Such Gorgeous Weather!!

The weather has been so perfect here, glorious blue skies and hardly any clouds, with a perfect breeze. So off we went to the beach. The kids swam and made sandcastles, friends came too so we relaxed on the sand chatting and enjoying the gorgeous weather. Could have stayed there all day.....

Yesterday I finished binding both the black swirl one and the green swirl one.  Binding takes so long and is not enjoyable, but something has to go around them.


Gorgeous isn't it!

They found a huge branch on the beach, so thought they could use it as a boat :) you can see it poking out....

hahahaha this was the result. Funny kids :)

This looks soooo much better in person. The green just glows and shimmers

This is another bad photo of black swirls :)

Love the backs as much as the fronts....

Gorgeous orange swirl

So now I am working on this, will add 3d leaves and flowers and birds nest and maybe even a bird :) In my head the bird looks great :) let's see how it looks in real life :)

Jane

Getting There

I have nearly finished the black swirls one. Still need a better name than that :) If I like this one, I might consider this for the QLD quilt show, but I just don't think there is enough stuff to grab your attention. The other ideas that I want to do will be better I think. 

Still need a camera so these photos are real low quality sorry :)

My thread keeps snapping on my machine, so I take it apart to see inside, wish I could take more apart but I cannot, and there is a piece of thread stuck in the arm of the needle!! Darn. So now I have oiled it and gotten it out half way, now it is covered in oil and I can't grab the rest :) So I am now waiting for it to dry out and see if I can grab the rest. It is a lot better already so here's hoping I can get that teeny tiny bit of thread. I am now blinded though from using my super duper AnyTech torch that has three settings, super uber blind people bright :), super high bright and low. So I have it on the middle one and now I am blinking white :). But it helped me see the threads, well actually without it you can't see anything. Lighting in sewing machines suck. That is a big let down in nearly every machine that I looked at. Besides the super uber expensive ones. Bigger bulbs are needed.

ANZAC day tomorrow, so off to march with the family and wear my great grandad's medals. Very special indeed. 

Jane

Must be Mad

Okay, I finished piecing the black and white quilt. Surprisingly to me, there is only one join where the squares don't match up enough to notice :) that's pretty amazing don't you think :) I can count on one hand how many pieced quilts I have made, so I am happy with that :) But now that it is all put together I have realised how big it is and that I have to fit it under my domestic machine :( where is that long arm I dreamed about? Aren't our dreams supposed to come true?:) So I might go a bit mad(or madder) pulling and prodding this thing around my machine.

Just started on the black swirl, loving doing the free motion work

Went for a run with the kids this afternoon, training for cross country so I run too, need to train to lose 10 kilo's :) and we saw a koala, it is in the first branch on the right of the tree. Just gorgeous.

And this doesn't look real but this was a storm a couple of days ago that looked like a tornado was going to hit us. It was an amazing storm, the wind going through the trees was so loud and violent. It rained enough to wet all the kids just in time for school pick up :)

So now I am off to make a delicious beef stir fry. Was in the butcher and the smell from something cooking was soooo divine. I asked them what they were cooking and they said the stir fry so I bought it  since it smelt so good. What a good marketing tool :) and so easy for me to cook. Nice. 

I need something to read. Any suggestions????

Jane

Sunday

Relax day, watching conference today at home, even more relaxing :). Then I can read a book and have a nice relaxing afternoon. Lasagna I think for dinner tonight.... do you get tired of cooking every single night?? Trying to make something yum with whatever is left in your cupboard days before payday? Mince is usually on our menu. Not a big fan of it, but went to a good butcher and wow the mince is soooo much better than supermarket variety. Makes it easier going down :).

Nearly finished sewing the little bits of squares and strips together and maybe tomorrow can piece the whole quilt together. Now I have two ideas in my head and so want to do them as well. One I want to do on some raw silk I have mmmmmm it's like a very special treat to use it and have been waiting for that special idea :)

Have been playing Dark Parables rise of the snow queen, it is a big fish game and it is a puzzle and hidden object game and its very fun. I am playing it on my ipad and the puzzles get harder each one so that's good.

Off to watch conference.
Jane

Black and White

I have finished painting the black swirls and I think that it looks all right....

Now to iron it and then have more fun with the free motion. Sometimes I think about owning a long arm where it would take me a day to do this, such a nice dream :) and so much fun. Only problem would be finding somewhere to house the thing. I really need my own sewing room, maybe the kids can share :) because that would make my life easier hehehe, but then again, it wouldn't matter as I could just escape into my sewing room :). Oh well, back at my desk with the kids fighting with each other over minecraft. 

I got another urge to cut up fabric, so this time I am trying a black and white design, will post photos when there is more than just squares to show. Or maybe not at all if I stuff it up :) my skill is not in piecing at all. 

Reading another Michael Connelly at the moment and really enjoying this one too. Want to read a really good family saga/chick lit but the ones I pick all suck so I will just keep trying. 

School back countdown: 3 days. (it's the noise more than anything else)

Jane

Great Stuff

I ordered some new thread from Superior threads, their new Magnifico thread and I have used it and think it is fantastic. I do not work or get any incentive for this post, purely just letting you know this thread rocks!!:)

I only got a couple, to test them out, these are the colours I got, I also got a gorgeous corn coloured one that I had trouble locating.

They are 40w so nice and thick and you can see it, this is what I like, and it feels so good, nice and strong and thick. No breakage and it is like butter to sew with. Now to add to my tiny amount :) 

Have been working on these...

I wanted this one to look something like a peacocks feather... in person the green is gorgeous and looks like it ripples across the piece.

Another of my swirls, this time on black to see how much it pops, I am really liking it...

Off to clean the house for the millionth time again today, school holidays ugghh for that otherwise they have been fine.
Jane

Weekend

Well what a nice Easter weekend that was. Went to see yachts take off for a big race, less boats than I expected, but still really cool. There were market stalls galore and we had a nice time looking around. It was very hot though, so we didn't look too long.

Saturday was spent getting the yard all neat and looking fantastic, and I love feeling tired from good physical labour. And the yard looks fantastic too. Church yesterday and of course that was lovely and today family for lunch and friends for dinner. Very relaxing and fun. Good thing I mega cleaned the house in the morning.

School holidays now so it will remain to be seen how much creating I get done. I have nearly finished the baby quilt and I am really loving how it looks.


The back, most of the times the back looks just as good as the front :)

Little cute elephant waiting for his free motion work...

Feathers that turned out real well...

Got a few things I am churning over in my head, thinking of doing something real different for me, lets see if that works :)
Jane