Cute and cuter

I finished another car caddie for my car.  The Viking was very pleased with his dragons.  Though it hangs in such a way his feet get caught in the lower pockets, so I need to bring it back inside and add closures or elastic or something.  Hmmmmm.

I also have fun fabrics to make caddies for Stardust's family cars.  They are just waiting to be washed.

The boys are having a great holiday with their father.  Fun photos are showing up on Facebook every day.

 Yesterday The Viking decided he wanted to write so we got out the color pencils and sketch pad.  After he drew around his hands a few times he decided to do the same thing with his ears.  Too cute.  :-D

We also had some time out with Nanny and Papa.  While they went into the inner sanctum to sign some papers, The Viking and I had fun in the waiting room.

With the nicely provided bin of Lego.

The Tramp and I still have the rest of last weekend's chores waiting for us that didn't get finished.  Dang.  Hopefully I won't get too worn out to sew.  :-)

July

July has come and gone....just about.  A new baby cousin came to visit and it was a great opportunity for a family photo.  Oh my!  I think my hair is whiter than Mom's.

I injured my shoulder hanging quilts at the guild meeting so no rotary cutting for me at the moment.  (I so want to work on Omigosh.  If I had just done all the cutting the week before!  :-)  Sigh.)  Instead I've been finishing up projects that are laying in the corners of the room that only require scissors.  This apron kit has been laying around since 2008!

Hot days call for ice cream.  He put his feet up there and declared he was "sitting like Nini on the beach."  Hmmmmm.

In the last post I was working on a knit "muslin" of a shirt pattern.  The knit shirt came out just fine.  This is a woven cotton version with another sleeve variation.  Meh.

And this is the hand-dyed rayon version.  Not my cup of tea.  But ED really likes it so it went home with her.  :-)

The Viking has his stubborn moments.  You can see ED trying to coax him into the car.  He of course, had other ideas.  "I not go Mommy.  I have to sit on my rock."  :-D

ED works for a landscaper and called me one day to come and help myself to some leftover plants.  Nice!

I just love this photo of Dad and The Viking on a mission to look at the fountain.

Uncle Sailor Son and his boys came for a visit.  Lots of giggles were had by all.

Everyone had fun at the lake.  It's funny how many people you see all around you on the beach with their phones in hand....my family included I'm afraid.  My excuse is, it's my camera!  Heh.

The boys had a fabulous time.

We also took them all to the Marbles Kid's Museum in Raleigh.  The older boys went off with their dad to the more sophisticated play areas, like the submarine.....

and I watched The Viking drive a fire truck....

play with trains.....

 drive the bus.....

fly the helicopter....

and get absolutely soaked to the skin playing with boats.

I made some gluten-free play dough and the boys tore themselves away from the Lego for a bit of kitchen time.

After watching his older cousins play with the Chuggington trains, this week has been all about trains.

The Tramp and I managed to get some of the gift plants in the ground.

Before they left I managed to finish a pair of car caddies for Five and Batman.  They thought the comic book fabric was "awesome."  (Yay!)

I've had the pattern hanging around for over a year.....as well as some of the fabric and notions.

I finished up a third for LZF's car.  Guitars for the Led Zeppelin Fan.

A fourth for ED's car.  Flames for the NJ Devils fan.  One more for my car is in process, then I have to search for the perfect fabric for Stardust.

Time for me to move off to bed.  This is The Viking at nap time today.  He insisted on sleeping with his little garbage can.  Too cute.  I suspect I'll leave my wastebaskets on the floor where they belong.  ;-)

Happy Fourth of July!

Stardust looks ready to celebrate.  I believe that was a few days ago though because the rains came down today in both New Jersey

and North Carolina.  Sigh.

Yesterday, I finished my 111 blocks!!  Woot!!  Yippee!!  Happy Dance!!  And they look ok.  I wasn't sure my contrast was good enough (it isn't), but I'm so happy to see those diagonals....they stand out in a small photo anyway.

I couldn't resist stacking them up agains the ruler.  :-)

Feeling a sense of accomplishment I thought I'd take a break from Omigosh.  I cleared off the cutting table and traced a shirt pattern I bought from a vendor (Fabrilish) at the recent symposium.  It's been so long since I've sewn a garment it took a bit to get started.  I was nervous about cutting into the expensive hand dyed rayon lawn I bought with the pattern, so I bought some cheap knit to test my skills with.

Just a gratuitous photo of dogs.  I can't remember why they were waiting for me, but obviously they were.  Everyone was a bit out of sorts this week as we tried to get back on schedule after a week of being sick, so they were a bit clingy.

Mom was having some trouble with her new Bernina so we packed it up to take in for repair.  The retirement community has carts to help the residents move belongings around.  The Viking is "helping" them push the cart to the front doors where I will be waiting with the car....if I stop taking photos on the way.  The machine was easily fixed while we waited.  Yay!

Thursday, The Viking and I were able to spend time at the lake.  The sand toys are much enjoyed.

And at lunchtime he decided the cup holder in the arm of his chair was a sandwich holder.  :-D

He is currently getting lots of enjoyment out of the bins of Duplo blocks.  This however, is what adults (me) build when they are on the phone, on hold, for way way way too long (multiple times).  Turns out to be a good way to deal with the frustration.  Heh.

So tonight we didn't try to go out to any of the holiday celebrations.  Instead we turned up the TV loud to cover up the noise of the fireworks going on all around us.  Not that the dogs actually prefer Robbie Williams or Sammy Davis Jr. to firecrackers, but I hope it made them more comfortable.

I kept busy with sewing my shirt.  Why I chose the softest stretchiest knit to practice with I have no idea.  What was I thinking??  At least it forced me to mess with my sewing machine to find out the best way to handle the fabric.  Yes that's masking tape on the front of my machine.  I had to cover up the shiny chrome because I was being blinded by the reflection from my task light.  It's not the perfect solution, but it'll do for now.

So that's all.  One more day of holiday then back to our regular schedule.  Ugh.  I really don't like that word, schedule.  Ah well.  :-)