Quilts Quilts Quilts

 This is a customers quilt ... lots of Japanese kimono fabrics ... with the beautiful "Ellie's Dragonflies" E2E pattern - I love how they flit all over the quilt.

 This is one of my own quilts - the batik strips of one colour are very washed out - it is a really vibrant quilt.  Easy to put together

 I quilted it with "Gothic Vine" E2E pattern with a lovely verigated thread.

 The backing fabric is also Batik - gorgeous fabric that I purchased from Brenda at Widebacks (I have Widebacks sample book and can order any of Brenda's delicious fabrics for you).

 This is Nancy's quilt - one of my customers.  Nancy hand pieces her blocks then gets me to choose the sashings, borders and put it all together.   Nancy thought her blocks were very very bright ... but was so pleased with the final quilt - it has come up beautifully and I must admit there was a bit of mathematical thinking to get them into order.

Look at these beautiful fabrics.   I believe Nancy purchased them at a recent quilt show and then more of the fabric from Fresh Fabric in Deloraine  Well worth a visit, especially if you are headed off to the Tasmanian Craft Fair on the first weekend of November.   I have put in a few links for you to check out.


The other information I would like to tell you is this:   The next Island Quilt Show is on Friday 27 to Sunday 29 April 2012.    If you are interested in my quilting a Custom Quilt for you to enter this show before March 2012 - you NEED TO BOOK NOW.   I will only be quilting Edge to Edge / Allover quilting for 2012 unless you have booked it in this year ... as I need to have a break from Custom Quilting and be able to get the E2E Allover quilting out in a couple of weeks and not be held up by the custom work.   Customers I have quilted for in the past four years have had very nice wins in the Tasmanian Island Quilts Show ... and two of them have been chosen to go to AQC as the pick of the State in 2010 and 2011.  

Happy Quilting for now ... Jane x

Hello Again

 Hi ... did you think I had dropped off the face of the earth?   I have had to have a little break but here I am again.

I have a few pictures of some quilts I have just finished.  I have a customer who hand pieces her blocks, then she gets me to put the blocks together with sashings and borders and quilt them ... this is her house blocks ... so cute.

And this same customer gave me two  Maisy panels and asked me to make a quilt for her grandson ... this is the completed quilt.   She had a strip of Maisy fabric which I used at the top of the quilt to make it a bit longer.

I was also recently in Adelaide for a workshop with Internationally acclaimed Long Arm Quilting teacher, Sharon Schamber.   Her work is truely stunning and if you have a spare $20 or $40 Thousand she may quilt for you!

While I was in class, I did what I usually do  - draw -  it helps me to retain what is being said and I find I can usually recall the class better at a later date.
Anyway ... I thought I would share it with you because it is so much like my super custom quilting (that no-one else can afford either as it take so much longer and would cost at least three times the usual for a custom quilt).  But ... if you did want this type of quilting ... intensive and beautiful ... I would certainly give you a price!

Hope everyone has a great weekend ...  cheers Jane x

June Already - what about some quilting workshops

My oh my, the year is powering on ... June already, well almost half way through June.

I have been a little busy creating and quilting.

See this little beauty here ... you can learn how to do this in my Zentangle for Quilters class.  I currently have one booked in Melbourne at Michelle's Sewing Basket in September - I don't often get over to Melbourne, so book in soon if you want to do this class as there are limited places.

Michelle's Sewing Basket
2/54 Wantirna Road, Ringwood Vic - contact 03 9870 0011 for bookings.  http://www.michellessewingbasket.com.au/webcontent1.htm

And then there is quilting on the longarm ... this quilt is so cute .. I loved the colours.

The back ... I love this pattern too!

I hope to put some more quilting up here soon ...  in the meantime you can check out my other blog http://janemonkstudio.blogspot.com/ - lots going on over there too!

Happy Quilting for now ... Jane x

Velvet, RB&W and a Candlewick Quilt - not all together

 This quilt was made by Judy - she doesn't quilt - it is an absolutely fantastic effort.  I like it as it reminds me of tartan for some reason.

 She picked an edge to edge pattern called "Popcorn" which looks like clouds and a dark blue thread.

 The back was stunning - Judy had chosen a dark blue velvet.  I was hesitant to quilt it and said I would try.   After the first little bit I could see it was going to look great.  It loved the stitching.   It was pretty yucky to put on the quilt machine and I had a few headaches....but it was worth it.

 A little Red Black and White quilt from Sally ... who doesn't love RB&W quilts?

 I used a red thread on both the front and back ... look at that back ....yummy.

 And a Candlewick quilt which has now winged it's way back to Queensland.    I had carte blanche to quilt this, as long as I used my feathers.   I chose to do each block with the same four feathers, fitting into the candlewick pattern.  I have also stitched around the candlewick to give definition and make it pop.   The lace was also quilted down.

 One very happy owner = one happy quilter!

 Some obligatory cat photos - Jet snoozing on my Thousand Pyramid Quilt that I call the "Red Herring".  I quilted it with an edge to edge pattern of fish with a varigated thread and changed the colour out for three of the fish to make them red - hence "Red Herring".

I know, I know - a bit mad!  Jet likes it though.

And Merlin found another spot to sleep - a Queen sized bed was not big enough for two of them!

This week I have on the quilting machine a lovely stitchery quilt ... I am able to give my undivided attention to ...loving it!

Happy quilting for now .... Jane x

Some Quilting & Mothers Day

 I have been quilting .... this is a customer quilt that I cannot show the whole quilt.   I thought you might like to see the border pattern that I used ... very effective.

 And a little bit of the centre blocks

 Isn't it pretty!

I had to change thread colour a heap of times with this quilt ... sometimes it just works out better that way!

 This quilt was so big that it almost didn't fit on my machine  - well not quite - but it was pretty long.   Isn't it absolutely devine ... love those Reproduction fabrics and this lady does beautifully precise work.

I have stitched in the ditch of all the blocks and around the border.  I have basted the border as my customer wants to hand quilt the border panel.  This will look quite good I think as everything else is only stitched in the ditch - but what a huge job that was!

 I spent Mother's Day binding this quilt for a neighbour who has been ill.   She made the quilt last year but hasn't been able to get the binding done ... I thought it was the least I could do to help her along and let her enjoy her beautiful quilt.  Do you do things like that sometimes?  It gives me a lot of joy to be able to help when it is least exected!

And ... it snowed on Mother's Day.    Beautiful snow, it didn't settle for very long though.

I spent the weekend up in the Central Highlands of Tasmania where the temperatures were between below zero to about 5 degrees Celcius over the weekend.   Temperature guage watching is a fabulous sport - you should try it some time - lol!  My medications were increased and some changed last week after a visit to the specialist ... so a weekend of being lazy was definately called for - I couldn't have done anything more and my Dear Husband James made sure the place was kept warm and comfortable!

 This was the last week of the Trout season ... he took his fly rod for a little walk and came back with dinner.

And this was yesterday ... cutting kindling - for something to do.   I think he likes his shed!


Okay ... this week I am quilting another Candlewick Quilt for a customer up in Queensland ... it is beautiful, on a  very soft creamy background.  The order is for my feathers ... so I am going to have a wonderful week working on this.   I hope you all have a lovely quilty week too!  Jane x

Island Quilts Tasmania 2011 - Two Firsts!

I know this is not a great photo ... but I didn't get to the Island Quilts 2011 Exhibition this year as I was teaching over in Melbourne at Michelle's Sewing Basket.   

I came home to a wonderful email from Fran Williams advising that we had won with her beautiful quilt "Everything but the kitchen sink"



So details are:

First - Traditional Quilts - Two Person
"Everything but the Kitchen Sink" made by Fran Williams - Quilted by Jane Monk

Another win also was

First - Non-Traditional Quilts - Two Person
"Japanese Heads"  made by Corrie Szopko - Quilted by Jane Monk

I don't have a photo of Corrie's lovely quilt.      I am waiting for the information to be posted on the Tasmanian Quilt Guild web site ... soon hopefully.

There is something special about being entrusted to quilt someones beautiful work, and even better when our combined work is acknowledged by such a win at our State level.  Thankyou to everyone who lets me quilt for them.

Congratulations to everyone who entered a quilt ... not every quilt can win, but they are all special and hold meaning to those who make them. 
Happy Quilting for now ... Jane x

Happy Easter Holiday

This is a beautiful little quilt that I quilted for Sally at The Quilt Patch (St John Street - Launceston).  The girls at The Quilt Patch have the patterns for sale and if I had a girl I would have had to make it .. I was very tempted!   I have no affiliations and there is no brown paper bags here - lol - it is just that I think it is beautiful and I enjoyed quilting it for Sally.  I don't often get to see the quilts I have quilted finished and bound.

 Look at that centre ... how could you not love it!

 It is by Leanne Beasly "Down in the Garden" ... very very nice!

 Here is another little quilt I have recently done - edge to edge quilting with hearts and four leaf clovers as requested - very cute.

And I had to show you this ... Merlin (the cream coloured cat) and Shadow (my black moggie girl) together alseep on my lap.  Shadow absolutely hates the boys and hisses and spits when they come near her usually, but was not about to give up her place on my lap - she totally ignored Merlin when he came and pushed in ... amazing.  They have been as close as they can get to me for weeks now since we got home ... I don't think they like us leaving them behind.

Okay ... I hope you all have a lovely Easter holiday break ... get lots of quilting done (or not)!  I will be off line until I return from Melbourne where I am doing a number of workshops at Michelle's Sewing Basket - looking forward to that.   I hope everyone enjoys the Tasmanian Quilt Show - I am sad that I will be missing out as it is when I am booked in Melbourne :(
Happy Quilting for now ... see you all soon!

Functional Custom for Stitchery & Applique Quilts

 Most of my customers don't want heavy custom quilting on quilts they have made as gifts for others.  They want the quilts to be soft, drapable and huggable.   Some of these quilts are for children, so I can understand that they don't want the quilt to be heavily quilted like a "show stopper" would be.

Here are two quilts I have recently quilted ... they are functional and pretty without having too much quilting on them.

Next time you make a quilt ... think about how you want to use the quilt and what type of quilting would suit your purposes. 

I hope you enjoy these beautiful quilts ... I know I loved quilting them.

Happy quilting for now ... Jane x

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