Heavily insulated knickers

Enquired after an acquaintance's child on Friday. She had been in Princess C-W's tutor group until Christmas but left to attend a nearby private (public) school. I had assumed it was for snobbish reasons; this family live in the valley off The Hill where all the money resides, their other daughters go to swish sounding schools in the closest Cathedral city and the dad has been invited to a flash wedding on April 29.

It wasn't. It was for sound educational ones that benefit their daughter's needs and was made after in-depth family discussions with the others who are receiving a state education. This will teach me the error of assumption.

I explained to this mother that I had been to a school run by the same nuns and that the backbone of the order was education and bringing out the best in every girl whatever her capability. I commended her on their choice and wished their daughter the very best and hoped she would pass on Princess C-W's best wishes also as she missed their daughter.

I walked off back to Maria Juanita Conchita Gonzalez all the way waiting for the gods to strike me down for lying through my teeth. Although, perhaps things have changed since my day and they really are now living up to the founding principles of the order? Until I am sure I will pulling on those special unders to channel that lightning safely away.

A brief note.

Dear Pigeons,

I hope you like the cat I have selected for you.

Regards,

Trash

The burden of a middle-class childhood.

Princess C-W came home with another bit of homoework. This time for religion. The requirement was to storyboard a scenario happening in whichever soap opera they watch and then suggest a conclusion.

Following is the reported conversation she had with her teacher.

"Excuse me Sir?"

"Yes?"

"I don't watch any soap operas."

Silence as Sir considers options.

"Probably the closest I get to a soap opera is listening to The Archers on Radio Four."

dear Mrs Lurch, you and I may be headed for a smackdown.

The topic was 'Were the Vikings a cruel and barbaric race?'

Princess C-W's essay came back today with a very good mark but also the comment (and I quote)

" If this is all your own work it is excellent. Well done."

So much to my daughter's screaming horror I wrote a note back to Mrs Lurch.

Dear Mrs Lurch,

yes these are Princess Curly-Wurly's words and this is essay is the result of her hard work and research. Given that she (presumably like most of her cohort) had never written an essay before nor been taught how to construct one I naturally walked her through the process; but credit where it is due because this work is most definitely hers.

Sincerely,

Trash

I thought that I was very restrained not mentioning the bit she got wrong about Vikings being a race and all.

The Great Bag Debate 2010

We are now well and truly ensconced in the new school year.

Homework is being done, P.E. kit is being organised and leaving on time is becoming established as the norm.

The problem is the school bag. It is a fine school bag, it served several many terms at primary school and was unfailingly, fundamentally good at being a school bag (shown is same same but different bag)But at some point over the Summer 'someone' arbitrarily decided that 'everyone' would be carrying Cath Kidston oilcloth bookbags to school this year. Obviously Pr. C-W did not get that memo nor would it have done her much good as her bag was fine.

Not being completely evil parent I did ask if she was all right w this situation and she said it was ok. She then recounted her conversation w Moriarty's daughter that shows her to a) definitely be the daughter of a woman w an active sewing machine and b) have a fabulous sense of self.

(enter mid-point in discussion about merits of CK bags)

Moriarty's Daughter (and I paraphrase this bit) : Cath Kidston bags are ace and all the best people use them.
Pr.C-W: My mother could make one of those.
MD: But it wouldn't be a Cath Kidston one.
Pr.C-W: She would use CK fabric.
MD: But it wouldn't have a label on it.
Pr. C-W: Yes it would, she has one sitting in the sewing box at home.

So my dilemma is this - the same same but different bag is beginning to show signs of age and bits are starting to fall off and Princess Curly-Wurly has a birthday coming up. Do I buy the ubiquitous CK bag? Do I buy the Paperchase 'Happy Noodle' similar bag? Or do I see if Greengate do something just as lovely but not quite so 'everywhere'?

Voices of the innernets I need your help.

Middle-class mother worries (or 'How Pr.C-W will beat her mother's record at school).

My girl is now entering her third week at senior school and there has been a lot of homework. Way more than she ever saw at primary school.

Now, I confess to not being an advocate for homework b/c a) school has my child for 6.5 hrs a day, surely they can fit everything they need to learn into that timeframe and b) I sucked at homework and probably handed in seven essays and assignments throughout my entire senior school career but since she does get it she has to suck it up and get it done. To this end I have been harrassing her every afternoon to find out what needs to be done and by when.

My issue is - when does 'helping' become 'doing'? She has an essay (her first ever - oh my baby I am so proud!) for History -'Were the Vikings are cruel and barbaric race?' Leaving aside the issue of a culture being a race I talked her through the topic, we read through the notes she brought home and looked at the layout suggested by Mrs Lurch the History teacher.

The one really big thing I want her to understand is how to write an essay so while I sanded the cupboard door (the boring bits of her room's makeover continue) we discussed how to plan one. Firstly I explained how, starting with the intro, each paragraph answers a question and then there is a conclusion to wind the whole thing up. Then using the info she had been given and her own general knowledge I teased out the responses to each question she had set for each paragraph.

I did not write her essay. I did not tell her what to write. I did help her understand what is expected in terms of homework, in terms of constructing the answers and also in terms of managing her time.

I don't want to be the mother who gets cross with the teacher because 'we' got a lower mark than we deserved. In fact I won't be the mother who does that because I don't do her homework. What I will be is the one who teaches her how to address this whole new world she has been thrown into.

(what I hope never to be again is the mother who discovers a piece of homework is due in today just minutes before said child walks out the door for the day. Between 0805 and 0815 was not the finest time in my life to date.)

Part one of a Summer in pictures.

Hilltop visit by very clever, talented and funny famous author.

Teary farewells at the end of primary school.

Long cool drinks required to survive those hot days.
(honest we DID have some)

Fridge fascists at work. Princess Curly Wurly tidied and cleaned the fridge. Eveything being put back in was given an exact spot that corresponded with the map attached to the front of the fridge. Map complete with demands for compliance OR ELSE. Even now a month later CK remains in fear of putting things in the wrong place.

Purchase made on behalf of Missus Moog last Saturday at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham.

Seven years gone so quickly.

September 8 2003

September 23 2010

My girl finished primary school on Friday.

Seven years of tears

and laughter.

Friends, learning, music, adventure, experience and each and every year the 'humiliation' of sports day.

I delight in the fact that Princess Curly-Wurly has spent these school years with such a lovely, solid group of children. It gladdens my heart to think she will be entering the world of 'BIG' school side by side with most of them.

To each and everyone of those thirty gorgeous childer - I thank you and love you.

Have you ever been in love?

I think I may just be.

Isn't he gorgeous?

And because it really is true love, this is on the other side.

This is one of the vinyl-lined bags I have been making like a crazy hound these past two weeks.

It started with a washbag for my girl to take on her weeklong residential trip last month. This fabric was too perfect to leave in the shop and some pretty floral, lightweight vinyl from the old-fashioned haberdashers in town.

These were such a delight to make and look so blurry good (even if I do say so) that the decision was made to create more for that end-of-year scam - the teacher present. This year d/Boy has had six 'teachers' (don't get me started), and Princess C-W three so for once I am ahead of the game and have made five so far.

The first was the boat one for Mr. Headteacher and then d/Boy picked out some shapes for the rest. Gingerbread Man and initials for the really lovely teaching assistant (TA), angel for the god-loving TA, bell for the uber-music loving teacher and a Dala (swedish horse image) for the horse's arse faced evil teacher. This just leaves the knitting one, the coffe cup one and the 'gods-alone-know-what-to-make-for-her' one and there is still a month left of school.

But these need not be just wash bags. I made one on Friday for my gods-daughter's half-year birthday and told her it could be for pencils, shells, felt-tips (textas/markers) or, if her mother really insisted, a damp flannel.

And finally I am managing to post the pictures of the most recent blocks I have made for the 'Quilt Around The World ~~ Christmas Blocks' for Carroll and Sudi-Laura respectively.

I am very excited about both of these because I pieced with reasonably sharp points for a first-timer AND also did needleturn applique! Yay me!

It's too darn hot...

... generally I refrain from mentioning the (infrequent) warmer weather we get here in the UK . Given that I spend so much of my life being cold and moaning about the freezingness of the great in and outdoors it seems churlish to have issues when the sun shines in a warm and long term manner. HOWEVER... the sun has been warmy and lovely for nearly two weeks now and I am more than a little pissed off that for the first time in many years my hayfever is back. And rocking the dripping nose. I sat watching England lose their lifeline game with TWO hankies to hand and v. scritchy eyeballs.

All of this is exacerbated by CK's brilliant plan for the weekend of 'sorting out' the garden. In reality this meantSaturday was spent shifting a few pots, finally aiding the children in planting up their tomato plants, organising the dust into little piles for Pr. C-W and d/Boy to sweep up and wrestling with making Maria officially topless. Exacerbated because I swept and planted and was left with dust covering not only my clothes but up my nose and through my hair. Cue more sneezing, snotting and general scratchiness.

The Family Fun Evening was in fact fun, not least because of the warmth, and ended with CK making a surprise appearance clutching a bottle of wine and my assistant, both children being invited to share Dervish & Dynamo's tent and the most spectacular moonrise I have ever seen. A glowing, orange, full moon seemingly just feet from my outstretched finger tips. A bit weird to be sharing food and wine with Moriarty but we managed to mutually ignore each other without too much antipathy. But by midnight my hayfever was exhausted and so I dragged CK away from the firepit and went home to fight with my duvet cover.

Sadly I lost the fight so covered a snoring CK with Pr.C-W's duvet and went off to sleep in her bed under d/Boy's one. It was an interesting experience, I know now why my girl wakes so early; I need to invest in a blackout blind for that window. By 7.30 I was rushing down the hill with breakfast of bacon, pancakes and cereal to prevent the emotional destruction that can be wrought by the empty-bellied destructoBoy. Fed half the campsite, found the lost football, drove Pr.C-W and two chums around in a topless Maria, had a falling out with an officious dad, moved my car and found the missing sleeping bag cover. Retreated up the hill with fingers crossed that Maria would make it and NOT run out of fuel leaving me stranded halfway up a 1:6 hill (=v. steep). TG we made it to the top and as far as the petrol station where patient and dirty children were rewarded with bottle of cold water and a Bounty each.

Home just minutes later meant shoehorning filth and face-paint covered children into the shower before everyone collapsed in a darkened room for the day. It was at this point that someone decided to continue with the Aran-weight (10 ply) knitting of a slipover top for Godson Will's Christmas present. Due to focus being on the situation in South Africa the band was ripped back three times and the whole lot flung across the room twice. It looks awfully big but he is visiting for the day on Wednesday so I shall measure it then. Fingers crossed he may even fit it by the holiday season.

Abu Dhabi Software Team in action.

destructoBoy was fizzingly excited about playing a real game against another school.

He was even more excited when it was grim and rainy on the day. He was desperate to get really muddy.

The boys were disppointed when the other school didn't turn up.

They said they forgot but we reckon it is because they were scared.

Two, four, six, eight
who do we appreciate?
Not the King and not the Queen
but Abu Dhabi Software team!

World Book Day, Thursday March 4, 2010. EDIT

Our theme for World Book Day this year was Space.

At 1600 hours the afternoon before my two figured out what they were going as.

The Silver Surfer.

And Marvin the Paranoid Android.

I finished sewing costumes at 0845 Thursday morning.


I really shouldn't be surprised by their odd choices, should I?

***EDITED***

Just wanted the world to know I faced up to the demon of stretchy fabric

and

I made those white leggings!!!!!!!

20 cents worth of mixed lollies please.

Sucked in - sorry. There aren't really any lollies (sweets/candy/bonbons) and I have a sneaking suspiscion that 20cents would buy very little any more but that kind of question was a cornerstone of my childhood. Aaaah Delaylands, you were a milk bar (off-licence, cornershop) extraordinaire. This post is a kind of mixed bag too.

Last Tuesday I said goodbye (finally) to my lubbard Audi. I wouldn't wish to swap Maria Juanita Conchita Gonzalez you understand but the Audi was special (even when it kept breaking down). However the nice man came and took it away and gave me a little smackerel of something to ease the sting of loss.

Last week we also said goodbye to our beloved Vicar Anne at school. Anne makes me wish I could do the whole religious faith thing. There was an afterschool tea party which of course meant cakes. Caked Crusader had recently posted a recipe for Rolo cake which seemed ideal. Mine was perfect as it cooked, the top all domed and slightly crisped and the tester clear when I drew it out from the middle. I don't know why it came out clean because within five minutes of being out of the oven this happened.

I couldn't take that to the cake table.

So I had to have a piece for lunch ;-)

As a parting gift from the school Anne was presented with a beautiful pedestal platter/cake plate/mahoosive communion wafer holder created by a local potter. While I feel sure she was genuinely pleased with it I love how instinctively she overreacts for the children.

Oh Vicar Anne we will, we will miss you (the school sang her a farewell to the tune of her favouritest song ever. )

Admittedly a little late here on the blog are the pictures for The Women's Colony Colour Challenge for this week.

Blue. Not much blue in my part of the world this time of year so I trawled back through my picture files to find just the colour blues I knew I wanted to post.
L-R
Melbourne Aquarium, Victoria, Australia. January 09.
Winchester, Hants, UK. July 2009
Coastal Victoria, Australia. January 2009
Melbourne Aquarium, Victoria, Australia. January 09.

And as the last red frog gets slipped into the paperbag before money changes hands (back on the lolly thing) let me tell you all about the FABULOUS giveaway being held by my very lovely friend Brenda over at Pumpkin Patch Primitives.

You see, not only does Brenda make fabulous quilts out of snuggly flannnel(ette) and crisp cottons, she also sells the beautiful fabrics and gorgeous notions to go calm your inner crafter with. As well as being handy with the stitching Brenda paints my kind of painting too, loving the folk art. And to top it all off she also homeschools my new boyfriend (sorry Barak it just wasn't working out. I need more attention) - I'm just offering that as an option G.P., you know - in case the candy bribe doesn't work ;-)

On offer to celebrate Halloween and all things pumpkiny Brenda is offering a Fat Quarter Bundle of Red Rooster's Pumpkins & Spice Fabrics by Whimsicals. Just so y'all know that is 27 FQs!! A girl could get a lot of fabulous quiltage out of all that fabric. But best you go pay her a visit quickly as entries are only being accepted until midnight on Saturday, October 31.

our weekend (the bits that I remember)

We had a big food festival here on the weekend. Loads of lovely local produce and some pleasant and sunny weather brought the hoards out in force (top left picture).

For lunch pudding destructoBoy and I each had a cone of the world's loveliest ice-cream EVER.(top right picture)

Princess Curly Wurly's class was responsible for the lunch section of the outdoor cafe. (bottom left corner) They had made onion tart, roast pepper tart and quiche lorraine and served them with the panache and elan known only to 10 & 11 year olds in positions of responsibility outdoors during good weather ;-) For a pound a slice we filled our tummies and the school's coffers. While dining al fresco we enjoyed the sunshine (for the most part), good company and fabulous views . (bottom right corner)

I have had such lovely post recently. Wanna see?

Being an avid 'fabric-stroker' I entered every contest going during 'I'm a Ginger Monkey's International Stashbusting Day' and I even got to win! The very lovely Kylie chose my name to be the recipient of a HUGE bag of charm squares.

destructoBoy and I had a lovely hour sorting them into colour piles and then pattern piles and then laying them out into potential patterns and, and, and we had a luvverly time :-)

I have already used 9 of the pink ones in a lap quilt for one of my ex-borrowed terences. Just the binding left now.

Some few days ago I was swimming through all the fabulous blogs over on Ric-Rac's blogroll and Sew-Mama-Sew was showing off gorgeous new fabrics.

Are these not the most fabulous and joyous of monkeys??

Now not only did Missus Stashbasket send a fabulous collection of wools as a prize in the first Trash Raffle but she included some of her (now internationally famous) homemade fudge. Imagine my delight when some arrived up here on top of the hill in its neatly wrapped wax paper.

Well there was some in there when I started to take that picture!!


And when Kitty's gorgeous sock monkey girlie arrived here en route to her new home there was a second parcel along side her. The terences and CK purloined the bob straight away so no pictures but oh looky here what I got to keep!

I think they will become part of the scrappy log cabin quilt a la Ric Rac.


Today is International Women's Day and Purple Paisley organised a F.Q. swap in the colours of the suffragettes - green, white and purple. My swap partner was the very lovely Quiltygal who had also been my pincushion Secret Swap giver last year. And OH! feast your eyes on the delights she sent me.

Look! White HUGE ricrac, beautiful 2" white cotton lace and some sweet star ribbon on a reel. And then that fabric!! There are two fat quarters, one a lilac background covered in white stars the other a soft green also starred. But wait! What is that I spy at the background of the picture? Only a metre of the coolest personalised fabric in the world.



Miss Quilty herself suggested it might like to become a bag. I think she may be right ;-)

It went ahead despite the rain.

This is the view due south from our school playground.

It is lovely and beautiful and I could not ask for a more idyllic place for my childer to be schooled however it was not a view I was loving 9am Friday morning as we were finally told Sports Day was definitely on.



The rain was just hanging back all the way over there towards Portland, waiting. It needed to get its breath back having poured down ALL night. This made me worry some little bit as
1. our school field has quite a camber
2. the grass would be quite slippery as the rain has been coming down for nearly six months non-stop
3. I did myself a nasty groin strain just walking on that grass on a dewy evening (OI! Southampton! You can stop laughing - now!) so small bebes running across was a disaster waiting to happen.

I was quite tempted to ask Mr. Headteacher if he had completed the requisite Risk Assessment but that naggy voice in my head suggested I was just being petty. The other voice, the low calm one, suggested I have 999 on speed dial.

A few years ago our transition Headteacher set up school houses complete with points and rewards. Now the kidders at our school are generally fabulous and wonderful but let me tell you after this system was brought in boy did things step up a gear. Doors were held open, dropped pens were picked up and there were so many pleases and thank yous flying around staff were issued with hard hats. So on sports day the houses were separated out into sub-groups and once again BabyMan found himself the only boy in the group. And as always he didn't even notice.

(oooo, he looks a bit giant there doesn't he?)

For some reason they separate out the year groups so Princess C-W wasn't doing anything until after lunch by which time my camera battery had died so you can just pretend last year's pictures of sports day are current.


She did better this year, the others in the race were only five minutes ahead of her!

I love this picture loads.

However these really are this year's ones and Babyman was in his element.

Get these action shots!



This one is my favourite. If I had to choose just one picture to sum him up I would pick this one.

Have you ever joined in? part 2 (Or - why I love our school vicar.)

As I may have mentioned in the past organised religion and I have agreed to disagree on far too many points to enumerate but.... if anything/one makes me wish I had faith and religious belief it is our Vicar Anne.


As well as all her other parochial duties she spends much time with the children, attending and taking part in as many events as possible throughout the school year. At the end of every service she has them joins hands and say the final grace, not too unusual, right? But they all crouch down and jump up high shouting 'Amen' , at which point her dog, Coffee, starts barking wildly and drags whichever student has hold of her out into the aisle.

Her Christmas services are the thing of legend involving a cast of thousands and more angels and shepherds than possibly have ever existed. A few Christmases ago her microphone was left on while getting ready in the vestry and people were crying with laughter, even before the bit where Coffee ate the Nativity.

The culmination of WWII week was the V.E. day picnic on Thursday. Along with gazillionty parents and extended families Anne was there (without her new dog, Holly, of course - all that picnic food? Too tempting!) in 1940s stylee dress.


I was assured the bottle contained water!


These are some of my favourite shots from a fab afternoon.


How sweet is this? This was as high as she got in her handstand. Too cute for words.




These are the shoes I wore - walking down a steep hill, up a grassy bank and over uneven ground!! Please bear in mind my shoes are normally less than ground level - How amazing am I? The knitting is my current W.I.P., a baby cardigan from Debbie Bliss CashMerino. It is for a tropical friend for use in an Australian Summer/Autumn so I bought Rowan super-whizzy cotton/silk/viscose yarn and the feel of the finished pieces is amazing. More pictures another time.




A few of the teachers all dressed up 1940s stylee and in full gossip. The scarey looking one in pink in the middle is Snotty Teacher.



This is a 240 degree view from our school field. This alone was reason for sending Princess C-W and Babyman here.

Have you ever joined in? (Or - the day my kids went away!)

As I may have mentioned previously we had WWII week at school last week.



My childer were evacuated.

What a sombre pair!

I don't think they are looking forward to this.

I'm lobbying to have 1940s garb instated as school uniform.

Aren't these guys gorgeous?

Babyman became more relaxed as the day went on.

It was a morning of mixed emotion waving goodbye to my boy as he was 'evacuated'. Fortunately I wasn't the mother watching whose child was sobbing against the coach window. That made it just a little too realistic.