When you dig down deep, it is amazing what you find!

I needed to clean those blinds in my quilt room.  They were like, caked with fibers and dust.  And dog hair I am sure.  That is the window the Boyz fight over.  So I got some Lysol all purpose cleaner that kills 99.9% of whatever it comes into contact with, and sprayed that sucker down!

It actually cleaned   Up pretty nicely. There was a box at the bottom of the window in the corner I hadn't noticed lately. When I stuck my hand in there I came up with this amazing find.  I think it will be perfect for the Zentangle Lady.

What do you think?

Now I need to soak it, but I'm almost afraid to.  It looks to be so delicate.    And the piece I am making is not something that will be used.

It is handmade, most likely linen.  There is no tag on it so I'm not sure who made it but I think it might have come from a bunch of stuff my cousin gave me from her mother. It could be something Aunt Evelyn bought on one of their travels.

I do remember my Danish grandmother forcing me to sit down and do this cut work stitching where are you pulled the threads on a linen handkerchief and then went back and caught the threads in interesting patterns. The tablecloth/runner does have this on it.  But I'm not sure my grandmother would've been someone who did this.

I have to ask my cousin what she remembers of it.

But first I think I'll wow her with it in this Lady piece.  She needs  nice Spanish lady's name.

Oh,  I know.........Ana Sophia, La Duena del Poeta

Ohhh, bad, bad girl!  Maybe that is why she is glancing around so guilty looking and all. 

Now I need a love poem.......

Silent Prismacolor Pencil Case

Well, not a case, per se.  More of a Wrap.

We talked about the Zentangles before, or have we?  Anyway, I have gotten into the groove of doing some drawing after I get out of my bath at night.  It is meditative and restful to sit in my vibrating bed, raise up the head and do these drawings.

I try to get one done each night. Or at least practice a new technique each night.  There are always so many new techniques and drawings.

One thing I found was the noise was disruptive to Frank, who falls asleep within 5 seconds of getting in bed every night.  Noisy?  Yes, I keep the pencils in a Christmas tin.  Rattling them around trying to find the red pencil or the eraser was pretty noisy.

So today I made a Silent Pencil Wrap.  There are a lot of tutorials all over the web, but this is how i did mine.

I took two fat quarters, made sure they complimented each other in color, and added some really thin soft batting.  I layered batting, then #1 fat quarter face up, then #2 fat quarter face down.

I sewed all around the edges, leaving about 4 inches open to turn it inside out.

I trimmed the batting close to the seam.

I turned it inside out.  Top stitched one of the long edges.  This will become the bottom edge.

I turned up the bottom edge about 5 inches.  Remember, this is the long side of the fat quarters.  This is where I added the ribbon I forgot to add earlier when I did the first seam!  The ribbon just goes on one side, either side.  It worked out just fine.  Fold the ribbon in half and put the fold just inside the seam.  The ends of the ribbon will float about freely until needed.  Just be careful not to sew then into a seam or two.

Sew a top stitch up the short side, across the top and down the other side.

Now gather the stuff you want to wrap up in this thing.  These will determine how wide you will sew the pockets.  I had a ruler and a lot of pencils and inking pens.  Sew these pockets.

And you are done!  Fill it with your stuff.

Of course, McGee came over and claimed it while I was photographing it.

A Doodly Distraction ---

For the South American Adventure I picked up a book to keep me busy.  I used to read voraciously.  And when I say voraciously, I mean a lot of books!  I keep logs of what I have read, with author and title and a short description of why I liked it or not.  Each year I would read about 150 books.  Some were professional, some informational, some just plain dirty.  Hee, hee.

But this book was different.  It was a FUN book.

Zen Doodling by Carolyn Scrace.

For someone like me who has not done much doodling, it is a nice way to start learning the process.  Carolyn begins by showing you how to make some basic shapes then moves into mandalas, shapes, letters, metal, printed and resisted prints........oh, and the experimental doodles!

Nice.

Here are some of my masterpieces.

start off slow and

   getting better.










I made Frank take me out and buy me some Prisma Colors.  Then I had to learn how to use them.  There is a secret, but I figured it out.                

adding color with Prisma Colors

I am addicted.............










And getting more detailed.











And I began searching the internet for simple drawings that I could fill in.




Did I say I was addicted?  I can see so many possibilities in this.  Now I need to clean up my space so I can start working on some of this amazing idea I have.

Aughhhh!