Hives, Sharks and Athena’s New Look

September 16, 2016September 16, 2016 SewtropolisLeave a comment

I spent most of my weekend painting Athena (more on that later), Saturday was absolutely beautiful out! Not too hot, not too cold – it was just Goldilocks – except there was something in the air that caused me to constantly sneeze and made sweet Grace break out in hives! I was in and out of the trailer all day and each time I came inside I would find her scratching at one part of her body or the other. Poor girl was just miserable. After I saw the bumps on her face I gave her a 1/2 a Claritin and hoped it wouldn’t kill her. It didn’t. In fact, she started to feel better within the hour! After that she was good and there’s been no sign of the hives since – Tis the season!

So remember those shark slippers I made? Here’s a picture of the recipient wearing them! LOL I love the smile on her face! Made all the frogging (rip-it, rip-it … get it?) worth while!

Okay, now onto Athena! Here is the before picture!

And here is the after!

I’m not quite done, I still have to do the hitch, tank, bumper and a few minor details, (which I am doing in orange) but I can’t believe what a difference painting makes! It’s like I have a whole new trailer!

The hardest part was getting up on the roof – I have a slight fear of heights, plus I had a hard time trusting that the roof wouldn’t collapse. Once I realized it was going to hold I actually did okay. That big box is my A/C & unit – the one that kept me cool on those hot-ass summer days! One of these days I’ll get it replaced with a new one which are half the size and twice as quiet!

I first put on a clear coat of Kilz to seal it, then used this enable paint from Home Depot.

I had the colors picked out since I bought the trailer 3 years ago! I’m so glad I hung onto those paint chips – if I hadn’t it would have taken me another week to decide on colors. (I can make a decision – I just like to take my time doing so) As it was it took me all day Saturday to put the Kilz on – then all day Sunday to paint just the top half. I worked on the bottom half on Sunday and have been coming home after work each day to do the trim.

It’s supposed to rain this coming weekend so I may not get the chance to finish painting everything. What I don’t finish can wait till we have a stretch of sunny days again – even if that isn’t till Spring. Plus, it’s not like I don’t have a host of other projects I can work on.

Nikol

Projects

Falling into September

September 2, 2016September 2, 2016 SewtropolisLeave a comment

I can’t believe it’s September already! I see all these ‘first day of school’ photos on my Facebook feed and it makes me miss my boys! When we moved into our house in Minneapolis I would take a picture of them in the back yard on the first day of school! I look back at those pictures now and can’t believe how little they were! Time flies by so fast!

So other than looking at all the back to school photo’s on Facebook I have been sewing up a storm! (BTW – did you know September is National Sewing Month?) However, I haven’t finished anything! I suppose if I were working on just one project I might have – but this week had three going: a bra, a shower curtain, and the fusion quilt. I had to order the bra fixings on-line so I didn’t get started on that till Tuesday night – I cut out the pieces and have the cups sewn together. I can tell already that I ordered the wrong lining fabric, but I’m not worried about it. I am expecting to make lots of mistakes on this one – if it actually fits it will be a bonus. I’m counting on the next one to be perfect.

Before the bra I had been working on my shower curtain I had all the rows sewn, just had to join them. But I got so excited when the bra fixings came in that I set aside the shower curtain. I finally picked it up again tonight and got it all sewn together. All I need is to add grommets and hem it and then I’ll be done. As for the fusion quilt I’ve crocheted edges to all of the squares and have started to join them – which amazingly is going pretty fast.

My hope is that by this time next week I’ll be wearing a new bra, have a pretty shower curtain and a new lap quilt to take me into Fall!

Speaking of Fall, nothing like Pumpkin scones to transition from Summer to Fall! I made these one day last week when it was cool enough to turn on my oven! I thought I would be clever and try and make chocolate pumpkin scones , but I didn’t add enough chocolate powder so they ended up looking like dirt. But they tasted SO good! Just ask the guys I work with! Scones tend to be on the dry side which is why I added the glaze on top. So, so good!

Until next week!

Athena · Projects · RV Living

Showers and Sharks

August 19, 2016August 19, 2016 Sewtropolis1 Comment

The temps last weekend reached into the 90s – which is hot by Seattle standards, so I planned on staying out of the heat as much as possible! In fact, that was my plan all along after being on the go for the last few weeks, but it was nice that the weather cooperated with my plan.

Athena has a A/C unit which is 35+ years old – but still works! Once it awhile it would trip the circuit so I’d have to go to the back and flip the switch. Honestly thought I was counting my blessing that I was flipping a switch in my 35+ year old trailer than going without A/C in my “high efficiency” apartment!

This past weekend I also put sealant on the cracks in my tub so that I can take a shower in my trailer and not worry about water seeping down to the sub-floor. (Not something you want at all)

The shower is a little small, but it works and beats hiking over to the KOA showers! I have one of those shower heads where you can switch the water on or off. My water heater does not hold a lot of hot water – so being able to switch it off is important if I want hot water for the full shower! On my list of upgrades is to replace it with a tankless water heater. Then I can shower without turning the water on & off OR going outside to light the water heater! Ahhhh the luxuries!

So now that the shower is up and running I started working on a shower curtain to match the rest of the curtains in the trailer – and was promptly side tracked with starting a Fusion quilt! This is just the first block – I only have 48 moe to go.

I had seen these on Pinterest and thought they were so pretty. Then, when I was out in Minneapolis my friends mom mentioned she had started one – and really that’s all it took to get me motivated. The fact that I just so happened to be cutting 5″ squares for the curtain also helped.
I have been on a roll with crocheting lately – that super secret project I mentioned here, are these Shark Slippers!

I get a kick out of these things!

I have to admit there was a lot of frustration in making these – mainly because I am not a proficient crocheter. I have to look up the abbreviations over and over, but I got it and if they fit my hella big foot they are sure to fit the recipients size 7 foot! The pattern is from Penelope vt on Ravelry. If you make them follow the directions no matter how crazy they seem and save yourself a lot of frustration at the end!

Till next week!

Athena

The RV Living is Good!

July 17, 2016July 17, 2016 Sewtropolis6 Comments

This past week I moved out of my apartment. I spent a year there and even though it had a great view of downtown Seattle, was close to the sound and had all the amenities one could hope for … it just wasn’t for me – and it was expensive to boot.

I came to Seattle without a job, so I wanted to live someplace centrally located – and West Seattle seemed to fit the bill. I landed a job in a suburb south of the city which is about a 30 minute drive from West Seattle on a good day. Over the winter I did try to commute more – but having to catch two busses and a light rail ride added 2 hours commute each day. When I started attracting prisoners on work release – no joke – I pulled the plug on commuting). I also didn’t like leaving the dogs in the apartment for 10 hours each day.

After I decided to move out of my apartment I started looking for a house to rent closer to work that would have a yard for my dogs. But, even though some places accepted dogs, finding one that would accept 2 big dogs proved to be next to impossible. Housing here is tight… and when it started to look like I wasn’t going to find a place in my price range, before my lease was up, I started to think about living in my trailer – at least till the end of the summer – give the housing frenzie time to simmer down and take my time in finding the right place. But then the more I thought about it – the more advantages I started seeing for living in my trailer long term.

You see, I once owned this business, Sewtropolis, and even though I loved, loved, loved it…. it seriously wreaked havoc on my finances. I am now in the process of paying off that debt so when I ‘ran the numbers’ I saw that there is some serious financial advantages of living in my trailer for as long as I can.

So, here I am …. at the KOA and you know what …. I f*king LOVE it! I love that my dogs get to sun themselves in the GRASS outside my door. I love that I live within steps of a river with a trail that runs for miles along it! I love that when I walk around the campground people say “Hi”!!! Can you believe it!?!!? People f*cking say ‘Hi ‘here!! NOBODY says ‘Hi’ in West Seattle!!! I love that people stop by and ask me about my big a$$ potted tomato plant! (seriously it’s huge) I love that there is the laughter of kids playing (I didn’t realize I missed hearing kids laughing) I love that there are no sirens 3-4 times a night – every – f*cking- night!!! Ugh! And I especially love that my commute to work is only 10 minutes and I don’t even have to get on the freeway!

When I posted on FB that I had moved into my trailer people couldn’t believe it! I guess I had been living with the idea for so long that I no longer thought it was a big deal. I also saw that the advantages FAR outweighed staying where I was at. So, people can think what they want – I’ve never been one to live a boring life and now I can now get serious about digging myself out of debt and that to me, is all that matters.