I'd heard about Zentangle but never really looked into it. Once I realized it would be a good design tool for free-motion quilting I decided to pick up a couple of books on the subject. One is an introduction to the practice called One Zentagle a Day. It is a 6-week course designed for relaxation, inspiration and fun. I thought it would be a good way to commit to learning but I'm still in the reading phase so far.
The second book I added to the order is a Zen Quilting Workbook. That sounded like the perfect companion and an appropriate read to translate the Zentangling into quilting. It adapts the technique from pen and paper to thread and fabric. It's full of continuous designs that are free-flowing and artistic. I'm very excited to give this all a try soon.
Once again, while I was at the craft festival I happened upon the perfect vendor. She was demonstrating Zentangle and selling beautiful sketch books complete with Micron pen (and a little pencil). While I would have preferred the gorgeous French-paper book, it was too large to take along in my purse so I opted for the small Italian-paper, Canadian made journal set. It is an ideal, portable size to toss in my bag and since Zentangle calms and focuses I will be able to pull it out in various situations of 'waiting'. That could be at the dentist's office (I just had some brutal 2-hour dental work done) or at the hospital waiting for my mother (hopefully that particular scenario won't occur any time soon!). I could have used my little sketch book several times recently! I'm going to get started soon and will share my thoughts on this meditative expression of 'in the zone' focus on art and drawing.
Speaking of zen...yesterday I shared the little pin cushion I made - a quick and fun evening project. What I forgot to show you was the chaotic mess I made creating that one tiny cushion! Fortunately, it's easy for me to tidy up my workshop because everything has a place to which it can be returned but I had to laugh at the disaster I'd left in my wake.
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