On the last day of Auntie Camp, we SEWED! I'd pre-washed all the fabric and, during less active times, I'd go into my workroom and cut it all to size for our PILLOWCASE projects! I'd watched a wonderful Missouri Star Quilt Company tutorial on YouTube and just needed to jot a few notes for myself… measurements and the order of things.

Each pillowcase requires up to three fabrics — main, cuff, and a little trim piece. I'd had each of the kids choose only two fabrics at the store on Wednesday, and chose the third/trim piece for each at my discretion… and in order to preserve my sanity!

Junah didn't really want anything to do with sewing, so was happy to get a little TV time while Mack & Addie & I started to pin and sew.

Assembly line!

The boys did GREAT!! My new sewing machine is a Baby Lock Jubilant and one of the great features is speed control!

Luckily, Ann popped by and she took over the sewing while I started to rinse tie-dyed t-shirts on the driveway. They had to leave by early afternoon, and I was a bit rushed so I'm not thrilled with how they turned out (I'd have rinsed a bit more, washed at least one more time), but I have very little photographic evidence of the boys' shirts, anyway.

Those are some of Ginny's & Junah's, above (and more below), which I finished up in the afternoon.

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You can tell what's seasonal at the fabric store by most of the kids' choices for their pillowcases:

Addie's is a less seasonal with the big checks. Ginny's is pink with llamas & cacti — adorable! (She also chose some unicorn fabric…) Mack's is dogs in costume! And Junah's is just straight-up Halloween. The pillowcases were all finished with French seams, and they turned out so great! The boys loved sewing and I can't wait to scout some more projects for next year.

And then it was time for them to go… but, first, a pic!

Junah was photo-uncooperative again, but I snapped this one of all five kids as he made his exit (action shot)!

And, yes, Mack was just as smitten with Malina this year as last. So sweet.

It’s a bit more of a challenge the past couple of years with the addition of Junah last year and Ginny this year, and the age difference between them and the boys. We make it work, but my documentary skills have fallen off a bit.

I threw t-shirts in the wash on Wednesday night, so we were ready to tie-dye right away on Thursday morning!

Oh my… this girl is growing up!!

Junah gets a little self-conscious sometimes and wanted to be away from the main action while he worked. He was very intent!

I had a panel set on some sawhorses for staging, a folding metal table that Mack & Addie used as their worktable, and had two perfectly sized small tables in the playhouse that I brought up for Junah & Ginny to use.

The boys had 10 shirts between them and the kiddos each had four… so 18 shirts we dyed! I’m still using many of the main supplies from the Dharma Trading Tie-Dye Little Group Kit that I bought a few years ago.
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After cleaning up and lunch, Kate joined us and we met up with Ali & Malina to head up to Green Bay.

First stop, Bay Beach Amusement Park!

Junah’s not much of a daredevil, but that worked out just fine! Ginny loved the Tilt-a-Whirl with Ali, Kate & Addie; Addie, Kate & Ali rode the Zippin’ Pippin’ roller coaster; some of us jumped on the carousel, and also on the longer of the train rides. Admission is free and ride tickets at this city-run amusement park are $.25 each, with most rides needing 1-2 tickets… the roller coaster requires all of 4 (so, $1/ride)! Seriously, it’s the best deal in all the land. This year, someone handed us a fistful of tickets when we arrived, so I think I spent $5 (plus some concessions).

After Bay Beach, we headed over to Titletown, a park & development near Lambeau Field.

There are events & activities everyday, all year long, and on Thursday evenings in the summer it’s a Night Market. Ali’s been a few times and really enjoyed it, so we’ve had it on our list all summer. By the time we arrived, 1.5 hours after opening, her favorite food vendor was already sold out! We had to make do…

Hinterland accommodated us nicely… and refreshingly!

Then we headed over to the park for a bit…

The play area is AMAZING. There’s equipment for all ages and abilities. And beyond that fence is a full-size football field open to all.

Ali took Ginny from there, so it was just the boys overnight at my house! We stopped at the store on the way home to get some Color Catchers in readiness for the reveal/conclusion of tie-dyeing on Day 3! We attempted to watch a Spiderman movie, but didn’t get too far when Junah got a little scared… and then landed in our bed in the wee hours because of it! Holy cow, that boy is a flip-flopper and all arms & legs! Haha!

Priming for Wednesday’s start, Mack & Addie slept over on Tuesday night. After breakfast, I gave them a knitting refresher. I had an engagement to talk to a bunch of kids about knitting at the coffee shop later in the morning and thought that perhaps the boys might assist (but zero expectation/pressure to do so).

I thought they were middle school kids, but turns out they were high schoolers — about 15-16 of them, only one of whom already knew how to knit. It was the last outing/activity of their summertime class, and they were there for lunch, knitting, and journaling.

Mack & Addie laid low inside. Annie snapped a photo of me “teaching,” but I look like I’m picking my nose, so you get a relaxed, knitting Mack instead.

I’d gathered needles over the past few months, wound yarn, made & printed a resources handout, and assembled a little bag of supplies for each person there… and cast on for each of them, too. I told them that knitting can be very relaxing, as was mentioned when I was introduced, but that learning to knit can be extremely frustrating (hence the casting on for them… we only had an hour and I didn’t want to spend all my time on that). I did a little project show & tell so they could see possibilities other than sweaters, hats, slippers & mittens. I brought one of the Knitted Polar Bears I made for the kids, my Parcheesi afghan, my Bijouterie, and the recently completed Pineroot Wall Hanging, which was recently attached to a great stick that Rusty brought back from CA. Anyway, it went amazingly well with some successes, relatively few frustrations, and one “deserter” who said he’d rather crochet (something he used to do with his grandma) (ta-da, I had a hook for him). The coordinators sent feedback to Ali later in the afternoon and more than half the kids said it was their favorite event of the summer. Maybe there’s a new knitter or two to emerge!

Right after knitting, we had an appointment with a photographer for family photos!

It was overcast but bright and the photographer had the kids close their eyes and then OPEN… except Ginny didn’t get the memo. 🙂

Oh boy. Junah insisted on wearing his hat, and was generally uncooperative most of the time… which then rubbed off on Ginny, more or less. It was an adventure! I haven’t seen any official photos yet, but here are some that Annie took…

And shutterbug Addie:

After photos, I took the kids and we went fabric shopping! Yes, I was the one at Hobby Lobby* with 3-, 5-, 12- and 14-year-olds! They chose fabrics for a sewing project I’d planned for a later camp activity, and we escaped with relatively little else (a couple of bandanas, some slime, a couple of stress balls). Junah was enthralled by the fabric cutting, and very complimentary of the cutter and her talents/experience! (It was adorable.)

We headed home, I tossed all the fabric in the wash, we got dinner going, and then it was a sleepover plus 2! Ginny ended up in our bed for a bit in the morning, but otherwise went off without a hitch.

*I would have preferred going to Joann’s but I’d been there a day or two earlier and could not wait to get out — the awful, awful scents for candles (or something) permeated the entire store and were so strong that they drove me out. I can’t imagine working there. Addie is even more sensitive to that kind of thing than I am, and he’d have surely emerged with a killer headache (not to mention nausea).

The 5th Annual Auntie Camp begins (slowly) (with a sleepover) tonight!

2015:

INDIGO BOYS!

2016:

A LITTLE MORE INDIGO!
(PLUS DYEING WITH SHARPIES & ALCOHOL!)

2017:

SILK SCARVES!
(DON’T WORRY, THERE WAS ALSO INDIGO!)
(AND TIE-DYE!)

2018:

WHAT DO YOU KNOW? NO INDIGO!
(LOTS OF TIE-DYE!)

There’s also been knitting, macramé, drawing, and kayaking, along with visits to an art show, the pool, the movies, and an amusement park.

This year, along with more dyeing (the de facto signature event) (tie-dye for sure, indigo maybe), we will be knitting and sewing, for sure, and other things TBD/nailed-down.