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

Early One Saturday Morning

Well ... early yesterday morning at 4am I arose to send off my husband for a day of trout fishing (incidentally - he didn't catch one fish!)   So not wanting to go back to bed I decided to embark on a little project that I have wanted to do for a long time.

I made a needle keep.  Now this embroidery is my first time at this style ... I have done simple back stitcheries but nothing like this before - so be gentle with me - lol.

I used all DMC threads and a bit of silk ribbon that I had.  Those bullion flowers needed to be bigger and the leaves as well - but I am happy with my first attempts.

The whole picture!

The inside - I made it a bit different to the pattern as  I used 100% cotton batting for my needles rather than felt stitched onto the lining.

I also wound on a few skeins of DMC threads that I had sitting in a bag ....

Doesn't this look much better than a bag full of threads.   All neat and tidy.

And a little box for the varigated ones.

To keep it catty ... Jet lazing in the sunshine

Shadow waiting to go outside to play...

Merlin quite happy just being Merlin really.

And to add some quiltyness ... this beautiful big quilt is destined to be a raffle quilt to raise funds for a home that caters to Cancer patients in Hobart ... when I have more details I will post them here ... the raffle is expected to be drawn in April 2011.

These photos really don't do this quilt justice - it is beautiful and the colours are luscious.

Okay ...  a reminder that in 4.5 weeks I am teaching at the Australian Machine Quilting Festival in Adelaide 1-4October .... they have added another class on Friday - so if you wanted to do my class but it clashed with something you were doing on Saturday - you can now do a Friday class - yay!

And then it is only another week and I am off to Massachusetts USA to do a class at the home of Zentangle with Rick and Maria - I can't wait for that either.

Happy quilting for now ... Hugs Jane x

Fantastic News - AMQF October 2010

Fantastic News

I will be teaching at the AMQF (Australian Machine Quilting Festival) in Adelaide 1-4 October 2010. 

Do the Zentangle ® and create beautiful background fillers for your quilts - Basic starter class

You may have noticed that Zentangles are taking the world by storm. Zentangle® is an easy to learn method of creating beautiful images from repetitive patterns. It is a fascinating new art form that is fun and relaxing. It increases focus and creativity as well as improving your dexterity and pen control. Zentangle provides artistic satisfaction and an increased sense of personal well being, even if you thought you couldn’t draw ... you really can, one stroke at a time! I have taken Zentangles one step into my world of quilting where I use this method of drawing to discover new designs for background fillers. Inspiration is everywhere we look, even in the fabric we are quilting. So come along to this hands-on class where I will teach you how to draw simple, beautiful Zentangles and then how to adapt these patterns into background fillers for your quilting.

And for those of you who were wondering, I have the founders of Zentangle,  Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas’s blessings to go ahead with this – so a big thank you to them and their trust in my ability.   I will be flying off to the USA the following weekend to do a Certification Class with Rick and Maria in Massachusetts... so I will be one of the first people in Australia to be a CZT (Certified Zentangle Teacher).  

Now my internet connection has been slowed do snail pace ... uploading pics is painfully slow.   I will post a few photos here by Tuesday (when my provider resets my connection speed) ... so come back and have a look – I’d love to hear any comments.  In the meantime – head on over to the AMQF and check out their classes – they are for both longarmers and domestic quilters ... it looks all set to be a great festival and I am sure happy I am going!

Happy Zentangling for now ... Jane