Zentangle Challenge #7

This week's Zentangle challenge over on the I Am the Diva blog, was a little different. We weren't given a word/theme cue, or a Zentangle pattern to use. Instead, we were to just Relax, Breathe, and Smile. We were to just let the Zentangle flow from us, sort of like how our breathe flows, in and out in a controled, but relaxed manner.

That sounds easy enough...I basically had license to create anything, really. So why did I find this the most challenging challenge so far? I think because I wasn't given a word or theme cue. How about you...do you find challenges easier when you have a starting point, or you know there is some sort of element you are to include in your result?

The above design sort of reminds me of a couple things. In some ways it looks a bit bee like. The feathered shapes look a lot like the wings of an insect. I used the Betweed pattern to fill them and it was my first time doing that pattern, except in practice. I probably shouldn't have used it, because I found myself not breathing at times while drawing it. I think I was trying to draw it perfectly so my breathing sort of stopped at times. When I became conscious of that, I tried to loosen up. I think that part will take some practice.

Anyway the second thing the design reminds me of is a sort of weird flower and the feather shaped areas are the petals.

How about you...what do you see?

Journal Quilt #5

At one point this week I didn't think I was going to get a weekly journal quilt made. I had almost decided that it would be okay to skip it, but today I felt differently. I really wanted to do one. So I quickly found some fun and colorful fabrics and got to work.

I'm so happy that I just dove in and created this. I didn't put a lot of thought into it at all and I found my enjoyment factor was up in the high ranges. Usually I stress a bit more on how things work together and if the end result will look good. But when I started on this, I think I just pushed aside all the normal creative hesitations and went for it.

The stamped fabric across the lower third of the quilt and the Cape Code applique is something I had gotten a long time ago from Pokey Bolton from Quilting Arts. I can't even remember any more why she sent me this fabric, but I really like it. The colorful fabric in the upper section is one of those serendipity fabrics where you wipe excess paints and dyes off your brushes or rollers when painting on other pieces. Sometimes these clean-up fabrics turn out so beautiful.

A couple of new things I tried out on this quilt is the raw cut, wavy edge. I have about three to five specialty blades for my rotary cutter and I rarely use them. I really have no clue why. I also got out one of my twin needles for the sewing machine and used it to stitch a double straight stitch around the edges.

Color Therapy Thursday

This afternoon I spent an hour with  dental sadist, aka my hygienist. I'm sure she is very nice in a social situation. From my perspective, she had an evil glint in her eye and was wielding high-speed power tools.

Don't get the idea that I don't practice good oral hygiene. Quite the contrary. However, a regular toothbrush just doesn't do the job. So from now on, my Sonicare is my new BFF. Promise.

Trying to take my mind off the high-pitched drilling noise, I went to a happier place. Thinking about fabric and color. Tossing around the idea of doing a spool block quilt-along with lots of different options.

Have you ever taken covert pictures in, say, Borders or Barnes & Noble? Wouldn't these be the starting point for some great quilts? Question: are we getting our ideas from packaging, or are packagers getting their ideas from us?

My favorite:

Okay, I'm outta here. Off to floss again. Ouch...