Making decisions

On March 6th there was a phone call from a local school - would I be interested in doing something with the whole school for a morning on the 16th? Whole school = 18 pupils aged from 5-12. The age spread sounds a little tricky, but I say yes. I come up with a plan, spend some hours doing research, gather materials and images for reference..the evening before have a little panic, wonder if  what I've planned is possible...

...but load the car anyway...

It was a full-on morning...and as usual when I'm running workshops, I'm too busy to remember to take many pictures. We made shadow puppets, masks and big puppets for a performance of the story of St. Patrick (what else do you do the day before St. P's Day?)

These are the sheep he minded while he was a slave..

and here is the High King of Ireland being constructed..

and this is Pope Celestine... There were a LOT of shadow puppet pirates, and an amazing ship...

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

I've started a rug for my sister, who wants these colours. This one could take a while; it's proving hard to get enough of the right pink (there are about five different ones in there so far) and what looks like blue on the photo is actually a dark teal, which is even harder to find in suitable fabrics, so it may be a stop-start job. Today I received via email, images of her latest rug from Lin, an American rug hooker whom I met on Pinterest.  I wish I could hide under the table...her website is on -www.iloverughooking.com It's good to have something to aspire to, even if you know you're unlikely to ever get there.

Also today I finally finished the front of the patchwork. After dithering for a couple of days whether to add a border of 4 inches or 6 inches, the 4 inch won. Muttering to myself as I made notes on scraps of paper...19x4=76, add 4 each side...9 strips=396/ 10 strips=440 - I worked out that I did have just enough fabric. Having pinned nearly all of one side I realised I'd made a mistake, so it's unpin and repin. Then I decided I wanted a triangle on the corners..unpin again. (Seriously, it can't be only me in the whole world who does this sort of thing - can it?) Now- do I want all four triangles the same? Making decisions takes longer sometimes than the actual making.

I wanted it bright... And I've done what I always do - make the front and then puzzle over how to do the back...and I hardly ever have a big enough piece of fabric. Do I piece this backing, or have a plain one? Decisions, decisions....