When kids are bored, pull out the tried and true - volcanoes!
Food coloring*, baking soda,
and a giant bottle of vinegar.
Can you say, “kaBOOOOOOM”?!
* They had as much (more?) fun with the food coloring as they did with the explosions. They ended up filling my biggest pots - and soaked those beach towels - with colored water/soda/vinegar stew. Making (messy) memories! 😍
We saved up a few things over the weekend for the littles to do today …
Auntie Rachel sent dragon and pirate costumes - huge hit!
Donovan doesn’t like new things (so like his dad!) so we haven’t gotten him to try the full pirate outfit yet. But several hours after Jac started prancing around as a dragon, he allowed me to bribe him into trying on the smaller costume. The price? 4 Oreos… 🙄
Mary found paint kits on sale and bought a couple for the kids… who immediately turned them over and painted what they wanted on the back. True artists!
Jac and Donovan both love digging and playing with water so the sandbox was a big success.
And he topped it off by taking them to the dollar store and letting them get…. wait for it… FOUR toys each! Such excitement.
2 stacked Walmart wading pools and a *lot* of sand
Pop also added a bigger slide for the bounce house/pool area in addition to the smaller one.
It cracked me up that Donovan was holding his nose - so water wouldn’t get in it - as he slid down into 3” of water.
Progress is slow - there’s a lot of small, fiddly parts -
but all the 4-patch blocks are now done (finished HSTs are here)
and I’ve sewn together just over half the combo rectangles.
20? ish? left to piece together
Still a ways to go but it’s getting closer.
The new playroom is a hit.
We added a galaxy rug before the littles saw it for the first time -
“soooooooo soft”, says very dramatic Jac.
While cleaning out that closet, Pop found all the princess dresses we’d collected for Leia and Leo…
So back to the store he went to get something to hang them on that she could easily reach. (Yes, he is a very soft touch. 😍) I think this is going to work out…
Finished this on Friday, from a kit I bought in May and started sewing July 2.
Thought it would be a quick finish,
but while I love the design and it’s an easy pattern (18” blocks! Whoo!),
And yes, I fixed that seam…
the fabric frayed so much it was miserable to work with. Note to self: do not buy Confetti Solids Dapple Dots.
I was torn about what to start next.
Instead, I pulled out the Shibori Jewelbox project I’ve had on the back burner since at least 2018 (bought additional fabric for it during the 2019 quilt run.)
Done: 126 half-square triangles from the 8 fat quarters.
Pending: 63 of these from the 2 charm packs,
which are halfway to becoming 126 of these, using this tutorial.
We’ve been talking about replacing the upstairs carpet for awhile.
It’s original to the remodel, circa 2006, and was starting to show some wear, especially the stairs and the dark blue carpet Marie chose for her then-bedroom.
Plus, we weren’t positive there wasn’t mold under the bedroom carpet from a plumbing oopsie. We did a bunch of tests, all negative, but you never know**…
So we looked at some samples, got a couple of estimates (they came back within pennies of each other - what are the odds??) and placed an order before we left for Cambria.
They said two weeks to get the carpet, maybe another week or so to fit us into their schedule, so we were looking at installation sometime in late July, early August.
Or not. They called Monday, 9 days after we placed the order, and said “how does Friday work for you?”
One guy, seven hours and it’s done.
Hubby made the mistake of saying “maybe playroom” when he told Jac about the new carpet and now she and Donovan want to know when they can move in. 😂
** Update: only a tiny bit of mold in the hallway, under the window. All gone now!
I almost panicked when we went to check on Milky this afternoon and his chrysalis was broken and empty. I thought for sure he was gone and we’d missed his big reveal.
Fortunately, he hadn’t flown far -
he was on the sidewalk, a few feet from his old digs, still working on getting his wings dry and functioning. Another minute and we’d definitely have missed him.
Mini paparazzi
with Jac taking pictures and videos the whole time.
The kids were thrilled. (Me too!) So glad we got to see Milky’s transition. Live well and fly free, Milky!
Gave Lavaland to Cheyenne on Sunday, so I can finally show it off. 
This started life as “Lava To The Sea” when Cheyenne picked the fabrics back in March (here)
but in the end, we both decided the blue border wasn’t adding anything, so I ripped, re-sewed and renamed it “Lavaland”. (Here)
It also got caught up in the sewing machine woes - I used three different machines, with three different 1/4” seam allowances, trying to get this done. Not recommended!
with curved stitching on the binding,
and flaming suns in the quilting.
