Wanna see some close ups - lol!

 I thought you all might like to see a few close ups ...

I love the vibrancy in this quilt - fabulous colours... and the pattern is "Sassy"

 Another customer quilt ... beautiful butterflies with the quilting pattern "Wandering Daisies"

 The back ..

 Lyn's beautiful quilt ... the photo doesn't do it any justice.  I have used a modified quilting pattern on this one ... I have added my own style of Dragonflys.

 The back

 This is a custom quilt .... a heavily embroidered centrepiece that I have quilted with a small stipple to hold it down and capture some fullness.

Lots of borders too!  What a fun quilt.

 Close up of a few borders

 The outside border ... swags with a stylised feather

 More of the borders.   I like the leafy style of feathers here ... they really suit the quilt I think .

 

And finally ... did you know that you can make Zentangles into quilts ... these are some of my little baby Zentangle drawings ... some will become little quilty things ... soon.  You can see more Zentangle goodness over on my other blog Jane Monk Studio.

Happy Quilting for now ... Jane x

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

Dear Jane Siggie Swap Quilt

I had a pretty horrible week last week and couldn't quilt anything - so I decided to sew up my borders for my Dear Jane Siggie 2007 Swap Quilt -

I have chosen quilters muslin and a lovely blue fabric to make the triangles and am making the corner kites as in the Dear Jane Quilt. Wow - these are tricky little suckers. I have machine pieced one and appliqued the other.

I have now got two more to make....freezer paper is my friend!LOL! I will post more pictures when I have finished the top.

Huge Machine Wholecloth

This is the quilt I made for my Mum and Dad. Mum wanted a quilted cover to put over the bed so it looked nice - I had the fabric - so got to it. The pattern is the same as my other white wholecloth quilt (Luscious by Hermione Agee). I have put double lines along where the quilt hangs off the bed and then I have put vertical lines spaced about 1cm apart on all the panels that hang off the bed. I put a line of vine leaves in the end panel. I really enjoyed making this quilt and it took me a huge three day effort (including binding). I washed the quilt after I had quilted it - and was amazed at how much it shrunk - never mind - Mum now has a lovely quilt that covers the whole bed to the floor. (I really loved making this quilt)

Not too sure about the end corners though - I still might cut them off .

It is also reversible - here is the back (blue) before I bound it.
















And here is the front - you can't really see the pattern very well.

Blue & White Nine Patch Quilted

Well, the quilting has finally been done. I decided to put a fine blue border and then a wide white border (using the Fibonacci numbers to determine the proportions). I am really happy with this quilt - It took me about 5 hours to machine quilt with my own freehand pattern. I cannot take all the credit with the placement of the blue and white 9 patches though - James (my DH) spent a lot of time with me on the lounge room floor putting them in different configurations

It looks so much better in the "cotton" (read "in real life").







This is one of the corners - I only have about 15 inches left to slip stitch onto the back - in these photos the back is only pinned.















This next pic is a close up - obviously!















And this next one is a view of the back - I have used Bottom Line Superior thread on both the top and bottom of this quilt - I just love the look it gives my quilting.

Now - what to make next!! I have some 7inch 30 fabric squares that I might want to make into Ohio Stars and some kids prints that I would like to make a simple block so I can showcase one of my "kids" pantograph all over patterns.

So many ideas.....so little time!

And with my two quilts going to the Inaugral Victorian Machine Quilting Exhibition at the end of July - I don't have much else to show people.

I will post pictures of my red and white strippy quilt that I have done a pantograph on, and my all white wholecloth with large scalloped edge, after the show!!

And now - I should go back to bed because it is 3am and off to work tomorrow!

Penny & Jane

This is a picture of me and Penny and my first practice piece - Did I tell you all I love my Millennium? James never takes photos - but must have thought I needed one to remember the first day of quilting!

Setting Up "Penny"

Okay - this is the frame put together - started at 2.10pm Sunday afternoon.














Mounting "Penny" onto the table!














Finally finished - powered up at 4.45pm. James thinks he has another girl to dance with now - we'll make a quilter out of him yet!

The whole process of setting up went very smoothly - now I just have to learn how to load a quilt and off I will be going like a shot - can't wait.

She's Arrived!

My APQS Millennium arrives home - boxes a little worse for wear!! but then again they have come from America to Melbourne, Melbourne to Launceston - the last part of the trip probably being the longest and the worst!!

Item Shipped!

Well, I haven't posted for a few days now - been waiting for my machine....it shipped on Friday...so I am expecting it to be sailing across the Tasman early next week and should be here sometime soon. I am at the OMG stage where I cannot wait to get it but then I think - what am I doing!

I have been reading books and watching DVD's on machine quilting - Karen McTavish, Lee Cleeland (her feathers book is fantastic and I have been practicing these for a few months now - on paper, Lee's book The Quilting Makes The Quilt, which I received last week, is great!). Also Carol Thelen's books on long arming; Tempting Templates - Swags by Tracey Browning (thanks Tracey - this is very interesting as I hadn't given much thought to Swags - but they are nice!) also Floribunda by Nichole Webb and many more books (did I say I loved books!).

What these books have taught me is that "you can do anything you like" and to practice, have patience and utilise perseverance! I have also been doing a lot of visual learning from looking at different ways quilts are quilted - both in magazines and online - infinite options!!

There are just so many different things a person can do.....and so little time.

Anyway - hopefully my next post will be - It's Arrived!!!!

Cheers for now
Jane
x

Purrfectly Quilted - Birthday

Purrfectly Quilted was born officially on the 11 April 2007. This is the date my business was registered. I am amazed at the speed things have happened - from decision to do something - to getting organised and setting up this enterprise. I have been busy sewing quilts and making arrangements ... I keep posted on the building and machine delivery etc.

Cheers
Jane
x

My Pics

This is me... I thought I would post a picture of me that my son took last Friday.

and ....this is a photo of my soon to be quilting space = you can see it is currently a mess with stuff everywhere - and normally not looking like this. My Dear James starts enclosing the space this week as we have now purchased all the required windows/sliding doors.

Starting My Business

Well, today was a big day for me. I registered my business name Purrfectly Quilted. I lodged my permit application with my local council. My husband and I measured up my soon to be quilt room as I need to get vinyl to lay down 3m x 11m - quite a big area, but I'm sure it will seem small soon enough when I have my APQS Millennium in there.

I am one step closer .... I should be all set up by the end of April ... and that is a fantastic feeling. Things are now on a roll and there is so much to do before my Milli gets here.

This is my work room now....



So...more room would be good.

Cheers for now
Jane

*The Big Decision*

I have finally bitten the bullet...I have ordered my long arm machine - an APQS Millennium with a 12 foot table. I am sooooo excited and can't wait to get it. I should be all set up and ready to start in about three weeks - check out the web site .... http://www.apqs.com

So much to do and so little time before delivery date .... Anyways, now I am on the road, these designs in my head will soon be reality.

Cheers
jane

The Journey Begins

I have just started this blog so i can talk about my journey of becoming a long arm quilter - I am currently researching quilting machines to purchase one. I want to be able to create the things I cannot with my domestic machine. Purrfectly Quilted is my business name and I hope to be purchasing a machine in the next month .....so watch out quilting world.