Craft Gossip

Independent craft blog since 2007

Going to school in a circus

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We recently reviewed Ovo, currently touring Australia.

Have you ever wondered how the kids who travel with their artist mum and dad get their studies done? After all, just being part of a big circus entourage doesn’t mean you get to miss out on your schooling :).

OVO has a school on site (and so do most Cirque Du Soleil touring companies).

A LITTLE ABOUT THE SCHOOL ON SITE AT OVO

  • There are currently 3 students at the OVO School (ages are 6, 7 and 15), two are Russian, one is French.
  • The OVO school follows the Quebec school system – it follows the school program, not the school year.
  • Only children of artists within OVO can attend the school.
  • During Brisbane, the children at the school will finish the school year- they will then have 2-3 weeks off and then will start the new school year in Sydney.
  • Children must start school when they are 6 years of age.
  • School runs Tuesday-Saturdays (Sun-Mondays off) and runs from 9:30am-3:30pm/4pm. lunch is usually at around 12:15pm-1pm (45 minutes). They also have morning and afternoon recess/break.

Classes are in French or English.

Wow! Which kid wouldn’t want to be part of a school within a circus?

Have you read?

Pencil Cross Stitch Patterns

Last year I shared my cute pencil cross stitch bookmark pattern, so I thought this year maybe I would look for more pencil cross stitch patterns to celebrate back to school or the writer in your life. 

If you’re looking for a fancier version of a pencil bookmark, check out this pretty one from Embrovera. It has pretty flowers and hearts around the pencil with a stitched border. It measures 27 by 86 stitches and comes out to 1.9 by 6.1 inches, or 4.9 by 15.6 cm, stitched on 14 count fabric. 

Speaking of flowers, there’s also this floral pencil cross stitch design from Oh My Stitches Shop. The pencil is black on this one but you could make it any color you like. It measures 37 by 102 stitches and uses 17 colors. On 14 count fabric it is 2.36 by 7.08 inches, or 6.71 by 18.5 cm. 

If you want to stitch a pencil that’s a cute teacher gift for back to school, try this one from Daily Cross Stitch, which features a pencil stretched into a heart shape and a heart shaped eraser. It calls for 11 colors and is 65 by 52. On 14 count fabric that comes to 4.64 by 3.71 inches, or 11.78 by 9.42 cm. 

There’s also this cute chubby pencil with the word learn from Stitch Gallery PDF that would be cute for a teacher (or a homeschool classroom). It looks like it uses five colors and the designer suggests using a piece of fabric that’s around 7 inches/17.6 cm square for this project. 

How about a teeny tiny pencil cross stitch pattern? This one from Bella Rose Craft also includes a wee apple design, and these mini patterns would be cute as a necklace or keychain charm. And at 7 by 13 stitches you can finish this one up in no time. 

Stitch the pencil alone or with this cute collection of school supplies that includes a glue bottle, crayons and calculator. The pattern is from sosacaetano, and it would be so cute for a classroom or stitched on a card. The full design as show is 6 by 1.75 inches (15.24 by 4.44 cm) on 14 count fabric.