I'm Back!

It seems like forever since I've blogged. There is so much I could blog about but I have not set aside the time to do it. Since my last blog I've spent part of spring break in Florida and the other part in Hull, Massachusetts; I chaperoned a 4 day middle school field trip to Philadelphia; I taught at MQX in Providence RI; and I've been creating lots of pieces for the Hull Artists Studio Tours. Oh and I got this cool new head shot taken by Stephen Gore at Nantaskart Gallery!

Nice huh!

In honor of Earth Day I'll share some nature inspired pieces. The first is Staccato Sunrise. This piece measures 37" x 35" and is inspired by the sunrises at Nantasket Beach. The sun is a mariners compass that I segmented to create motion. The sky, grass and beach are improvisationally pieced. The quilt has detailed Zentangle (r) inspired free motion quilting on it and beading.

Next is my tree series pieces 1 - 6. Each piece measures 3 1/2" square. They are pen and ink Zentangle (r) inspired pieces. I entered the first one in the Diva Challenge see more about that click here.

If you'd like to learn more about Zentangle (r) visit my website www.elainehuffman.com.

Inspiration - Spicy and Felted

I was looking for a way to draw out the steps for tangled patterns and wished for a template! I only had to look as far as my kitchen....the McCormick Recipe Inspirations packaging is perfect! I found the recipie rather so-so but I'll keep the cardboard package for drawing.

 Today I recieved an unexpected gift from my friend Lee Thomson. She felted and then stitched this circle. She said it reminded her of my Zentangles. I looked on the back and she made this piece on the aniversary of my mothers birthday. My mom died almost 20 years ago but I've been missing her lately. What a lovely gift. Lee's other work can been seen here.

Sanibelle Quilted

Sanibelle Quilted!



Sanibelle - drawn with Pigma Pen and pencil



The Diva Challenge this week is to create a tangle submitted by one of the blog’s followers. The tangle selected is “Sanibelle” and was designed by Tricia Faraonce. This design is a natural to adapt to quilting. 

This is the Diva challenge tangle I made this on a Zentangle® 3 ½” tile.



This is how I draw it:

I use teardrop shapes instead of the scallop followed by straight lines. I feel that I’m able to create a smoother line this way. Also it is easily adapted to a continuous line for quilting if you retrace some of your lines along the way. This is shown on the bottom left of my sketchbook page.

And again here is the tangle quilted out. I used Signature and Bottom Line threads on a Sew Batik fabric.

 

Hey Lefty

The Diva challenge this week is to create a Zentangle (r) tile using your non-dominat hand. Well this really was a challenge - I found that I had to turn tile a lot to make up for my uncoordinated left hand!

That was fun, sort of. I don't really feel like doing another one though!

Last Saturday I had a group of Certified Zentangle Teachers (CZT) at my house to network, learn, and socialize. We had a great time! Plans are already in motion to get together again!

Here's the group!

And we had a surprise visitor - Maria Thomas - co-founder of Zentange (r) !

I gave a short demo on how to machine quilt tangle patterns. A very mini-version of the class I'll be teaching at MQX in Providence RI this April. I gave people a chance to try out the longarm sewing machine - it's harder than it looks! Here's Maria trying her hand at the longarm.

Jeanne Paglio showed us how to make tangled earrings. Here are the ones I made - I'm going to make more of these earrings - it was so fun!

We also heard from Dr. Meredith Yuhas on the clinical study she is conducting on Zentangle.

I've been hard at work in the studio this week making earrings and planning some awesome quilting projects. I've also spent some time on marketing my sewing patterns - you can check them out here.

And..... on Monday I'll annouce a great giveaway!

Go Purple

I took a class at Quilts and Treasures in East Longmeadow MA where we made baskets by wrapping fabric around clothesline rope and sewing it together. Well – that was not only fun but very addictive.  I made this basket during the class (I got extra credit for the ric-rac –ha ha!)

Then I started to make this little one. My daughter wants me to finish it and give it to her!

Then I kind of got carried away and started to make a beach bag out of just rope – purple rope! I’ve used two spools of rope – that’s 150 feet of rope folks, and it measures  about 16 x 7 x 3. My daughter links I should add a lime green stripe – should I?

All of this basketry is cutting into my quilting and tangling time. But I got back at it. The Diva challenge recently was to add purple to your tangles. Here’s a page from my sketch book with a couple of purple tangles on it. I used Prismacolor pencils for the purple.

I’m still trying to add all of the official Zentangle™ tangles to my sketchbook. Here are two pages with lots of tangles on them. I tried working with the negative space. It was a lot of fun!

To learn more about Zentangle and to see my teaching schedule visit my website.  

Biggified - Quilted

Last weeks Diva Challenge was to “Biggify” your tangles. The challenge was to use your preferred paper size and draw the tangles bigger. This was my favorite biggified tangle. I use the standard 3 ½” square Zentangle® tiles.

I like to translate Zentangle style into quilting. I took the biggified tangle enlarged it a little more and then made a mini-wholecloth quilt. The quilted piece measures 5 ½” square. It is made from fabric, Signature 100% cotton thread – in rust and variegated rust, and two layers of batting. This is the finished piece.

Anyone with a sewing machine can learn how to quilt in the Zentangle style. If you'd like to learn how check out the class I'm teaching at Machine Quilter's Exposition in April! - for more information click here. No prior Zentangle(r) or quilting experience required.

Here are some pictures of it the biggifed little quilt being quilted. I use a 12 foot long  Gammill longarm  machine and I’m working on little 5 ½” pieces! This type of quilting can also be done on a home "domestic" sewing machine!

Here's a picture of the whole Gammil machine set up - this picture was taken to show the traditional style trapunto pieces that are displayed in the foreground. The picture was taken on a day when my studio was clean!

Biggify

Go Big or “Biggify”

This weeks Diva Challenge is to take your regular sized tangle paper and draw the actual tangle on it BIGGER than usual! I use the standard Zentangle ® 3 ½ inch square paper tiles. I did the challenge a couple of times before coming up with something I liked. On one of my earlier attempts I used a Pigma Graphic 1 instead of my usual Pigma Micron 01. I thought that since the tangles would be bigger that the pen should be bigger also….wrong. (So wrong that I tossed the tile!)

On this tile I used three tangles, Poke-root, Shattuck, and Flux. I like how bold it looks. I think that perhaps I draw my tangles on the larger side anyway but drawing them very large required a steady hand and deeper concentration!

On this tile I decide to be brave and draw those large “orbs” – I’m being careful not to call them circles because – they are drawn freehand and not meant to be perfect circles. But none-the-less I did try to concentrate and get them pretty round….. Then perhaps I made a mistake. I started coloring with Prismacolor Water Color pencils. I guess this wasn’t totally a bad idea but when I added brushstrokes with water, the color became brighter than expected. I’m going to experiment more with the water color pencils – I am starting to like a little color with my Zentangle ®.

If you're wondering where to get supplies for Zentangle(r) art. I get my pens and pencils from Dick Blick and I have the official Zentangle(r) supplies availble on my website.