The first day of school began with an unexpected present for each teacher. Our tech equipment is out of the ark so my brand new MacBook was a lovely surprise. Now I just need a 10 year old to show me how to use it! Then it was talk talk talk until my brain nearly exploded. At 3.01 we escaped to the beach.

But no one had any energy left after the talk talk talk day of school so the soccer balls, surf boards and swim stuff stayed in the truck.

Only the blankets made it to the beach and within two minutes, everyone was asleep.

So it’s a thrift quilt, made from 7 men’s business shirts. The original inspiration came from here. I love the bits of colour in Monica’s and thought about adding scraps of bandana fabric to mine but maybe next time. Basic is better for Year 8s. I laddered together scraps of Dacron for the middle and used a blue-checked cotton sheet for the back.

There are 36 squares sewn together in a fairly random pattern. Some squares include the lovely flat-felled sleeve seams and some the breast pockets. I only used the sleeves and the fronts of the shirts so there are still lots of large shirt backs for other projects.

I quilted either side of the seam lines and then made a binding from the darkest blue shirt. The binding was hand-stitched down simply because I love hand-stitching. It took 2 games of tennis.

This is probably the best photo of the lovely blue colours. It was a bit windy here today and the quilt flapped madly on the washing line. I’m hoping the boys will like it too and this is just the beginning of the Business of Quilting.

A very simple 6×6 in squares cut from Grandma’s flannel fabrics. He practised straight stitching and following the 1cm line before joining the squares. It took 5 mornings to sew the top together and then we went on an expedition to choose the backing fabric.

It was the funniest visit to a fabric store ever. I thought yellow would be perfect but Henry wanted lime green. It’s my favourite colour said Henry. You don’t even have green in the top I said. Ok then fluro orange said Henry. But look how nice the duck-egg blue is I said. Blech said Henry. Then an old lady got in on the act and tried to sell the yellow again while a shop assistant extolled the virtues of a really boring grey. We both rolled our eyes at that one. Argh said Henry throwing his hands in the air. I just want to express myself!

So shamefacedly I bought the lime green. If one of my students had asked for lime green, I wouldn’t have even hesitated. Turns out the lime green was perfect. I should have trusted the boy in charge.

As if I’m not persecuted enough by the caterwauling neighbours, the crazy city council and the very children I live with.

The words were printed out with letters in different fonts, cut out of fancy boy-coloured scraps and steam-a-seamed to the apron fabric.

Bandanas are one of our favourite things to recycle and I love their contrast with the denim. My only resident non- female even consented to trying the apron out as he made brownies.

He set fire to a tea towel but the apron survived and the brownies were great.

I did spend a good chunk of my holiday time op-shopping. Op shops are harder to find in Christchurch these days – so many have fallen over, been relocated or simply disappeared. My friend Ann was staying for a few days so we bribed the older kids to watch the younger ones and we spent a mad morning fossicking. I bought lots of men’s business shirts, now washed and pressed and ready to go. I have a plan for some Year 8 craftiness.

Ann spotted a St Vinnies in an obscure strip of shops so we zipped into a park and went to investigate. The shop was closing down and selling 5 things for $1. I walked out laden down with pure woollen suits in heathery colours, warm winter jersies and thick padded jackets and I felt like a thief. $2 for so much goodness. Normally I’d buy those jersies for felting but they were all in tip top condition. I wore one camping.

So back to real life. It was golden summer.

Henry and I had an adventure of our own. We walked into a little hut in the Craigieburn Forest and stayed the night. It was a basic hut with a place to sleep and a tap outside. We indulged in instant mashed potato with our dinner and toasted marshmallows over the gas cooker. We played cards by candlelight and then went to bed early, worn out by the fresh mountain air.

We got up early and ate breakfast in the sun. We splashed in the river a bit and laughed at the keas. Then we went to meet the twins who had walked themselves out of the Hawdon Valley. Full of stories about climbing tall trees to watch for hikers and swimming in snow-fed streams, setting trap lines for stoats and tagging endangered native birds. But very much looking forward to hot showers, flushing toilets and lights at the flick of a switch. It was exciting to be away with Dad and practically DOC employees themselves but it’s also rather wonderful to be home.

And just like last year, Tim is also sending us stray Europeans who need a bed for a night or a week or maybe even forever. Lena originally came for a night, then she came back for a week and now we’re asking if please she could stay forever. Lena is a whizz in the kitchen and she bakes all manner of German goodies.  I’m constantly finding stray scraps of paper in the kitchen and the dining room with quick dashes of measurements and cryptic instructions which produce the most outrageously good cakes and breads.

Despite the very ordinary name, Lena’s Carrot Bread is something special. It’s supposed to be eaten as a snack with coffee but it’s great toasted for breakfast too. It’s nothing like the heavy oily carrot cakes we have here but rather a light creamy-coloured loaf with the surprise of coconut. She’s promised a full translation so that I can bake my own bread if she ever leaves. She was going to fly to the North Island but has decided to join in the Arthur’s Pass expedition instead and she has a loaf of Carrot Bread all ready for Ranger Tim when we do the swap-over on Friday. I’m driving 4 big kids and their packs to the start of his track and then picking up two little kids and their packs when they arrive out. Quality time in the mountains with Dad.

The girls in particular have embraced this beachy way of life and not even the wild weather puts them off. If the tide is high and the surf is right, they can be on a bus to Sumner with their boards in 5 minutes flat.

And even if it’s almost too dark to see you can find Sophie and Michelle practising their moves out at Scarborough Head. Safe surfing the Christchurch way.

More importantly though is the fact that, even though you’re 14 and a serious scholar and a top sportswoman, the local coffee shop will still make you a smiley face hot chocolate with a marshmallow nose. Mainly because you dish out hugs to anyone cool enough to know that you still love it this way.