Parades and sewing

We participated in this year's St. Patrick's day parade in Fredericksburg. All the dogs got dressed up. It was absolutely freezing. You can see more pictures on Gyeong's blog but here are my three dogs...they got more dressed up once Amanda showed up with some handmade coats and hats..but they are still cute.
And of course everyone else was cute too!

Here is Louisa Mae, Rita Mae, and Earl Gardner posing so perfectly...my dogs don't do that...as you can see.











We decided to make some coats for our next few events this Spring. We will be attending an Easter festival on Monument Ave in Richmond in a few weeks as well as an Environmental Fair on Earth Day weekend. Amanda is quite a skilled seamstress so she offered to help teach us how to make coats. Now for those of you who know me..you realize this is an interested proposition. I have never sewed anything beyond a few stuffies who needed emergency amputations and incisions during my stint as a vet tech. I have never operated a sewing machine and terms such as bobbin and backstitch as as foreign to me as brain surgery. This all became increasingly more clear to Amanda when she realized my scissor situation was below par since my opinion is that anything with two blades and a handle will cut anything I need..from shoestrings to hair to dead skin to paper to honestly whatever needs cutting..the possibilities are endless. How was I to know that fabric scissors are completely reserved for that purpose alone. I was clueless. ;-) But luckily Michelle has a new found interest in sewing and has practiced and become skilled. Another friend, Nancy came over and had rusty skills but skills nonetheless. The remaining task of cutting fabric went to Nancy's daughters who needed community service hours and love the greyhounds. Which left me to...well..I can't honestly say I did anything but get in everyone's way, keep a seat warm, take pictures and a few moment of comic relief. oh..and I provided the house. but enough of my rambling...here are some pictures of Amanda and Michelle skillfully making some beautiful coats (did I mention we were making 9?)


And of course the finished products..the girls get pink (modeled by Dana) and the boys get blue (modeled by Booyah). I think 'we' did a great job!














So hopefully 'we' will have them all completed soon. For some reason..my responsibilities ended when they left. They took all the pieces to complete the coats. They sized up the situation and knew I was a lost cause. But we had a lot of fun! We had 6 greyhounds here for the afternoon so I enjoyed that!
Oh and to answer a previous commenter's question..Dante will kill the balloon when he catches it. The V-day balloon survived and is still floating well in the living room. The mylar ones seem more durable. The standard rubber ones..he pops immediately and looks for more. ;-)
We are also starting construction on a new patio. Again..I use we loosely. Someone has to keep the house clean and the dogs washed while the hole is getting dug..right? I give moral support. ;-)