Ice skating lessons

Ben has been giving Andrew ice skating lessons. Ben's been taking the lessons and then teaching Andrew.

Wild west ride

My Andrew is such a clown. Can you spot him posing for the camera?

Superman ride

Yesterday at the theme park

We're on holiday - 21 of us in a huge house. Yesterday we went to Movie World.

Owl

The second present I've bought mum for Christmas is this owl cushion. It's Not very big. I know she likes to have a cushion for back support and she's always loved owls. This is by Sarah Saliba of http://www.giftscreated.com/

Sitting on the eggs

Eggs

Love the fabric they've used for these eggs.

Baby bird

Only his mother would love him! Just cracked out of the egg and all googly eyes.

Quilt for mum

I bought this quilt for mum for Christmas. I've been looking at these quilts all year. It's by Nellie and Fred http://www.nellieandfred.com.au/
This quilt is called let's collect the eggs.

Chaws

Ben's made himself a 'chaw' book. So whenever I ask him to do something he writes it in this tiny notebook first. So glad were paying the big bucks to send him to school - maybe one day he'll learn to spell!!

Next quilt

I've made about 30 of these blocks so far. They'll be latticed around a white block. Hope that makes sense? I spread out all the blocks out so far and it looks so fresh. It'll be my to- do project for January.

Platypus

Platypus, a photo by Psycho Hamster on Flickr.

We spent more than three hours paddling a river yesterday, with a few baby rapids thrown in. We were trying to see a platypus in the wild. The guy who dropped us all off said that David Attenborough's film crew had used the pool we were starting from to capture their platypus footage. Still didn't see one, but had a great paddle.

Scooter

Granny has bought a scooter. Here's the boys having a whirl. They love it!

New cactus

Here's the new cactus - Boogle - long may he live.

Cactus

Granny bought Ben a cactus a year ago. He called it Snem and overwatered it for a bit, then it was upended a few times, then forgotten. It died, and Ben's been keeping the remains of Snem on his bedside table. Tucking him in this week I saw Snem and made the mistake of saying it was Snem's skeleton. Ben's bottom lip trembled and he got a bit teary. Granny bought him a new cactus today, so all is good again. Here's a pic of the skeleton...

Raffle quilt

Here's the quilt that was first prize in the school's raffle. It's from piece o' cake designs and made by mums at the school. I just love it.

Spring fair

It was the spring fair at my kids' school last weekend. I didn't see much of it. Just the ice cream stall and its never-ending queues! One of the mums had a great idea - she asked the kids to do the labels, with a big emphasis on pictures to help the littlies.

Treat others...

Love the back of the plate Ben decorated this week, best of all, it shows he's been half listening to me over the years! He's written - "Tip: Always treat others as they would like to be treated. "

Ben's plate

Ben went to grannies' after school this week and spent his time decorating a plate. Here's the front - lots of animals. Love the turtle.

Ohm beads

Do love these beads that Ohm beads have posted about for Remembrance Day.

Andrew's birthday

We bought Andrew sky runners for his birthday. They finally arrived and he's been practicing walking in the park across the street and even up the hill at the end of our street!

Andrew's new present

Skyrunners

Flickr lovely

Taken by patriciabstudio http://www.flickr.com/photos/40270954@N05/6050753145

Don't know what it is about this tiny quilt that I love so much. It has 30 different fabrics and it's so precise and dazzling. Another big plus is that prolific quilter Red Pepper Quilts has added her approval saying she loves it! Now that would be a fabulous accolade!!

Aliens on Flickr

Taken by annamichellequilts http://www.flickr.com/photos/38900520@N02/5489383945

I got up at 5 with my husband - he's flying to Brisbane today. Did some quilting. Now it's 6.30 and I'm back in bed for a bit waiting for my hay fever to subside and enjoying trawling through Flickr. Love these eggsterrestrials!

Quilt

Mum made me a quilt for my birthday. She used some fabric she'd hand-dyed years ago. On the back it said count the petals to see how old you are. Ben counted petals and butterfly wings and came up with 70!!

Birthday quilt

Here's the back of my birthday quilt. Love, love, love the free-motion quilting round the petals.

Ben's birthday

It was Ben's birthday on Friday. Now that he's 12 he gets to hold the matches and light his own candles! We bought him ice skating lessons, a little guinea pig toy that records your voice and plays it back and an apple slinky contraption that quickly cuts up and cores apples.

Ben's music

Ben made this instrument for physics. He's been so enjoying writing music for it and performing it.

Crabapple

Our crabapple trees by the front door are magnificent! Just a buzz of bees and scent. This year, I'll do crabapple jelly that works - instead of last year's treacly mess!

Lemon trees

We've bought dwarf lemon trees to have in pots by the front door. Ben has promptly named one Belinda and the other one Steve.

Spoonflower fabric

I've bought some material from http://www.spoonflower.com/ and I can't bear to cut it up so I'm going to embellish it with sequins and beads and quilt it.

Embellishing

Orange and black beads

Basketball

Such an exciting weekend. Andrew's team played in the preliminary finals on Friday and won. Then on Sunday went on as the southside winners against the northside winners - and won again! He's very proud of his gold medal.

Basketball final

Tonight Andrew plays in a final with his basketball team. It's the first time one of our kids has played in a final. We parents say we can't wait for the end, it's been so heart-pumpingly stressful!! Here's Ben sitting on Mark's lap watching the semi final last week.

Ben's homework

Ben's homework this week was to bring in something from home that makes a sound. He put together some old bits of electronics. It beeped and there was a bonus flashing light!

Ben's cubby house

Gorgeous construction that he and his mates have been working on at school.

Cubby house

Love, love, the cubby house that Ben and his friends made at school over winter. Now I can see why he was pinching mulch from the garden - good insulation!

Cat story

Every day on my way to work I'd pass a stray kitten. It was living in an air vent - had been there for months right through winter. People were tying to lure it with bits of bacon tied to a string and leaving little tins of cat food. What I was worried about too is it was learning to hunt. In the park there are gorgeous budgies and parrots. So I'm thrilled someone finally managed to nab it give it a home.

Cat in the hat

I went to a quilt show. Love the cat in the hat quilting on this cat in the hat quilt.

Photos before bed time

Andrew and me, having a catch up cuddle and muck about. He's 14 next month, where has the time gone?

Ben at the gala concert

Taken by Linseed2010 http://www.flickr.com/photos/47253470@N06/6130918961

Love the sheer joy of this photo. Ben is the boy in purple with dark hair bending the lowest - of course! This was taken at last week's 30th birthday school concert.

Two quilts at once

I couldn't decide which quilt to make, so I'm doing both - the extended nine-patch plus the string quilt from all the scraps. I think I'll run out of room for scraps very soon.

String quilt in progress.

Cup o' scraps

Downunder Doll Quilt Swap #2

Downunder Doll Quilt Swap #2, a photo by Red Pepper Quilts on Flickr.

Yet another quilt to add to my white and brights wish list. Love anything by Red Pepper Quilts.

Freaky book moment

I had a freaky moment yesteday, reading a book in bed before lights out. The book I was reading, 'Then Came You' by Jennifer Weiner suddenly turned into a review of the second book I'm reading!

This second book (I'm listening to it on CD while I drive to and from work) is 'Never let me go' by Kazuo Ishiguro.

Tried, tried, tried not to read the plot, but I did... lucky I'm about three-quarters through anyway, and it hasn't spoilt it for me. 

New quilt

I started my own version of this quilt yesterday - using my collection of pinks and greens. And I'm saving all the offcuts to make a string-quilt version in the same fabrics. It's a good feeling to start a new quilt because I have one actually finished and ready to take to the quilter.

Taken by lindakl http://www.flickr.com/photos/44392817@N02/4340510377

Ben's latest book

Love the 'proper novel' Ben is writing at the moment all about garden gnomes.

Dreaming in French

We had a quilt show here last weekend. I bought some fabric with mum's birthday money. I'm thinking about a log cabin quilt, having this gorgeous collection with a creamy-olivey linen-look fabric. The fabric lends itself to quite an old-fashioned block, I think. It's called Dreaming in French by Artgallery Fabrics.

Red and turquoise

I'm building up a red and turquoise collection - not sure what I'll make yet...

New fabric

I've been buying fabric just lately. This stash is for the pink and green quilt I'm planning.