Happy Easter Holiday

 I have been Tangling (and quilting for my customers - so have been pretty busy) ... here is a sneak peek at something I am working on at the moment for a friend.  You can see here I have used my patterns Tadpegs, Swirly Blossom, Fern and Baby Fern as well as Zentangle patterns Fescu, Jetties, Finery, Printemps as well as Zinger, and I am sure by the time I finish, I will have used a whole heap more.

I am also working on a large project which I will be able to reveal soooon I hope.  I am not very good at keeping exciting stuff to myself.



On Saturday morning I did a short Adult Education Workshop for Beginners Zentangle and it was a great class - everyone enjoyed themselves and we had a fantastic venue with great light.

This is my baby - Jet - he loves to help me tangle and just has to see what I am up to. I'm sure he would hold the pen if he could!

I would like to wish everyone a great Easter holiday break and hope you have time to Tangle.   I will be back on line when I return from Melbourne where I am doing a number of classes as Michelle's Sewing Basket - I am also the guest speaker for the Australian Quilting Guild of Victoria - very excited about that!

Happy Tangling for now ... see you all soon ... Hugs Jane x

A 2 Day Weekend Zentangle Workshop

 A new group of tanglers is born!

On the weekend I was in Hobart (Tasmania) teaching my 2 Day Zentangle Workshop ... what a great weekend.

This is a Zentangle Pre-Strung Ensemble ..the string lines are already done and each person has taken one tile and independently tangled it ... the results when they are brought back together are stunning.

Remember that some of the people who have completed these have NEVER tangled before ... some even said they "COULDN'T DRAW" -  I know, incredulous!

 These are the tangles from the first day ... oh so cool.

 All engrossed in their own Art ... Tangling away.

The youngest member of the group was Rachel ... she has been really creative and has done some lovely tangles .. I love how she has added colour to her piece ... she gave me permission to put it up on my blog ... well done Rachel, I would love to see more of your work.


Thank you to everyone who participated and to Moira who graciously provided her home as a workshop venue ... it was lovely.  

If you would like to book a workshop with me you can contact me at Jane Monk Studio link.

Happy Tangling for now ... Jane x

Happy Australia Day & Tangles

 The auctions from Toni (of Make it Perfect) have finished.  My three raffles raised a total of $865.  Thank you to everyone for their generosity in the face of the terrible flooding that has affected Australians, especially those in Queensland.
All bidding monies is paid directly to the Premiers Queensland Flood Aid Appeal fund ... none of the money is sent to those putting up the auctions.

The bidding on my Zentangle inspired Alphabet Letter was quite intense.  When it was finished I offered the second highest bidder the option of her paying her bid price and my doing a second letter for her.  She accepted, thank you Chris ...  here is your beautiful "C" .... the shading is still to be done and highlights added.   The photo is not the best ... but taken tonight at 2am with not much light ... It looks way better in person as you will see soon.

I spent a quiet day today and tonight drawing this (Tuesdays are always quiet days for me as I need to be home).  Zentangling is always the perfect distraction for me as I can focus on something positive.

 On Saturday I held a Zentangle for Quilters class over at Cranberry Crafts in Ulverstone - a small class of five, it was a lot of fun.  One of the students really only wanted to see how I do the quilting side of it, didn't really want to draw.  By the time we got to the sewing, she really didn't want to stop drawing ... it was great, all students did a wonderful job of their first and second Zentangles ... check them out... beautiful!

 The second set.   It still amazes me that a class can have exactly the same instruction and come up with something so unique and individual as themselves.

Here they are all together.

 I just had to share this with you ... poor Merlin has grown ( the boys are now over two years old) he doesn't really fit in here to sleep anymore ... but he won't give it up.

So cute!


Happy Australia Day to everyone ....  it is a day to Celebrate being Australian and what that means to each individual.   Hmmm fishing sounds good!

Happy Tangling everyone .... Jane x

Fabric Postcard Class

 Yesterday I taught a short class at Cranberry Crafts in Ulverstone ... Fabric Postcards.   This is really a techniques class ... but you get to take somthing home that you have made on the day.    I must say these ladies all had lots of fun and bring to the class their own set of fantastic ideas and skills.  Even I learnt something... a great suggestion was to use an overlocker to do the edges of the postcards ... cut and stitch at the same time - what a great idea, especially if you are doing a whole bunch of them like for Christmas cards etc.
Thanks girls for a wonderful day.

I thought I was going to be late as the back highway I take to get there was closed and it was 10km back to the next connecting road ... my dear husband got me there on time - glad he drives me sometimes.

These are a small sample of my own postcards ... I have been having fun combining Zentangle onto the fabric ... there are three here.

 We started our class doing some tea dying - a great start and gives people some time to settle down and put their minds in gear for the class.   I know it helps me to do something short and fun to start a class.

 This is one of my Zentangle inspired fabric postcards.  I have used William Morris as my inspiration for these leafy beauties ... I could wax lyrical about his work ... but I won't, suffice to say I love his style and Michelle Hill for introducing it to the quilting world.

This is another of my Zentangle style postcards ... I am really liking this a lot.

I use just normal fabric (quilters muslin here that I have tea dyed) and a Sakura Pigma Micron pen in 01 size... black and brown (I sell them on my web site http://janemonkstudio.com if you are interested).

Okay that was my day yesterday.    I have been amazed at the bidding on the items I am auctioning and thank you all for your comments and bids ... it is wonderful that Toni from Make It Perfect has attracted so many different auctions - we have a great choice of items to bid on and I think the master list is up tonight ... check out her blog for more information.    Make It Perfect

By the way, I am nearly finished the Zentangle inspired letter that I am auctioning ... I only have to add the winning bidders letter and do some shading ... so will post a pic of this tomorrow.

Happy Tangling for now ... Jane x

Believe Me When I Say ...

You CAN draw and create Zentangles.  Anyone who can hold a pen can draw - it might be a wonky line, but they can draw!  I have had a lot of people say they could never do what I do with Zentangle - of course you can't do what I do - but you can do what you do!   Everyone has a different interpretation because they are looking at it (and life) from their own unique perspective.

When asked how long Maria Thomas' beautiful calligraphy and Zentangles take her to do, Rick Roberts responds 40 minutes plus 40 years.   40+ years is how long she has been drawing her exquisite pieces, although I'm sure some of them take more than 40 minutes - lol!

So you see ... it does take practice to obtain proficiency ... but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the process and even the first piece you create in a class with a Certified Zentangle Teacher (CZT), will be absolutely beautiful.  Please do not belittle yourself or your ability to create.  I believe creativity is inherent in us all ... we just have to let it out a little at a time.

Hugs .... Jane x

Australian czt

Hi everyone it has been a fantastic time over here in the USA - I am finally a certified zentangle teacher. I have some fantastic ideas about teaching classes when I come home so look out for my class schedule - I do have a class open with adult Ed in launceston on the 7th November -go to their web site to book in.

I am here for a couple more days then I will be home - blogging again. I am not blogging from my iPad -but I love it ! I have got to get one of these -hugs from Jane xxx

Home Sweet Home

How is this for a happy face ... Jo Northcott the day after my Zentangle class ... she is definately addicted and look at that fantastic Zentangle.  

This is my First Zentangle class at the AMQF in Adelaide ... it was a great success - everyone did really really well - but I wouldn't expect anything less from a bunch of longarm machine quilters!

Thankyou to you all for making the class a success!

I did forget to take a photo of their drawings - kicking myself for that.


And I am back home .... long flight delays and I was very tired ... caught up on some sleep yesterday and now it is after 3.30am and I am wide awake .... my brain is going a million miles a minute with anticipation of leaving for the USA on Sunday.   I will finally be going to Massachusetts for the Certified Zentangle Training session with Rick and Maria.

Happy Zentangling for now ... Jane x

More Zentangle To Fabric & Baby Tangles

 Fancy a Fabric Cover for your Moleskin Journal??  Yes I do and I made one or two for fun.  This is a combination of the three things I love to do ... draw, quilt and make journal covers ... I am in heaven.

Making these type of things is really good practise for your machine quilting skills and the best rule for getting better is to draw, draw and draw some more.

I will leave you to look through the photo heavy post ... enjoy more of my fabric zentangles and my baby zentangle bookmarks.   Only 3 more days until I am at the Australian Machine Quilting Festival in Adelaide teaching "Do The Zentangle" ... there are a few more spaces available in my Friday and Saturday classes and you can register on the day now.  See you all in sunny Adelaide!   Enjoy browsing ... Jane x

Zentangle to Fabric

You may be interested in seeing these little Zentangle Quilts I have made for my class samples at the AMQF in Adelaide on the 1-4 October 2010 - not long to go now.

The quilting I have used in these are all Zentangle patterns that I use in my drawing.   I love the "organic" feel to these little quilts and I think they would make fantastic placemats if you could bear to use them for that.   These ones are a little small though at 8x8inches.

More ....

One of the difficult things about this is how to replicate your drawings onto fabric ... working out how to do a continuous line and make it look good.

This one is bigger 12 x 12 inches and you can see I have used the colour of the threads differently here.

So if this is tempting ... think about coming to do my class at the AMQF in Adelaide.  There are a lot of classes on offer from other teachers as well and it is for both Longarm and domestic machine quilters.

Cheers for now .... 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

Illuminated Letter Finished & Quilt Zentangle Closeups

My Illuminated M is finished .. I have added some more watercolour.  You can see that it is a birthday card for my husband's 50th birthday - which is in October and I will be away ... the first one I have missed but I think I feel worse about it than he does!   If I do another one I would probably set it out differently but it was a great lot of fun drawing it.

Here are some more close ups of the quilt using
Zentangle patterns adapted for quilting - some need adapting, some don't.  I took these while still on the longarm being quilted - so this is the underside of the quilt.  It is funny trying to take a photo upside down!

Okay that's it for now ... hope you all like them and thanks for stopping by.   Between my two blogs I think I have had over 150 people come look at these pics since last night ... but no comments other than a few lovely personal emails to me - I would love to hear from you all, I'm sure some of you have done this before - what has the outcome been, have you been happy with the quilting process etc.

And if you haven't been to the Australian Machine Quilters Festival web site ... go on over now - they have heaps of classes to choose from and of course mine!   Cheers for now....Jane

Do The Zentangle - Quilting with Zentangle

Zentangle Meets Quilting .... I have quilted a table runner with Zentangle patterns so you can see a small pre-view of my class at AMQF in Adelaide.  So if you are interested in taking my class ... visit the AMQF site and book your class. 

A corner ... the borders were quilted using the Paradox pattern.

These are some of my zentangle patterns ... very simple ones.

Leaves and swirls, paradox and more

I hope you have enjoyed looking at these pictures ... this quilt was quilted using a green thread in keeping with the theme of the quilt (I called it Spearmint Twist).   You could use different coloured threads to get a more noticeable effect.

So ... go on over to the AMQF website to book into my class in Adelaide - October 2010.

Happy Tangling for now...Jane x