It's Finished!

 Life Is Beautiful ... design by Helen Stubbings.  Created in Blue and White by Jane Monk!

I have finished ... it was only a  year ago that I started stitching this lovely quilt and I have finally finished quilting and binding it.  The picture is with the binding and hanging sleeve not yet stitched down. 

I have used this quilt to display my background filler patterns - 33 of them.

 Here is a close up

And more ....I love how the circles pop because i have only quilted around them ... they are not too big to worry about being unquilted.  It does look better in real life.

If you want to see more of my Zentangle to Fabric quilting go on over to my Zentangle blog here.

Happy Quilting and thanks for visiting....Jane

Some Eye Candy

I have been playing with depth, shadow and background quilting .... you will remember this from my last post ... it has progressed to a nice wall hanging - my Mum has her eye on it I know!

You will have to excuse my photography skills as I am not very proficient ... but you get the idea I'm sure.

On Saturday our Tasmanian Quilting Guild had it's AGM ... I showed this at the meeting and got a lot of great responses so thought I would show you on this blog too!

A close up of the background filling quilting ... see those berries and leaves .... they are one of my Zentangle patterns that I use in my drawing too.

The quilted leaves add further dimension to the picture.

The back ... a lot of people thought this was the front as it was the first part they saw ... it does look pretty nice too!

A bit of a close up of the back. 

I used batik for all of this little quilt (apart from the fabric for one leaf) so when I was quilting through the leaves on the front it was quite difficult to go through all those fine layers.  I didn't use any stabiliser for my leaves and I raw edge appliqued them with straight stitching as I knew I would be going over them further.

The holes you  can see from the needle punching through should close up once I wash this quilt ... which I will do because I like the holes to close up and the stitching to settle.   I also like that slightly scrunched look you get when there is a little shrinkage.  Although I have used NuWool 60/40% Wool/Poly blend and you don't usually get any more than 1-2%shrinkage with that if any.

So I hope you enjoy my little quilt and have a Happy Week quilting.   Cheers Jane

Do The Zentangle at Australian Machine Quilting Festival in Adelaide

This is just some of what I have been up to  ... I can't show you the whole thing because it is for my class at the Australian Machine Quilting Festival in Adelaide - only 15 days to go - I can't believe I will be there so soon.

If you are going to Adelaide between the 1 and 4 October make sure you head on over to Mawson Lakes and visit the show - it is for all quilters and will have a wondeful display of Machine Quilted Quilts - this part of the exhibition is by the Australian Machine Quilters Association.

I can tell you a bit about my class though.   It is called "Do the Zentangle" - I know I could have come up with a different name, but this is kinda cute - yes?

If you have always wanted to learn how to draw Zentangles, then I can show you how.  But I am a longarm machine quilter and I wanted to bring the two together... I have made fabric journal covers with Zentangles, fabric coasters and boxes with Zentangles, and I thought what do machine quilters do?   Machine quilters make patterns on fabric with thread ... so I played around with the patterns as background fillers, I also used some well known background fillers as Zentangles so it works both ways.    You will remember my green table runner a few posts back ... this was quilted with Zentangle patterns.    The portrait I am making here will be quilted with Zentangle patterns and I have also made some of  these above ... just to show you how it can be done with thread.

If you want to know more on how you can incorporate this style into your quilting ... come and do one of my classes ... there are two on offer at the AMQF ... one on Friday afternoon and the other on Saturday morning.   It will be fun!   You will learn something I'm sure!  You will go home with the knowledge that YOU CAN DRAW!  I love shouting that as much as I love exclamation markes! lol!

Now back to serious matters ... the obligatory kitty picture ... this is Jet this morning being a layabout catching the morning sun. A very handsome cat to be sure!

And a sneaky peek at my other little burning project ... don't you just love how the darker piece of fabric underneath the leaves gives depth and dimension ...  Anyway the sun is out and I have washing to hang out this morning then getting back to work in the Quilt room here.

Happy quilting for now .. Hope to see some of you in Adelaide ... Jane x

Pretty Girly Quilts

A little bit of pretty ... I don't have a daughter so I don't get to make pretty ... thankfully my customers bring me pretty quilts to quilt - this is just beautiful and I love the colours.  Made by Helen, quilted by Jane - thanks Helen for the lovely colour in this quilt it was a joy.

Just look at those colours - Kaffe and Brandon's fabrics I think.

And more pretty pretty pretty ... love the green and pinks together - they make a great combination in this quilt.

Mmmm ...

And a beautiful back on another quilt ... This fabric is georgeous (from Widebacks).

 Merlin on the weekend after a visit from two friends ... too much excitement in one day for a little cat!

And Jet waiting for Jacq to come back and play - he did have some fine jumping opportunities with his favourite toy.


Happy quilting to everyone for the week ... I am head down busy quilting again this week.   I am glad it is school holidays and I don't have to drive my son to classes ... at nearly 18 he is happy entertaining himself during the holidays - his last as he finishes year 12 this year.   We are doing the driving lesson thing which hasn't been too bad at all really. 

Oh and only 19 days until I am teaching at the Adelaide Machine Quilters Festival 1-4 October 2010 - very exciting ... they have a lot of classes on offer and have recently added a few more  - go on over and have a browse if you are going to be in Adelaide.

Hugs ... Jane

They are addictive!

Another pin cushion ... but with hexies ... still putting this one together and then to embellish it.  I have made this one a little taller than the last two, so I can put in a pair of small scissors.   This little numer can sit beside me on the lounge when I am making my hexagons, and all the little bits can sit inside. I am Happy!

And some simple but time consuming quilting on a beautiful Asian quilt.

Happy quilting for now ... Jane

The Giveaway Winner is......

HELEN!   Wow, another Tasmanian  - how about that.

Helen was number 16 on my little list and the lovely Random.Org thingy picked 16.

I am up early this morning so thought I would do my draw so as to cut the suspense (I know you all have other things to do and not many of us quilters are obsessive - lol!)

So Congratulations Helen ... this little pin cushion is heading your way - send me an email with your addy please.

We'll have to do it again when I get to 250 postings - not far away now!


A big big thankyou to everyone who participated and left a comment, we had some interesting guesses ... it has been lovely and I have visited some blogs I haven't been to before.  

Happy Quilting for the weekend ... Jane

The Big Giveaway Reveal ... Ta Da !

It is a Pincushion with a compartment in the bottom to put your bits in.

Oh it is sooo cute ... I am going to have to make myself one now too!  You know how sometimes you have that lightbulb go off in your head ... and I love pincushions so wanted to come up with something of my own design.  I am very happy with this.

So if you have left me a comment ... this is what will come your way if you win the GIVEAWAY ... I loved some of the comments btw.

The Big Pin Cushion Draw is tomorrow ....

Then I had to make another one because this is what started me on my pin cushion making mission ... I am in a pincushion swap and my lovely partner likes purple ... so the purple one is for Ruth - hope she likes it.

Inside ... and you can see they are a good size.  I wanted to have the pincushion lid come off ... but it was too impractical once I had pins in it ... so the bottom had to be the removable bit.

I am happy how it worked out and will now set about writing up the pattern.

See ... lots of room.

And just for something a little different ... some quilting I have been doing for a customer a couple of weeks ago ... but a lovely quilt.

So come back tomorrow when I will draw out the winner of the Pincushion.   You still have one day to make a comment.

Happy Quilting for now ... Jane x

I will be teaching at Australian Machine Quilting Festival - Adelaide 1-4 October 2010 Check it out!

Wideback Samples, customer quilting and a secret project

Look what came yesterday ... a whopping 51 new sample fabrics from Widebacks.   If you want to see the fabrics up close and personal to match to your quilt front... I have a Widebacks sample book and you can order them from me too!  Most times backings are here within a day or two.

A lovely drunkards path quilted with "froth and bubble" edge to edge pattern - very cute.

The back looks pretty good too.

A georgeous quilt.  My customer only wanted minimal quilting in the stitcheries, as most do.  So we came up with the following ideas for quilting.   She was pretty darn happy with it too!

I have stitched in the ditch around the applique and added some whispy cloud bits and also stitched minimally in the tree branches.  I would have liked to have quilted tiles on the roof ... but it is a small enough area not to require further stitching.

You can see the quilting on the back better.

Now what do you think I am doing here ... a cut off bit of post pack roll and it's removable lid????

Covered in some delish fabric I got quite awhile ago ... there is more to come as I am just playing with the design at the moment.  Over the next few days I hope to have it finished and ready to show you all.

Leave me a comment if you think you know what it is and you could be in the draw next week to win this!

And Spring is here ... a pinch and a punch for the first day of the month!  Raining and cold here in Northern Tasmania at the moment ... DH put the fire on this morning before he left for work at 4.30am, just to make sure I was warm - he is a darling!

Happy Quilting for now ... Jane x