I sew all night, I sew all day...

All I've done today is sew patchwork! I decided to try a funky version of a Triple Irish Chain pattern.
This is the work in progress, I'll let you know how it progresses. Not sure whether it will work, but the jelly roll fabric is just gorgeous. If it doesn't work I'll rip it out and do a nine patch perhaps. Anyhow working with this fabric has been really up-lifting today!

Old Hat! New Hat!

I just received an email about this Online Open Studios Event being hosted by http://www.interweavestore.com/Mixed-Media/Magazines/Studios-Fall-2009.html.?a=qa090928. What a fun idea!
On Saturday Oct. 3rd all the participants (including yours truly here!) will he hosting virtual tours of their studio space: can't wait- I love seeing how other people organise themselves....or don't....
So that's the New Hat!
Now for the Old Hat!
I know these are about a week old, but I was about to post these photos when I got sick, so here thy are. When I drew up at the folks one day the sun on this acer and gladioli were just lovely, but I think I over exposed the photo as here it lacks the dense coppery sparkle it really had.
This lap quilt I finished last week. I pegged it to the hall curtains to photograph! The navy blue fabric is some wool blend which makes it very tactile. I took it into the living room when done to show the family and B asked could she have it while she was sick as her 'downstairs' Quiltey. I washed it yesterday, but it will probably stay on the sofa. It never ceases to surprise me how comforting a quilt is when one is poorly, or just cold.

The Hub finally put up this old wall shelf, which came from our last house in East Africa. Its nothing special really but I just like it and I like the continuity of objects moving with us. The pictures are paintings a great-great aunt did many years ago, which have travelled with me since I was a student, and the photos are of family. I just thought it looked nice...

...apart from the wall which looks like it's had one too many collisions with something! Isn't it annoying the way things show up in photos which you don't notice in real living?

This morning I got out the jelly roll of fabric I bought at the Festival of Quilts and am looking at patterns to use it on. I feel like beginning something new and beautiful!

Lingering Lurgies

Apologies for that long silence...or were you relieved?
Today is my first day out of bed since last Tuesday. I don't know what nature of bug I had but it was nasty. I still ache but otherwise am ok and trying to catch up with myself now. A waste of a week.
B is back to school today for the first time, as after her asthma and cold-bug she remained unwell, and, after a further Doctor's visit, was told she had a grumbling appendix. (Yes I thought they were the pages at the end of a reference book too...)

So, nothing exciting to report I'm afraid, but I'll see what I can drum up for tomorrow!

Not impressed

Considering there has only really been two of us at home this week, apart from brief forays in search of clean clothes from Sos, I'd like to make a formal complaint concerning the amount of laundry, washing up, and ironing which have accumulated.

To whom it may concern:
I am not impressed.
Yours,
Heckety.


Two days ago B discovered the Farm game on Facebook, and has been very busy playing it. Great enjoyment has been derived especially from the peculiar time frames involved in growing the various crops. Apparantly strawberries take four hours from planting to harvesting, and I think wheat takes four days! She has been giggling away to herself, not good for the asthma, but great for her morale. As the children and grandchildren of gardeners and farmers she and Sos have been highly entertained at the ridiculousness (is that a legitimate word?) of it all. But it has kept her happy so who cares?

The Hub returned home this afternoon from his week's course; the subject was ultra-sound, as usual I got the wrong words, as I frequently do. I love words but the correct ones don't always lodge in my mind, or come out of my mouth (or fingers, I suppose, since I'm typing).

Have any of you seen the film 'Secondhand Lions' with Michael Caine, Robert Duvall and Haley Joel Osmond? We first saw it a few years ago then recorded it last week off the TV.We have watched it three nights in a row because it is just such great entertainment. Its set in '50s America and concerns responsibilities and imagination and growing up. I'd really recommend it.

It wasn't me, I didn't do it

It wasn't so much a bad day, as just the sort of day you hope isn't repeated too often.



Firstly, B is improving slowly. She still sounds like an antiquated steam engine but she is breathing more easily. She spent most of the day on the sofa again because doing anything leaves her breathless and exhausted, but her eyes have a bit of a twinkle.



I fetched my car from the garage last night and it is going beautifully now. Poor thing, it must have been struggling for ages.



This morning I took out a partially quilted top which I'd abandoned several years ago and started to sort it out, quilting it on the sewing machine. All was going fairly well until I caught my shirt front in the fabric and proceeded to quilt myself into the quilt...Not recommended...



After extracting myself from that (a bit of ripping and a bit of dodgy language) I decided it must be a judgement on me for not doing the chores first. So I went and cleaned the bathroom. All was going fairly well until I was cleaning the shower and turned it on with me under the shower-head...cold water too...



Later I needed to do washing up so I took the flowers out of the sink which Mum had brought B yesterday, and arranged them in a glass jar. I picked some extra flowers from the garden to go with them. All was going fairly well until I accidentally knocked over the full jug of water from which I was about to top up the jar...two liters of water over the counter including my mobile phone and a lot of papers...



(remains of quilt top and shirt!)

Sos came home briefly to eat and collect her flute as she wanted to enter 'Sligo's Got Talent' which is on in town tonight! What a noodle! She has spent most nights of this week at my parents' since she is taking every opportunity to socialise, if that's what you'd call it? I'd say it was burning the candle at both ends!



At tea-time Dilly phoned to persuade me that I really wanted a nine-month-old donkey and several geese...



And at quarter past eight this evening (after dark) I went through the front hall and discovered the front door standing wide open...weird! The dogs were wandering around the kitchen un-fazed, so obviously there was nobody there but...



I forgot to post this yesterday as I finished it the previous day. Its just cot quilt size, but I took a photo to show the quilting from the back too. The quilting turned out middling I think, but it was so much quicker doing it by machine even if the workmanship is not nearly as good.



This evening when I took the dogs out Foaly was on the edge of the boreen and delighted to pose for photos! I took quite a lot as he has grown so much. He's such a character!

http://hecketyathome.blogspot.com/2009/07/photos-at-last-long.html -this is the size of him in July:



One last thing: the Bro sent me an incomprehensible email about his intended trip to South America in December, using airport codes to indicate destinations (like LHR-London Heathrow), which, if you don't know which country he's going to makes it a bit difficult to figure out. I emailed back ??? and he had the audacity to email ME back asking me had I never heard of Google? HUH! BROTHERS!

Misc. and B's asthma

What is it between dogs and postmen? Yet again I am outside my skin because the dogs went ballistic when the post arrived...aargh! And why do I jump out of my skin nearly every morning? Shouldn't I learn?

Last night I had a bat in my bedroom which was a bit odd. I know there are a lot around at twilight but they don't normally enter the house. Anyhow I opened the bathroom window wide, and the curtain, willed the bat in there, then shut the door and left it to find its own way out! It was gone by this morning.

Lovely bright breezy day today, cool, but end-of-summer-cool rather than middle-of-autumn-cool!

I had a bit of a fright this morning when B arrived downstairs greenish-blue and strugling to breathe, it was just an asthma attack on top of a bad cold. Straight to the doctor so now she's on steroids and triple her usual asthma medication. But the thing which has me bothered is that the doctor and pharmacist said she was to be kept away from possible swine flu, as with her present asthmatic state it could be disasterous. The school say they have no cases of s.f. but the students say there are two, one of them being a good friend of B's. Catch 22. Obviously my daughter's health is more important than her schoolwork, but why keep her out of school longer than necessary, especially since this is one of the crucial exam years. Oh Quandary....

So here I sit with B on the sofa wrapped up in 'Quiltey' (I know she's pretty poorly when 'quiltey' comes downstairs), and trying not to fuss. Making her eat enough to prevent her stomach re-acting to the medication is the worst at present.

A Campfire and James' Letter cont'd

On Saturday evening after devouring six pizzas, a pot of tea and a whole cake (in reverse order!), the young'uns decided to have a campfire. I gave them matches, showed them the paper re-cycling and the wood pile, and let them get on with it. I reckoned the ground around the fire-pit was still so damp they couldn't do any damage, and though they mightn't succeed in getting a fire going they would enjoy the trying. Well they did, and spent the next hour and a half enjoying it and star-gazing. Honestly that lot could talk for Ireland, I don't think they stopped all day!
Yesterday morning was so sunny that the stained glass windows in Church were a blaze of colour. I tried to take some photos but they don't really capture the beauty of them.

The Rector preached on James Ch3 v1:'Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.'

He made three points regarding this verse: firstly in order to teach it is necessary to be dedicated, and even to have a vocation for it, that the most effective teachers don't stumble into it by chance. Secondly that an effective teacher needs training and, possibly, experience of what they are teaching- we can't teach unless first taught. And thirdly that in order for teachers to prevail in their work they need to practise what is in their hearts, communicating through their living.

I remember studying this passage when I was at College doing my teacher training and wondering how I could possibly live up to all that God requires, as well as the human responsibility of being a teacher. It seemed such an enormous undertaking, with so many years of life before me to get it terribly wrong! Well, there are less years before me now, but I still have to trust that God knows what He's doing sending me into classrooms, because the whole 'thing' of teaching still overwhelms me, and that's just on one day a week!!!

Its another beautiful day today, so after the school run I went outside and took some garden photos. Sos begins College today, and is very excited. B forgot her games kit in the car and came dashing back as I was pulling out into the traffic, and I noticed the student in the car behind did exactly the same thing! Traffic block! The borrowed car from the garage is fine, and I managed not to crunch anything in the traffic this morning!

I think I'm waffling just to put off getting on with the Monday chores...

Gorgeous weather and eight 14 year-olds!

I decided to try out a style of quilting I saw at the Festival of Quilts, on the sewing machine. Normally my machine quilting is disasterous but I thought if I raised the mobile table surface so I could stand, and with the ironing board behind as extra surface, perhaps I could manage the bulk of the quilt. The result is middling, quite a few boggles which have had to be undone, and lines of stitching ripped, but still, better than I hoped, and a darn sight faster than hand-quilting, much as I enjoy it. Not finished yet, but I'm pinning the binding.

B and her friends have had a very noisy day. The weather is just glorious so they have only come inside to eat or drink! I could have set the food outside for them, but was afraid the dogs would get there first! First of all they went down to the wood to climb trees, through the garden, under the fence, over the wall, across the field and along by the stream...

Then after twenty hot-dogs and some DIY cheese sandwiches they headed off up the mountain, carrying a jumbo pack of maltesers and all the cup-cakes from the kitchen tin! Nearly two hours later they returned to lie around on the grass...

...play twister briefly,

...then back out to the woods (can you see the trees shaking?) and the fairy fort (left edge of photo) at the end of the garden. I can hear them from the kitchen but I guess they won't return now until they are hungry again! I think that's what being children is all about, trees, sunshine, friends, eating, and running loose around the countryside. Its the same childhood we had, and these guys are so lucky to live here where it is safe to do the same.

I was outside earlier looking at my weedy flowers and trying to find where the buzzing was coming from. Well if anyone is looking for hover flies, bees, wasps, and bugs of any and every description, I think they are all in this patch here! I can't get good magnification for photos but I was ages out in the sunshine watching and listening. Don't buzzy bugs epitomise summer?

Its cooling down outside now, but after the sun today our hot water will be scalding hot! Oh the joy of solar panels! I'd better start the oven for the pizzas I reckon, because as soon as the sun dips behind the hills they ravening hordes will be in like locusts devouring everything in sight! Its been such an easy day though, no refereeing necessary since they've had half of Leitrim in which to roam!
Pizza and tomorrow's hymns and the binding on the quilt...

Music and a Quilt-top finished!

Yesterday I began the Michaelmas' Term Music. It was good to see all the classes back, and even though it was a rather rowdy start, at least it was a start! When I got to school I discovered that there was a Music student to shadow me, who happened to be someone I taught when he was in Primary school! He is now at College studying to become a Music teacher himself. He taught half of each of the last two classes, and did well too. He has a wonderful singing voiceand the children enjoyed him as much as I did.
After supper Sos wanted to go in to town to a friend's house-warming evening, so I spent a few hours with the folks which was good.

Today I sewed, finishing up a partly cut-out quilt top. It began from left-overs from a double-bed quilt I was comissioned to make several years ago, but it is now a finshed top! Throw sized, though I have not yet measured it. This afternoon whilst B was buying schoolbooks and tights (how does she ladder so many so often?) I nipped into the Thrift shop and got two nearly new cotton pillowcases which I am taking apart to be seamed as backing. At one euro each its good value! There are odd shrieks and giggles coming from upstairs...it sounds as though B is having to beat her pyjamas into submission in order to wear them! She asked whether she could have a 'Social' on Saturday from midday till 10 pm. Since the weather forecast is good she wants to climb the hills behind us before the winter closes in. I said fine, but to let me know how many I need to feed, as Sos is having at least one friend to stay for the weekend, and I have a horror of running out of food (or loo-paper!). After much texting she announced there would probably be ten friends! Yikes! I didn't think to set a limit! I often tell people that my children are rarely disobedient, I just have to be one step ahead of them to imagine what they'll do and if necessary, forbid it! Ten is ok, they'll be out hiking for a few hours with any luck!

A friend at the Hub's workplace suggested what might be the problem with my car, and he's correst: the cylinder-head gasket has gone. It is now in the hospital for sick cars awaiting surgery. Luckily, since they think it'll be at least Tuesday before its ready, they can lend me a car until mine is better! Since the Hub is away on training all next week, it looked like being akward, but all is well!

Photo Essay

Starting at half eight this morning, I did all the ironing,
planned the next eight weeks of Music lesson content for school and put together the Assembly list,

baked two batches of cupcakes (about 36 in all), one batch for the Staffroom at school tomorrow, and the other for the hungry hordes at home,

collected B from school and Sos from town, took Sos to a meeting in Drumcliffe after supper, and typed up all my notes, the students' lyrics and lesson plans.

Its now almost eleven o'clock and I'm going to bed. Got School Assembly to play for tomorrow, and about 120 primary children to teach in various classes.

Another day at the coal face...

A puff of smoke!

Let's begin with yesterday.
Church was grand, apart from one stop on the Organ which works intermittently and yesterday decided to take out the whole 'Swell Manual' (upper keyboard!). Luckily I had time to jiggle the link stops and get it working before the next hymn, that is, it didn't happen mid verse, which is my usual luck! Our Rector was called away suddenly so we had a retired reverend who is in out congregation to take the Service. I hadn't realised, but apparantly he's turned eighty! He is always interesting, but yesterday's Sermon made a big impression on everyone. He read James Ch5 v13-16. His message was this: how many people in times of sickness call on God as a last resort, whereas He should be our first call? So true! In the Porch everyone was discussing it!

After Church we went to the folks' to collect Sos, and to greet my sister, who was down from Dublin for the weekend, and ended up staying to lunch! Mum had done a Moroccan Lamb dish and it was wonderful. She had to buy the correct spices in England, so its a 'special occasion' dish, but it was dish-licious!

During lunch I'd had a text from Dilly to say she was on the 4o'c train, so we collected her on the way home, which was a lovely surprise for us! How is it that one extra person can increases the noise level by about ten times its normal volume? Or is it just Dilly?

Today I couldn't get out of bed until nearly mid-day I was so exhausted, but since then its been ok. Sos and I did a huge grocery shop, then she disappeared to meet friends, Dilly had spent the day in town with a friend from Enniskillen, and B walked down town from school as she had some text books to buy. Most unsuccessful though as everywhere was sold out and waiting for deliveries. After tea at the folks', because Dilly hadn't seen them yesterday, and collecting Sos, we headed home with a laden car........and guess what? BROKE DOWN!
Not just broke down, but broke down on the stretch of road where there is no mobile signal! Very funny the girls found it I can tell you! I took Sos's umbrella and hiked back about ten minutes to where I could get signal (trust them to know almost within the yard of where that was!) and rang the Hub.
BUT- wait for this...why did I break down? Because when I thought the Hub had put water in my radiator he'd forgotton. I've been driving for weeks without agequate water, I'm lucky the engine wasn't destroyed. Anyhow he took the girls home, filled the milk-churn with water, and returned to get the car going, and follow me home. I got to the gate and the car stalled again!

Terribly exciting hey?

So much for sewing all day. Tomorrow I have to get on with sorting out all my Music lessons until end of October, doing the school Assenbly list, writing the Nativity, and deciding on junior school songs for the Carol Service. Some baking for packed lunches would also be appreciated, no doubt, and B hasn't ironed any of her school shirts this weekend. Sewing? Hmmmm....

Debs photos! end of subject...

Thursday afternoon, when Sos was assembling all her garments for the evening, she suddenly realised that her slippers matched her Dress, so she needn't have got a new pair of shoes after all!
Some friends came to spend the night with us so that Sos could arrive in an elegant vehicle...And her employer in the flower shop did buttonholes and a wrist corsage for all three participants.

The trouble with a frothy Dress is that it gets everywhere!

Bum-bow! When they all got to the Night Club Sos left the bow in the Coat-check. The girl thought it hilarious to be handed a bow!

Part of the 'Gang', don't they look good!

And there you have it. Apparantly they had a great evening, lots of laughter, speeches from all the Principal and lots of prizes. We hung around at the start to watch the arrivals and they included-

a Daimler carrying a Mohican,

a huge Prime-Mover where the girl had to leap out and be caught by Driver and Escort as her dress was too tight to climb down the steps,

a pony and trap, or maybe two,

an old Traveller Caravan, complete with inside stove puffing out turf smoke,

an orange Volkswagon,

several sports cars,

a bus carrying one couple,

a modern caravan packed full of people singing and calling...

It was a laugh!

Random Dozen 'Meme'

http://2nd-cup-of-coffee.blogspot.com/
I saw this yesterday at Melanie's place, and read several people's answers. It looked really fun, so I thought I'd do it this morning and then go back to the Lid and read her own answers. ( Did I just get a 'link' sorted rightly there? If so, first time!)
So then!

1. When you go to Wowmart, what one thing do you get every single time, besides a funky-wheeled squeaking cart full of frustration?
Well, we have Tesco or Dunnes here...Soya Milk! I hate neat tea and drink tea all day every day, mostly rooibos, so soya milk is essential.
2. What is something that people are currently "into" that you just don't get or appreciate?
I would have said digital cameras a few months ago but since starting to blog I'm really enjoying digital photography. Dishwashers. The Hub insisted on getting a friend's old one and I just don't see the point- it takes up space, its noisy, it floods sometimes, and it doesn't even get the crockery properly clean. Its a real pain, and then you have to empty the darn thing and re-wash half the dishes.
3. What is something that really hoists your sail that other people might feel "ho-hum" about?
Hedgerows, countryside, changing seasons and colours, the smell of weather coming across the valley, salt on the wind when there's a westerly, wild flowers, puddles, sunshine on black clouds,the sound of water after rain...that looks like different things but its not!
4. Favorite song to sing in the shower or car?
The Carpenters 'I'm on the top of the world looking down on creation...'
5. A really great salad must have this ingredient:
Salad Cream, but mayonaisse will do.
6. Advice in a nutshell to new bloggers (one or two sentences):
Keep posting regularly, even just a photo or one-liner, so that people continue to visit.
7. What was the alternate name that your parents almost named you? Do you wish they had chosen it instead of the one they gave you?
My second name is Deirdre, but it could have been 'Doris' after my Granny. She was a wonderful Granny, but I really don't like that name, though the shortened form 'Dorrie' I do like.
8. What in your life are you waiting for?
To discover why I'm here, and why I wasn't given Liam Neeson or Richard Harris or Colin Farrell as a husband.
9. You get a package in the mail. What is it, and who is it from?
Books- Amazon. Need I say more?
10. Today--what song represents you?
'I'm gonna wash that man right out of my hair!' from South Pacific, oh yes!
11. What is one thing that blogging has taught you about yourself?
I'm not sure since I've had to become very self-aware over years of severe depression, mental problems, living in the african bush without seeing anyone for weeks at a time, rearing difficult children and being unable to work outside the house for more than about two months without becoming very ill, and therefore being a drain on parents, in-laws, and most of all the Hub.
I think perhaps blogging is teaching me to laugh more at circumstances beyond my control. If you can laugh things don't hurt so much or weigh so heavily. I wish I could laugh at myself, perhaps that will come?
12. How are you going to (or how did you) choose the clothes you're wearing today? What do they say about you in general or specifically how you're feeling today?
Plaid flannel shirt, thick wool cardigan and jeans. Unfortunately I absentmindedly put on sandals and went out in torrential rain, so my feet are cold and wet, and I hate having wet feet.
What do they say about me? I dunno but I always a plaid shirt on difficult days, and this is a hard one. Comfort perhaps?

So there it is! I think its a fun conglomeration of questions, and now I'm off to see what Linda wrote!

Have I got links sorted? I'm not sure I have.

Ta! Da! (Whew)

Ladies and um, ladies; coming down the catwalk now is an elegant evening dress suitable for a Debs Night. Made of layered satin and tulle, with a flounced underskirt, it should suit the most exacting of Barbie wanna-be's.
On the right side of the tulle overskirt are nine tiny bows each made from silver ribbon and one pearl bead, and if they hadn't been such a pain to make there would be a darn sight more of them.

A patchwork satin and tulle clutch bag nicely completes the emsemble, small enough to be discreet but large enought to hold camera, mobile-phone, money, make-up repair kit, safety pins, handkerchief and three types of lip gloss. Please admire the magnificent patchwork- a masterpiece born of necessity.

Turn aroud my dear and show all the ladies the enormous tulle bow on your rear end; only a truly madly fabulously confident young lady could carry off such a monstrosity of dolly frou-frou.

And a round of applause for our model? Thank you! Thank you!

So! THAT'S what I've been doing for the last fortnight. Big night is tomorrow, so I'll take one more photo of Sos all dolled up and then lay the subject to rest.

In honour of the guests coming tomorrow the girls cleaned the fish tank, and were astonished to discover Sally and Fishfinger lurking in the murky depths. Told them, but would they believe me? So now that the fish can see out we are back to covering the tank with a tea towel at supper time so they can't watch us eating their cousins.

D'you remember what the spare room looked like at the start of the summer?

http://hecketyathome.blogspot.com/2009/07/of-sewing-shed-and-sorrow.html

Well, now it looks like this! Carpeted, painted, curtained (thank you my amazing Mother!), furnished (upstairs bunk-beds separated, at present)- in fact altogether clothed and in its right mind! And just to amuse you, here are five of the weekend's teenagers playing 'Twister' with a lot of shrieking...
I have about a weeks' worth of ironing to do. I had to wear my Sunday shirt to School today because there was nothing else decent in the wardrobe! There is some hoovering needed too, all the threads and trimmings which get eyerywhere when I sew, in fact I need to pick pink pinking snips off Bertie, he's so fluffy he's like a fabric magnet! Well, a fridge magnet too, but that's another matter...Sos is upstairs planning tomorrow's hair-do, much muttering and stomping and loud music!

But first of all I am going to make like Mma Ramotswe and sit back with a nice cup of rooibos tea and read the quilting magazine I've been keeping ready for the end of The Dress! Happy Days!

Sunday...oh my! Tuesday!

I've just opened the Utility room door to discover wall to wall re-cycling...I guess Ben and Bertie had a disagreement earlier.

Well we sure got the spare room finished in the nick of time, it's been occupated since Saturday by a stream of teenagers, with more on the floors upstairs. Which is fine and fun and a lot else, except that the Hub, in his wisedom, moved the computer to the spare room and I haven't had access for days...rethink?

Sunday's Sermon concerned the beginning of our reading of the book of James. I wish you could have heard it for yourself because our Rector transported us to the Holy Land in the first century though a search to authenticate James the brother of Jesus as the Book's author.
(photo from http://www.kandle.ie/)

In 1 Corinthians 15 Jesus appears after His Ressurrection to James, as well as the Apostles; Paul calls James 'the pillar of the Church' and seeks him out; received tradition has James as the first Bishop of the Church in Jerusalem; when Peter is arrested and put in prison, he tells his friends to tell James, which would indicate his opinion of James' importance. In Acts 15 James was among the leaders signing his name to a letter, and in AD 62 James was stoned to death by the authorities, which came as a shock after such a vivid recital of his life and credentials.
Apparantly opinion is divided concerning the Book of James as to why exactly it was written. Our Rector thinks it was written as a sermon and an eccouragement to be sent out to his own parishioners after the dispersal of the Jerusalem Christians; a letter from home, so's to speak, from their rector. If I was far from home, starting again in a foreign place and trying to live a Godly life, I would welcome such a letter. I guess those people must have too, or it wouldn't have been kept long enough to make it into the New Testament. Our Rector pointed out that since neither the world nor God changes, a letter written today could have strong similarities.

Its the season of wasps here, which is a bit odd considering how wintry the weather is. The Hub managed to cut the grass yesterday which is a vast improvement on our surroundings! Since Sos has swarmed off with the gang who was in residence here I can't try her dress on her, but I think it is almost finished, and I only re-did the zip five times...Now she wants a huge bow for bum, and a matching clutch bag, and her escort has been promised a matching tie...
B goes back to school tomorrow, and I have the first Assembly of the term in the primary school. Am I prepared? Not! Is B prepared? Well, she has her new textbooks and stationary, but I need to make over one of her sister's old skirts for her uniform and , due to the Debs' horror, I haven't done it yet...Its a pain being the youngest...

If you like sea-poems and care to visit, I just got a bit carried away next door! ( http://heartwarmingtreasures.blogspot.com/2009/09/sea-fever.html )