california travels to alabama . . .

I'm just going to warn you right now . . . this post is going to be super SUPER photo heavy.  And not a single quilty, stitchy thing.  All grands.  :)

As I teased in my last post,  James, Kim, Sawyer, June and Olivia made the trip from California.  They came the last few days in June and stayed through the first week of July.  It was so spectacular to see them all!!  I've just uploaded pics.  Enjoy!

My folks with six of their greats!

There always has to be the funny face photo!

Edith thought she'd sleep on the top bunk.

You see where Edith ended up.  My bunk. Hahaha!

Sawyer holding Horsepower!

Exploring the trails!

Everyone on the Bull!  (That's what we named our Gator.)

They conquered the Obstancle Course!

Setting up!

Lotsa bug spray, water and popsicles!

Sparkler fun!

Edith's first time with sparklers!

Firework anticipation.

Todd and I in the twilight of the 4th!

Ready for the show!

Sawyer, June & Olivia 

Best cousins!

Group Grands!

These are outtakes from the group picture.  Edith was put out about something!

We had a lovely sleepover -- ALL of the grands -- one night!  We schlepped over to the cabin.  It was such fun!  The kids did so great!  It was Olivia's and Edith's first sleepover at Neesey's!

We also enjoyed the July 4th holiday at the camp! The kids purchased a bunch of fireworks, and it was such fun to enjoy them!

It was a fabulous visit ... over way too quickly.  I enjoyed every minute of it (except the part where we said goodbye!)!

:)

pressing spray and fireworks . . .

I had found a recipe for pressing spray that I was very interested in trying.  Then I realized it had liquid starch in it and I had a most difficult time finding liquid starch.  So I googled it and found several recipes for that, as well (of course I did)!  So first I set about making my liquid starch.  I used the recipe from this link as my basis, but because I just wanted enough to use in my pressing spray, I cut the amounts.  I still ended up with more than I needed, but you can only cut down so much, right?!

I brought to a boil 1 cup of distilled water.  I then mixed 2 teaspoons of cornstarch with 1/3 c. of distilled cold water -- and mixed it well.  I added the cornstarch mixture to the boiling water, mixed some more and brought it back to a boil.  I added a couple drops of lavender essential oil to my mix and allowed it to gently boil for about two minutes.  I turned off the heat, whisked it well, and set it aside.

Then I got ready to made the pressing spray.  I used the recipe found HERE as the basis for it.  I mixed 2 cups of distilled water, 2 ounces of alcohol (she uses vodka ... but you can also use Isopropyl alcohol which is considerably cheaper at 99¢ per 16 ounces -- just make sure the alcohol content is 99%, the alcohol is what keeps the essential oil playing nicely with the water), 10 drops of lavender essential oil (which can be found in the soap making aisle of Hobby Lobby or most any craft store, or in an organics store, like Earth Fare), and 1/2 cup of the homemade liquid starch.  Her recipe calls for 1/3 cup -- I wanted a little more crispiness.  I mixed it up well and poured it into my empty spray bottle.

Then I got ready for the test!  I pulled out a piece of fabric and heated up my trusty Reliable.  

Gave the bottle a couple of shakes and then the fabric a good spritzing and zipped it with the iron.  So far, so good!

Then I thought I'd try the store-bought stuff and see if I good "feel" the difference.  I gave a new section of the fabric a good spritzing and brought the iron down again.

At first I was startled by how different the lavender scent was between the two. 

And then I remembered that I'd purchased a refill bottle of spray at a great price, but they were out of lavender, so I got cherry blossom.  Whew!  I truthfully could not tell the difference between where I'd used the two different sprays.   I think this is definitely a Go/Win for me!!  That makes me smile, because I tend to be a little stingier with the spray than I'd care to be.  The essential oil is the most expensive ingredient I used, and I'll be able to make gallons of pressing spray with it.  Most cost effective, I think!

I had a lucky capture yesterday out the back window ... my primary-colored birds, all in one shot!

It happens all the time ... it's just that I can rarely pull out the camera before one flies off! 

We had a marvelous time of family yesterday afternoon/evening!

It's hard to get everyone looking at the same place at the same time ... at least one of us is smiling!

Sawyer had a blast with his glow sticks ... he was such a character!  I'm so grateful for this camp and being able to have a place where he can just let loose!

Ellie was having a grand time, herself!  Especially once we traded her little outfit for a bib.  She thought that was grand!

Evidently Bear thought she was quite grand, too.  Grand tasting, that is . . .  

Boy did he get her good . . . her whole face was washed by that tongue!

Remember that cute, cuddly puppy James and Kim brought home a couple of months ago?  Here he is!  Sixteen weeks old.  Almost.  He's HUGE!  But he's got the sweetest disposition.  

As is evidenced here by Sawyer's headlock ...errrr... hug.  :)  

Soon it was dark enough that the sparklers came out . . . 

I think we all played with the sparklers ... except maybe Todd.  And Sawyer.  Not that Sawyer didn't want to play with them.  Oh he tried, all right!  Gracious.  

And here's Jason, doing his air traffic controller imitation! 

Finally it got dark enough that we could start setting of the big rockets!  We had an eighteen-rocket show.  James set 'em off, and Jason photo-captured them all!  They make a great team.

As soon as the noise started, Sawyer choose to view the fireworks from the comfort...and safety... of his mommy's lap!

Bear choose the safety of underneath his mommy's chair.  (LOL!  He was fine, I promise ... he handled the whole night pretty well.)

And Ellie, for her first 4th of July fireworks?

She slept like a rock through the entire thing!!!  


:)

happy independence day . . .

This is a happy holiday . . . celebrating the freedoms that we have in the United States of America. A Star-Spangled Banner holiday.  A patriotic holiday ... of red, white, and blue ... of Old Glory.  A holiday remembering heroes and patriots and countrymen and the brave.  It's a holiday of parades, picnics, family, and . . .

F*I*R*E*W*O*R*K*S!!    

This afternoon my family will gather up here at the camp ... we'll cook hamburgers on the grill and put out a spread and enjoy each others company. Then sometime around 7ish, we'll go up to the top field and play with sparklers and when it gets good and dark, we'll do some fun fireworks.  I know that so many of my blogging friends--because of the hot and dry weather conditions throughout the nation--won't see a live fireworks show.  We had such a marvelous time on Sunday night enjoying our big show, I wanted to share my favorite part of it ... the finale ... with y'all.  I don't *think* you can hear (I hope you can't hear) that I sung along through the whole song.  It was that loud!!  You can hear the whoops and cheering at the end, though!  It definitely brought and the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof to the night, that our flag was still there, to mind! 

Happy Independence Day!  Enjoy!  :)

de-sign . . .

What's on the design wall today . . . really, what I've got is a lot of fabric that needs to be washed.  In fact, I'm taking these two pinks (for the whole cloth I'm going to do):

And this tan flannel, for the back of Joc's wedding quilt (isn't it the perfect match?):

To Joc's house to wash in her big machine.  My goal is to get them both pin basted while I'm there.  I'll take advantage of her big space and hardwood floors!

And then sometime this week I need to get back to my guild's anniversary BOM.  The last one I did was March's block ... and I just sent out the newsletter with July's block.  Aye yi yi!  

March was the green on green, so I've got April's purple and light yellow, May's pink and blue, June's green and yellow, and July's red and blue.  Only June's block looks a little complicated ... I'll post pictures of 'em as I get them finished (in the coming weeks, mind you, not days).

JoAnn's big sale starts today and not only do I have a 50% off one regularly priced item coupon, I also have a 15% off my entire purchase coupon (including sale items)!  I intend to make good use of those!  I'll do that early and then get to Joc's.  We planned to have a little pool party today, but it's looking rather cloudy out there.  Pooh!  As opposed to, Pool!  Don't mind me -- I'm a little sun-touched from yesterday's big adventure.

Speaking of which ... it was 103 degrees at 5 pm yesterday when we arrived at the church, with a heat index of 107.  Have mercy it was hot!  But we had such a blast, taking Sawyer around to all the bouncy games . . . 

He hesitated a few times, but I think he eventually got in them all and had a marvelous time!

Then we found ourselves a nice spot on the hill to park, eat dinner, and be ready for fireworks later.  Sawyer, a music lover from day one, was focused on the bandstand . . .

And dancing!

He's such a darling little boy!

And he who knows no stranger, made friends right away.  By the end of the evening, I do believe she was his girlfriend.  At least, that's what his goodbye hug looked like!  Too cute!

The fireworks were -- as always -- phenomenal! 

Sawyer had never seen them before, and at the first burst of sound and color, he clung to his mommy pretty tightly, but he didn't take his eyes off the sky and I think his smile speaks volumes.

He really did enjoy them and kept whispering to us, They're so big, Mama!  They're so big, Neesey!  I wasn't sure if he was referring to the sound or the sight ... either way, he had it right!

I'm off to get this day started ... but *you* should head on over to Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times and check out all the fantastic creativity going up on design walls all over today!

:)