More Nervous Quilting & Something Got Out Of Hand

Let's start with that got out of hand thing. I decided to try the last zentangle in the series I've been working through. It's a variation on a tangle called MI2 or Me Too and I thought this one would be straight forward as Zentangles go and done with a Micron pen and some pastel chalk pencils for added color, no metallic pens. Plus I really like these tangles that do that over and under thing which can make them look more complicated to draw than they really are. You can also see the effect of working on both sides of a translucent tile. This one though would be easy to work up on regular paper and I decided to use one of the somewhat pricey "official" tan tiles I bought at one point. It really is true that the Italian paper they are made from has such a different feel to it and works up so nicely.

You start by making the curved lines, mirror images both vertically and horizontally. And wouldn't you know it, as I started to draw the third column, I swung my curve to the left instead of the right, stopping about halfway down when I realized I'd messed up. Ok, no panic, as a Zentangle principle is that there are no mistakes, no erasing, just invitations to create a new design element. So when all the proper lines were drawn and color added (with pen), I googled the tangle to see how I might make that errant line a part of the design. I was surprised at what I found and delighted that I could make this almost too simple Zentangle into something more. You can see the options here. 

I started by continuing the curve to meet the curve below, and continued adding curved lines in the middle section and then around the outside. And then once again, I managed to make a series of curves along the bottom curving in instead of out. Well, I hadn't planned on coloring in these added lines but now I had to in order to cover up this new error - they are the dark brown ones. Yes - no matter what they say, this was a mistake! I liked the diamond shapes added to the How To Draw MI2 examples and I really felt the two big open areas needed something in them. And then that narrow space running down the middle. Yikes! I need to stop and was not at all sure I liked where this one went. I added shading, twice, and have left it out on my desk since stopping the fiddling, and I have to say it has grown on me. But wow, things really did get out of hand while working on it!

Now for the nervous quilting. Here you see that section I said in the last post would be smooth sailing after having all those inch-long runs in the section above. I failed to remember that the center circle swoops into it creating more short runs, but not as short, before allowing for some long stretches again. Really finding this tedious, all this starting and stopping but there was more of it facing me in the last section to be quilted, the circle.

The thread on the spool was showing signs that it was getting down to the end, but it didn't seem like I had that much quilting left as I circled from the outside to the inside. I forgot on the first few places where the quilting had to stop and start on the other side of a motif opening that I could just raise the presser foot and slide the quilt to the next starting spot without breaking thread. With thread at a premium, I could not afford to waste any thread. You can see those places where I carried the thread across to the next spot.

And it's a good thing that I did. On the first Peace Quilt I pulled all thread tails to the back and then fused the backing over the lot so I wouldn't have to bury threads. See this post and this post to see what that was like This quilt was sandwiched normally and I simply could not bear the thought of burying that many thread tails so decided I could live with the look of pulling up the bobbin thread and doing the 5 or so locking stitches close together before taking off, then repeating at the end of the line of stitching. As I worked my way farther into the circle, I could see how little thread was left and feared I wouldn't make it. And if I'd been pulling threads to the back at every start and stop, I would not have. Whew! Talk about close!!!