Customers photo

One of the ladies who bought my Dragonfly Chase pattern  has shared a photo of her finished table runner on our Patchwork By Sea Facebook page.
It is with Jude's permission I share her photo of her lovely runner with you.

 Jude said..
I purchased your Paisley Jam design "Dragonfly Chase" pattern at the recent Adelaide quilting show. I have just completed it and love it. I made it for a friend and used mainly neutral colours as I wasn't sure what suited her home.... I changed the pattern a little. I made the large squares slightly smaller as I like the dragonflies to fly "free" of any encumbrance (in line with Japanese art principles). They therefore encroach on the small squares. I am really happy with result and hope you didn't mind me using a bit of licence with your pattern (I have acknowledged that it is your design). Thankyou for your beautiful pattern.


I feel very privileged that you have shared a photo of your runner Jude. I love the neural colours so much. What a lucky friend you have.

Hope you have a wonderful day where ever you are :)
Happy Quilting

Jennifer xx

And the winner is !

Thank you for those of you who took the time to answer my questions on my  blog post yesterday about what sort of things you want to see in a BOM's and patterns. Some of you liked the idea of stitcheries and others liked the idea of a zoo animal quilt I have been working on. What I have in mind for the zoo quilt is appliqué either by hand button hole stitch with embroidery threads or button hole stitch by machine. And other ideas have been suggested too!.

Now for the winner  and what they said is..


" I love stitcheries!!! Currently doing "Life is Beautiful". Drawn firstly by the stitcheries and secondly by the fabric. Would love to see an all owl BOM with stitcheries. Keep up the great work!"

 Kellie

So a big congratulations to you Kellie if you email me your details to pbysea@bigpond.com and we can arrange to get your pattern pack to you.



Hope you have a wonderful day where ever you are :)
Happy Quilting

Jennifer xx

Give away.

I have been thinking a lot of the direction I want to take my design work. Terry and I are thinking of collaborating in the design process. As it is he does have in put and he writes the patterns for me. It could also mean a name change from Paisley Jam Designs which is me to something that will be a name for us both to design under together.

I asked in my last post if you would like BOM's with zoo animals or a boys transport themed BOM. I have other ideas as well. These will be designed exclusively for our shop Patchwork By Sea.  We will also have a new website with on line shop early in the new year which we are very excited about.

So I am asking my blog reader's for your valued opinions. As to what sort of theme's if any you would like to see in a BOM. What is it that gets you to buy a BOM ?? is it the style, your favourite  colours, fabrics, or do you buying it to make for a  family member or friends because it would be something you like ? or just because you are addicted to getting a wonderful parcel in the post each month?

 So If you please leave me a comment with some suggestions on what you would like to buy in the way of patterns and BOM's and what you think of my design work, you will go into a draw for a pack of my patterns that I have designed so far ! :0). (photo's below)

 I will choose one lucky winner of the Pattern pack on Monday night and maybe a few single patterns if I find it hard to choose. Please put where you live in your comment so I can see where my blog is reaching too. :0)

Good luck and Thank you!



Hope you have a wonderful day where ever you are :)
Happy Quilting

Jennifer xx

 

 

You can follow Paisley Jam Designs on facebook Here

and you can also follow Patchwork By Sea on facebook Here

 

Here are some photos of the patterns in the giveaway if your comment is the lucky one selected.



Christmas Blessings

Peace on Earth







Bar Cake Quilt




Piggy in the Middle



Dragonfly Chase

Remember me ?

Sorry I have been tardy in posting. It is a busy time for us in November, a Melbourne Cup champagne luncheon mystery class and setting up for the Adelaide show the following day. Always fun to do our home show and catch up with friends and see all the amazing quilts in the Exhibition. Many of my friends and customers have won prizes. We had lots of fun unpacking  and putting everything back into the shop ! .... small fib :(

Terry and our daughter Alynda have challenged each other to enter a quilt each into next years exhibition. It will be interesting to see how they go. I know Terry started his entry this week. He hand dyed the fabrics and has had the pattern for two years now. This quilt will be stunning when finished, all foundation pieced spikes. As Terry would!!

Our eldest son Rob lives in Mt Isa Queensland and I am VERY excited that he will be coming home to spend the first Christmas with us in 6 years. His new fiancé  Joey is also going to fly down and spend Christmas with us. We are so looking forward to meeting her. They are getting married in Bali in April next year. So our little family will be a bit bigger this Christmas. Might have to put the tree up this year :)

I have  a few ideas running around in my head for new designs. I'm wondering if I can design a BOM for the shop. Wondering on a boy's transport style quilt or a Zoo animal one. Which would you like to see ?



Hope you have a wonderful day where ever you are :)
Happy Quilting

Jennifer xx

Adelaide Craft & Quilt Fair

 Yesterday was the first day of our Adelaide show. These are photo's taken of our stand just before the doors are opened. In the top photo  on the top right you can see my Peace on Earth sample. At the back of the stand on the left is the new sample of the  Bar Cake Quilt made in aboriginal fabrics. I will be changing the name of the Bar Cake Quilt pattern to Steps to the Past  soon. And to the right of it is Christmas Blessings, only a few kits left and then it will be available as pattern only.

 

 

 

 

In the next photo you can see Dragonfly Chase in the top left hand corner.



Jennifer & Terry

Don't forget to stop by stand C11 and say hello and see all our  goodies and see my designs for "real" if you have not already seen them. See you at the show !

 

 

Hope you have a wonderful day where ever you are :)

And if you near the bush fires please stay safe.

Happy Quilting

Jennifer xx

More excitment.

I am even more excited to share with you that another of my Christmas Blessings kits is heading overseas ! this time to England. A lovely lady visited the shop today and fell in love with the quilt, her words. She was so happy to be buying the kit to take home and make for Christmas.

Sorry it is such a short post, but I just had to share my excitement with you.

On a sad note it is so darned windy here tonight that my beautiful roses will be looking very sad in the morning. Terry was out earlier tonight picking some buds for me to enjoy inside. The house smells wonderful :0)

 Hope you have a wonderful day where ever you are :)
And if you near the bush fires please stay safe.

Happy Quilting

Jennifer xx

How exciting.

I am excited as today in the shop I sold a Christmas Blessings Kit.
 (picture below, just in case you are not sure which one I mean)

Anyway it is heading overseas ! this is why I am so excited. The lovely lady did not speak much English and is here on holidays. But her sister in law told me she speaks Swiss German so I am assuming the lady lives in either Switzerland or Germany. So to my knowledge, it is my first design to leave our shores :0)

As we left for work this morning I was looking at all the buds on my rose bushes. The bushes are covered in buds mostly due to all the rain we have had. This afternoon lots of the buds had opened in the warm weather we had here today. I could not resist taking a few photo's with my phone. They look so pretty I thought I would share them  with you.

They both have wonderful fragrances and I have them planted  alternately down the side of our drive way. The red one is named Camp David and the peach once is Just Joey. I have had both these roses in each of our homes, I love them that much. I would love to get a William Morris rose bush too !

Hope you have a wonderful day where ever you are :)

Happy Quilting

Jennifer xx

New design

I was working on a design with snowmen on. I could not decide on the thread colours to use.

Remember this one ??

 So moved on to the dragonfly table runner design. Now that it is finished, it is time to either finish the snowman or I  have another design that needs quilting, binding and a pattern written.

Ops! and this one needs finishing too!

 

And yet I have ideas running around in my head that I want to start !

Should I finish a design or move on to something new! decisions, decisions.  Since it is my day off today, I think I will do some house work and then go into my sewing room and see what happens :0). Sounds a good idea to me except for the house work part ! :0)

 

 

 

Hope you have a wonderful day where ever you are :)

Happy Quilting

Jennifer xx

Dragonfly Chase still flying out the door.

Hello friend's,
 I am so amazed at how popular Dragonfly Chase kits are. Sold more yesterday and the brown's and gold's colour way has also been popular. Terry has been at the Gawler Textile Art weekend yesterday and there again today. He was setting up the stand and pinning up the quilts. When two of the Gawler quilting ladies told him not to pin Dragonfly Chase up, as he was in the middle of doing. When he asked them why, they said because we will have to buy one ! I laughed so much when he was telling me last night. And yes they both bought a kit each. Wish I had been there. But I am in the shop cutting kits and serving our customers.
So I had a play and have come up with a 3rd colour choice of teals and pinky purples. Terry has sales for today when he arrives with the 3rd colour way. By showing ladies a photo on his mobile that I had sent him, saying look a new colour way ! hehe

Dragonfly Chase 3rd colour choice.

Since the dragonfly has been popular, I have been thinking of designing more with this little fellow on it. Maybe a bag ? I could use the dragonfly in two or three sizes.........mmmmmm got a few ideas already. Any suggestions on what you might like to see this dragonfly appear on ?? Would love to hear your thoughts, so leave me your comments below.

Hope you have a wonderful day where ever you are :)

Happy Quilting

Jennifer xx

From wet and cold Adelaide.

Dragonfly Chase pattern update.

I would like to thank those of you who have ordered patterns and kits from Patchwork By Sea today.
I am very humbled  by the interest this pattern is making.
I finished making kits this morning and then started to cut new kits in another colour way.

So I have had a busy day cutting kits, folding patterns and popping then in plastic bags. We also cut kits for my Bar Cake pattern using 11 beautiful textured and Japanese fabrics, using 4 squares of each fabric instead of a layer cake.  Alas I did not think to take a photo of them. I will try to remember to take one to share with you.

Thank you again for your encouragement and support. Don't forget that Paisley Jam Designs are exclusively available from Patchwork By Sea. Contact them on pbysea@bigpond.com  or ring them in Adelaide on 08 8377 3942

 

Hope you have a wonderful day where ever you are :)

Happy Quilting

Jennifer xx

New pattern release.

I am excited to release a new pattern 'Dragonfly Chase' table runner. I so love the colours and the fun way the dragonflies are chasing each. I did make it as a table runner, but I think it would look lovely as a long wall hanging too. I am pleased with how it looks, I hope you like it too.

Dragonfly Chase designed by Paisley Jam Designs.



Design copy right to Paisley Jam Designs

So I have been busy folding patterns and packing them into bags tonight. I have also cut some kits using the same fabrics in my sample.



The hard workers station :)

Patterns are $15.00 each plus postage and the kits are $45.95 plus postage. Both are  exclusively available from Patchwork By Sea. Contact them on pbysea@bigpond.com  or ring them in Adelaide on 08 8377 3942

Hope you have a wonderful day where ever you are :)

Happy Quilting

Jennifer xx

Beautiful weather yesterday



We finished work at 4pm yesterday. So Tez and I stopped off at the beach on the way home. So wonderful to sit on the grass with bare feet, sun on your back listening to the sea rushing onto the shore, while stitching the binding down on a now finished shop sample. Enjoyable after all the very windy and cold days we have just had.

Not a fav photo but it captured the moment. LOL

 After not being there very long I began to feel  more relaxed and have vowed to do it more often. After all the beach is just very short walk to the bottom of the  street the shop is on. The photo is taken at the part of the beach where we live, I love sitting at the top of the slopped grass before the beach and looking out over the ocean. There was even a seal floating near the surface sunning him or herself to warm up.

These are photo's of where we were sitting.

I loved the sound of the children playing at the  near by playground. Funny thing is it does not matter how old we get the squeaking sound of a child playing on a swing still sounds exactly the same as they go back and forth :0)



Hope you have a wonderful day in your part of the world. :0)

Happy Quilting

Jennifer xx

New pattern released today.

Hi friends I am happy to share with you that my new pattern 'Piggy in the Middle' pictured below  ( please excuse it being a top only :0) ).

Design copy right to Paisley Jam Designs.

To purchase this pattern for $15.00 plus postage you need to contact Patchwork By Sea on 08 8377 3942 or email them on pbysea@bigpond.com 
Paisley Jam Design patterns are exclusively available from Patchwork By Sea.

Also Available by Paisley Jam Designs are the following designs.

                                          Christmas Blessings. Pattern $19.95


Design copy right to Paisley Jam Designs.

                                                            Peace on Earth. Pattern $15.00

Design copy right to Paisley Jam Designs.

                                                    Bar Cake Quilt. Pattern $15.00

Design copy right to Paisley Jam Designs.


Thank you for taking the time to read about my patterns. Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think of my designs so far :)


Hope you have a wonderful day where ever you are :)

Happy Quilting

Jennifer xx

 

Another peek.

Hello again,
I have been working to help get  block of month samples finished for the shop. So have not been getting much of my own work done as I would have liked. I have got the dragonfly design machine stabilised and have finished stitching the binding down. It just needs some free motion quilting on the background and a label and then time to write the pattern. Thinking of a name for the pattern, I find this the hardest part at the moment. So I have popped another photo up to share with you. I just love the colours, what do you think ??


Design copy right to Paisley Jam Designs.

I have started to work on a new design with stitcheries of little snowmen. I just LOVE snowmen. It comes from my early childhood when I lived in England before my family immigrated to Australia. I have to own up to having a major fetish! I have drawn the little fellows and have a rough design idea running around in my head, some sweet fabrics put aside and now working out which threads to use to stitch them. One little fellow has been stitched and discarded as I am not happy with the variegated thread colour. I am no leaning towards using individual threads. Would you like to see what I have so far ??
Okay you twisted my arm.

 

Snowmen fabrics & threads.

Have not decided yet if these are the final choice. Will have to wait and see.
I will have the pattern for "Piggy in the middle" for release very soon, stay tuned.


Hope you have a wonderful day where ever you are :)

Happy Quilting

Jennifer xx



Another peek of this evenings project.

Made fried rice and chicken for dinner tonight, which was my break from sewing. Then back to the sewing room I went for more stitching. I have sooo enjoyed my day sewing today. I wonder if I could score another day off tomorrow ? Maybe not! hehe
So I have included a photo of my finished block.

 

I just love the colours and have joined all the block's and I am very happy with the way it is looking. I have decided on a small framing 1st border and will have a 2nd border too.  Will share more when I have more done.

Don't forget Paisley Jam Designs has a Facebook page you can visit it Here

Night for now.

Hope you have a wonderful day where ever you are :)

Happy Quilting

Jennifer xx

Today's sewing.

Well I have finished the hand stitching on my flower pot quilt. I will sandwich and pin it together tomorrow and start to quilt it. So I have started another project this afternoon. I started this one awhile ago and it had to go on the back burner for a bit. Just as well, as It has now turned from being a quilt to a table runner! ha ha
Would you like to see a peek ??

Any idea of what this could be ??
Will share more when I get a bit further.

Hope you have a wonderful day where ever you are :)

Happy Quilting

Jennifer xx

Home sewing.

I am enjoying a day off today. I had to choose between doing house work or sewing. It was a duh choice for me, so I am having fun sewing.
But I keep getting the feeling I am being watched !!
What do you think ??

Think she might want me to let her in, so she can get in my way :0)

Hope you have a wonderful day where ever you are :)

Happy Quilting

Jennifer xx

I snuck some stitching time.

I have been busy working on stitcheries for a bom for the shop. But I had a day off yesterday, so I snuck a bit of stitching for me time. I have hand appliqued the leaves but decided to do the petals by machine. I spent 2 valuable hours trying to get my machine to stitch button hole stitch without the bottom thread  showing on the top of my applique. Sooooo frustrating isn't it? When you want to sew and your machine has decided when you turned it on to give you grief !
I started with re-threading the machine, taking the bobbin out and putting it in again, changed the needle, changed the top thread, sat the tread upright and then put it in the vertical position again, then changed the bobbin thread, rang Terry for help with texted photo of said stitching, thought about swearing at it ....but refrained, still nothing! In desperation I even got out the destruction book for the machine to look up how to change the auto tension thingmie!! I even found out that my Pfaff will even embroider the alphabet!! Who knew? Not me that's for sure :0)
I managed to keep calm and not loose my cool, I was proud of my self! Then I picked up the tread off the spool thingy at the top of the machine and sat it on my table to the right of my machine and my machine stitched beautifully !! Well I'll be a monkeys uncle.................then I remembered I had this spool thingy I bought that I can add to the machine that has a little metal arm that draws the tread up from the top spool and back down through the machine. Now why did I not think of this sooner??? I wasted so much sewing time!.

Anyway once I started to sew I stitched down all my petals. Then decided to add hand stitched  vein details to the leaves and add details to the flowers. This is how it is looking.

 

What do you think ? I just love the added hand stitching. Hoping to get this one finished soon, so I can start on a new project.

Hope you have a wonderful day where ever you are :)

Happy Quilting

Jennifer xx

Inspiration !

 
I was cutting fabrics at the shop for a block of the month on Monday, from the beautiful Moda Mimi range. I just love these pretty fabrics in dusky pinks, teals, raspberry, creams and peaches. I was cutting one patterned print when I thought of a design. I  quickly found goodies to compliment my idea.

 They still need a background fabric and will also involve a stitchery or two using the divine Cosmo Seasons thread in the photo. What do you think ?? I have fallen in love with them and bursting to start the design process with them. BUT I am working on a project at the moment as you know and have another idea swirling around in my head involving my love of snowmen. My question is do I HAVE to finish each design before I start a new one ?? or can I work on more than one at a time ?? he he. I have often said I wish there was a another day in the week called "me day" as I work 6 days a week in the shop. Now I am thinking I need another two days in the week "me day" & "design day" !  I hope I am not being toooo greedy :0)
You may also be interested in following me on facebook  Here

Hope you have a wonderful day where ever you are :)

Happy Quilting

Jennifer xx

Class sample photo.

Here is the photo of the class sample quilt I was working on during the week. It is a class I am running in the shop on Saturday 28th September. The class is called 'Piggy in the Middle' and it is made using a layer cake. There are a few places are still available if you would like to join me. If interested please contact Patchwork By Sea on 08 83773942.

Design copy right to Paisley Jam Designs.

Once the class has been run I am thinking of releasing it as a pattern, but I think it needs a change of name. Any suggestions will be appreciated as I need to improve in deciding on names for my designs. Hope you like the quilt.

Hope you have a wonderful day where ever you are :)

Happy Quilting

Jennifer xx

Design update.

Sorry for taking so long to add an update from my last post. I have been working on another project

which took priority as it was a teaching sample of a class I am teaching at the shop next month.

So the boo boo with cutting the borders the wrong size  in the last post ended with me cutting more border fabric. This is the new picture on the wall in my sewing studio.

 Lesson learnt and I have now added borders to two quilts with out a problem now that I have remembered this golden rule !.

I have been doing hand work today and I am pleased with the results so far.

Stitching the rick rack into place.

Only one more stem & leaves to go before I can add the flowers and maybe some embroidery to add veins to the leaves and details to the flowers. Hope you have enjoyed a sneak peek of what I am working on. I will share a photo of my class sample quilt when I take a photo of it, hopefully tomorrow.

Hope you have a wonderful day where ever you are :)

Happy Quilting

Jennifer xx



I broke the golden rule !

Well I am very cross at my self this afternoon. I have broken the golden rule and have wasted fabric :(
What is the golden rule I have broken you ask ?. The measure twice and cut once rule !!
LOOK !

Do you think I can stretch my border to fit ?? I have cut it 139cm instead of 170.5cms No idea how I got it all so muddled. Off to cut another set ( yes, I cut both side borders at the same time!) . Wondering now if I can use the side borders as the top & bottom borders. I'll let you know how I get on.

Hope you have a wonderful day where ever you are :)

Happy Quilting

Jennifer xx

As promised.

Earlier today I promised to send an up date of how far I got with my new design. I have used Floriani Stitch and wash to make my applique designs. It has taken longer than my preferred method of using Visofix for raw edge applique. But I do want the design to stand out more from my quilt. So not much to show yet. I have more pieces done but have laid some out to share with you. What do you think ?? Planning on getting more done tomorrow.

Paisley Jam Design no 4

Mind you I did get distracted by this below, it is sea fog and it rolled in from the ocean over the jetty at the end of our road and up past the shop at around 1pm this afternoon! I have never seen this happen before. Can you see the tower at the end of the jetty ??

 

Hope you are having a wonderful Saturday were ever you are. Don't forget to 'follow' my blog so you can stay up to date with my posts.

Happy Quilting

Jennifer xx

About to start work on another design.

Hi folks, I am excited that today I am about to start work on another new design today. This idea has been running around in my head for months now, and now I am about to begin working on it.

 

 

 

These are the fabrics I am going to use.

 

So wish me luck for smooth day of sewing while serving in the shop. If you stop by I can show you a peek !. I will share a pic of where I get up to later today.

Hope you have a wonderful day where ever you are :)

Happy Quilting

Jennifer xx

BOM info ?

I am wanting to start designing a block of the month. What type of BOM's do you enjoy making ?? ie......... applique, stitcheries, pieced, japanese style, children's quilts..... ect. Do you have fabric colours that appeal to you more than others ?
I would love to hear your thoughts on BOM quilts so please leave me some comments about what makes you buy a BOM.

 Cheers
Jen

Yesterday's car trip.

Yesterday saw Terry drive us from Adelaide to Melbourne for Melbourne's up and coming Craft & Quilt Fair starting this Thursday. Don't forget to come and visit us and see my Piasley Jam Designs on Patchwork By Sea's  stand D7 just in side the main door way in to the show.
 During yesterday's car trip I decided to do some more knitting. I had already started the jumper front. It has a nice pattern repeated 3 times. I am so out of practice at the knit two together and slip one knit one pass the slip stitch over and counting all the stitches! Might re think the pattern up the middle of each sleeve with all the increasing on rows, counting the rows and stitches in the pattern!
I will share a photo with you if I can get a bit more done so you can see the pretty pattern. Amazing how the trip goes faster when my mind is occupied watching the knitting grow.

What type of wool do you like to use ? do you have a favourite brand ? what are your fav type of knitting needles ? steel, plastic, bamboo ?
Who do you like to knit for most ? hubby, children, babies or your self ??

Hope you have a wonderful day where ever you are :)

Happy Quilting

Jennifer xx

Claude Monet in London and Melbourne

Last year when I was in London, we had a whirl wind race through the London National Art Gallery as my uncle wanted to show us Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers painting. It had been a topic of conversation that he had taken his young grandson to see it, as they had been learning about the painting at school. As we were sprinting through the galleries, I spied Monet's Water garden as I thought it was called. I stopped and was in total awe and was drawn to the painting, Terry following me and my Uncle had to back track to find us. We could see 13 Monet paintings hanging in the gallery with Rembrandt paintings for company! This is the painting I could not believe I was standing in front of!

 

Claude Monet
 1840–1926

The Water-Lily Pond 1899

 So when I heard that the National Gallery of Victoria would have a Monet Exhibition on at the same time that we were to be in Melbourne for this weeks Craft & Quilt Fair, I could not resist to go and enjoy a leisurely look at his paintings. While some were not to my taste, I have fallen for all of his paintings of water lilies and learnt about his building of his water garden and  famous Japanese bridge. Pictured below is the painting I admired today.

The bridge over the waterlily pond 1900

I had no idea until today, that Monet had painted many of these paintings and many others he painted more than once, so he could capture the subject in the many different types of light. Also some were painted in different colours after he had a cataract operation and he found he could see his beloved blues and pinks again.
Also very exciting to see his paint pallet and glasses.
I also saw JMW Turner's paint pallet when we went to the Turner Exhibition in Adelaide earlier this year. Last year when on the William Morris Tour we saw the Pallet and paints of Danti Gabriel Rossetti at Kelmscott Manor. Looking at their paints and paint pallet you fan feel a real sense of these amazing and talented painters. 
A big thank you to my darling hubby for todays treat as a belated birthday treat.

Hope you have a wonderful day where ever you are :)

Happy Quilting

Jennifer xx