Jens Arty Life

I have just finished quilting this great double sided quilt for my customer Rhonda. Not only did it turn out great, this one has a bit of a story to it. In this photo you get a pretty good look at the butterfly motif that is all over the quilt.  Rhonda is a prolific sewer. She keeps me busy all on her own and all her quilts are double sided (because she makes that many tops). She was a high school teacher and is now retired and confesses she had a bit of a stash habit, buying lots of fabrics from sites when they are on sale. But I think the most amazing thing about this quilt is that it's not new. Rhonda has so many quilts which she gives to family and friends. This one was one of a bundle that was returned to her by one of her friends who has gone up North and doesn't really need quilts any more and it was a bit tired, but really only lightly used. So Rhonda pulled the whole thing apart and gave the tops to me to 'do my magic' as she calls it. It has h...

Well I've been AWOL again, but for a good reason. I've been at TAFE (Technical and Further Education - the Australian version of community college) learning to be a Medical administrator. I wish I didn't have to go work outside the home again, but the house is falling into disrepair without my extra wage to count on. But I am still stitching, even if I haven't been posting. I just finished work on my first semi colon butterfly for a quilt I'm making with my Canadian friend Linda. We are both doing some and then swapping half the blocks. I designed the semi colon butterfly after seeing many tattoos on the subject. And my daughter is getting one tattooed for her 18th birthday. The semi colon project is an incentive to educate the public and support those with mental health issues to help prevent suicide. When writing a story, the author uses the semi colon as a pause, but doesn't finish a sentence, continuing on instead. So the semi colon has become a sy...

Today I am working on this lovely quilt by my customer, Wendy. I'm using an edge to edge design called feathered roses. my latest hexagon for my hexe quilt is blue and I finished it while waiting for my daughter at TAFE. I always get asked what I'm sewing when I take my work into public places...do you?

My lovely customer Rhonda is a prolific sewer. I just finished quilting this for her. She calls this a small quilt. it's 80 inches wide. And it is reversible. The interior is an old woollen blanket which makes this quilt super warm and super heavy.

I'm making steady progress on my hexagon quilt now. Here is today's offering, an orange hex flower And here is one row of flowers, plus cream/white row plus the four hex flowers I have yet to add (so you can see total progress); But this project actually has nothing to do with my one month goal. For that I have another pile of fabric; June 26th is my wedding anniversary. My husband has been asking for a new supporters quilt. His old one is looking very tired. So my goal for June is to turn this bundle of fabric into an Essendon (AFL) quilt. I plan to use the bomber plane emblem as a large applique (satin stitched on the machine) ...probably with the red as the background. I hope I can get it done as I would like it to be a surprise, so i can't work on it while he is at home. Wish me luck. And go check out the other monthly goals here; If you would like to follow me, there is a button on the left side of my page, but it is kind of well hidden....

Today's hexagon flower is purple And I also did another (double) page in my scrapbook while my stuff was all over the kitchen table. Not feeling the best today. I often feel a bit yuck on Sundays as I take my nuclear medicine on Sunday nights. Oh and I can also show off a page I made for my mum now that she has seen it; The beautiful lady in the centre is referenced from a birthday card, then I looked up art deco style lettering and patterns to create the rest of the colouring page. I hope the rest of the week is as productive.

Once a moth I get together with some of my friends for a scrapbook night. We don't always scrapbook. Sometimes one of us will bring colouring in to do, or stitching, or whatever we feel like. This is the mess I made tonight; We met at my house tonight, so I've left the mess out until tomorrow. I only managed to make 3 pages. My friend Nicole created 5 double pages! Here are the pages I made. I've started a new album which begins with the birth of my daughter. I'm not the quickest or most creative scrapbooker in the world, but I have about 10 albums that i have finished to look back through and enjoy the photos and memories.