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.

Pillow sewing and Pit Bull Awareness

October 23rd was Pit Bull Awareness Day so we celebrated by going to the Dog Park. Wilbur is now a fixture there and everyone is always happy to see him. I like this park because several of the dogs that go there have bully blood in them (our shelters here are over run with them right now) and almost all are rescues. They are so social and will play for hours, and I have yet to witness any aggressive behaviour on the part of these dogs. Actually a Golden Retriever spent the day last week terrorizing everyone, and when it went after Wilbur, he hid under a picnic table.





Here is Wilbur and Toby. Toby spent the first 5 months of his life chained in a basement. He was rescued when his owner was arrested for gassing dogs in his garage! Nice guy, huh?
Toby loves to play and his sister Gracie (a brindle pitty who was rescued from a kill shelter in Ohio the day she was to be put down) is unbelievably sweet and spends her day fending off suitors (if you know what I mean).


I find it amazing that dogs who have gone through so much can be so loving.




Check out Toby being very patient with Hurley, the tea cup Chihuahua (all 4 pounds of it!). Wilbur, Toby, and Gracie were fascinated yet never even tried to wrestle with him. They all touched noses and were very careful around him.
Wilbur has a strong prey drive and this dog is the size of a large rat so I was very nervous. The owners later remarked that the only dogs who were nice to Hurley, were the pit bulls.

I only wish I'd had my camera ready when Wilbur let Hurley chase him all the way across the park. That would have made a great YouTube video!


I'm leaving today to join Hans in Annapolis so we can get a move on and sail our boat to Florida.
Poor Hans spent the weekend on it with no electricity (so no heat, not hot water etc...). And this is after we spent a ton of money having the electrical system upgraded! The electrician is coming back today to look things over and I hope for his sake the problem is resolved before I get there!



My baby will be boarded while we're gone and I wanted him to have soft pillows and a blanket for his bed. I used a very soft plush fabric and covered two pillows and zig zagged the edges of the left over piece for a blanket.

Apparently I need to be supervised when I sew.













Enjoying the end results.





















And no pampered pitty should be without a fur stole.

I found this gorgeous fur at the Salvation Army for $20.00. Some poor old woman must have died and her family cleaned out her closets!

Hans nearly choked when I told him how much I paid for it. Years ago, his father bought a very similar one for his mother and spent well over a thousand dollars for it (and then he had to buy another one for Hans' grandmother because she was jealous!).