Couple More Baby Blankets

These minky blankets are becoming my signature baby gift. Although I never seem to quite learn my little lessons from one month to the next while making these things.
I always look for a creative edging stitch to use around the binding, and by the time I finish I wish I had just used a simple zig zag stitch. For some reason the fancier ones don't stitch as evenly on the satin blanket binding as I would like, so I am always disappointed with the outcome.

 We have a couple of cute new baby boys in the ward. I had never used this monkey alphabet embroidery that I downloaded several months ago, so it was time to try it out.

 I used long minky fur fabric for the beard on this one. Kinda fun.

 And I've been adding these ribbons in different widths around part of one edge for the baby to play with. Also added some crinkle noisy filled fabric on this one. I'll have to ask about that in a few months as baby Spencer starts to become more inquisitive.

These animal inspired fabrics work with the monkey on the front don't you think?

Note to self - use simple zig-zag stitch next time!

August Backyard Progress

This past month we saw a couple large and many little things come together. We are nearly finished now with the exception of the water feature that is between the pool and the patio below, and the metal trim around the small arbor posts.

 The kids really wanna jump in here in early August, but the pool is still too cold for us. The solar and gas took longer to get all hooked up than we had the patience for.

 So they got into their skivies and got in the water anyway.

 "You are right! It is cold." The pool is covered in shade most of the day and so some kind of heat is totally necessary in this backyard pool.

 The lights got hung in trees, patio's and along paths.

 Okay, they actually talked me into it here.

 Our nephew Brett with Jess and kids came for a short visit and played well with the 2nd cousins.

 The solar got connected only to find a huge leak  flood coming out from under the cement floor in the shed. Had to have it dug out and repaired major.  Then again the solar guys came out and hooked us up only to find the that the welders had sparked several small holes into one of the plastic solar panels the pool water runs through. "TURN IT OFF!!"
So …. they came again another day and replaced that problem. It does seem to be running smoothly now. Murphy has no more what-ifs to choose from.

 Plants are happy with the cooler weather.

 The Hubby got the BBall hoop all set up.

 The A/V guys got things working (almost all of them anyway.) We watched a lot of the Olympics out here in the covered patio area. There are 2 infared heaters for the cooler nights that we will use later.

Chimney was finished up, and the fire logs arranged too.

 Last arbor is welded into place.

Amazing that it is usable, comfortable and great. Now the upkeep starts. The lighting and watering systems could be a nightmare if we don't keep them perfectly coifed. I have no idea where some of them originate and end, so there will be a learning curve for me in this regard. 

Utah Travels

There were several reasons for going to Utah for the long weekend.
One was my MIL's 85th birthday.

Happy Birthday Grandma Hodgman

We also went to an American Fork volleyball game and watched Stephanie coach her girls to an amazing comeback victory. We met her new boyfriend Jon, and had a nice visit with him throughout the game.

Here we are at the Brigham City temple open house. Stephanie and Jon came to see it with us. She has gone to one other open house in Sacramento a few years ago, but it was good to be able to take her to see the whole inside of this beautiful edifice.

 There were amazing touches throughout, and the finish work was just beautiful. (I feel fine, but it appears as though I'm ready to fall over. My neck pain sometimes puts me at an odd angle.)

Steph took this magazine-ready picture of the outside of the temple.

Our Jonathan came to Mantua to celebrate with Grandma too. This is out the front windows toward the beautiful mountain and reservoir.

Pillowcase Dresses

Talking about making some easy little pillowcase sundresses for the granddaughters since spring, I finally made the first one for July 4th.
Lex had asked me to make her something for the 4th because both her sibs had something red/white/blue and she didn't. Perfect opportunity for a summer frock, I thought.

 So I made a little pillowcase sundress for her and put a little embroidered rocket on the front, rick rack around the hemline and stars and stripes ribbon for the neckline ties. We went to the beach and celebrated a friends 60th birthday and David's family came along for the day. It was a cool one at the coast, but we had fun.

I really didn't take any pictures of it and I need to really start taking more shots of the construction of these things.
I looked at a tutorial from a pretty nice website that you could find here if you'd like.

 A couple weeks later I made the other girls each a dress. L-2's is black and white with a little pink thrown in for interest. I have a bunch of b/w fat quarters that made for a nice assortment, and the animal print is a leftover from a baby blanket made long ago. (I think I made it for a baby girl that is now 17 years old)

 This one has a bow made of one of the main fabrics, that ties in the back.

A rick rack flower pin was made to go either near the hem, or anywhere she pleases.

All happy and ready for pre-school. I bought the matching leggings at Costco. I love Costco.

 I sent the Colorado girls a couple of them too. Coke's is a 8 x fat quarters juvenile prints one.

 Ells is little girls on swings fabric. Don't you love how the little one looks to her big sis for an example? So cute.

 Coordinating fabric and a closer look at the swing in the trees.
These dresses were pretty simple to make and they should be able to wear them for years. The dresses will grow as they get shorter, but won't be too small.
An old retro addition to a little girls summer wardrobe.

You Can't Make This Stuff Up

….. Or,  I could name this post "Sewage at the Hodgman's - Part 6"

Last month our DD who is a high school volleyball coach in American Fork, Utah, came home and brought her entire volleyball team to play in a tourney in Santa Cruz. They also played against her alma matter high school's team and her old coach who is again coaching at LGHS.
They stayed at our home and so even though the pool wasn't finished and the outside space, not complete, there was room enough around the perimeter for everyone to sleep somewhere. The 3 chaperones each had a bedroom and Stephanie slept in our room as John and I were in and out of town the whole time they were here.

 A few of these mid-state girls had never seen the ocean. Steph made sure they all felt the cold NorCal currents.

 She didn't make me get into the frigid water - good thing since I gave her life, and like the hubby says. "I can take it away too."

 They did pretty well at the sand tournament and they had a great time too.

 The site seeing included the Oakland Temple which was built in the 60's, dedicated in 1964, and has a commanding presence in the city by the bay.

 Some of the Seniors with the coach in the center.

 Fun chaperones/drivers were game to go have fun too.

 Our friends around town provided swimming entertainment, 'cause we couldn't at our house. Thanks Knudsen's!

Stepha and her ex Coach Ripp at the top left.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.

The real story of the weekend was that the girls got to participate in a Hodgman Sewer Story.
The second night at our house everyone was taking showers after a sandy and sweaty day, when the laundry room toilet started overflowing. Steph and I started plunging and bucketing and we hollered at all the girls to get out of showers and turn all the water off. This particular bathroom has no shower or tub, just a sink and toilet, so I had no idea what was going on.
It was 10:15 PM and I called the city to have the water district man come out and check out the street connection to the house. If you read this often, you'll perhaps remember that we had a problem back in June with back up from the street sewer so I suspected this to be the problem again. It was not.  The roto rooter man was called and he said he could come first thing int he morning.
Meanwhile my DD and I were wet vacuuming crap off of the floor in the bathroom while standing in 1-2 inches of sewage in our bare feet and dumping it into the drain outside near the garden. A fun time was had by all.
Yikes - I have 18 girls and 3 chaperones at my house and no water. Oh … I have a Port-a-Potty in the front yard on the driveway.
"Okay girls, if you need to go during the night, you know what to do. Go through the open garage and use the port-a-potty." Such fun we are having on this little trip.
"And if you didn't get showered, come get into the car and we are headed down to Courtside (athletic club) to shower there before it closes in 15 minutes."
And may I add, "I am leaving at 5:30am tomorrow morning to attend a wedding in Portland."

It all ended up getting fixed while the girls were out and about the following day with or without me home.
It is always such fun around my house.

THE END

Dress-up Cape's

Way back in February I told my cute little 4 year old granddaughter that I'd make her a warm cape to go with her new dress-up dress that I made for her birthday. I have been very slow about getting this done, and she would never complain or even bug me about it, so I felt like a bit of a heel.
Finally, I sat myself down at the sewing machine and eeked it out. It really didn't take all that long, but I just had kept putting it off for one reason or another.
I ended up making it out of white minky fabric, which mimics a fur type of feeling and then I put a animal print ribbon around the whole thing, giving it a royal touch.

 So this is a childs version of a fur cloak.

 Very soft and princessy.

 The prince also tries it on, and will follow directions to put up the hood so we can see it. Good job.
 Meanwhile, I told the older Granddaughter that when I was done with her sisters, she would receive a different type of cape.

Fashioned after the ballet Cinderella's cape, I made one with a fun neckline.

It splays out into a fan shape and hopefully will stay up around her neck. Made from lightweight sequin fabric.

 Sparkley and fun I'd say. Time to play dress-up!