no less!

I think she'll find out tomorrow when Wilbur moves into his new forever home.

And yes folks, that means that when Hans and I make our move aboard The Knotty Cat this June, we're not only going to take along an elderly cat, we're going to be joined by a pit bull rescue puppy!

Life with us is never boring!

The delicate process of naming a blog

I swear, I think picking out names for my kids was a hell of a lot easier than coming up with a name for our sailing blog.

I want the blog's name to reflect Hans' and my life aboard our boat.

And so far we can't seem to agree on anything.

'Dumb and Dumber' has already been taken.

'Hans and Laura's Excellent Adventure' might not be so Excellent, and once again it's been kinda sorta taken.


There are tons of nautical terms to choose from but we really need to be careful. We probably shouldn't refer to Davy Jones' Locker or things like the Poseidon Adventure.


I'm leaning toward "Seasickness" as we must really be sick to be doing this.


Hans isn't so sure, and I have to admit that this is where the difference in our personalities really shows up. I'm going for the humorous vein and in some cases Hans doesn't quite get it. We also wonder if we should use our boat's name which is The Knotty Cat.


This is the least of our worries right now but it's really working on my mind!!!


Any ideas anyone??


Anything?

Hell's A Poppin'! Big Time!!!!!!!

I'm not even sure what "Hell's A Poppin' " means but that's how things seem to be around our apartment these days.

Hans is very busy trying to finalize the details for our trip to Germany this May for The Wedding of the Year, all the while trying to make sure all the work that needs to be accomplished on our boat gets done.

Our main sail is being repaired, the canvas people are whipping up a bimini (complete with a proper frame) to replace our red-neck awning, a new bank of batteries will be installed, and our Knotty Cat's bottom is being sandblasted to make way for the coat of barrier paint that we discovered she never had!
If anyone thinks living on a boat is cheap; it's not, it's just a house on the water, that's all!

Hans is also getting us a new cell phone plan and it literally took an entire day of phone calls to make a final decision.

As if things aren't heating up enough around here, we had a huge house fire right up the street from us last night.

We drove past just as the fire companies arrived and we could see black smoke rolling out of the garage doors on the lower part of the building. The houses on that block are built into the hill, with their garages being the lower level and then continuing into three story homes. Here are the firefighters on their ladders waaaay up in the air.

A little bit closer.

We had gone out to eat at a restaurant a couple of miles away and you could see the smoke from there.

Two hours later we came back by and the place was fully engulfed in flames. Two hours!! This was only one house so I can't even imagine how awful an even bigger fire would be.

I know it seems like we must be a couple of rubber neckers, but we didn't stop with our car, we walked back and stayed far out of the way.

Here's a video. Look at all that water! Today the smell of smoke is still very heavy in the air. Luckily no one was home at the time, and no firefighters were hurt.

Remember this little fellow?

Well holy cow, check this out!

He's coming along very nicely (look how much he's grown!) and Vet Tech Girl brought him for a visit to our apartment last night.
He's getting passed around to anyone at the clinic who will take care of him and it was her turn on the dog sitting rotation.
She brought him in and he waddled over to me, stuck his muzzle in my neck, and grunted. I laughed and said he sounded just like a pig.
"That's why his name is Wilbur," she said. "Like the pig from Charlotte's Web."
This is because in addition to the smashed orbital bone and lacerations of the face and ear, his throat and sinus cavities were damaged and he can't bark properly so he grunts. He also snores very loudly!! I found this out when he decided he'd had enough of us and fell fast asleep underneath my sewing table.

But sadly, no one wants him.

How can that be?

A small amount of sewing and a BIG announcement

My evening gown is pretty much done except for the hemming (which I hate doing!). I actually put off inserting the invisible zipper for about four days because I was just sure I would either ruin it or I would find that the fit was wrong.

Well, it went in beautifully and the fit is pretty good. I'll post pictures after it's hemmed.

Now my Big News.

It seems that Hans and I are moving onto our boat this summer. Our goal, when we bought our Knotty Cat, was that we would eventually live on board but we just weren't sure about the timing. Hans has decided the time is now.

I'm still trying to get used to the whole thing and we have a lot to do to get ready. We've decided to keep our apartment for at least the first three months just in case one or both of us decide that this was one crazy idea! But why would anyone think this is a crazy idea?

This was last month when we went down to Annapolis to remove her winter shrink wrap. It's an expensive procedure but it was certainly the winter to have it done. Can you imagine fifty or so inches of snow sitting on top of your boat? I read about some boats sinking in their slips due this problem.

Hans is peeking out of the hole we cut through so we could get aboard.

This is what she looks like without her winter coat.

We have a small TV on board and we use a digital converter to access channels.

We normally use 'bunny ears' for reception but they've disappeared. Neither of us can remember what the hell we did with them but Hans McGuyver came up with this.

It looks like a still (wouldn't that be great?) or a strange science experiment but it's just a piece of cable (with the 'pin' in the center of the connection) taped to a metal piece on the converter. With the cable propped up on these water jugs we got great reception!

Here we are in the fall of last year.

We plan on heading north this June. I've always wanted to see Cape Cod, Nantucket, etc... and I recently bought 'Of Whales and Women' written by Frank Gilbreth (author of Cheaper by the Dozen). The Gilbreth's vacationed on Nantucket every summer (and if you ever read his books you know they lived in two lighthouses, now long gone) and Frank's descriptions and humor are wonderful.

He also wrote 'Innside Nantucket' (yes I have that one too!) and it's a humorous account of his brother and sister-in-law's attempt at running a bed and breakfast back in the 50's. The Inn has changed hands and is still in operation. I found it here.

This was Chlorox's reaction when we told her she'd be living on a boat.

We can't leave her behind and she's far too attached to me to even try to live with someone else.

This is Chlorox's 'contemplative' look.

She plans on writing a book about her adventures and she's going to use this picture on her book jacket.

Small sewing update, and some overall catching up!

Last night we took full advantage of the unseasonably warm weather and went to a restaurant that had an (OMG!) outside eating area, and today we went for a big bike ride.

There's something to be said for fresh air because I'm so beat right now I feel like I just spent the whole day at the beach with my kids.

Does anyone know what I mean?

So anyway I did get around to cutting out my dress lining this evening (how did I ever manage to sew without a cat lying all over my fabric!!!!) and got it sewn together. Since it's cut on the bias I have it hanging on Sally Stitch so it can 'grow'.

Here is the front. No big deal.

But check out the back. What is that? you might wonder. It looks weird, and gives the impression of a colonial apron.

Actually, it's my dress lining with a cotton sateen insert in the back (and yes, I cut it on the bias!!).

I had to do this because I am a perspire-er (I know that's not a word and I would say sweater but that sounds like an item of clothing).

I sweat very easily.

I don't like it but I can't help it.

I despise panty hose (and won't need them with this dress anyway) and I've never worn Spanx (didn't I mention sweat?), so if I have to sit my bare skin on something, it's going to be cotton and NOT polyester!!

That's the wonderful thing about making your own clothes, and no one will ever know that cotton panel is there!

Now on to some catching up.

I feel like a heel because Gwen, over at All My Seams , nominated me for the Sunshine Award awhile back and I'm only just now acknowledging it. I was certainly surprised and I thought it was very nice of her to include me.

I should pass the award on to twelve other bloggers, however, I've found that a lot of the blogs I frequent, don't like receiving them.

So I think what I'd like to do is this; Once a month I'm going to pay tribute to a blog. It may be one that everyone has read or it may be a new one that I've stumbled upon.

So stay tuned!

And then Cyndi, at BlueBirdSwing, had a fantastic give-away for a bunch of purse patterns on her blog, and I was going to pass this info to anyone who might be interested but I didn't!!! The deadline was over right around the time I got home from Florida and it just didn't happen! But if you like purses you should take a look at her site, and I think she mentioned having another give-away at the end of this month (don't hold me to this now!!!).

Tomorrow we head back to my little swamp town to spend Easter Sunday with my parents, their obnoxious doberman Kissy Pooh, and two of my kids (Vet Tech Girl has to work). We'll also celebrate my son's birthday as twenty-seven years ago he was born on April Fool's Day which was also Good Friday, and the fact that he took forever to arrive, had to be coaxed out with 'high' forceps during which the obstetrician braced himself by placing one foot on my bed and leaning back to pull this stubborn baby out, was not a joke!

Hmmm, why do I think I'll have something to post about tomorrow night???

Evening Gown Update and an Expert's Take on Fashion.

Even though the weather was beautiful (at least that's what I've been told) I never set foot out of the apartment today as I was busy working on the evening gown that I need to have this May for The Wedding of the Century (not mine! I will most likely be barefoot the day that happens!).

You should be able to click on these pictures for better details.

This is the bodice underlining for my dress. It's just a pricey sateen cotton muslin.

This is before I added boning to the seams.

I love 'sew in' boning because it's very user friendly.

I just place it into the vertical seams (minus the seam allowances at the above and below intersecting seams) and zig-zag it in place. You don't even realize you're sewing over it, it's that easy.

Here is the bodice with the boning in place.

I didn't worry about thread color as this piece of fabric will be sandwiched between the fashion fabric and the lining.

This dress has a midriff band.

I basted it to the interfaced muslin 'underlining, 'wrong side' of fashion fabric to 'right side' of muslin.

The actual lining, next to my body, will cover the raw edges of the underlining when all is said and done.

Sally Stitch, my slightly (very!) smug dress form (so what if her butt is smaller than mine!!!!) is modeling the bodice of my dress.

I still need to line and bind the bodice but here it is for now.

This is a such a bad picture (just don't tell Sally) but it's all I have at the moment.

Anyway, the dress still needs to be lined, the bodice still needs to be bound at the top, and actually the back center seam will end up getting ripped out. This is because I'm using an invisible zipper, and I use the Islander technique that calls for the the whole zipper seam to be open during the installation of the zipper!!!!

Go figure! But I've used this technique before and it actually works!!

I tried to put Hans to work at the end of the fitting process but what can I say.

I had the dress on, and all I asked was that he tell me if the seam allowances in the back would 'abutt' each other as this is where the zipper will be placed.

After a bit of monkeying around (really while I waited for him to make sure his online poker hand was stable) he assured me that everything was A-OK.

So, hoping that Hans knew what he was talking about I took the dress off, placed it on Sally Stitch, and proceeded to take pictures. During this time I was wearing nothing but my strapless bra, Victoria's Secret panties, and a pair of heels.

Okay, I realize it wasn't a pretty picture but when I was finally done Hans' remark was, "No wonder all the men who design fashion are gay otherwise they'd never get anything done."

I Thank God that man is nearsighted!!!

Finally back home and sewing! With a little help from a friend.

I got home from Florida on Thursday (only to find Hans hadn't done a lick of laundry including his two weeks worth of his travel clothes, didn't scoop kitty poop etc... so guess how I spent my Friday!) and on Saturday we took off to Maryland in order to get our boat ready for the season.

I could post a thousand words about getting our Knotty Cat commissioned but I'll save that for a future sailing blog.

We got back yesterday and today I was finally able to get started on the formal gown I'm to wear to the Wedding of the Century this May in Germany.

I constructed the bodice out of muslin using a size 10 and the fit was just right. I then ripped the whole thing apart because I plan on re-using the muslin pieces as the 'inner lining' on the dress. This went very quickly because I got smart and cut these pieces out on the ironing board as the Countess von Chlorox usually interferes in all things 'sewing related'.

But cutting out the actual dress was a whole different story.

The Countess had fallen asleep on our bed and I was like, "YES!" the baby is asleep and I can finally get something done!!!

I had just spread 4 or more yards of fabric on the floor and was laying out the pattern when I heard the ominous thump that told me The Countess was awake and on her way.

Damn!

This floor length gown has to be cut on the bias and I had less than the minimal amount of fabric needed to make it.

Chlorox bathed, preened, wiggled, pranced, and slept on nearly every inch of this fabric as I tried to cut it out, but I didn't have the guts to lock her up (she screams like a banshee). It took much longer than necessary but the dress is now ready to be sewn and I hope to get started on it tomorrow.

I only wish she really knew how to sew, imagine what a help she could be!

Mean Girls...

...Gone Old (or at Least Middle Aged).

My day started yesterday at eight AM where I caught a flight from West Palm Beach, Florida (where I fell asleep on the plane and missed my complimentary pretzel) to my connecting flight in Atlanta, Georgia (where I went to a bar and made up for missing my free snack by sucking down two bourbons and some tortilla chips to the tune of $23.00), and finally landed in my Big City around 6:30 PM.

Hans was nice enough to meet me at the airport with pizza (cold) and beer (warm) but thanks to our hideous rush hour traffic, instead of heading for home, we had to go straight to Hans' band practice at a friend's house.

You see, Hans has some friends, who in my opinion, are going through multiple midlife crises and desperately want to be in a band.

And play music in a bar.

They know that way back in the day, Hans was in a punk rock band, and played music in bars, and therefor is their hero.

We arrived at Friend's quite large, what I refer to as cookie cutter, home in the 'burbs and I was given a seat on a couch (with my pizza and beer) in the cold basement (that's bigger than our apartment) where band practice was to commence.

Shortly thereafter, Friend's wife arrived and after a quick wave to all of us, disappeared upstairs.

By the way, something I've never understood is why people buy horrendously expensive homes where the main entry seems to be from the garage(?), and through the basement.

Band practice got underway, and thank God I brought a book, and thank God I could probably read through an earthquake because that's what it was like.

After awhile Friend's wife came downstairs, did not acknowledge me, listened for a few minutes, and then went back upstairs.

An hour and a few horrible cover songs later, another band member's wife arrived, via the aforementioned garage, and with a quick glance at me, shot straight up the stairs to where I'm assuming Friend's wife was waiting for her.

All I know is that after a horribly long day I had to sit through three long hours of loud music and bad pizza, and I just wanted to go home.


But band practice finally did come to an end and after Friend went upstairs to "See if I'm still married" he came back down and said to me, "You should have gone upstairs, the ladies are up there drinking wine."

Well c'mon! What was I supposed to say to that? The lady of the house knew I was there, the late arriving wife of one of the band members knew I was there, but did either one of them extend an invitation to me?

It reminded me of the time when I was little and my mom dragged me to the home of one of her friend's. Her friend's kids were playing outside and after being urged by my mother (who apparently never read 'The Lord of the Flies') to go outside and 'play' I went outside and got tortured. I mean how was I to know that touching the cow fence with a blade of grass would send a jolt of electricity through me?! This was after the little savages promised me it would be fun!

So, yeah, right, I was really going to go into uninvited territory and ask for abuse! I don't think so.

But just in case I was being overly sensitive (and for a 50th birthday present my body gave me the gift of a skipped period so I'm not sure if I have PMS or not) I didn't say anything to Hans until he mentioned it this morning. He thought it was odd that those women would completely ignore me and proceed to sit in comfort upstairs drinking wine, while I had to sit downstairs amid the cacophony of noise for three hours.

I may have grown up in a fixer-upper in a small swamp town, but I never would have treated someone this way. And then I was glad they didn't include me because I have a feeling they were upstairs 'husband bashing' and I don't need or want any part of that. "You know what?" I said to Hans, "When so-and-so's wife arrived, she never even went around the partition to say hi to him. Hell, he never even knew she was there. She came in and ran up those stairs like a jack rabbit."

So next weekend the band has a 'gig' in a tiny downtown bar and while I'm not looking forward to loud music in a small space with these two women at least I won't be stupid enough to touch any live wires with a blade of grass.


I only allow myself to be stupid once!!!!

Wild and Crazy Times!

Yes, it's wild and crazy here in sunny Florida where I'm whooping it up with Baby Girl on Spring Break!!!

Well, it's not so sunny since I needed a huge umbrella yesterday. All day!

And it's not so wild since Baby Girl and her lacrosse team are practicing and playing games everyday.

And I went to the pool all day today and slathered on so much sunscreen (#45) that I didn't even get a bit of color, except for the spot that I couldn't reach with the sunscreen, and now I look like I have a red tattoo in the shape of Nevada on my back.

We haven't had keg parties, drunken brawls, and not one police raid.

But, there is a man on our floor who has complained nightly about the noise created by seventeen girls as they slam doors, giggle like mad, and slap up and down the hall in their flip flops.

And this makes me proud because maybe we are wild and crazy after all!!!

I told everyone in the family that I would be in Florida and to please not call me as my cell phone will be roaming here.

So far Vet Tech Girl's roommate has called to tell me she took some really cute pictures of Duncan and Molly during a walk.

My mother called to ask what we are doing for Easter.

My son called to see if I was indeed in Florida.

Hans has called several times and left messages, and when I've called him back (on Skype) he immediately tells me not to listen to the messages since he knows it costs me money!!

I'll leave you with the latest picture of Duncan and his new sweetie. She may act like she hates him and lift her lip everytime he gets near, but I think she's just playing hard to get!