Wednesday, November 16, 2011

While the cat's away...

... (meaning Hans) the mice (meaning me and Wilbur) will play (and end up making a huge mess).

Hans was away on business for a few days and I took full advantage by never putting my sewing stuff away. Normally I'll get as much sewing done during the day that I can and then put everything away before Hans gets home in the evening. We only have a tiny table that we have to share (imagine dinner in addition to two computers!) and then there's the ironing board, and all my supplies etc... add to that mix, a pitty whom I seem to constantly be sidestepping or trying to shove aside on the settee so that I can have my own personal tiny space, and you can see why Wilbur and I turned into absolute pigs while Hans was away.

This is actually appears to be pretty neat.

No spools of thread, scissors, snippers, bobbins, fabric scraps...

Only that pesky little pitty.











My galley area taken over by a box of notions.















I doubt if Columbus ever envisioned a future navigation station being hampered with an iron and ironing board.

Just below the ironing board is a bin full of dog food and on top of that; two baskets full of scissors, thread, and notions.



















I'm finding the need to keep my brain occupied these days, so this morning I whipped up this little lunch bag.

I take Wilbur to the dog park quite frequently and I've met a ton of really nice people there. One of them is Michelle and she has the sweetest bull dog-pit bull mix (who wiggles like a worm and plays kissy face with every dog that enters the park). Michelle recently lost her office job and is making ends meet by cleaning houses.

Aha! Back when I was cleaning houses I chanced onto this Linda Spivey wash day fabric and made myself a work bag. When we moved onto the boat I brought the left over scraps and dug them out last night.

It looks like a simple bag here.




But emerging from its inside is this insert.

These black ties are for reference only. I ended up stopping at the fabric store on my way to the dog park and found a perfect creamy yellow shade of cording but forgot to take a picture of the end result.












A view from the top but imagine it without those black ties.

Oh, I forgot. The plaid material came from a fabulous woven Indian fabric I lucked onto at the Good Will a few years ago (for a couple of bucks) I still have tons of it left but I was very happy when I realized it worked so well with the wash day fabric.

















This is Wilbur, after a wild day of sewing (check out the paw beneath his jowls).

His motto may be, 'Party On Dude!' but he's really just an innocent baby at heart.



I let him have his dreams.

5 comments:

marysews said...

All that progress, and a gratuitous Wilbur piccy, too! What's not to love?!

laura said...

Mary, that Wilbur, I just love his smoochy face!

Cyndi said...

Ha! You should see what my house looks like when Jeff is gone on business...I don't put anything away until right before he gets home! :o) Just a thought, but does the Marina have a club house or rec room that you could use to sew? The RV park where my sister lives has one and she sometimes takes her sewing machine down there to sew when she's working on a big project. Those nice big "banquet" tables give you lots of room to spread out your stuff!

I love the lunch bag you made for Michelle...that was so sweet of you. I'm sure she's going to love it. And of course, we all LOVE the pics of Wilbur...what a ham! But he is soooo adorable!

XOXO,

Cyndi

Carolyn said...

Oh wow! I have seen this bag made up as an every day tote. I just haven't been able to find the pattern. But then again, maybe I didn't look hard enough.
Isn't it amazing how you can find a random stash fabric and it is exactly what you are looking for.

I think Wilbur has the best deal going, bar none!

laura said...

Cyndi, How I wish we had a club house here! I'd take it over immediately. They do have an outside workshop type area but it consists of saw horses topped with rough wooden planks, and over all of that is grime and dirt! So the boat is it for me.

Carolyn, I forgot to mention I got that pattern from Pink Penguin's blog. It's a free tutorial on her side bar.