Naomi's Quilt Moving Along

I've not done more on that stitch camp piece, mostly because it's one of those things good to work on with something else going on like a video that doesn't take that much attention, and I managed to catch up on all of those already with the stitching I've done. It remains by my computer screen so I can think about what to add next but in reality, I now want to switch my attention and efforts back to that baby quilt. I finished piecing the rest of the blocks, spent a little time arranging them on the design wall (this time friend Judi didn't seem to mind my care) and today finished sewing them together into a top ready for borders. Was unsure about how to resolve placement of blocks on those extra rows top and bottom, probably should have sketched it out instead of just imagining in my head, but I think this arrangement works fine.

I picked up glasses last week, a new prescription that I really should have had made up a year ago, but maybe not as my prescription had changed again some at my recent checkup. I knew I'd been struggling with tiny print, but as last year wore on, I felt more and more like my eyes were straining all the time, and that change in prescription proved I wasn't imagining it. Everything is clear now with no added effort which of course makes any sewing that much more enjoyable. And since I was pretty sure I didn't want to go without glasses while the new lenses were being made (they'd have to send in my current frames to have the lenses fit to them), I spent an inordinate amount of time picking out new frames. I love the frames I've had for quite awhile now, continually get positive comments on them, but to be honest, I'd started looking at myself in the mirror and thinking, "I'm really tired of you!" New eyes in 2021, new back in 2022, I guess new frames in 2023 were warranted. I really like them!

Just Take Me Out & Shoot Me . . .

 

I must be feeling better. I let myself get enticed into signing up for TextileArtist.org's 5 day "stitch camp" - free of course so what is there to lose but some time? I rationalized it many ways: 1) I really do love hand stitching and haven't done any for quite some time; 2) it was billed as doable because of the way the project was divided into small segments over the 5 days; 3) I might see something new or a new way of doing something I'd already tried - you know, transferring parts to something I already do; 4) I could always just watch the videos and if nothing appealed, I wouldn't have to actually do the project; 5) did I mention it was free? Yeah, a lot of rationalization. And even though "mark making" was part of day one, something I've never liked doing in any medium, I was intrigued by the idea of "seeing things in the marks" to drive how you would add embroidery. That's pretty much in my wheelhouse, "Masks" being one of my best examples of seeing images to be picked out in stitch.

So I grit my teeth and did day one's assignment of mark making. One good lesson was the suggestion to pick just two colors (one medium, one dark) plus a light neutral. That really does simplify things. I chose teal and yellow and searched my stash for fabrics of that color as well as threads and floss for embroidery and paint for making those marks on the "winter white" kona fabric. The resulting painted fabric was of two kinds, one with dense marks and little white showing, the other with the marks farther apart with more white area. Accents of the opposite color on each area helps with a bit of cohesion. I did the dense marks first and really didn't like what I did, partly because I was learning how the paint was working with the various "tools" I tried. Before I did the less dense marks, I'd scrolled through the dedicated Facebook page to see what others were doing and spotted some really cool marks made with fork tines - I'd totally forgotten about that, so I got marks I liked better on that piece. (You can see the results and my pile of threads and other fabric in the photo above.)

But no matter, this painted fabric wasn't supposed to be a lovely composition because it would be cut into 2-1/2 x 3 inch pieces (don't ask - the teacher gave no explanation for that dimension and also said we could cut them any size we wanted). Pick and choose what to pair, looking for connections from one square to another, then overlap slightly and tack with small running stitches. Yes, no seaming here as the simple embroidery stitches suggested are meant to "blur" the joins. She was putting together up to 4 squares into a strip, but I could see others in the group were breaking from this idea of making a long strip to use more squares in rows, which is what I wanted to do. As you can imagine, after I pulled those 3 dark teal squares together as something embroidery could help make the marks flow one to another, I spent quite a bit of time arranging the other squares around them. At one point I actually had a second piece going, but dang, I couldn't help myself. I managed to use every single square in this one piece. No leftovers for this gal!

Favorite marks are the thin parallel lines made with a fork and the concentric circles from a spool end

Unfortunately (or possibly fortunately depending on your viewpoint), those of us with larger pieces immediately realized we would be adding embroidery stitches on them long past the day specified for the embroidery. But we don't really care. I enjoyed tacking the squares together, that rhythmic running stitch, and am equally enjoying pondering what to stitch where. Day 4, if one was done with embroidery, was to be time to assess the piece to see what bits of applique might be added to additionally blur joins and make the piece more cohesive. The last day talked about how to finish the piece, and I particularly liked an example where a piece like mine could be laid on a piece of fabric extending beyond like a border and where embroidery stitches could extend into it. I could see this sort of piece being framed.

This exercise of blending marks from one area to another reminded me of a quilt I made prior to 2006 I believe. A friend had challenged me to do something with a small piece of 60's polyester fabric with a bold print. I had some bias tubes left over from a Celtic applique project and they became the connectors between rectangles of that fabric, over the solid hand-dye. I'm getting a bit of the same vibe off my stitch camp piece.

Well, with watching the daily short videos and doing something each day on the piece, that took me through Friday, and knowing I could set the stitch camp piece aside, I spent some time Saturday and Sunday working on the baby quilt. Extra incentive, I was having lunch with a quilting friend today, and I'd told her the last time we'd gotten together about my plans so I really wanted to have something to show her. I completed the 4 light blocks and 8 split blocks with dark centers, plus one from the split block with the light center. Here are the rest of those blocks with their squares all arranged and ready for  joining, so half plus one done. I must admit that I feel Judi over my shoulder, telling me to quit so deliberately putting the different patches in place, to loosen up like she did once when we were on retreat and I was working on a mystery scrappy quilt. She "caught" me matching up fabrics, which I denied. She wanted me to just pull pieces out of a bag. a way of working that I do find very hard to do. So while I arranged these squares, I just told her to shush, important not to have two of the same fabric side by side! I got the impression she wasn't convinced. ;-)

Cut And Sew

Some people count sheep when they can't get to sleep. I found myself counting squares and blocks one night last week while trying to drift off to dreamland. I've been a bit surprised at how this project has energized me, and it's been difficult NOT to lie awake thinking about it and envisioning it. But back to the counting. I suddenly realized that I did not cut enough squares, had miscounted the number of blocks, at least I was pretty sure of it, and when I checked the layout diagram with my work sheet, I had indeed shorted one kind of block by 2. Those extra light blue squares I cut? Now I needed to add two more to them because they were no longer extra, and cut a few more other squares as well - see the figures on the right that the pen is pointing to. Made me glad I'd left some of those fabrics out in a "just in case" moment which was more just in case I don't like the value of some of the squares I cut, not just in case I hadn't cut enough. I'm pretty sure this gaff is because of the extra row top and bottom I plan to add.

With the correct number of squares now waiting, it was time to make the half square triangle units that turn this nine patch into a split one. There are many ways to make these units and I've probably tried them all, settling on the method Judi describes in her directions.  It has proven to be the best method to get perfect results. It starts with layering a dark and light square, and in most directions, drawing a pencil line diagonally from corner to corner as a guide for then stitching a quarter of an inch on either side. I go one better by using this quick quarter ruler that allows me to draw instead the actual stitching lines. By lining up those corners in the center slot of the ruler, one can run a pencil along both sides of it to mark the sewing lines.

I generally put in a few pins to keep the layers from shifting, then it's off to the machine for some chain stitching, down one side of each square and then down the other.

Cut the threads between the squares and line up a ruler on those corners to slice down the middle between the rows of stitching.

Time for pressing. I generally do the "press seam to the dark side" but I've also made this block by pressing the seams open, and that is what I decided to do this time based on the kind of quilting design I'm thinking I'll use.

Not done yet. The size of the starting squares produce an oversized half square triangle unit that now is trimmed to a perfect 2-1/2 inch square with that diagonal seam ending right at the corners and no distortion. A little extra work but so worth it and only a little bit of waste in the trimming. Here you see the 45 degree angle of the ruler lined up on the diagonal seam with overhang to be trimmed.

I've laid out an arrangement of squares for each of the three kinds of blocks along the top of the photo and you can see my pile of trimmings from squaring up the half square triangle blocks. Now I really CAN get to sewing blocks together.

New Year, New Project

I know, I know. What happened to "continue finishing projects"? Well, there's a new kid on the block as of December 24 and she needs a quilt. And not just any kid, but the first grandchild of my late artist friend Judi. When I first got to know Judi, her two kids were grade school age, and I watched them grow into fine adults while Judi and I also grew our friendship. We were briefly in business together, making and selling handdyed fabrics, and even after I left the business, I made samples for Judi's vendor booths and often helped set them up and man them. Now that she's gone, I contemplated what kind of quilt she might make for this granddaughter, then realized I could make a very special quilt using the last of Judi's hand-dyes that I inherited and a pattern that she had come up with to show those fabrics off. Time to get out stacks of fabric and start auditioning.

Judi based her design on the split nine patch block. I actually taught a quilt class using the patterns she put together and that I'd made samples for, Spring Fling and  Country Star, so I got out my files with patterns, instructions and handouts - I've never been able to break down those class files I accumulated! And then, while looking for something in the bottom part of my roll-top desk, I realized there was a lot of things there I couldn't remember exactly what they were. More files and notebooks and to my surprise, Judi's original hand drawn and colored optional settings for using the split nine patch block and the prototype for the pattern cover which includes my name. While I'd planned to use similar colors as in the Spring Fling quilt, I didn't necessarily want to use that set. In these original options, I found the setting I wanted to use - the one in the middle.

I also want to make the quilt rectangular rather than square so will add a row of blocks top and bottom. This all necessitated me doing some calculations of how many of three different kinds of blocks I would need and then how many of two different sizes of squares in light and dk/medium values I would need. Now the cutting could begin! The camera had difficulty picking up the light purples as light purple but the other colors are pretty close. I cut a few additional light blue squares as some of the last blues that I cut are perhaps too dark for the light areas. We shall see. Sewing commences this week.

 

Welcoming Another Year

 

For last year’s words belong to last year’s language

And next year’s words await another voice.

And to make an end is to make a beginning.

- T.S. Eliot, Little Gidding

I've been thinking about my resolution word for 2023 for several weeks now. Three years ago I chose "GO" as encouragement to get in the studio and just do anything. The next year I realized I had lots of partially finished or ideas for projects that I still wanted to work on so the word was "FINISH". Well, I didn't get all that far down my list so the next year was "MORE" as in keep on this track and finish more projects. That unexpected surgery this year kept me from finishing as much as I hoped, but I'm not giving up on the idea, still wanting to stay on that track.

So the word for this year, as you can see added to that sign taped on my studio door back in 2020, is "CONTINUE". The more I thought about that word, the more I realized how loaded with meaning it is for me. Not just to continue working on these old projects and ideas that still interest me but in general to continue with all facets of my life that got put on hold, to continue reaching beyond my four walls, living those things I could only dream of doing at some point as I struggled through this year. I feel buoyed by the thought. "Continue" may not sound very exciting, even mundane, but to be able to continue with my life at this point isn't mundane at all, but indeed exciting. As we age, life throws more curve balls at us, not to mention health issues and the loss of friends and relatives. So much gets harder and it's no wonder a person might just give in and give up. But I'm not going that route. I'm going to continue . . .

"Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning." - John O'Donohue

 

*********************************************************

For previous year's resolution words, see these posts:

2008 - Freedom

2009 - Calm

2010 - Focus

2011 - Refocus

2012 - Balance & Harmony

2013 - Perseverance

2014 - Explore

2015 - Fearless

2016 - Light

2017 - Endure 

2018 - Refresh

2019 - Wing It!  

2020 - Go! 

2021 - Finish 

2022 - More

 

Dead Week

You saw a shot of my sticky buns for Christmas morning, and here are the Raspberry Ripple cookies I made on Christmas day. I used to make these every Christmas but haven't for quite awhile for one reason or another. Determined not to let another year go by, eating up the jar of raspberry jam bought just for them on other things instead, I got them baked before preparing the turkey breast for the oven. They turned out particularly good I thought. A great start to "dead" week.

I'd never heard of this term before last week and I'm not sure I agree with it, but here is the explanation according to Helena Fitzgeraldin her piece “All Hail Dead Week, the Best Week of the Year":

Dead Week… is a week off from the forward-motion drive of the rest of the year. It is a time against ambition and against striving. Whatever we hoped to finish is either finished or it’s not going to happen this week, and all our successes and failures from the previous year are already tallied up. It’s too late for everything; Dead Week is the luxurious relief of giving up.

All I could think of reading this is that she surely doesn't know any quilters or other creative types. How many "dead" weeks did a scramble to put the finishing touches on a quilt so it could be counted in that year's tally, not slop over into the next year. I don't do that quite so much anymore, but found myself pushing to get the Peace II quilt's sleeve on so that I could say I finished it this year. Not ready to "tally up successes and failures" until at least New Year's Day. I have to say though that as I lay in bed one night going over in my head the steps to making a sleeve, I found myself floundering in remembering the steps. Could it really be that long since I've had to make one to hang a quilt? Apparently. But it eventually came back to me and I put the last stitch in not long ago.

Fortunately, cutting and applying the binding so I could feature it in my Christmas blog post did not pose serious memory lapses. I opted to do the stitch in the ditch from the front with the same gold twist thread I'd used on the satin stitching. I wasn't totally sure about that but decided to take an "oh well just go for it" approach, knowing I could always take it out and redo with my other choice, black thread. It's a subtle touch I think I like just fine.

Forgive the hastily taken photo but I did want to show the complete quilt here, even though it really should be steamed along the edges after applying the binding and have a proper length of dowel or slat for it. Done done done . . . and on "dead" week!

How have you spent the week between Christmas and New Year's? When I was in school or working for schools, it was always a vacation week so a chance to relax, read, knit or crochet, and enjoy the extra sweets that the holiday always brings. This last week I've caught up on a few things, including adding notes and quotes from the book study selection I've been working through to that coptic journal I just finished - very satisfying. I'd planned to find time to play with these two new Zentangles because they looked so holiday-ish to me but somehow it didn't happen. But I felt like I caught up on a lot of little things that make me feel more ready to welcome the new year.

Speaking of, it's about time for me to go fix my traditional turkey enchiladas and crack open some bubbly. Aren't these two bottles of Prosecco cute? I opted for splits this year since a medication prohibits me having alcohol tomorrow or Monday when the Rose Parade will be held, something I generally watch while sipping orange juice and champagne. So a full bottle would go flat before I'd have a chance to finish it. I couldn't resist these as Prosecco is what my racers pop open on the winners box at the end of a race. Have never had it so I'll see what the big deal is. ;-) Hope you are having a good end to your "dead" week!

Wishing You . . .

Wishing you joys old and new.

Peace Quilt II bound

Wishing you peace.

Homemade Walnut Sticky Buns

Wishing you merriment that good food, drink, family and friends can bring during the holidays.

City crews hard at work

And especially wishing you and yours safety this Christmas.

Caught Up Yet Behind

Santa arrived early at my door (along with another 8 or so inches of snow) - a sweet treat from my sweet cousin and a reminder that I've done nothing toward Christmas preparations, save for the turkey breast bought early and stashed in my freezer. The plan was to at least work on cards over the weekend but I was also determined to finish the book challenge first.

And I did at last, only a week late! The stitching of the signatures was going really well when I noticed I'd be running out of thread before the back cover could be secured. I wasn't the only one with this issue and several theories surfaced, including that the original example from the teacher had two less rows of that chain stitch so her directions for figuring how much thread to reel off may have been based on that rather than the directions she gave for punching the additional holes. I partly blamed my shortage on the heavier and waxier thread I used. At any rate, she'd shown us how to add thread using a weaver's knot so all is not lost.

Except that I couldn't get the weaver's knot to "snap" and hold the thread the new length was being added to. I tried several times, even getting out a photocopy I'd taken from a library book showing several useful knots. I had to laugh that at the end of the instructions for the weaver's knot, it said that if you couldn't get the knot to hold, just make a square knot. So that is what I did. A little messier but since this is a book I'll be using, I really don't care, especially since it is in the last signature of the book. In the picture you can see I remembered a couple of helpful things when sewing in signatures: 1) use finger cots on thumb and second finger to help pull the needle through - there's always a bit of tug of war, and 2) clip the next signature to be sewn to the previous signature to keep it from flopping around until you get a few stitches sewn into it (lower left).

There it is, all neat and tidy from the outside. One problem though . . .

I tend to tighten my stitches quite a bit because of a disappointing experience where I was not careful about that and ended up with a wobbly book. However, too tight and the covers spring open. Not equally this time, and with a little pulling and jiggling I was able to even up the amount of spring front and back and think the rest will resolve as I use the book.

The book was designed for the addition of tabs. I didn't really think I needed tabs for the way I plan to use this journal, but as long as the covers were sized to accommodate them and I had some of the cover paper leftover to make a few, I went ahead and added them.

 cover measure 5.75 tall x 4.75 wide

So there we go, all done, and I'm already collecting the bits of paper I've scribbled thoughts and quotations on that will now be transferred into this book. Not done in 5 consecutive days nor even 5 non-consecutive days, yet done within a two week period where life managed its usual intervening. Pretty pleased with that and now onto the holiday preparations and binding the Peace quilt.

Too Many Shiny Objects

Front and back cover paper collaged on one sheet

So much for focus last week. I had little, and rather than work the daily lessons of the book challenge DAILY, I did day one on day one (which took a little longer because I fiddled with making a file that would print lines on my paper before cutting and folding into signatures), then allowed other things to take up my time the next few days. Too much on my mind right now, a yoga class I didn't think started until next week, too much reading to do, and too many things in the first few lessons that I either dread doing or was uncomfortable trying. Day two dealt with making cover papers by collaging on printer paper and adding a layer of decorative napkin over the top - it goes translucent so the collaging underneath melds with the designs on the napkin. Well, I didn't have any such napkins and wasn't interested in tracking down and buying a whole pack, but knew decorative tissue paper would give the same effect. Unfortunately, what I had of that was too dark for anything underneath to show through. But I have a plethora of saved used teabags which I thought should work the same, and I had a particular theme for this book so really didn't need to layer additional designs over the top. Or so I told myself. I used a big chip brush and matte medium to stick all my pieces down and had a terrible time with it. I was just following what was demonstrated and had forgotten how magazine pages (where my collage elements came from) react with matte medium . . . not well! Curling, wrinkling, and parts of the bigger pieces not staying glued to the substrate once dry. It also didn't dry very clearly making for some cloudy areas I didn't like. I overlapped some edges of the tea bags and that didn't work quite like I anticipated. It's been too long since I last did this sort of thing, and belatedly remembered a different kind of medium and brush that works a lot better for me. I need more practice more often at this collaging bit! On the bright side, the collage elements were quite bright and I liked that the teabags knocked that back a bit.

This project required book board for the covers and I really struggle with cutting it. You have to use a metal ruler and unlike my quilting rulers, my metal ruler has cork on the back which still slips on the board and raises the edge of the ruler a bit off the board such that the cutting blade can slip under it giving you an uneven cut. So this time I followed the suggestion to flip it over, then realized I could run painter's tape along one side to help hold it in place. Really helped but I still had to make more than twice the number of cuts to get all the way through the board than the teacher does when demoing. I really do hate cutting this board . . .

Covers are 4.75 x 5.75

But once that was done, the next steps were ones I've done before and pretty straight forward. In spite of the issues I had making the cover paper, it wrapped around the boards just fine. The teacher showed a new step of inserting a filler paper cut from a file folder in the center where the edges of the cover paper end and otherwise create a bump when the end papers are added on top. That was a neat trick.

Before turning the cover paper to the back, you cut away triangles at each corner so you can have a nice neat unbulky miter. I have a lot of these corners saved, not sure what to do with them. I guess I was in a mood; I kept looking at them on the table, not wanting to save them but knowing I would and wondering how I might use them when it occurred to me I could glue them in each corner over the end paper. Oh, I really like how that looks. I may find something to add to the center but for now, the boards were done.

Yesterday I made my template for punching sewing holes in the boards and signatures, then got them all punched. I thought I might even start sewing things together, but I also wanted to watch some of the question and answer sessions held each day. And of course, I had to get out thread choices and ponder which color to use. I decided the orange was too matchy matchy and not the color I wanted showing inside the signatures (that paper is a mint green). I'm going with the black.

I'd still like someone to explain to me where the time goes . . . I never get to everything I think I can accomplish on a given day. Always a step or two behind. Of course, sleeping in on several days didn't help. ;-)

Class Work

Not a lot to show for the week, but I did hunker down and work through the rest of the first week of videos in that on-line colored pencil class. The video I'd originally watched but seemed to be missing finally showed up farther along in the class, so yes, they revamped things a bit. There are 4 people giving instructions and it's a little disconcerting that they often contradict each other on how to use these pencils, but I'm seeing how trying out the different ways is leading me to decide which is working best for me. There was more instruction on shading and blending, this time with combinations of colors, and a section on using a blending stick or tortillon. It noted that you could substitute a q-tip for the blending stick, and I got the best results using that. As a wrap up to the week, we were encouraged to use our newfound skills to color in our choice of two sketches we could download. As you can see, I haven't gotten very far on mine.

There were a couple of hours devoted to interviewing two of the teachers which didn't add practical knowledge to what had already been shared in my opinion. Felt a bit like wasted time. So as I listened, I decided to swatch out my Inktense pencils. I'd already done that on a strip of watercolor paper when I first got them, keeping that strip in the tin with the pencils, but I enjoyed this additional swatching and having everything in one place. Think I will also swatch a few examples of blending some of the colors.

My Handmade Book Club is presenting another 5 day challenge starting today, and me being unable to resist, have gathered supplies to make this small coptic binding journal. But that Peace quilt was still spread out on the work table waiting for me to square it up and I definitely need that space to work on this book. Incentive enough to quit putting it off, and to my relief, this one was not as difficult to square up as the first one was. Plus I realized that the extending backing I was trimming off was wide enough and long enough to piece together for the binding. I don't think I've ever had that happen before but I am happy about it! I've set all that to one side but with the book making divided into 5 short sessions, there may be time to cut and piece the binding and even get the binding sewn on. We'll see how organized and focused I can be.

Hoping you all had the Thanksgiving you were wishing for. I did, including swapping the traditional turkey for ham. As I checked in with friends and family, I discovered many also had non-traditional menus, all sounding very yummy. There has been snow, and more snow today, so I hope you and yours also had safe travel over the holidays. I'm so happy I had nowhere I had to go!

Ink & Colored Pencils

I decided to give the Peace quilt a rest last week, partly because the next step of squaring up will be tricky, if doing it on the first one is any indication, and partly because I had some very good luck with a Zentangle from a new series and felt motivated to continue with a colored pencil online class I hadn't looked at for way too long. So long in fact that my password to get into Sketchbook Skool no longer worked after they did a revamp of the site awhile ago. Let's start with the Zentangle, this one a different approach using "reticular" (the blob shapes) rather than a "string" as a guide and working in a circular format. This particular "fragment" that goes into the "reticular" is called MRTH (mirth) and boy do I like it! In fact, I think I would have been perfectly happy to stop right here.

But I continued on filling each reticular, the outer ones getting those extensions that look like stamens. Just using a black micron pen. You can see I penciled in the steps on the facing page for future reference. Again, I could have stopped right here and been happy. However, if you know anything about Zentangles, you probably know that the final step is shading and often brings the piece to life.

I wish I hadn't proceeded with the shading. I didn't like how they showed the graphite along the curves. It didn't work on my mirths which I think were smaller than theirs. And then they added white chalk pencil for highlights. Perhaps if I had been using an off-white tile like they were, the white chalk pencil would have made more sense as a highlight. I just didn't like what happened during this whole shading process. But I still love this Zentangle as a whole.

As for the colored pencil class, one of the advantages is that you can go at your own pace and when you come back to class, it takes you right to the session where you left off. But as I said, they have revamped their website and my class had been set back to as if I'd never started it. The last thing I remember doing is diligently sorting through all my colored pencils to put them in order and swatch them - see this post from July 2019. I quickly went through the first lessons to review, and I think some of them I'd done are no longer being shown or were re-shot. Good thing I took notes.

So here's where I started up again - experimenting with different types of layering and blending. I really enjoyed doing each one, finding it relaxing to slowly lay down the color and build it up in different ways. It showed pretty graphically which of the techniques worked best for me. Then there were short sessions with two different teachers, one showing how he does his initial sketch with black colored pencil rather than a graphite pencil or pen, something I'd not considered, then building up the color, and the other showing how she does her initial sketch in a light color of pencil that kind of goes with what other colors will be laid down as the sketch progresses, again, something I'd not considered. Examples of each are at the bottom of the page shown above.

Inktense before and after H2O activation

Then there was a session on using watercolor pencils and I got a chance to actually do some sketching with my Inktense colored pencils. I've experimented a bit with transferring them onto fabric but that's about it. It was really fun to sketch that chicken from the catalog cover, all dull, then see the colors come alive when touched by a wet brush. Next I need to try out the blending of different colors of regular colored pencils as demonstrated on a leave drawing, and also swatch those Inktense pencils and experiment with blending different colors of them to get new colors. Gotta say, I enjoy being a student.

Hard to believe Thanksgiving celebrations are this week, November scooting by so fast. I'll be staying close to home, and may even see a little snow over the next few days, but it won't last as they predict a warming trend into the weekend (40's!!!). May you have safe travel, if travel you do, and may you enjoy any family get-togethers that come your way.  And if you can eke out a little time to yourself, I hope you spend it creatively!

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!!!