What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.....

I really do feel that way after finishing this project today.  The Catch All Caddy is so sturdy you could carry rocks in it.  Cross my heart!  The pattern calls for Soft and Stable which is marvelous stuff.  I love to use it in some purse patterns.  For the caddy I bought some Pellon Flex-Foam which is not quite so thick and stiff as Soft and Stable.  Good thing!  By the time I was sewing on the binding I was sewing through the outer pocket (two layers of fabric quilted to Flex-Foam), the body (two layers of fabric quilted to Flex-Foam), the sides/bottom (also two layers of fabric quilted to Flex-Foam), side pockets (also quilted with Flex-Foam), and the bottom part of the handles which are tubes of fabric with strapping inside, folded double.  Then add the binding fabric.  GOOD GRIEF!

It was quite a wrestling match, but I did it!  Thank goodness for the larger space under the presser foot on the Bernina 710 and the even feed feet.  I've also made even better friends with my stilletto.  Once I got my head around the pattern designer's way of thinking I found her methods and sewing tips spot on.

So I survived to tell the tale.  This will sit on my cutting table to hold all my junk tools.  No fair guessing how quickly it will take me to fill it up with odds and ends.  :-D

Gardening in the North Carolina summer weather will make you stronger too.  As long as the mosquitoes don't get too much of your blood.  A few pots of vegetables are starting to produce, as long as I dash between the mosquitoes to keep them well watered.

And the weather.....oh my!  Check out those black clouds.  (click on the pictures to make them larger) We are supposed to be dodging storms this whole 4th of July holiday weekend.  Sigh.

And the bugs.  Have I mentioned the bugs here?  I'm still not used to southern snakes and bugs.  This chap surprised The Viking and I right outside the library door a few days ago.  It's huge!  I didn't know they had such things here.  A bit of research tells me it's a male Eastern Hercules Beetle, the largest beetle in the United States.  'Nuff said.

Then there is the matter of small people.  In this case The Viking.  As his mother says, he has turned into a "threenager."  Some days lately my survival is in question.   :-)

Good thing he is cute.  This was "I am a monster" day.  All day.

Storytime at the library keeps him entertained, for a few minutes anyway.

He sweetly allowed his lemur to "sleep over" at Nanny's apartment for a few days.

Always a comic.

"Are you scared Nini?"

The joy of a pizza face selfie.

If it's too hot or wet he works off energy at the mall while I sit and sew.  Never have I been I happier to have the mall so close to home.

Enjoying his "hot spoiled egg."

The park is fun too.

For both of us.  I'm sure each day we survive together makes us stronger.  :-)

I also survived some kitten making.  I can't survive real cats as I'm highly allergic, but these are the cutest darned things.  A great tutorial and I've made six so far.  They are a bit like potato chips.

(Yes that's my La Passacaglia quilt behind/under that kitten.  Rosette number two is in progress.)

Three kittens and and a plastic canvas carrier are on the way to Stardust in New Jersey.

Also a couple of sleeping bags for her stuffed animals.  I added a zipper to the original pattern so it's an exercise in wonkiness, but I'm sure the animals won't care.  ;-)

Will the world survive Amazon Prime is a good question.  I ask myself that each time I get a huge box with something very small in it.  I almost couldn't get this one out of the mailbox!  Normally the mail carrier would have put it on our porch, but on this day it was pouring rain so they wedged it in.  I'll bet going in was a lot easier than prying it out was!  

The box in the mailbox contained exactly one package of sewing needles.  On the left was the box from the day before which held something equally small.  What's wrong with a small padded envelope?  I feel guilty ordering small things.  But then again, I've ordered large things that come in equally oversized boxes.  It seems to me this kind of excess could possibly kill all of us in the long run.  :-(

Thursday was a happy day all around.  The highlight was a fairy garden workshop for children at a local garden center.  ED and I scrounged around for the container and some decorative items.  The garden center provided soil, colorful pot shards, rocks and moss along with a little plastic fairy.  I bought a few small plants.  The boys and girls were given a choice of pink or blue princess tiaras, and superhero or dinosaur masks.  The Viking was adamant, he had to have a "crown" and was very happy telling everyone during the remainder of the day that he was a fairy princess named Patrick (Patrick being one of his family's dogs).  We also sprinkled fairy dust (glitter) over the garden so he was hot, sweaty and glittery too.  So much fun.

I'll bet you wouldn't have guessed it, but I'm told the blue pinwheels are radio towers for the fairy and gnome.

They had to endure helicopter traffic overhead too.

Awwwww.  My little fairy princess for a day.