Lucky me!

Yes...I've taken a blogging break.  And yes...I decided not to say, "I'm BAAAACK!"  So no...you didn't hear that.  ;-)

Lucky us had the pleasure of the Sailor Son and Grands 1&2 visiting two weekends in a row.  The big bin of toys came down to the living room and we built railroads, had "car jams" and made tents with quilts.

We visited the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh.  Among many other things, we were amazed at the huge shark's teeth.

Looked through bug eyes.

 Tried on animal costumes.

And touched dinosaur teeth.

We also visited Pullen Park.  (Luckily this was before the 106F degree days!)  We were cute in our Ninja Turtle hats as we rode on the "fwings."

We took a ride on the train.

The park is beautifully kept and we enjoyed the scenery.

The boys and I rode the carousel.  Grand #1 was determined to ride a zebra but couldn't find one.  Grand #2 was anxious to ride the lion until he found out it was stationary.  So we chose horses instead.

There were lots of things to climb on too.

Next morning the dogs spotted a large turtle out of their reach beyond the fence.  It took offense at being barked at and hid under my car.

I called the Grands to come and see and we followed the turtle back to the pond.

While Daddy washed his car, still in their pajamas, they decided to wash my car.  I wasn't going to say no!  :-)

While everyone else took a nap, Grand #1 and I hung out in the sewing room.  And while I sewed patches on the Sailor Son's new uniform blouse, Grand #1 decorated.  "Why is this wall soft Mimi?"  I gave him a big pile of four-patches and he insisted he was decorating for his daddy's birthday.  He wouldn't let me line the patches up next to each other.  "No Mimi.  It's not a quilt.  It's decorations!"  Then he declared, "That's what quilting is all about!"  He also stated that he wanted to sew on black sewing machines, not the white ones.  (Black is the current favorite color.)  I showed him my black Featherweight and he's anxiously waiting for his chance to use it.  :-)

The yard is still a mud pit...doggy heaven....sigh.  I spotted Maisy frantically digging.

I was preparing myself for another hole full of stinky water and an equally stinky dog.

But no!  She caught a mole!  (Is this luckier?  I'm not sure!)

Another t-shirt quilt.  Love the pinkness of it.

And lastly....  You know how when you decide to sort out a room it always seems to mean trashing several other rooms?  Yep.  I thought you did.   Hmmmmm.  That looks like sewing stuff in the guest room.

And piles of books and crap things on our bed.  Sigh.

But it's going to be worth it!  To make a long story short......it's all about curtain rods.  It was time to put up new curtains in the bonus room but that (which hasn't happened yet) led to a rearranging of furniture, which led to the building of a new sewing table for my Bernina, and will also mean moving ceiling lights.

Charlie has a new niche too.

Bookshelves were taken down, the Juki shoved into a different corner, ironing station shoved to the other window, The Tramp's desk relocated, and the place continues to be a royal mess while the table is constructed.

Progress is being made though.  The hole has been cut.

It's a hollow-core luaun door so pieces were notched and glued in to support the acrylic insert.

Looking good!  Tomorrow we The Tramp will tackle the structure that actually holds the sewing machine.

Lucky lucky me!  :-D  (Of course the curtain rods aren't up yet.  lol)