Boat Renovation Update

I took a quick look around the boat this afternoon and snapped some pictures for an update.  We finally feel as if we are getting somewhere.

The main saloon was blue...

and is now white again.  Crisp, shiny, bright white.  I worried that stark white would be too cold, but I love it.  It enlarges the space so much, brings in heaps of light and it just says 'boat'.

The galley is painted too, white again.  There will be wood trim around the edges of the ceiling - helps hide the cracks and the power cords that will be run through soon.

And we've painted the roof of the wheelhouse (you would not believe how stained and revolting it was - probably from years of nicotine as the captain smoked while steering the boat - lucky no smell remains).

The old floor in our forward cabin has been ripped out ready for a new one.  I love seeing the big heavy timbers of her keel.

There is a staircase to get to the top deck now instead of a dodgy ladder.

And the staircase has a new hatch through to the top deck.

But the most substantial progress of all?  In the once-was-fishhold, we now have the beginnings of walls and doors and we have new floor to walk on.  This will be the kid's cabins and playroom.

Exciting!

After a long, tiring month, I'm now have two weeks of annual leave and the kids have two weeks of school holidays.  So I'm not sure whether I'll get heaps done, or nothing at all.  Stay tuned!

Entertaining Lots of Kidlets (and a few adults)

Our quilting guild have a deal going with the local primary school whereby we give free fibre art classes to their pupils and in return we get free use of their school hall for our annual exhibition.

I organised and ran them last year and am doing so again this year.  Last year was fabric paint - fun but messy and with lots of prep and clean up.  This year it's fabric collage.  I chose it in part to help tame the scrap heap, but people keep donating scraps to me to use so the pile is growing not shrinking!

The kids (who were six years old for the most part) drew the outline of their first initial then glued scraps of fabric to fill it in.  Then with chenille or tapestry needles (nice and big with a good eye), they big stitched around the outline.  Simple, effective and lots of fun.  I've zigzagged them into a banner that they can hang on their wall and then we can hang it in our exhibition in January.  Now I've only three more classes to go with the same age kids and we're all done for another year.

Onwards and Upwards

Well, I got a disappointing email from the Beneath the Southern Skies convener - my quilt was not picked for the exhibition.  There were 71 entries and 30 were picked so I'm looking forward to seeing the final cut.  Not to worry, I have a place picked out on my wall for my piece "I don't feel lonely".  And I'm moving on to the next quilt!

'Scuse the toes!

This is the start of my next 'art' quilt.  I have a bit of a plan, but not sure how it will develop as I go along.  This is a Nikau frond, painted onto white fabric and I plan to cut it out and applique it.  We'll see how it works!

The front.

The quilting shows best on the back.

I've also been working on this quilt.  It should have been added to my WIP round up the other day, but I totally forgot I had it until I was rummaging around for something else.  The sampler blocks were from my very first quilting class.  Halfway through I decided I hated the colours so remade the blocks I'd done in colours I liked.  Then of course these ones have sat around for seven (!) years.  Now that I've sashed and bordered them I quite like them.  I've got to tie in a few threads and bind it and then it will be off to Quilts for Kids for a little person who really needs it.

School started yesterday and my boy had a great first day back - long may it continue as he isn't known for his attention span in class ;)  We spent our last day of holidays (Monday as it was a public holiday) out in the bay on the boat.  Just stunning weather and all round good fun.

Spreading the chicken bug.

Easter is the start of my son's school holidays. Two weeks of freedom. His cousins are coming to visit too, so two weeks of freedom and NOISE!

When school finishes we'll be bringing home the dozen school chicks with us. I lent my incubator to the school and the class above my son's got to look after it. I set them up with fertile eggs (not my chooks) - Orpingtons, Plymouth Barred Rocks and Gold and Silver Laced Wyandottes. Each egg got named and the anticipation grew with each week that passed. When the chicks hatched, the classroom was like grand central station. All the teachers, children, parents, EVERYONE found an excuse to come and oogle!

Now the little darlings are about a week old and just gorgeous bundles of fluff. The kids are all in love and they've learned so much. One has a wee splint on it's foot to correct some bent toes. These usually occur if the humidity spikes or falls in the incubator and seeing as the teacher accidentally let the water reservoir run dry one day, this is most likely what happened.

Once the holidays are over, I'll be taking them back to the school. Eventually the hens will go in the school chook run - unused at present - and the roosters will come home with us to be roasts. We're being honest about this with the kids, the whole exercise was to help them learn about life and food and roast rooster is just part of it.

Speaking of chickens. These are my six week old Houdans. I moved them into an outside run over the weekend and they think grass is just amazing! Unfortunately out of seven, I have five boys and two girls. You win some and you lose some.

School

I once was quite enamoured by the idea of homeschooling. That was before I had children! I make a joke out of it but I truly realised that I would not have the patience. And I think my son and I are very similar so we tend to clash.

So Monday 9.00 o'clock found us at the gates of our small local school. Who was nervous and who was excited?

We were introduced to Will's teacher and his class of about 15. Another new Mum and I followed them around as they went to physical ed, which consisted of 10 minutes skipping with the whole school; assembly, where the principal pulled out a guitar and sang happy birthday to the kids who had had a birthday over the holidays; and then back to the classroom for reciting the date, months, numbers and shapes. I left when they started doing reading and writing practice.

I hugged my boy and left him sobbing.

Lunchtime I came back as arranged to see how he was doing and probably pick him up. I peeked in the class window and saw him sitting on the mat at the teacher's feet happily working away with a pencil in his hand. Other children were working at their tables and would periodically come up to the teacher and ask for help. It looked peaceful and industrious and what gladdened my heart was the smile on my son's face.

He decided to stay the rest of the day.