Zendala

I'm on number 6 of my 100 mandala challenge.  This week the theme is zendala or a zentangle in a circle. I've always wondered about zentangles and what they were. Now I am learning and I'm loving it. I just bought a couple of books to at to my craft book collection and can't wait to add more zentangle and mandala books. They will hopefully become part of my professional library too. I love creating these mandalas. I feel like and artist, like I can draw. I'm try not to allow my perfectionist issues to make an apperarence as I create my mandalas and my zentangles. I hope you look forward my creations and you check out the links to other mandalas at http:// collagediva@typepad.com.

Enjoy,
Amy

Mandalas

My friend Kathryn Costa at http://www.collagediva.typepad.com is doing a 100 mandala challenge and I'm joining in. I have to say that I am having a blast creating these mandalas. I'm hoping to learn more about them and at some point use them in my social work career. I plan to post them often. As I learn more, I plan to write more about mandalas and their meaning. I am hoping to use my drawings in quilts as time goes on. I am even thinking that I can use crayons on fabric to help create the colors that I drew instead of trying to find the right colors and shading.

Amy

Quilting Thoughts

In my last post I mentioned how I bought some new quilting books. One of the is "Quilting Modern", by Jacquie Gering and Katie Pederesen. Prior to this, I never paid much attention to the modern quilting movement. I was a little interested, but really thought I was only interested in the historical quality oh quilts and quilt patterns. After reading just a few pages in this book, I fund myself more and more interested in learning about modern quilting.

Now, don't get me wrong, I still love old, traditional quilt patterns, but I there is something about the large print, colors, geometric shapes, in modern quilting that I absolutely love. I have started to realize that I need to use more black and grey in my quilts. I want to use more color. And, after reading the beginning of this book, I want to be more of a designer than just following traditional quilt patterns.

I am hoping that this book may help me to see myself as more of an artist and less as a home crafter. There is absolutely nothing  wrong with being a crafter, but I want to see myself as an artist too. I'm looking forward to reading more and actually making some modern quilts.

Amy

My Latest Project

I took my kids to Barnes and Noble a couple of weeks ago. I decided to take a look at the quilting section and bought myself a few new books. One of them was,  "Creative Quilts from Your Crayon Box". I had a blast learning how to use crayons on fabric. The first 3 pictures show a couple of the tutorials that you are supossed to do to learn the techniques.  I then decided to move ahead and make an actual picture quilt. This was so much fun and while I admit to tracing the shapes, all the coloring and shading was all me.  I felt pretty accomplished at the end and can't wait to do more.

Amy