Thursday, December 20, 2012

Another New One :)

About 2 months ago I bought a new sewing machine. Not the one of my dreams :) but still a good one that will do all the things I need it to do. Then it started having problems and I ended up taking it back to the store twice. The first time they fixed it, the second time they said they couldn't. There were no more sewing machines of my model left, sooo they gave me an upgrade!! I had a brother nx400 and now I have a Brother nv400. And there is a big difference. I really really love it. The store, Echidna sewing club, were so helpful and willing to help me out when I had problems with the machine, very happy with the service. So now I am sewing on this...



This sewing machine is great!! It feels so solid and I noticed that compared to my last one, this has more metal parts, the needle itself appears to have been made of a stronger metal and the feeling of sewing on it is really smooth and nearly industrial. Just feels great. Still working out what all the buttons on the side do :) but they look cool :).


Now this is some more work on the book tree, I am liking it a lot more and it looks so much better in person :) Of course :)
 Soon I will put the puffed wheat/book pages on and then magically they will look like books :).



School holidays are going ok, not too much arguing and not too much computers. Time alone would be wonderful, but that will have to wait. Working on another youtube video for my channel, it should be up soon. Then straight into making another one. They are fun to do but who likes hearing themselves back?:)

Jane

Saturday, December 15, 2012

A kid did it :)

Well to me this looks like a child painted it :) But since I have put a bit of work into this, I will not throw it out. When I used my gorgeous metallic thread on the tree wow it made it pop! So it looks better than before.





This puffed wheat thing is the pages of a book :) they will look better I promise and they look better in person. I had also thread painted book covers but alas they ended up looking like crispy bacon :) won't be using that now.


I have no books to read!!! What to do!! Anything to recommend? Just watched Castle's christmas episode, it was awesome :) and I loved it. Now we have to wait for more, so sad. What are you watching?
Jane

Friday, December 7, 2012

Books Anyone???

So this is the start of my new art piece. With wash away and thread, sooo cool!!!




It looks like puffed wheat :) but what they should look like is pages out of a book :) the will once I have worked some more magic :) here's hoping :) I am going to go over the edges and the middle with a darker colour thread and then black thread line for words. Then I will wash away the mesh and mold each one into the shape I want. Some will be flat, some will be half open and others nearly shut. This is all a hope and dream :).

Anyone done with their Christmas shopping? Me, not quite. Off to fight with honour next week before the kids finish school.

Jane

Monday, December 3, 2012

And Then There Were Two

Ok, so after finishing the commission quilt finished I went on to complete this one....





So, this time I went nuts with the feathers :) just coildn't stop... and the 3d tails are my gorgeous threads, why throw them out when you can use them like this :)




Don't you love the gold dots? I thought that this would help to keep the flow of the swirl going




More feathers, told you there was a lot




Some original filler, will be showing these in my video's.


Now I am starting on a tree with books :) just wait and see how awesome this will look like. I will be using the wash away again, so it will be very cool.

Jane

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Finished!!

Well I finished the commission quilt last Thursday night. I was pretty impressed in myself :) Quite a quick one. The customer was very very happy and thought it was gorgeous. So that was a great response :).

Now for some pics.....


Feathers...mmmmmm :)


More feathers....


Love coming up with different free motion patterns... will feature them in my video's



The gorgeous back.... I used satin for backing and it was sensational. Soft to touch and nice against the skin and looks fantastic.


Back again....


One more back...

Can you tell I love feathers? And I love that it is still modern too :) And I love bubbles and swirls and soo many other patterns :) If you want to see how to do these, keep tuned to my youtube channel. :)

So now I am back working on the swirly thing, no name for it yet. Nearly finished that too and then will put it up on Etsy. Then I have another idea boiling in my head, just waiting to get out :). This has tree's in it! :) what a surprise :) with a difference of course :).

Watched a movie on the weekend called Safety not guarenteed. It was cute and I really had a good laugh. But a great laugh is Castle reruns :) sooo fun. So fun.

Jane


Friday, November 23, 2012

The commission Quilt

Well I have pieced the quilt together, it is a lap size quilt. Now comes the super fun part of free motion. This one will have lots and lots of feathers creeping up the quilt with cool fillers in between. I will post lots of photo's and if there are any fillers that you like and want me to show you, then I will include it in one of my videos.





Went and saw Skyfall today. Wow!! I am a big James Bond fan and this did not disappoint. I loved it, it was so much fun and it didn't hurt that Daniel Craig didn't have his shirt on a few times :)mmmmm great movie. Seen any good movies lately?

Jane

Thursday, November 22, 2012

New Video Is Up :)

So the quilting video is up and running on YouTube!! So exciting, take a look...
A Quilters Pleasure.

I said in the video I would have a pattern up for the free motion work, so here it is. Just print it out and trace around it and have fun :). Try making your own pattern up too.




I have another customer order, so exciting every time I get one, so I am busy doing that right now. Will show photo's very soon.

Wanting to read more of Louise Penny's new book A Beautiful Mystery. She is an amazing author and there just isn't enough time to devour the book in one sitting. And, like watching tv, chocolate too would be great... actually I am going to go and have some now mmmmmm.

Jane


Monday, November 19, 2012

Feathers

It has taken so much time to get this youtube quilting video together. We have finally finished doing the title and the intro, so now we can work on the first episode! That has left me hardly any time to quilt. But I did manage to squeeze in some feathers.





I intend to have swirls and more feathers coming off these main ones and fillers in between. Oh for a day of just sewing :) And chocolate, and a good tv show :) I am still loving Grimm. What are you watching?

Jane

Friday, November 9, 2012

A Couple of Things

While I have a spare few hours (ha!) I have been working on these.....


This is a baby quilt for a friend, she has i girl and two boys, and when she got pregnant she really really wanted a girl :) the two boys are really boys :) so she is so excited to have a girl. So pink and purple were in order. The trees have owls in two of them and the other two have gorgeous little baby birds and then one square with the whole family portrayed as cute birds.



This one is so fun! I love swirls and bright colours and I could see this in my head sooo clearly and so far it has turned out the way I want it. YESSSSS! that is pretty rare so I am pretty happy about that.



So I am nearly finished doing the baby quilt and then I can work on filling this with wonderful fun free motion work. wohoooo. 
On another note, bought some weed killer, tons of bindi in our backyard, and sprayed it yesterday, no rain expected for a few days at least, the weed killer doesn't work so well with rain in the first 24 hours. So what do you think it did today?? Of course it rained. Man!! Oh well, we'll see if it has killed them off. 

Now I am off to watch So you think you can dance, I love it, think it rocks. What do you like to watch? 

Jane

Sunday, November 4, 2012

A New Start

With the beginning of my youtube videos hopefully just around the corner, I decided to start over with this blog, but I am going to add some old posts from a more personal blog, so that is why they are all created in November :)  just so there is something to read on here :). So here goes.

New Brother and a Light Box


Now I am pretty excited about two things. Obviously my new sewing machine, which I love love love. Thought I would give a little review as when I tried to find some on the net there wasn't many.

So the sewing machine is a NX400, and first off, great price at $750, I went to a place called Echidna sewing supplies in Brisbane and they gave me a trade in on my old clunker, very handy not many sewing shops do that, and so I got it for $650. It was on special from $1000. So that is brilliant. 


Then there is the fact that it is so easy to use, just turn it on and the screen shows you what stitch you are on and you can just change the width with a press of a button. There is even a button with a question mark on it, press this  and that has a manual built into the machine :) shows you how to get around the machine. I can save my stitches and load up multiple stitches for embroidery, which I thought was cool since it isn't a specific embroidery machine. 

What I also like is that it is quiet :) nice. And it sews so smoothly. I know that in about 4 years time I will wish this was still true hehehe but right now it is smooth. So far, I am very happy with it. 

Now onto  another thing, my desk is glass and my latest idea needed some tracing onto fabric. I drew it onto butcher paper and I wanted to have it transfered onto the fabric. I usually stick the design on the window and stand for ages tracing it onto fabric that way. So then now that my desk has moved and there is more light ( don't ask me why I didn't think of this earlier)  I came up with a great idea, why don't I put my lamp under the desk and tape the image and the fabric to the desk and trace!! well of course it worked :) duh :)

(Sanctuary on my ipad there :)




So quick too and I could leave it there and come back, because of course as soon as I sit down someone needs something or fights :) I wonder if I stood up would they bother me??
Jane

Colour!

Went to my favourite quilt shop, east coast fabrics and got this gorgeous laminated fabric. The chairs need recovering all the time since they get dirty, and I saw this, first time they have had some laminated fabric, so I got some and covered the seats today. They look fantastic.




This is my new design, I have sewn over it first and now am colouring in with this amazing paint. I love the paint and will do a review on it on my you tube channel :) wohoo.


Jane

Done!


I have finished snow :) she is now on etsy, which has been so dead lately. But oh well that's life.






The 3D leaves turned out sooo well that I am going to make more 3D things. I saw one website where she made shells, and they were amazing. Got any ideas?

Leaves


Ok so this is what I am working on now.
I am sewing the leaves onto the wash away, I will be filling them in with a lighter green and then as it is called, I will just wash away the filmy fabric and the leaves are just left.

 Then I will stick them on these vines





I am not so sure about the tree, something is off and I don't like the symmetry or something about it.
Needs more light green leaves maybe?


So here's to trying something different :)
Anyone reading anything interesting lately? I need to find some more great authors with tens of books to their name :).  Also I am again starting the menu planner, are there meals that you love that you could  share with me? I saw a show where each night had a theme - monday roast night, Tuesday Mexican etc. Weighing up whether that would be easier. Just want to try different meals.
Jane

A New Start

With the beginning of my youtube videos hopefully just around the corner, I decided to start over with this blog, but I am going to add some old posts from a more personal blog and that is why the date will be the same, just so there is something to read on here :). So here goes.

America The Beautiful


I know school holidays have started when I mop the floor and it is dirty that night. Why do I bother?? :) Anyway, to keep me sane through the holidays I have been working on the U.S quilt. But saying that I think that, this actually might drive me nuts :) and I am dieting so no chocolate to help me through. ughhh







This is taking quite along time. I would love to be able to put items on Etsy  every couple of weeks. So I won't be making one this big for a while. I am half way through painting and still need to do my thread magic :) 
Watched This Means War last night, gave me a few laughs and a great perv at the two gorgeous men. So a winner for me :) Watched anything good lately?
Jane
p.s any ideas of how to get through a day without eating chocolate?

Something Different


Did something different today, I found some 'wet and gone' webbing stuff that is super fine and you sew on it and then put it under water and it is gone :). It is very fun and cool to watch it just disappear. I tried this, first try so give me a break :)
 That purple and gold thing is supposed to be a flower :) two of them of course.
 I shaped it so that it curled up at the edges, you just do whatever you want to it while it is wet, super fun.


Jane

What I am up to


Here is what I have been working on

 Anther baby quilt, I painted some cute little birds on it as that is what they like, well here's hoping it's what they like :)

Off to sew and do some fancy work on this thing and eat an apple to make up for the mini choc croissant :)
Jane

Another Done!


Finished!! Have a look at my Etsy shop and see the JewelTree new quilt. I am loving this one :) it is hanging in my home with a lamp shining on it and giving it a gentle glow.



Had the vomitng bug go through the house this last week and I am hoping really hard that I don't get it. Went to take D1 to her violin lesson and well, we didn't make it. Instead she lost her lunch poor thing. Today I cleaned the carpets so I am hoping that nothing happens during the night to wreck all that work :) of course I care about her being sick as well.

Now I am going to see what is on TV and ponder on the fact that I have nothing to sew and no idea's in my head..... anyone with any ideas??? I was thinking doing a map of the U.S like the Aussie one, which by the way has not sold, price too high maybe, but I still think it would be cool.
Jane