aka Chesty LaRue

I have always relied upon the kindness of strangers

(Cross-posted at Live Journal as well.)

I may not be Blanche DuBois, but I am so very appreciative right now.  7/10 of the Six Wives costumes has sold (Anne of Cleves, Catherine of Aragon and Katherine Parr are still available) and all of the proceeds have gone to Layla's surgery fund.  We have covered the MRI she had yesterday (showing a very large interior liver shunt with a small bend in the vena cava which is worrisome), various vet bills when she was very sick last week and required IV fluids twice and blood draws twice, and it looks like we will have enough left over to cover our part of the surgery costs.  Which is a tremendous relief to me and my family. 

I went into the Six Wives project trying to find a fun group project for the Wench Posse and also to challenge myself to do something BIG.  Who knew it would turn into something even bigger in terms of the generosity of people I have spoken to all over the world?

Kathryn Parr is going to Australia.  Lady Jane Grey went to CA.  Others went to Florida, Texas, and the East Coast.  Queen Mary Tudor went to a Wench Posse member who was unable to participate on the day of the Six Wives.  And I am slowly finishing the Queen Elizabeth costume for the lovely Marti Potter who is completely recovered from her H1N1. 

I am just so honestly grateful for the people who spread the word on forums, blogs, bulletin boards, Facebook, My Space, eBay, Etsy, etc.  It is a huge weight off of us financially to know that the vet costs are covered, and that maybe we really can Save a Puppy. 

We are waiting to hear back from the surgeon who is to do the surgery to tell us if he has the proper size coils that get put in the shunt to close it off (or has to order them), and if Layla is still considered a good surgical candidate based on the vena cava issue she has.  We are crossing our fingers, as it would be heart-breaking to everyone involved to come this far only to not be able to have the surgery. 

Again, I am so overwhelmed at the generosity I have seen displayed towards myself and my family.  Costuming people really are the best people in the world.  Thank you so very much for all of your help.

Buy a dress, save a puppy!

I have moved the dress listings to eBay, since Layla's surgery is less than a month away and I need to sell these things to raise money for it.  If you want to make an offer on a Tudor gown, go here:  http://shop.ebay.com/theaccidentalseamstress/m.html?_ipg=50&_sop=12&_rdc=1

If you want to know more about Layla's health issues, click here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portosystemic_shunt  She has an intravascular shunt, which means it is inside her liver.  Only a handful of vet hospitals do this procedure, and the U of MN Vet Hospital is flying down a vet from Michigan to perform Layla's surgery. 

 We appreciate the help, as does Layla.  Thank you.
 

Project Tudor, COMPLETED

It's all over baby.  We've made the costumes, worn the costumes, and now the costumes are on the auction block, and for a very good cause:  all proceeds go to fund Layla the puppy's liver shunt surgery at the University of MN Hospital.  If you are interested in buying an outfit, go here:  Buy a Gown, Save a Puppy.

My website is up and tentatively working, and is at The Accidental Seamstress.

The LiveJournal Blog is also up and has an incredibly long and detailed post on the Six Wives Project:  http://accidentallarue.livejournal.com/4059.html

More pictures of Project Tudor can be seen here, as well as some outfits I have for sale.  There is a folder on the left with individual pictures of the gowns:  http://s567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/sixwivesofhenryviii/

And I will have some items up at eBay in the next week or so, although I am planning on transitioning over mainly to Etsy in the future:  eBay Listings   

Thanks for hanging along for the ride!  Next up - Italian Courtesan and Steampunk!

The Accidental Seamstress

I have recently made the decision to stop blogging at akachestylarue.  I am in need of a more business friendly name and unfortunately aka Chesty Larue is not it.

I have a website that is being built at www.theaccidentalseamstress.com. As of October it will feature better photo galleries, general info and my blog, which will be over at Live Journal, cause that's where the costumers live, apparently!  In the meantime I have started blogging under "accidentallarue" at LJ and that is where I will be continuing to talk about the Wench Posse, Six Wives, etc.  (Accidental Seamstress was too long a title to fit there.)

You can find that blog here:  http://accidentallarue.livejournal.com/  I am not certain if you have to be an LJ person to comment, but I will still have my e-mail on the new site and always love hearing from people. 

The new website automatically rolls over to the old one right now, so if you bookmark it it eventually will all be at the new site. 

Thanks for hanging out with me here at aka Chesty Larue for the last few years.  It has been fun getting to know lots of you and sharing my crazy costuming ideas and family life with you all.  Hope to see you on the other side over at LJ!

Wench Posse: Ren Faire Fall-Out and Day of Wrong

I have to say that I really wish there was a market out there for crazy Elizabethan themed costumes, as I am having so much fun making them.  Seriously.  (Pictures after the commentary below.)

I pulled an all-nighter on Thursday night finishing up stuff for people to wear to Bristol and only partially completing my own costume.  Princess and I (after seeing S who got home that morning from NC and gave me a lovely rock as a gift) joined up with the Chick and Georgie and then picked up TraynerShayne and were on our way to Wisconsin.  I don't remember much of the next 4 hours as I spent them mostly under a blanket, snoozing and dreaming of cheese.  Seriously.  At one point I asked the Chick to buy me some smoked cheddar and she said, "OK?"

After a wrong-turn that added several hours to our trip, we picked up Swimmer and finally made it to the Best Western in Kenosha.  Where the Chick and I proceeded to sew until 4:30am and then I gave up, declared exhaustion and went to bed. (Did I mention that just ONCE I would like to travel without a sewing machine, much less TWO??)  Turns out that 3am is not the Witching Hour, but instead the Bitching Hour.  There was much smack talking as Princess slumbered peacefully across the room.  It is amazing how crabby and TRULY justified one can feel at 3am with very little sleep.

The Chick woke me at 9:30 and I announced that I would not be attending the faire that day as my costume wasn't done and I was too tired, and everyone could go without me.  And I went back to bed. 

Hi, my name is Larue and I am a Ren Faire fall-out.  Sad, but true.

The others decided against wearing their costumes (that we had spent many an hour on) because of the rain and mud (which was the correct decision) except Princess who drove back to the hotel, woke me at 2:30, changed into her lovely purple outfit and drove back out.  I walked over to a cheese store and bought the Chick a talking Green Bay bottle opener and we all went to dinner with Countess and her friends.  It was nice to know that I was missed at the Faire that day. 

We finished up the other Day of Wrong costumes and were packed and asleep by 12 midnight. 

I have to say that driving in combat boots and a farthingale is an interesting experience.  I also found that I need to cool down my body core PRIOR to walking into the faire.  The faire was so hot that our bodice chillers were melting within 10 minutes. 

But we looked FABULOUS:

Swimmer (Fish/Ocean), Princess (Miss Ren Faire 1574), Larue (Camo), Chick (Green Bay), TraynerShayne (Athletic), Georgie (Mardi Gras). 

We were apparently quite popular.  We couldn't walk farther than 10-20 feet without being stopped for photographs.  The folks at the Friends of Faire area were thrilled we were there.  As were we.  I was particularly fond of their gatorade, which stayed nicely cool inside my canteen.

Then the Chick ran into Thalon, the Viking:

It was really more of a mutual admiration thing than it was a "You SUCK at winning Superbowls!" sort of thing.  Every so often the Chick would yell "Are you ready for some FOOTBALL?" And I would yell at people to fall in, or out as the case would be.  At one point we attempted some cadence calls and a little "Boom-shacka-lacka" trotting, but corsets are not really appropriate for that sort of thing.

We met some gothic folks (who may or may not have been there for the Day of Wrong, hard to tell sometimes):

And an absolutely inspired Girl Scout outfit:

She even gave us cookies.

Everytime we would see someone dressed oddly we would descend upon them like rabid weasels, intent upon declaring them our friend and welcoming them to our fold.  Such as the Red Hat Woman:

And the digital camo girl who was also in the service and wearing her old cast-offs.  We had a wonderful time talking shop and showing off our boots.  She also had camo nail polish. 

We had a group shot taken with Kirk the Absinthe Fairy, a barbarian, a Disney tourist, and a Fairebook participant:

Georgie particularly enjoyed the barbarian.

And of course drunken Scotsmen cannot be trusted:

Note that he has been beaded by Georgie, who made it her mission to bead Scotsmen, men with horns, and small children.  She was very successful in this and came home with far fewer beads than she started with.

We were in place on the wall waiting for the parade to come by in hopes of seeing the Queen.  Everyone loved our craziness and we had many nobles falling over laughing in the parade.  The Queen tried valiantly to stop her horse so she could talk to us, but the horse was stubborn and wouldn't do it.  She sent someone to see us requesting an audience at 6pm, but sadly we missed it due to bad weather.  We are sending Princess as our emissary next weekend to deliver a group portrait to her in thanks.

The Chick posed with Kirk the Absinthe Fairy, also known as the organizer of the Day of Wrong.  I don't think he quite knew what we were planning when I explained our outfits to him via e-mail, but he was thrilled and told us to come back next year.

The Princess discovered some shiny baubles:

And she introduced us to the Courtesan who sang in multiple languages and told jokes.  She also called security on a particularly rude (and drunk) Bears fan who was very nasty to the Chick. 

I admired her chopines, which she made herself with the help of a wood carving friend.  Are they not to die for??

We also met a Unicorn whose friends were jealous of the attention she was getting:

To which I say, "Maybe you all should bring it next time!  She made an effort.  So should you."

A storm was going to hit the faire and we all changed out of our costumes and wandered about shopping.  I got a straw hat that will work for French, Flemish, etc.  I have been looking for one for forever. 

I find the pink flowers and the butterfly a bit twee, so they will be replaced.

We also passed by a lovely fairy selling bratwurst:

And some nobles doing their thing:

We drove home in the rain and made it to my house by 12:30.  Princess slept on the sofa and I was able to blissfully sleep in my own bed.  Other than a whopper of a charley horse in my left knee while driving (YIKES) the trip home was fairly uneventful.  We discussed in great detail the fact that we were going to have to up the stakes next year in regards to costuming and what we should wear - a group theme?  Individual themes?  And came up with many good ideas.

Monday the Princess and I went to the thrift stores after the children kicked us out so as to surprise me with a clean home upon my return (Surprise me, I say!) and found some amazing stuff.

This leather jacket was $6.99 and Princess made me buy it because of the Steampunk possibilities:

We also found the following pins which will work for various costuming situations:

The gold Fleur-de-Lis.

I really wish I had found this before I ordered pearls to represent La Peregrina for the Six Wives.

 

I think this is so great I would wear it everyday.  Probably not with my t-shirts, though.  (Note to self - get a better daily wardrobe.)

We were wandering amongst the jewelry at Savers when the Princess squealed and said, "LARUE!  I just found an actual chain of office here!"

And she did.  For $4.99:

The jewels and crown have been removed, it has been spray-painted silver, and pearl cabs have been glued on.  Finished pictures will be up later this week.  Princess is very excited at using this as her new girdle.

I am hoping to finally have my Costume College post up tomorrow with pictures of all of the nice folks I met and their amazing costumes.  We are also prepping for the Fest Friends garage sale this Saturday.  Imagine - me selling costumes I have worn once?  Who would think it?  Although I am going to keep the Camo Elizabethan for nostalgia and because people are not likely to need one, much less one with my name on it.... especially considering I wore it twice.  Which might be some kind of record.

One final picture of the Chick and I, co-founders of the Wench Posse (mainly because we never get good pictures of the two of us together):

I encourage everyone to go to the Day of Wrong next year and go crazy with the costuming.  It is GREAT FUN.  Just know that you will be hounded like Britney Spears at a club by people wanting pictures.  However, if dressed in Camo you might be asked to have your picture taken by various service people or family members/friends of service people serving overseas, in Afghanistan, Iraq, etc.  And for that, you will happily pose and wish them a safe return. 

Possibly with dragon horns/the RAWK sign, if requested.

Rocking out at Costume College

I will put up a bigger post tomorrow, when my computer doesn't want to eat every picture I try to upload. 

However, I had a great time at CoCo, met some people whose blogs I have read for years, roomed with the lovely Margo Anderson and made The Chick eternally happy by having my picture taken with her favorite costumer. 

Oh, and I wore this:

That would be the reflective tape glowing.  Who knew that would happen when taken with a flash?  I'm a seamstress Jim, not a photographer...  (Check out that terribly sexy double chin.)

It was such fun to wear (I can't wait to wear it again this weekend at Bristol's Day of Wrong) and was a completely last minute decision because my German is nowhere near complete.  I am beginning to think there is a black hole or vortex of some sort over my sewing table....

I am happy to be back home with the Wench Posse, but excited to see my new CoCo friends again at Costume Con in April.  The Chick is already planning our wardrobes. 

Lastly  - changes are coming here.  I am switching over to a website with blog access from LiveJournal this month, so things might be a bit hairy around here for awhile.  The name will be changed to "The Accidental Seamstress" mainly because "akachestylarue" (while awesome) is not very business-like.  And The Chick's suggestion of "Tits McGee" has been outright vetoed. 

Thanks again to my wonderful posse to include the Chick, Gay Blade, Georgie, Danger Kitty, Pirate C, Princess, TraynerShayne, and all the others who made my trip to Costume College a reality.  I just might owe you some sort of chocolate....

Wench Posse: California Edition

There hasn't been much posting lately because I have literally been a crazy person running around trying to finish outfits for paying clients (as well as outfits for myself so I am not naked) before I go gallivanting off to Costume College.

Also?  We have a sick puppy.  Layla has been diagnosed with a congenital portosystemic shunt, which means her liver is not currently filtering out toxins, and which also means a very expensive surgery in September when she is 4 months old.  It is very hard to think that something this cute has a life threatening condition:

I recently finished up a lovely pink princess type gown for Shimmy.  This is her first real court gown, and in her own words as a bellydancer:  "It feels so odd to be all covered up."  We based it off of a portrait found in one of my costuming books, and once the French hood is finished it will look pretty close to the picture, minus the fur. 

The front shot:

The back shot:

She's kind of saucy.  We love this about her.

Princess also made me a lovely necklace out of a bracelet, some pearl drops, some gold beads and some other bracelet links to wear with my French outfit to CoCo:

The Chick and I worked on my camo outfit for Bristol:

I look like a deranged camp counselor.

And then Wed. rolled around, the night before I was to leave at some ungodly hour from the MSP International Airport.  The Chick (in her irreverent fashion) sent out a call via Facebook to Wench Posse members near and far to come and help me prepare for CoCo and represent us well.  And a load of people showed up.  It was very sweet and desperately needed.  I played General to the Battle of the Costume College Costumes and other than some horrible Barry Manilow Sings Songs of the 80's which was playing in the background, it all went well.  (Careless Whisper almost broke me, folks.)

The Chick used some little green army men and made a diorama on my hat:

Let's check out the close-up, shall we?

This coming weekend is also the ASOP or the El Jefe Series of Poker, Summer Spectacular.  Since I normally make an outrageously tacky garment piece to be worn as part of the ASOP regalia, something had to be made.  Since I had no time, I did the next best thing - I had the Gay Blade make one for me:

It is to be a Championship Belt Buckle, a la the WWF.  I told the GB to let loose, and not hold back.  The end result was a thing of glittery, pipe cleanery, sparkle glue glory.

The lovely Pirate C also came over and single-handedly created a French hat for me:

Princess made pintuck curls in my fake hair and also put together a girdle so glorious that it has to remain a secret until after the outfit is worn:

DangerKitty, fresh off of sewing multiple pairs of bloomers, was again pressed into service to sew my farthingale.  She was a trooper and we love her.  I need to do something nice for her.  Note to self.

Check out my pasty white legs in the background.

The lovely Marti Potter stuffed two bumrolls for me for my French gown.  The Chick offered to model them:

Then Pirate C tried one on and things went horribly awry:

Georgie was also a big help, making multiple runs to Joann's and just generally doing what needed to be done.  In the end, I decided a group picture was in order.

Then things just got silly.

And after all of that outpouring of love and affection and serging, I finally got on the plane (with 3 hours of sleep) and made it to Los Angeles.  And while United may break guitars, Northwest is really good with sewing machines. 

My current weekend home:

Now note how tidy my roommate's side of the room is in comparison:

Basement Sweatshop, Van Nuys Extension:

And a sample of things to come for this weekend:

And now to so much needed sleep.  Huzzah and all that.

Wench Posse: Weekend Edition

It is amazing what a little sleep can do for a gal.  After not getting a full night's uninterrupted sleep for 2 weeks I was a bit cranky.  At one point I left the house to go get ice cream and I wasn't sure I was coming back.  Such was the state of my psyche.  A little sleep later and BAM!  Such a better attitude.  I had completely forgotten what this was like from having infants.  Maybe it was the hormones last time...

However - we had remodeling this past week with 5 separate rooms in the house being painted, to include the kitchen and my bedroom.  G walked into the kitchen to find the fridge in the middle of the room and said, "Wow.  Are you going to leave this here?  Because I don't think Dad is going to like having to cook around this."

Layla the puppy got sick and required some IV fluids, vitamins, etc.  One enormous vet bill later and we are trying to make sure she eats and drinks more.  She has started to fill out now and is back to wanting to bite my nose, so I am thinking she is better.  I also found her randomly walking around the house last night at 4:30am, having escaped from her kennel.  She was very excited to see me, oddly enough.  I think we should have named her The Great Houdini.

In other news, Roxie was playing with my tape measure, desperately trying to make sure it was dead by pouncing on it and shaking it into submission, and occasionally bringing it over to me to show me what a good dog she was.

Say it with me now - "Aw!"

No Margo Anderson patterns were harmed in the taking of this photograph.

I also spent quite a bit of time on Shimmy's costume this week, which is coming along nicely and should be ready for pictures tomorrow. 

Another one I have been working on is for Countess Ang out at the faire.  I was making her a new teal outfit to fit with her brand new corset from Scoundrelle's Keep (these things are seriously engineered and seriously lovely folks - definitely worth it for those with large busts - also kitted out to look rather steampunk).  She brought over a peach/pink outfit that was too small and we decided to redo it to fit with the new corset so she would have more than one fitting outfit.  She brought me a huge roll of this braided trim with gold studs in it and we just decided to go to town on the thing and make it as over the top as possible.  Which was terribly fun.  I added guards to the underskirt, re-did all the trim on the overskirt and added guards to that, made a heavily decorated partlett and took the front off of the old bodice and appliqued it onto the front of a new bodice. 

I just have to say that I was really impressed with Margo's patterns here.  Countess has a very hourglass shape and I was really concerned about how we were going to be able to make her bodice and especially how to fit it properly over a Victorian corset.  The patterns worked so well and the bodice fit her like a glove. 

Here is the front with all the pink trim:

Here is the back with the added boning to give support over the top of the corset:

Isn't she cute?

We had a Six Wives get-together last night and I fitted muslin mock-ups to people for their costumes.  Everyone looked great and I would like to especially thank Marti Potter for running out and getting snacks for everyone.  I repeatedly asked her how much I owed her until she looked at me and said, "Bite my ass."  At which point I simply said thank you and ate the chocolate that was offered to me. 

Here is MP in her in-progress costume:

And here is a better picture representing the silliness of the evening (and showing MP's soon to be completed beaded oversleeves:

 

Note - MP made all of her own jewelry out of thrift store finds and items from Michael's/Joann's.  Check out her new Etsy store for her regular stuff.

I was tickled that she was so pleased with her costume.  All seamstresses/costume designers, etc. are really compliment whores when you get right down to it.  Our fragile egos need much boosting.

The lovely Gay Blade was there and wearing a fabulous ring he bought that was made at a company called "Fit for a Queen."  He and Georgie were kind enough to model their fab rings for the blogosphere:

Guess which one is the Drag Queen one?  No, really. 

Georgie also documented the new Wench Posse drink called the "Yo-ho-ho" which apparently includes some sort of Coconut Rum and some limeade.  There may be other things in it, but I was too busy drinking margaritas and one lovely Brandy Alexander as made by El Jefe to concern myself with rum.  My pancreas handled the whole thing quite nicely, and I didn't break out in hives this time.  Which really just means that El Jefe needs to make me margaritas all the time.  Lucky guy.

Lots of finished projects coming up this week as I prepare for Costume College (aka Clown College as so-named by my family) on July 30th.  Since I currently will be going naked (as so often happens to me) I need to actually MAKE the costumes and get them done in time.  Luckily I have the Chick and her cutting support.  She is truly the wind beneath my wings.  Heh.

More pictures later, along with more Puppy P*rn.  Because everyone loves puppies.

Wench Posse Lite: Tastes Great, Less Filling

It has been a productive week.  First I finished both the Disney Princess dress and the Purple dress for Princess, and forced her to model in them under scathingly hot and humid conditions with no water or food FOR HOURS. 

Or, maybe it was for just a few minutes.  And maybe she didn't mind.  Doesn't she look happy?

And here is the finished purple, although there are sleeves, a new underskirt and a matching purple doublet to come later.  I call it Garanimals for Renaissance - mix and match:

I did replace the burgundy guard in this picture with a black one and added ribbon trim at the suggestion of the Chick.  It looked lurvely.

I also did some work on the outfit of the lovely Marti Potter.  Here it is in progress:

I did sell the Venetian that had been on Realm of Venus to a lovely woman in Australia who will hopefully love it.  It was a lovely dress.  But it is time to move onward and upward!  Or onto something new.  As I am wont to do.

Over the 4th of July Swimmer came to visit and we worked on her Bristol gowns.  Here she is in her corset and the Chick's farthingale (hers is still to come):

Her Elizabethan has an aquatic/fish theme, and she has a lovely German coming along nicely for Bristol.

I got some work done on Shimmy's pink silk Elizabethan (she is going to look so cute):

She hand-beaded her skirt, which was nice for me!

Our two Wench Posse nights here have been poorly attended, which means more work than actual bitching was accomplished.  The lovely Danger Kitty cut 13 front panels for me, and is currently sewing together the last remaining bloomers.  Woot! 

The Chick was also down in the sweatshop here at Casa de Larue, working away furiously on corsets and whatnot on G's sewing machine:

What you can't see in the picture is the chain on her other ankle where I chained her to the chair.  Bwah ha ha.

Then she found El Jefe's old Cisco conference hat and was inspired to dance:

"Annie are you ok?  Are you ok Annie?  You've been hit by, you've been struck by, a stray serger thread..."

Georgie also got into the groove in her newly shortened farthingale:

Did you know that Reading is Sexy?  Apparently so, as per Georgie's shirt.

Tomorrow my home continues to be torn apart by remodeling, and more sewing is on the schedule.  I leave you with a farewell kiss from Georgie, modeling the lower half of her Mardi Gras outfit:

She loves you, and you love her, and you love each other, because none of you got enough love in your childhoods.  Or something like that.

All Work and No Play Makes Larue Very Cranky Indeed (and likely to talk in the 3rd person)

I have been covered in bits of thread and smelling of puppy for about a week now. 

This is not entirely a good thing.

Luckily the Monks of New Skete know what they are doing, and the puppies slept from 10:30-6:30 last night and everyone is happier this morning.  Especially me.  I tend to get a mite cranky from lack of sleep.  Ask El Jefe and the Chick.  And did you know puppies are much cuter when you are not sleep deprived? It's true.

As I looked over my Sewing Spreadsheet yesterday, it seemed to me that it wasn't changing at all.  I was getting things done and deleting them from the list, but more things kept being added.  People have said to me, "Well, wouldn't you be bored if you had nothing to do?"

Yes, I would.  But that is what the "future projects" spreadsheet is for.  I just want to cross something off and feel the satisfaction of having done so.  When I finished redoing the guard for the underskirt on Princess A's purple dress yesterday I instantly packaged the whole thing up and brought it upstairs to put by the door so it could leave as soon as possible.  Because as much as I love to see my work completed and displayed on the mannequin (and more so on the person it is made for), I like to see it leave my house.  Maybe this is why I keep so few costumes for myself.  I have raised/sewn my babies and now they need to leave the nest.  Again, and again.

I like organization.  I like orderliness.  I love to have the Chick come and cut for me (can you imagine? Someone who actually LIKES cutting out patterns?), it drives me crazy not knowing where the stuff I had put on the table went to.  She is very patient with me and my OCD tendencies and allows me to move things so I know where they are, and then gets her stuff ready and cuts away.  And her cutting is very precise.  Which is WONDERFUL.  There is nothing quite so great as sewing something that has to be done right away and having all the pieces be the same length, size, etc., and marked with their tabs, etc. 

Non-sewing people might not get that, but it is just so relaxing.  Especially when you have been in such a hurry you go to serge two strips of fabric together and discover you have created a mobius strip and don't have enough leftover fabric to fix it.  (Not a good moment at all.)

I have been in such a sewing haze this past week that I have not watched any TV at all except for date night with El Jefe (Burn Notice, yah baby!), read any books, read any blogs, done much in the way of exercise, really done anything other than take puppies outside, help clean puppy pee, mediate between tired teenagers, and teach them how to hold puppies like footballs, which makes it easier to take two squirmy puppies outside at the same time.  I have also had my nose pressed to a serger or a sewing machine, or been meeting with clients.  I would not be surprised to reach in my bra and find a bobbin there.  I am fairly certain there is thread on my butt. 

And now it is crunch time.  I have much to accomplish before Costume College and Bristol, which is just a month away.  And starting next week the kids are in camp half-days, which means my puppy time increases. 

I am taking this as a good thing.  It will be good for me to sit outside and read a book while the puppies explore the yard.  It will be good for me to get away from the sewing machine and eat something with nutritional value.  It will be good for me to perhaps get on the treadmill and watch an episode of Law & Order (ding-ding!). 

And hopefully my spreadsheet will narrow down a bit and I will have some breathing room.  Which would be nice.