Merry Christmas

Wishing you all a safe and merry Christmas holiday.
I will be back posting before the New Year.
Thanks to everyone for their support over the past year (you know who you all are!)

Happy Quilting ..... Jane x

Journal Covers & New Flannel Quilt

This is another Journal Cover that I have designed and stitched ... I love the freedom of this type of work. No Rules. The techniques used in the journal covers can be utilised in your own domestic quilting - and remember I make these on my own domestic sewing machine, not the longarm quilting machine - so even if you have never done free motion quilting, with a little practise and help, you can do it too!

Next year I will be doing some workshops in various places around Tasmania so if you or your group are interested in a workshop, contact me for further information.

And a new flannel quilt for the couch ... Once again I have used the patten from "Happy Hour Quilts" - Atkinson Designs. It is a very versatile pattern. I have quilted a Funky Floral Flowers qauilt pattern on it .... it is warm and snuggly with a flannel back as well!

this is the cat after a very big day out in the yard being chased by Plovers who are nesting... there is no way in the world she would ever have a chance at catching a bird ... some cats just have no idea about that sort of thing. (which I must say I am glad about)

So happy quilting ... not long until Santa comes to visit.

Jane

Hand Dyed Fabric Journal Covers

I have been busy while everyone has been sleeping.... These are two fabric journal covers that I have made from my own hand dyed fabric. The green one is a simplified version, while the blue is a fully lined with pen holder version. They are both stitched on my domestic sewing machine - a fabulous Bernina!

This is the start of a Fabric Journal Cover .... needs something more yet... beads, more stitching, more colours.









This picture is of the back of the two journals above.









And I have been busy hand dyeing a rainbow of big 8's (that is 1/8's but they are bigger than normal) ... Don't they just look wonderful. Two of these babies is enough to make a fabric journal cover and they look great stitched and embellished.

This is two rainbow spectrums of 12 colours laid out flat .... I am very happy with the colours. The possibilities are endless when you look at something like this.

Happy Quilting for now ...

Jane

Another week flown by .....

Look at this lovely chocolate and cream quilt - love the colours...










This is my doll again ... she has a new face and some clothes - I am now ready to stitch everything down and start beading and finishing off her clothing. That can wait until the Christmas break though. I even machine embroidered her some shoes!

This is a quilt that I made at the last Tas Scquiters retreat I went on and I have now finished adding the borders ... I don't think it appeals to many people - too red? tell me what you think? I am hoping to quilt it sometime in January next year when things quieten down a bit.

I took the test - what Tarot card are you?

Just for a bit of fun on a Funky Friday .... fluctuating moods - doesn't sound like me - ROFLOL!

You are The High Priestess

Science, Wisdom, Knowledge, Education.

The High Priestess is the card of knowledge, instinctual, supernatural, secret knowledge. She holds scrolls of arcane information that she might, or might not reveal to you. The moon crown on her head as well as the crescent by her foot indicates her willingness to illuminate what you otherwise might not see, reveal the secrets you need to know. The High Priestess is also associated with the moon however and can also indicate change or fluxuation, particularily when it comes to your moods.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

These are some of the quilts I have been quilting this week - it is just the best - seeing other people's work, their colour choices - I see some very beautiful quilts. The embroidered bear quilt here is absolutely exquisite - the most beautiful embroidery work I have ever seen.

And this little (well quite tall) lady came to stay last night between 9pm and 1am - I have started to make a wire framed, fabric sculptured doll. She is 23 inches tall and poseable due to the wire inside. She has yet to finish dressing as she can't make up her mind what she wants to wear. Her face also needs to be coloured/painted and possibly a little more botox (stuffing) to round out those features. Not sure about the cap/hat - we might go for some hair under there and she definitely needs more frills. I am hoping to get to the sewing machine to free motion embroider her some lovely fitting clothes. And then there are a couple of other beautiful ladies that are calling out waiting to be dressed - Once they have been clothed I will reveal them.

Cheers for now....Jane

A lot of Quilting since my last post

It has been a busy weekend and early part of this week. I custom quilted this absolutely huge 20 panel candlewick quilt - that's a lot of meandering to make the background sit down and the candlewick pattern take centre stage - almost like faux trapunto. I think I need a better camera though you probably get the idea.

I also did this "Pirate" quilt and I will just show you the back pattern - looked absolutely fabulous on this quilt back with the sand coloured thread.

And one more .... this was a lovely quilt 50/45 or Fight - I think that is what it is called.

So on to the remainder of the week - which is my son's exam week and then school is finished for the year.

A few more quilts to do for the pre-christmas period - lots of people want their quilts back so they can do the binding ready to give the quilts for christmas presents - but a few birthday ones thrown in there as well. As for birthday's my son is 16 at the end of this month, so we don't start thinking about Christmas until after that. Then I am thinking of a few blissful days back out at the beach and I can't wait for that.

Happy quilting ....Jane

A linen Quilt

This is the first Linen Top I have quilted ... my customer wanted this quilted loosley. I told her I would use the embroidery pattern as the quilting motifs and this is the result. She was over the moon - the pictures really don't do this quilt justice - it looked so much better in person.


the looser weave of the linen can be a problem, so I needed to take care when squaring the top up when on the quilting machine.

You can click on the pictures to enlarge them. Please don't use them for any purpose.

The back looked pretty darn good too! I used the daisy motif in the open areas around the centre quilting so the design didn't look too full, extended out the flowers from the embroidered design and did a curving flower border, again with one of the flower motifs. The end result is a lovely linen quilt that isn't "formal" but has a nice flowing feel to it. My client was pretty happy and that makes me happy too! Thank you for letting me publish a picture here on my blog.

Happy quilting,

Jane

x

Hopscotch Quilt Finished

This is the bright boys quilt I made when I went to TasScquilters Retreat recently. I purchased some fat quarters from Cranberry Crafts on the Saturday and made the quilt up on Saturday/Sunday - went back and got some more to make a bright girls quilt too! The pattern, called "Hopscotch" is in Karla Alexander's book "Stack a New Deck".

The backing is from Widebacks and was beautiful to use and very effective with the coloured thread I used.











A close up...










And the whole shebang....I have only pinned the binding to the back at this stage and still have to hand stitch it down - a job for the evening I think.

Happy Quilting for now.

Jane

Free Motion Embroidery - WOW! And A Quilt Back

These are the things I made at Ken Smith's "Into the Woods! - interpreting bark, lichen and fungi in machine embroidery" http://www.bennett-smith.com/WorkshopsCourses.htm This is the link.

I thoroughly enjoyed the four days spent with like minded people. Robyn at Sewknit was our fabulous host for the workshop.



I especially liked making the bark ...well all of the bits really.The techniques are quite interesting and I can see how I can utilise them in applications for my art quilts and my soft sculptured dolls.





And it made me upgrade my three week old sewing machine to a Bernina! "The things we do" (that was my husband speaking, so read it with some rolling of the eyes!) LOL!



This is the sum total of my work after 4 days - need to make some more bits and mould the bark, add the bits onto it and then mount it on something so it can be hung up. I am quite happy with my effort really.




This is a box of real lichens that Petah bought into class - it was great to compare with what we were doing.









This is how my bark piece looked after about 6 hours work - would you believe - I hope I get faster with practise.










And on a quilty note - this is the back of a customer's quilt - a beautiful dusty rose pink cotton sateen - with an all over butterfly pattern which is very popular at the moment. It is hard for people to pick patterns as I have over 80 to choose from at the moment and always on the lookout for more. I have recently had a slew of custom quilts to do before Christmas - I wouldn't mind being on the receiving end of some of these quilts. I see some beautiful work every day and am really enjoying the challenge of quilting them.

Of course the quilting actually looks better in the flesh - my camera skills are very limited - point and shoot!



Cheers for now and happy quilting
Jane

The Long Weekend

Last weekend was a three day weekend and we once again left late Friday night for our favourite spot at The Bay of Fires on the East Coast of Tasmania. The weather was beautiful until the last day when we were packing up - the rain came down and the wind came up. These are pictures I took not long before we pulled out and the rain had stopped.

And this is the lazy cat finally back home on her sheepskin on the couch in the sun room!