Christmas is booked!

Thank god my s-in-law is organised. She got us thinking about Xmas this week. We've booked a huge five bed, three bath house in Queensland and two families will drive across from the NT and one family from Canberra. There'll be 13 of us, possibly 14, and another family staying for 3-4 days. It's by the beach and the big attraction is the theme parks. And mum and dad have paid for it as the family Xmas present. Just had to share some photos - we can't believe how good it all looks!

Pool of course!

Outside eating

Elevated view of the canal

Kitchen/breakfast bar

One of the five bedrooms

TV time

Breakfast bar

Handsewing alcove?

Kitchen

Dining room

Ben's drawing

I got to work early today, opened my boot and saw a new drawing from Ben. Love his imagination, his need to get his concepts out on paper.

Oh no it was a rare species - kaboom

Latest quilt

Here's my latest blocks. I'm using just strips - already cut - from my scrap box. And the reason I have the scrap box - mum painstakingly sorted out all my fabrics one day. It had been utter chaos!

Ben drawing

How to keep my Ben busy at a coffee shop - a piece of paper and a pencil!

Andrew's growing

It's getting cold and I noticed Andrew's pyjamas were too short. Bought him his first size 14 pair and now that he has them on this weekend I can see they're only just long enough. They're skimming his ankles.

Wallpaper

This is the photo of my kids that I have as the wallpaper on my phone. I think they're aged 5 and 3 in the photo. Can't seem to stop looking at it!

Andrew's cushion

Andrew sewed a cushion at school. The largest piece of fabric I had to give him - boy fabric - was this piece of astronomy fabric. He's made it into a moons, stars and planets quilt. Appliqued the pieces on so beautifully. I knew when I had two boys that one would have to be a quilter - maybe it'll be Andrew!!

Here's the back of the cushion. Andrew asked me to take mug shots, so each side and front. His zipper is all straight and neat. Better than I could have done at 13.

Back of the pincushion

Back of the pincushion
Originally uploaded by Linseed2010

Here's the back of the pincushion - it carries on the rainbow theme - with a bit of Australiana thrown in (eucalyptus flowers).

Rainbow lorikeet pin cushion

Rainbow lorikeet pin cushion
Originally uploaded by Linseed2010

I have a building site outside the window at work - didn't think the equipment would show up so well.

Rainblow lorikeet pin cushion

Rainblow lorikeet pin cushion
Originally uploaded by Linseed2010

Mum loves Australian native birds, so I made a rainbow lorikeet for her.
I checked the order of colours of the rainbow with Ben. And Ben stuffed the pincushion for me.
Love the tail feathers!

Happy Birthday mum!!

Basted ready for quilting
Originally uploaded by Linseed2010

I made a pincushion for mum's birthday. It was pieced, appliqued, beaded, quilted, buttoned, labelled and stuffed. How much work could go into one little pincushion?

Andrew's bread

Now Andrew is 13 he has a new chore - baking our morning fruit bread. He's been adding sultanas and dried apricots. I add linseeds and quinoa. It comes out perfect every time - two or three times a week.

Snakes and ladders game in bed

Ben drew a snakes & ladders game and brought it to bed so we could play it together on the weekend.

Ramona's block

Ramona's block
Originally uploaded by Linseed2010

A second block for Ramona.

Ramona's block

Ramona's block
Originally uploaded by Linseed2010

I made this for Ramona today - it'll be a quilt for her little boy.

Ramona's block

The blocks we're making for Ramona - in my Flickr quilt swap - will end up like this.

I've included pics of the two blocks I made for Ramona today. It was fun piecing on newspaper, and reading the newspaper templates she'd included. There's an amazing range of cinemas in California - showing a huge range of movies!