Life is Beautiful ... and Zentangles in Tasmania

I finally finished appliquing the small circles on this quilt - Helen Stubbings - Life is Beautiful.  You might remember that I decided not to use the sashings and I am happy with the effect, how the circles frame the embroidered circles ... now for some fun with quilting this.

See how the coloured circles frame the embroidered circles - lovely.

Finished a quick little quilt for myself ... freehand quilting.

Big hearts and little hearts.

The back - I really shouldn't use white backs - although I love them.

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And if you haven't been over to my other blog site - janemonkstudio ... here is a little bit of what it is about.  My drawing, specifically my ink drawings.   I teach this method of drawing called Zentangles, to anyone even if you think you cannot draw - anyone can do this - really! - it is a wonderful way to practice patterns that you can use for your quilting backgrounds as well.    

So if you want a 2.5 hour art experience, come join me in a workshop where you will learn how to draw some simple string lines and fill them in with patterns.  We have all done doodles, now take it a step further and make your own mini works of art. No previous drawing experience required to participate.  This is an anything goes class with simple tools and techniques you can take away with you and expand into your own style.   You will be surprised at how good your Art will look. Get a group of six together and book in a workshop.

A change is as good as a holiday

Okay it is official ... I am no longer grey - lol!  Although I still do have little fat cheeks (an unfortunate side effect of cortizone).    I bit the bullet last week after being over 50% grey for about five years.  It is a big change ... but I used to have black hair once!  My DH likes it, makes him think he has a new wife - chuckle chuckle!

So, they say a change is as good as a holiday ... I should feel like I have been on holiday - right? Hmmm have to work on that one a bit more.

Here is a lovely quilt from one of my customers ... an all over feather pattern gave movement without detracting from the straight lines of the piecing.

Oh those beautiful backs .... scrumptious.

Another beautiful quilt, with a large leaf edge to edge pattern.

I don't think you should hesitate to have an allover pattern on an applique quilt ... if you don't want to spend a lot of money on custom quilting and the quilt is going to be used frequently, an all over pattern will often fit the bill without detracting from the quilting.

This quilt remained soft and drapeable (is that a word).  


Back to the quilting room for me today after a visit to the doctors took around 2.5hours out of my day.

Happy quilting for now ... Jane x

Baby Quilts and The Lure of Television

This is a little baby hexie quilt one of my customers made for her grandchild ... the daughter in law asked for black and white - isn't it wonderful.

Very cute indeed - but I am partial to hexagons!

Another little baby quilt

And ... another baby quilts .... must be the time of year for baby quilts.   I do like the colours in this one - very soft with that dash of red.

And yesterday was spent at my Mum's place - with my brother and my husband starting to put up a covered back pergola - this will be a great space when it is finished with laser light roof.   It was bitterly cold yesterday and they worked pretty hard to keep warm.

And Merlin has discovered Television - he sits and watches very closely at times - especially if there are birds on.

But these Meerkats were almost too much for him ... we couldn't keep him away from the TV - he was fascinated.


Happy quilting for now ... hope you all have a lovely week.    Jane x

Island Quilts Results Up

Hi Everyone -  I just checked the Tasmanian Guild website and they have the winners up for Island Quilts 2010 in Hobart ... My customers did pretty well ... all of these quilts were custom quilted by me and the last two were edge to edge quilted.   Gives me warm fuzzies -  congratulations to you all and thanks for using me as your machine quilter.

A 2nd Place win for Viewers Choice - by Marie Goodall with "Bunches of Irises for Dave"

The Presidents Award - by Wendy Fittler with "Rose Window"

The Exhibition Convenors Award - by Rosslyn Gale with "Flourishes"

A 2nd Place for Two Person Traditional - by Janine Richardson with "Lightning Strike"

A Highly Commended for Two Personal Non-Traditional - by Marie Fox with "Ginko Dreaming"

A Highly Commended for Two Person Non-Traditional - by Marie Fox with "Black and White and Green Allover"

Joan's lovely red, black and white dresden plates with an all over pattern quilted in red thread.

Ed Note: You can find this pattern in the Australian Quilters Companion magazine issue QC#36 "Red and Black and White All Over"

The pattern really looked great without taking over the piecing.

The beautiful back.   Now Joan is partial to using sheeting for her backs - they wash easily and you use them on beds!   A note here though ... if you are going to use sheeting - try to make sure it is 100% cotton.   When the fabric is a blend, it can make quilting difficult and you might end up with pokies and bigger needle holes - these generally disappear with a good wash though.    I don't mind quilting them - but do make sure the customer knows that it may not be as good as when using 100% cotton quilting fabric.    Minki and flannel are also good backings.

Another of Joan's quilts ... this one was an op shop find - I wonder what the story was and why this quilt top ended up in the op shop for sale for $1.00 - yep that's right $1.00. Amazing.  But it has now been quilted and Joan loves it like her own.

We put a big overall pattern on this one.  You can't see it on the front very well - but the back looks great too.

And now for a little kitty love ... Merlin has a fettish for laundry baskets ... he will sit in it for ages and ages just watching the world go by or until Jet gets in with him.


Happy Quilting for now .... Jane x

Found more pics

        
These are all pics of Janine's beautiful quilt - close ups and the back - the pattern of quilting on the back with the white looked wonderful.

This one is Ros's  - a close up

And the back - love it.

Maries - she did add a lot of bling dimontes to this quilt prior to putting it in the show.

A face a mother could love ... this is my lovely lad while we were away earlier this year on the motorbikes - it is a rare thing to get a nice photograph of him  - well any photograph of him really as he is camera shy.

Happy quilting for now ... jane x

Island Quilt Win and some custom quilts

Second Place - Two Person Traditional Quilts - by Janine Richardson and quilted by Jane Monk ..... Janine's piecing of this mariners compass block quilt was fantastic ... I had a lot of fun quilting it ... Janine and I went through a very detailed discussion of what she wanted on this quilt and the thread colour etc.

I thought I would show you a bit of what I do when I start to do a custom quilt once on the machine.

This is the quilt loaded up on the machine - all squared up and the top and part sides stitched down - then I put the edge straps on to keep the quilt reasonably stable.

I also draw on my initial pattern ideas with chalk - this comes off easily with no residue.

This lovely little quilt by Marie was also at the show.   I quilted this for her a little while ago. 

This lovely little quilt was quilted with freehand feathers all over - missing the stitchery panels.

A closer view

This quilt was also done with feathers - and curved crosshatching.
A lovely flannel quilt - front and back.

A closer look at the inner border

Oh my and this lovely quilt - applique and pieced by Ros.  Again Ros and I discussed in detail what she wanted on the quilt and what look she wanted for it.

It really is a stunning quilt - and her applique work is very very nice.

And finally - the other morning it was so very cold here at my place but the view out over the river was stunning - the sun rising and bouncing off the fog in the valley - this is the view from my quilting room looking into our back paddock.








The Hobart Quilt Show - Island Quilts - was lovely again this year.   Unfortunately I missed the announcement of the prizes as they had changed the time this year to an earlier time and there were a lot of roadworks coming into Hobart.   Not to worry .... I'm sure I will find out who won soon enough.  The quilts were beautiful - some real stunners in there this year.   And I have come away inspired to make a few quilts for next years show.   Congratulations to the organisers and participants alike.

Happy quilting for now.... Jane x

Postcards, Custom Quilting and Squishies

I have been making a few postcards ... and using  a bit of glittery stuff.

 "Solar Flare"

This was made from tiny left over bits from a quilt I made my son in 2003/2004 ... yes I am guilty of keeping small scraps - but they are neat in a scrap stash box.

I have also added some yarn and decorative stitches with zig zag on this one.

Another made from small scraps - co-ordinated though!

Keys anyone?

I like this piece of fabric ... I have a couple of similar bits - obviously from the same "range" and they make perfect postcards.








I also forgot to share my Birthday Squishies - these are from a group LPQ that some of us girls swap birthday squishies ... my choice was black and whites.

And these are my birthday squishies from the TasScquilters birthday swappers ... I asked for cream - and have a lovely selection of them now.  Thanks girls!

These are not birthday squishies but are Reproduction Fat Quarters that I purchased from The Quilt Patch ... They have a nice little range of repros now ... I think I have one of each now!  My repro stash is growing slowly but surely!

I did a little bit more on my Repro Wedding Ring Quilt over the weekend - I am loving the curvemaster foot on my machine - no pinning for those curves and they look good.

And now for some customer quilts that i have been doing ... This one has an all over pattern.

Don't you love how the backs look ... and that is backing fabric from Widebacks - beautiful beautiful. And I'm not affiliated - just a very happy customer (I also have the Widebacks sample book so my customers can see what they are getting before they order - a great way to ensure the fabric is right for the job).

More Wideback backs ... mmmm nice

This one is a custom quilt - feathers and swirls

This is the center of the back - I love the way the quilt block pattern on the front makes a lovely trellis look on the back when I have quilted it.

Yep - more Widebacks backing fabric.  The best thing about this is you can use the left overs in another project as the quality is the same as your normal quilt shop quality fabric. 









And that is a rather long photo essay of what I have been up to in the past week or so.    I spent some time on the weekend doing nothing other than spending time with my husband.  We went to the Evandale Markets just out of Launceston for a bit of a poke around - it was incredibly cold though.   We also went to the Cat show that was being held at Evandale on Sunday - it was really nice to see all the kitties - some of those British Blues are related to our two boys.  And the Cornish Rex ... oh my they are just gorgeously ugly cats - one day I might have one of them - they are so dainty.   We also went for a drive up to the Trevallyn Dam to have a bit of a look to see how much water was going over - only a little at the moment.   It was a lovely day to go for a drive.   Came home to a warm toasty fire.

Happy Quilting for now .... Jane x