Too much fabric?

I was putting away some fabric recently when I realised that there was no more room on the shelf. Oh dear. I started entertaining thoughts along the lines of how I really should use up some of my stash before buying any more fabric. Then I received an e-mail from Timeless Treasures Fabrics, offering to send me some fabric for my next blog project.

It was clearly a sign from above that you really can not ever have too much fabric...The blue floral seemed perfect for this little chap: a wee bunny.

Hand sewn from a pattern that I made up, with a little scrap yarn pom-pom for a tail.

As for this fabric, it was too good a match for my kitchen to pass up the chance to replace my ragged old potholders (I was going to show a picture of the old ones, but was too embarrassed by the scorch marks and stains to go through with it...).

I suppose they are a bit more like oven gloves than pot holders, as I added a pockets to put my hands in - it helps.

Now all I have to do is repaint the kitchen to cover up all the patches resulting from new windows and ripping out a breakfast bar... I'm still procrastinating. Well, my mother-in-law is coming to town soon, so it would be foolish to start it now, wouldn't it?...

Translation of the day:

(Completely off-topic, but Americans do keep asking me if I have been invited to the Royal wedding. I have the horrible feeling that I might be seen on tv buying rather a lot of chocolate thanks to a local film crew asking the owners of the British imports store about the upcoming nuptials).

UK English: hen-night = bachelorette party in US English

UK English: stag night = bachelor party in US English

UK English: frock = dress in US English

UK English: trouble and strife (rhyming slang) = wife in US English

UK English: pot and pan (rhyming slang) = old man = husband in US English

Here's the website for Timeless Treasures fabric: www.ttfabrics.com and their blog: http://sewtimeless.net/

Learning about the natives

My son's class has been learning about Native Americans and this week they were given a creative project to do at home. They could make a model shelter or a poster or a necklace representing a certain tribe etc. I think that he did a great job on his hairpipe choker.I had thought that we might have an unfair advantage over some of the other kids in his class, as my husband's grandmother was Native American and we had a few of her beads etc. as well as necklaces on hand to use for inspiration.That was until I dropped him off at school this morning and saw some of his classmate's projects. Wow. Especially the one model tipi, made out of actual skins as far as I could tell. Half of the models wouldn't have looked out of place in a museum display.

It can be a little confusing living over here. There are words used in schools that differ slightly from those used back home, so I'll find myself double-checking what an assignment meant exactly. Other things just seem completely different from back home, though. I think that we live in a down-to-earth non-competitive neighbourhood, yet I would say that several of the kids in his class had quite a bit of help from parents.

So now I am wondering how much help I should have given. I'm still leaning towards the amount that I gave, which was talking him through the construction of his dad's choker and helping him whenever the needle was not wanting to go through.

I'm also wondering how much effort should be going into these projects. Some of the dioramas even had little figures and fake plants etc. For starters, where are they even getting all these model supplies? Should we be spending the money and time to achieve authentic looking details? Again, I'm still pretty much leaning towards using what we have on hand or buying just a few cheap everyday things.

My mum didn't really help me on projects such as these (she is not artistic) and I usually had to make do with what scraps were around the house - but then so did most of my classmates. If we had made a model tipi, it would have probably been made with twigs and a cut up cereal box. Macaroni and beads would have been used for a necklace. Maybe it's just a sign of the times, but I really thought how much luckier my kids were that they had a mum with craft supplies about the house. Yet it turns out that their classmates seem to have even more at their disposal.

How much help do you give your kids with school projects? What is expected when it comes to craft projects like this?

Time flies

(Sorry about the weird spacing - blogger seems to have a mind of its own right now)Goodness, I didn't think that it was almost a month since my last post. Thank you for the suggestions for things to do in San Francisco and Sacramento. I carefully copied them down, then left the piece of paper at home next to the computer, along with the map. It's been one of those months. Still, I muddled by from memory.

So what have I been up to?

:: Entertain my visiting parents ✔

:: Visit San Francisco ✔

I'm striking the phrase 'what harm can it do?' from my vocabulary, after using it to suggest to my grouchy husband that the kids take a 5 minute break at the park behind city hall. Before I had even finished the sentence my daughter ran up, clutching her bloodied face. Her tooth had cut right through her lip... Not a public restroom in sight. I'm sorry if you were standing next to our bloodstained group on the bus back to our hotel.

:: Visit Sacramento ✔

:: Bake birthday cake ✔

Yes, that is a rise you see there. I might have finally cracked it. It wasn't just using British ingredients from the import store, either - there's American sugar in that cake. Still, I think that Martha Stewart can rest easy, knowing that her job is safe for the now...

:: Celebrate son's 8th Birthday ✔

:: Something green for St Patrick's Day ✔

Bit of a last-minute-on-the-night-before effort here. They still had to wear their non-green school uniforms, but I didn't want to run the risk of them getting pinched.:: File taxes ✔

Although my brother-in-law showed up the day after with a form to do with my late grandmother-in-law's estate, so it looks like an amendment is in order.

:: School talent show ✔

:: Yet another car repair ✔

My husband thinks it is funny that, when I am driving his new-to-us automatic, I keep waving my hand out trying to find a non-existent gear stick... and turning on the windscreen washer when trying to find drive...

:: Cushion cover for my daughter's room ___

Still working on that one. Sharing the driving up North robbed me of precious crocheting time...

:: Paint rooms ___

Nope. I have been rearranging furniture and cleaning, though. Unfortunately grouchy husband has flatly refused to let me switch the dining room and living room furniture over. Back to the drawing board. Or find some other big, burly bloke to help me with the heavy lifting...

Hopefully I'll be posting again soon, but I had better get going. I have to find a place for the fridge, dining room table and the contents of the under the kitchen sink cabinet before grouchy husband gets home...