Monday, January 3, 2011

What I did on my Christmas Break

As many of you know, I sew in my kitchen and store most of my everyday stash on my dining room table which is in direct view of the kitchen.  Obviously, with people coming for the holidays, and entertaining to do, I had to change my plan of attack to keep myself busy.  After all, it was hard enough to find places to hide the stuff in the beginning and I couldn't keep dragging it in and out all the time.   Somewhere, or another, a few weeks before this, I ran across a site with marvelous doodles which fascinated me to no end.  Upon further investigation, I discovered the name for these beauties, was "Zentangles".  Right then, I knew that would be my "project" for entertainment once my junk was packed away.  From my investigations I knew that I'd only need a drawing pad and micro pen and I'd be all set to "play" too, but as long as I had time, why not order some books for more information?


I do tend to get carried away sometimes when something gets in my head!  Just ask my husband!  It seems I just can't get it out until I have attempted it.  Well, when the books came, I had all I could do to finish my sewing projects, I was so excited!  I couldn't wait to start, so I divided my pages into 3.5 inch squares and went to town:




Zentangles 13-18

Zentangles 19-24

Zentangles 25-30

Well, then I did a few cards:

Bird Card

Birdy Card

And those were only the bird cards, I never photographed the other ones.  And I also did a box:



Then some t-shirts:

Zentangle T-Shirt

Men's Zentangle T-Shirt

And:

Zentangle T-shirt #2 (front)

Zentangle T-shirt #2 (back)

I think I'm done now for awhile........maybe until the next time I have to clean up my dining room table......BUT, in the meantime, I have to figure out how to get those marvelous designs into a quilt.  Wouldn't that be something????  Then to add some color?  Wow!  My imagination is going crazy with the possibilities!!  Stay tuned....I'm sure I can come up with something!!

Oh....one more thing.......thank you all ever so much for all the kind and sweet comments you wrote to me on my last post.  I was "blown away", truly!   That was the best Christmas present of all....really!

30 comments:

Mary on Lake Pulaski said...

You are SO talented! What works of art!

Happyme said...

I am totally blown away by your talent! I guess I don't have that kind of imagination to come up with any of your drawings! It would be wonderfulif you could have some of your drawings made into black and white fabric. Wouldn't that make an awesome quilt or wallhanging? Wow!!

Quiet Quilter said...

You are heading toward greatness! That's all I have to say.....

CJ said...

Sooooo cool! how did you get the images on the shirts?? I wish I had that sort of talent. :D

Susan said...

Oh my! You are such a clever little thing! When I saw a flickr of one of your zentangles I was curious so googled it. I'm not surprised it appealed to your creativity! I said it first- You will be famous one day! Someone should print up a range of fabric with your designs!!!

Anja said...

THIS.IS.FANTASTIC!!!
Could you please hand over some of your sketching talent to me?
Love to see more!

Benta AtSLIKstitches said...

Hi. I found both your blog and the zentangles blog back in the summer, I wish I'd made the connection and introduced you, it's ideal for you! Not sure about in a quilt, but Avril from the stitchingscience blog has done some hand embroidery that reminded me of zentangles (and I did manage to make the connection and introduce her!) if that helps inspire you further. I don't know how to send the link from my iPad, but email ifyoubwant to know more and I'll reply from the pc with links!

Happy New Year, Benta

JariJari said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Annie said...

Your zentangles are awesome! And that would make one wild but fascinating quilt!

Linda Sue Johnson said...

Really like the Zentangles...I can see so many quilt possibilities!

StitchinByTheLake said...

Good heavens - I want just one tenth of your talent. Just one tenth! How in the world did you get that on a tee shirt? Beautiful! blessings, marlene

marilyn said...

how about using fabric markers to transfer your designs on fabric. They come in fine line.

Mommarock said...

First, WOW! Second, you should seriously and I do mean SERRIOUSLY consider designing some fabric!! Oh YES, YES!! Don't say no, no.. I mean YES, YES!! And I can't wait to see whay you make of this in a quilt!! Now, I'm off to search for some whatcha call it's zentangles on google.. :) Whoohooo.. maybe it will teach me to draw?? atleast doodle??

Vic H. said...

Wow...you should really be working for Hallmark designing cards, or fabric, wrapping paper, scrapbook paper and supplies, etc. Not joking...why don't you look into expanding your talent so we can all benefit from it!!?? Amazing...just awesome!

Marie said...

I love these - you are indeed talented. AND yes, a quilt like this would be fantastic.

Have to go, I want to try this.

Hugs - Marie

Gill said...

Oh my goodness!! These are gorgeous!
you really are immensley talented!
Thank you for sharing with us!

Needled Mom said...

How fascinating!!! You did a great job on them.

ZZB said...

Thanks for sharing your wonderful creations, you are a great inspiration. I do have a question though, I noticed cute red labels with your name on it. Where did you get them if you don't mind sharing the info.

Riel Nason said...

Very, very cool. I LOVE the box. You are right those would be some rockin' quilt designs!

beachiesews said...

If all else fails...you have a wonderful future in the "ink" world! Think of all the amazing tatoos you could do on people! Then your art would be walking all over the place!!! Just a thought... ;-)

Dianne said...

FANTABULOUS!!!!! My doodling should look so good! You have a real talent for design my dear. LOVE the little doodle birds.

JariJari said...

i have been watching "doodles" on youTube and also came across zentangles mainly by miliander and I did my doodles too but NOT as awesome as yours...you are truly creative! Love it!

Sparky said...

Wow...wow....ok, wow...Carol this is what you meant by zen---- ok, now I get it..never seen anything like it . You are an absolute delight for mind body and soul.
luv ya

Sheila said...

Awesome.

Vroomans' Quilts said...

WOW - you are truly an amazing artist! I will be blown away if you can put these designs into a quilt - I know you can. Outstanding.

Wendy said...

Carol, these are GREAT! There's a Zentangle group on flickr. You should add your stuff to it.
It's really calming, isn't it.
Keep up the great work!
=-)

Wendy said...

OH! Speaking of "something you could get in to"...
Mary Corbet does embroidery, and she's made a fish with this Zentangle-type of "doodling".
You should check it out:
http://www.needlenthread.com/types-of-hand-embroidery/blackwork

Also, at the bottom of that page, click on her "Blackwork Fish" link. It's SuperFantastic!
I think you'll get a "new" hobby. (Like you need one!) You'd be FANTASTIC at it!!!
(Just tryin' to help "feed the need".)
=-)

Tezzcan said...

I love your work both the sewing and zentangles, talking about which youv'e got me hooked on zentangles too.

Melissa said...

Wowwee Zowwee!!! Oh my goodness. Do you sleep???

You've got some INSANE talent. Seriously, though...do you sleep?? :o)

Gmama Jane said...

I actually "doodle" like this but not quite as extensively. You should see my telephone book, or any textbook I've ever owned. I never thought of it as art. How did you transfer it? Do you us crayons ON the shirt??
Blessings
Gmama Jane