It took a whole stinking summer to get this done

Once upon a time I lived in a house.

In the northeastern part of the United States.

If I wanted to sew all I had to do was walk into my temperature controlled spare bedroom.

I had fans in the summer, heat in the winter, and a sewing machine (complete with a thousand notions) that didn't have to be put away (as if in shame) every stinking time I used it.

I now live on a boat in Florida.

If I want to sew I have to dig through our guest berth (the garage) for any and all sewing notions including my sewing machine. This requires several trips, and no, we do not have air conditioning on that side of the boat and by the time everything has been hauled up to the salon/sewing area I'm saturated in sweat. And then there's the ton of fun I have trying to find a flat space bigger than 2 feet by 3 feet to cut out something bigger than a handkerchief.

Yes, we have an air conditioner hanging in our salon hatch but I may as well hire someone to breathe across a pile of ice on me for all the good it does. 

As for firing up an iron? Well, if you like lounging about in a sauna, come visit me.

I will never, ever get used to living in Florida (and I have no intention of doing so!).

Anyway, enough of my whining.

Awhile back (like at the beginning of the year) a young cruising couple had a baby girl and I really wanted to make something for them.  However, life and then weather got in my way and I only recently finished my project. I actually had a lot of other things I intended to make but she could very well be ready to enter college by the time I finish everything so I'm stopping now.

Excuse the order of my pictures but I have no patience with Blogger these days and I don't feel like spending umpteen hours trying to rearrange my photos.

This is a close up of a covered button that adorns the front of the little pinafore I made.
Butterick 5625

And here is the pinafore complete with hat and panties.

A view of the pinafore's inside contrast fabric.

Panties

Hat (I lined it)

Outside of the hat with a covered button on top.

These are fingertip towels I made into easy, slip on bibs.

Bibs

This sleeve saver bib pattern is F854 from Sew Baby.  
The only thing I don't care for is that it requires bias tape which I hate!
I made my own bias tape but I'm not sure how many of these I may make it the future.Perhaps if I have grandchildren?

Sleeve Saver Bib

I butchered a pattern for boys in order to make these nautical booty sandals for a girl.

Booties

Since this baby will eventually become a toddler while living on a boat I made her a place mat sized chalk board (from chalkboard fabric which luckily a local fabric store carries).

And just try to find chalk these days. Not even ToysRUs carries it!!! I found mine at WalMart.

Tic Tac Toe anyone??

By the way, the beautiful fabric I used for the pinafore set came from Cyndi of Cut-Up and Sew.  She gave me a stack of fabric when we hooked up over Memorial Day Weekend and it's all to die for!! I would have loved to make a purse or tote bag from it but all of a sudden I realized it would make such a  cute baby outfit.

And it did.

I'm very much ready for the heat to break which should hopefully be soon. I have a couple of projects in mind that I'd like to get done before we either head back out to sea or summer sets in again.

Still afloat

defrosting the fridge 

We're still sweating away here in Florida.  Not a lot of sewing gets done though as just plugging the iron in is too much for our air conditioner.

And then there are boat duties that take up time too. Our refrigerator broke but luckily a neighbor helped  us get it running again. Our head quit working and after spending days trying to clean out the exhaust hose we ended up replacing it.  I've been up the mast a couple of times to replace bulbs etc... and I'm going to have to go up again (even though I'm afraid of heights).

a very pampered pooch

Tropical Storm Debby

Wilbur goes to the doggy park during the week and you should hear him scream when we pull into the parking lot. I wish I'd had my camera with me last week when during a doggy birthday party he left his party hat on for at least a half hour and he ate his ice cream cup in a very gentlemanly way.








We were caught off guard by Tropical Storm Debby but we were very prepared for Hurricane Isaac who didn't even bother to show up.

Hans ended up tripping over a stern line when he tried to get on the boat and after landing smack on his butt he rolled all over the place in the water that had overflowed our dock. I tried not to laugh but c'mon!!!

Up the mast

"HELP!"

Poor Wilbur got stuck modeling a baby hat I made.














Cyndi from Cut-Up and Sew made Hans and me a quilt for our wedding and it's absolutely beautiful. Her pictures are much better than mine and you can see it here too. Needless to say I'm not going to let Wilbur near it and I'm keeping it in our guest berth. I've never owned a 'real' quilt in my life and I love it.

check out the couple in the canoe

Like I said, Cyndi's pictures are better than mine but I don't want to take it outside because it could get dirty.

I know I should post more often but I just don't seem to have the incentive for it these days. However I still enjoy reading everyone else's blogs so keep posting!

Married at sea

 

Last month Hans and I finally got hitched. On our boat. At sea.This has been a hectic, sad, and crazy year so it was nice to finally have something good happen. And my son and daughter were able to attend which was really great. And I made my dress from silk that I bought in Paris years ago. After I realized I had 3 yards and not just 1 1/2, I dug out my McCall's (Hilary Duff) 5880 pattern and got to work. And if you've ever worked with real silk you'll know what I mean when I say "work"! Instead of putting in a few hours, I ended up spending days working with this very simple pattern. Because of that damn silk! What I did was:

1. Hand wash the silk in cold water and then air dry (of course I'd no sooner hung it out to dry on our stern when our 'neighbor' started up his diesel engines thus spewing stinky fumes all over it).
2. Trace the entire pattern onto freezer paper (ink on the paper side).
3. Press the shiny side of the freezer paper pattern (with a dry iron) onto the 'wrong' side of the silk. I placed my silk fabric on top of an old bed sheet so it wouldn't 'shift' like a batch of mercury!
4. Cut it out and then sewed it with the paper still attached (this helped keep the fabric from puckering and getting yanked down into the feed dogs) This pattern was simple enough that it actually worked. I still used a metallic (sharp) needle. Removed the paper which was painstaking yet worth it. After the paper was removed, I double stitched my seams.
5. I did not use a back zipper (it's not needed,) and I didn't attach a neck band; I made casings and strung a cord through them and tie it at the back.
6. It took an entire day to hem!!! I ran Q-Tips drenched in liquid starch all along the hem line and then hit it with a dry iron (silk setting). I straight stitched an eighth of an inch from the edge, turned the fabric up on the stitched line and top stitched. Doesn't sound like much but there was the lining too.
7. A wide piece of grosgrain ribbon was used to cover the elastic on the empire waist. Hook and eyes hold it in place at a side seam.

We will be heading north next month for the wedding of a friend's daughter and I intend to wear my dress again. I bought some fabric today so I can make a matching purse. If it's successful I'll post pictures.

I've been having tons of computer and camera problems which I hope will be resolved soon. This post is a huge experiment with my iPad and a newly downloaded Blogsy App. Unfortunately I have a huge learning curve so it may be awhile.

 

A sad start to a new year.

I didn't post about a lot of things that were going on in my personal life last year, and I sincerely hoped that this year would see some improvements.


But then in January Hans was involved in a very serious car accident, and we're fortunate that he wasn't killed. He was unlucky enough to get caught in the middle of a high speed police chase involving four police cruisers and a purse snatcher. The purse snatcher was killed, an innocent man in the truck in front of Hans sustained a broken neck, our 17 year old immaculately maintained vehicle was totaled, and Hans now suffers from chronic neck pain which makes his life difficult as he tries to juggle doctor's visits into his busy working days.


And then two weeks ago, in the middle of the night, I received news that my middle child, Vet Tech Girl, had died. She was a beautiful girl in both heart and spirit. This much I believe; in the overall scheme of things, we are on this earth for a very short time. Rachel's time was a bit shorter than most and I myself have already lived more years than I have remaining. Therefore I don't have a hugely long time left before I hopefully see her again.


In the meantime I have two other children who need me and I will not become the kind of parent they dread to call because they can't stand having to listen to a weeping mess of a mother. We have no guarantee of the duration of time or the quality of our life at our birth and I choose to live my life one day at a time. I've been very blessed during my time here and even though I've lost a child I know I haven't suffered nearly as much as so many others have.


Rachel's pit bull Duncan is now living with her dad. Her dad helped take care of Duncan this past year and he became very attached to him. I've no doubt Duncan is quite happy and enjoying life with a big deck, a back yard, and a willing tug o' war participant.

Rachel was a huge force to be reckoned with and she will sorely be missed.

Sewing, Sailing, and a Visit from Big Sister

I can't believe it's nearly Christmas. But since moving to Florida I've found that sunny days just melt into new sunny days and then all of a sudden...

Crap! I haven't even started Christmas shopping!

But anyway I finally finished up some baby sewing for Hans' cousin who is due to have a baby boy this January. I found some very nice hand towels at Target that I made into bibs. Have you ever caught the silky hairs at the back of an infant's neck in the string ties of a bib? It's not fun for all those involved believe me! These bibs have a simple ribbed neckline that pull on and off Baby with absolutely no trauma. I've made tons of these over the years and some women have told me they were the only ones they ended up using full time.

You can see how big one actually is here (I have my little onesie, booties, and more folded bibs lying on top of one). This covers an infant's clothing very nicely during a feeding (and the pukey follow up!) and also provides a lot of cover for a toddler in a high chair.

Complete with diaper bag.

We've managed to get out for a couple of sails since we've been here. Now that Hans is working full time that only leaves the weekends and in order to sail, it's all about weather. A few weeks ago we had a fabulous day in the gulf with our new friends Carolyn and Mark. I met Carolyn through this blog and you just have to love the internet! Just a few years ago this never would have happened.

After the holidays we hope to get out a bit more. What's the sense in having a boat if you don't use it?

Here's Carolyn trying to relax which is sometimes difficult when you have a kissing machine of a pit bull along for the ride.

Very soon after our day at sea Hans and I went to New York City for a few days. Poor Hans had to work but I managed to stomp around (more like limp around on my very hurty feet!) the city and got to visit the garment district. And if anyone happened to be watching the Today Show while I was there, yes, that was me waving at you from Rockefeller Plaza. I had a great time and the ladies of the Today show are even prettier in person, they really are!


And right after we got back, Baby Girl decided to pay us a visit. She originally wanted to surprise me but there is so much involved in getting our guest berth ready, Hans had to let the cat out of the bag. She is a college soccer coach now and was able to use her break to visit us (not that she wasn't on the phone or texting constantly about recruits, meetings etc...).

Here she is taking a snooze with her baby brother Wilbur. Poor Wilbur ended up being left behind way too many times while Baby Girl was here because unfortunately pitties aren't permitted to prance about the many places we ended up visiting.

"You always did like her best!" Wilbur pouted.

We ended up taking a trip to The Pier and Baby Girl insisted on feeding the Pelicans. For five bucks you get five fish and let me tell you those five fish created quite a scene as pelicans came out of nowhere for their free meal. That man is holding a net behind her head to ward off any more renegade pelicans because in the heat of the moment a particularly famished (greedy) pelican slammed into Baby Girl's head and nearly knocked her off her perch. It was too stinking funny and I only wish I'd gotten a picture.

Oh the life a busy young lady. While she should be taking a note from Wilbur and relaxing, she's on her phone yet once again and her I-Pad is sitting at the ready for even more work.

I feel bad because I'd promised Baby Girl that if she ever got to Florida I'd make sure to get her to Disney World so she could finally experience the Tea Cup Ride. I won't go into details but when she was a tiny little thing the Tea Cup Ride was just within her grasp and it was rudely taken away from her and she's never forgotten it. It didn't happen on this trip either but hopefully she'll give me more notice next time and as far as I'm concerned she can ride it till she pukes!!

She deserves it and I'll make sure to take along a big bib.

New York City... the story continues

Warning! Way too much rambling on this post!

First of all I don't think my feet have ever hurt as much as they do right now and I have to admit that it's all my fault. I may be wearing the very same shoes I wore a couple of years ago when I accompanied Hans on a whirlwind two week trip to Europe, but I'm afraid my feet have since then grown accustomed to sandy beaches and they are having a delightful time torturing me for making them stomp about on unforgiving concrete all day long.

I hate looking like a tourist but I had to whip out my camera and take a picture of this fabulous button and needle that marks the beginning of the garment/fabric district.

I only wish I'd been bold enough to take a picture of the young lady who walked in front of me for several blocks clad only in a polka dot white fleece robe and her hair in curlers. Might I add that her robe just barely covered her bottom. I wasn't the only one who found this unusual and since I was following her I got to see the reaction on the faces of people after they passed from the opposite direction. And then we walked past a construction site. Have you ever witnessed a group of construction workers go completely silent?

I managed to find the fabric district and it was actually pretty overwhelming. After a while I finally figured out that everyones prices were pretty much the same and I didn't find what I would call any real bargains. I wasn't particularly looking for clothing fabric but I did buy two pieces of spandex fabric at Spandex House. I didn't find any (affordable) fabric for purses but I did buy a few little o-rings (for wallet wristlets) and some short zippers. There are tons of pieces of hardware available here but some were pretty pricey and without a real plan for them I didn't want to buy any (I already have a lot of stuff I've bought in the past and still haven't used).

I was thrilled to death to accompany Hans to New York on his business trip. I've never been here before and the thought of seeing NYC during the Christmas season was too good to be true. So I told Hans that for my Christmas present I wanted to go to Radio City Music Hall to see the Rockettes. My great grandmother thought the Rockettes walked (or perhaps tapped) on water and I only wish she'd been able to attend an actual performance during her lifetime. The show was spectacular and I have no idea how the hell those girls remember all their dance steps.

Of course it rained like crazy on Rockette night and here's Hans with both of our umbrellas. We got soaked.

The sculpture behind us was created years ago for Radio City Music Hall and was then banned for being too graphic. It's now very much out in the open and don't think Hans didn't appreciate it!
I mentioned before that I have no sense of direction and was a bit fearful of maneuvering about Manhattan on my own, and I admit that I had to back track a couple (okay a hell of a lot!) of times. But in the end I found myself enjoying the Big Apple immensely.

How well I recall bursting into our hotel room late in the afternoon on our first day in New York only to find Hans had gotten there first.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I demanded.

"I'm done for the day. Where have you been?" was Hans' reply.

"My feet were killing me and I just had to sit down so I had lunch up the street at D.J. Reynolds Pub and the owner happened to be there and he bought me a drink and I've been having a fabulous time!" I exclaimed. "I love New York! It has such a small town feeling and I told Dennis we'd be back for dinner tonight!"

"Who's Dennis? Hans asked.

"The owner."

"Why am I not surprised," Hans sighed.

He knows me all too well and could only shake his head, because, you see, I will talk to any one, any time, and at any place.

D J Reynold's Pub is a fabulous Irish Pub (and I've been to Ireland) with good food at a very affordable price (we ate there every single night!). By all means please go there if you happen to be in Manhattan. You will not be disappointed.

When we moved to Florida I had no idea I would be heading north before the Christmas holidays (I left my winter coat back home) and I was in dire need of a winter coat to take with me to New York. My new friend Carolyn stepped forward and offered me a beautiful leather coat that had belonged to her husband's mother. It fit like a glove!

Here I am right before we left to see the Rockettes.

After dinner at D.J.'s, our waitress, Siobhan followed us out into the street and after giving us a hug, she commented on my beautiful coat.

Thank you Carolyn!

We are now back home and apparently just in time.

I've been informed my youngest is due to arrive for a visit tomorrow!

Wilbur can't wait. He loves to sleep with his sister.

New York City

That's where I am right now folks!
Believe it or not.
I've never been here before and I very well may never get here again so tomorrow I'm going to take a stab at hitting the fabric (or garment) district.

We flew right over the Statue of Liberty which was really pretty exciting as I try never to look out the window of a plane.

Anyway, I have absolutely no sense of direction so God only knows where I'll end up.
Wish me luck!!

Some stinking cute baby sewing.

I mentioned in a previous post that Hans' cousin is going to have a baby this January, and let's face it, now that I live in Florida, I'm having a very difficult time wrapping my brain around the fact that it's already December. I truly need to get my head on straight and finish up this baby project and get some Christmas shopping done.



So check out this adorable onesie I made out of one of Hans' old dress shirts by using this tutorial.

I also made my own bias tape.

And you wouldn't believe how much bias tape you can get out of a very small amount of fabric by using this method.

Since the future daddy designs ships, I purchased some sail boat fabric for the collar, cuffs, and bias tape, which was a perfect match, and I also thought it was just too cute.

And those are adorable matching shoes on the right. They were too easy to make and don't be surprised if I find a way to enlarge the pattern and make a pair for myself!








A view of the back.

Look at that little pleat!

And again, the shoes!

















I rinsed it out and hung it out to dry on my red neck clothes line (which is really Wilbur's retractable leash).













Here's a close up of the cuff I added that wasn't on the tutorial, but you can see the sleeve placket that was kept from the original shirt.













I added an extra button hole and button at the bottom of the shirt front. I then made a tab with a button hole and stitched it to the back of the onesie. This tab then attaches to that button and secures the onesie to the baby.











And once again the little shoes. This was the first pair of these I've ever made and I'm pretty sure I cut the elastic just a bit too small on the right one which is making it pucker. The next pair will surely be better.










Waste not want not.

Very coincidentally I happened to see a Sewing with Nancy episode on the very day I was making this outfit. And on that particular show they were re-purposing a man's shirt into various useful items.

The very last thing they did was to cut off the collar and make it into an adorable dog collar.

Believe me when I say I wasted no time at all hacking off the collar of Hans' shirt, and no dog could possibly look as cute in a dress shirt collar than our Wilburbutt!





I only hope Hans doesn't ask me next week why he doesn't seem to have any more good dress shirts!

Shhhhhhhh!

Some Thanksgiving sewing

Now that Hans and I have been displaced we were very thankful (no pun necessarily intended) to be invited for Thanksgiving dinner at the home of a former college friend of Hans' from some 30 years back and whom he hasn't seen in, well, nearly 30 years! Thirty years!!! It would appear we're getting to be pretty darned old wouldn't it?


We were informed that we didn't need to bring anything so I decided to make a couple of holiday pot holders and take along a bottle of wine and a pumpkin pie.




I have a pot holder tutorial but I decided that it might be a bit too big so I just decreased my pattern by an inch over all. Not such a big deal but I like it a little bit better. For added protection I also added Insul-brite to the pocket side.
I chose a snowman theme as it can be used all winter long unlike Santa and Christmas trees etc..





Hmm, Wilbur knows something's up and it's most likely not good.

And he was right. He stayed home Thanksgiving Day while we were out having a high old time.

But don't worry about the little man, he had many cushions to lie his tender pitty body on while we were gone.








I also made a couple of fabric covered buttons for decoration.












At the last minute I thought maybe I should make a wine bag and dug up this wine themed fabric and ripped that zipper out of a previously made garment and reused it for this project.

Here it is all zipped up.
















And now with the top turned down. I also used a slice of wine cork threaded through a key chain jump ring for a zipper pull.

Actually, it was a bit amateurish and if I sew one again it will look a lot better, but it was kind of fun to make.


I'm now trying to come up with some fun (and cheap) Christmas decorating ideas for our slip here in the marina. And I need cheap since most anything I do will probably be vandalized and tossed into the water anyway.

Some 'friendly' sewing.

So today I actually loaded up my sewing machine, too many supplies, and my best company manners (or as good as my manners can be anyway) and headed off to Carolyn's house. I became acquainted with Carolyn through my blog, and shortly after Hans and I arrived here in Florida she and her husband graciously invited us to watch some boat races on the beautiful beaches of Clearwater. Ever since then we've kept in touch via email and today we were able to get together at her home for some sewing.

Carolyn had an idea for a very simple sewing project and I envisioned us sewing up a storm and churning out dozens of these little earbud cases. In fact I was positive we'd probably have to dig ourselves out from under of a mountain of these little buggers, not unlike toddlers who bury themselves in plastic ball bins at those obnoxiously noisy kiddie restaurants.

The reality?

Not so much.

I swear, you'd think neither of us had ever sewn a stitch in our lives. When I unpacked my gear I nearly didn't retrieve my seam ripper since I was smug in the fact that I was not going to need it but, I hadn't sewn more than a few stitches when out it came.

More than once, and in fact several times.

Halfway through the afternoon Carolyn triumphantly read one of the last steps out loud, "Since this piece is so small and simple you probably won't need to use pins, just place your pieces together and sew." She seemed very relieved at this news.

I grimly looked up yet once again from the crooked and frayed mess that I'd just yanked out from under my presser foot and stated, "You might want to use those pins anyway."

And that pretty much sums up our day.

So without further ado (drum roll please!!!) I present to you the results of two and a half hours of sewing!!!!!!!




Ta Da!!!!!!!!!!!!

The front.
















The back.

Isn't it fabulous?











Here it is with my hot pink IPod.

Yessiree, I'm pretty sure this little baby would easily command about a $50.00 price tag for all the blood, sweat, and tears that went into it.

But then again it probably wouldn't.

I don't think anyone needs to worry about me being kidnapped and sent to China to work in a sweatshop anytime soon.







BTW, Carolyn does not have a blog but she really should!