More old and new

Old reliable patterns are so great to fall back on.   I'm playing with old and new patterns and started with the flowerish part on this one.  Before I knew it, it had grown into this piece.  It's not overly creative (which is how I feel when I use too many old patterns) but I'm still playing with new ones too.  Enjoy your fine fall Friday!

A quiet night

As most of you who read my blog regularly know we've been trying to sell our house the last couple of months.  Since it's still not sold, we've had to split our ever shrinking family up so we (or some of we) could move on with establishing things in our new location.  Good thing when your kids grow up and move on with their own lives - bad thing it get really quiet around the house!  Since we're living in a split world at the moment, the evenings around the house can get quiet which is a good thing for tangling.  It totally serves its purpose by bringing up the levels of zen in a world that doesn't feel very zeny at times.  I hope today finds you in a perfect zen place!

Challenge 45 - Punzel

I was excited to try out this new pattern, but it proved to be more difficult for me than I thought it would.  After I finished the first one (which I'm not convinced it looks like it's supposed to) I decided to change my layout and added some different patterns.  I'll have to do some practice pieces before I attempt another "official" piece to post.  Practice makes perfect - right???

More new patterns

I have to say that I'm so proud of and happy for my fellow tanglers that have such creative minds!!!  There are so many new patterns circulating right now that it's hard not to want to try them all.  Some look so complicated but when you read the broken down instructions, they appear so simple.  I look at some of them and think "why didn't I think of that?"  I guess that's what being in a group is all about.  We can learn from each other and help each other grow.  Some of my new pattern pieces don't seem to flow as well as I would like them to, but isn't it really all about the fun anyway???  Have some fun in your Friday!

New and Old

I've been playing around with some new patterns, but the old ones are always a must!  I always like the layered feel to tangles.  The depth and dimension that the layers add gives each piece such personality.  I'm still learning a lot about drawing (shading, coloring, achieving 3 D looks) so this is just more experimenting on my part.  Experiment on something you've been dieing to try and see what becomes of it.  Sometimes the best surprises are accidents!

Heading North

At the time I was drawing this, I didn't realize that I had been inspired by all the new Christmas items already popping up on the shelves- in OCTOBER!!!!  What are they thinking?????  I can remember my mom saying, "they bring Christmas things out earlier every year".  Well now I've turned into my mom and are saying the same thing!  Don't get me wrong - I love Christmas!!!  Not just the day but the lead up, the menu planning, the thinking of gift ideas, the baking, the crafts, all that stuff.  But not in October!!  Come on!!!!  Every season has it's place in time and we all know that Christmas will be here at the end of every year, so why rush it???  Anyway, I guess I'll have to hang my head as I realize that I too have been sucked into the premature thoughts of this upcoming Christmas season.  Enjoy today and ALL it holds for you!!!

Challenge 44 - Tangle from inside

Yay, I'm back on track!!!  Even though it turned out a little crooked (which of course I didn't realize until I finished) I felt good about getting this week's challenge done. I'm sure I put too much pressure on myself so now I can breeze through the rest of the week.  This started as the Equerre from Genevieve Crabe and honestly I don't think I've used it too much.  I wanted to find a pattern that I could easily add other patterns to so when I saw this it was a winner for me.  I'm sure I'll use it again after seeing how easy it was.  Genevieve always comes up with the best patterns!!!  Anyway, I hope if you're one of Lauras' challengers that your piece comes as easy for you as this did for me.  Happy tangling my friends and a happy day to all!!

Challenge 43 - Sunflower Fun

I know LAST week was the Sunflower challenge, but for some reason I'm having challenge block.  I finally was able to come up with something Saturday night, which was too late to post for the challenge, but not too late to post on my blog.  So here it is - last weeks challenge.  I'm feeling pretty good about this week (it's less specific I guess) so hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to get it posted and be back on track.  I guess that's the good thing about having your own blog - you can do whatever you want - ha ha!  We're having the dreary version of fall here today so I hope you have sunshine wherever you are!

Is this vertical?

Sometimes I'm not sure about things.  When I started this, I thought oh, this would be great if it were vertical.  But after I finished it I had to ask myself, is it vertical???  Does vertical mean it's straight up and down, or does it mean it's just not horizontal?  I know this isn't horizontal so it's vertical - right???? Help me solve this debate (even if it's just a debate in my mind) and let me know what you think. 

Working inside out

This piece I started with the circles in the middle then worked my way out.  No string.  Sometimes I like to work that way and other times I need the string for direction.  We've been over THAT issue before!  Well, even though the house has been on the market for a couple of months, there still is so much to do.  I've been busy painting (wondering if that's EVER going to end) but with Mr. Thisorthat gone, it makes me wonder if I need to check the outside for things that might need some work.  I've always been the inside person and he's the outside person.  That's all messed up right now since I'm the inside AND outside person.  I guess I need to move from the inside out to see if I can work some magic there too!  Happy day my friends!! :)

Change is constant!

There are so many changes going on around me right now!!  Some I like and some I'm not happy with at all!!!!  Since fall is my favorite season, I'm totally enjoying the leaves falling from the trees and blowing around on the back deck.  I love the coolness of the mornings and being able to have the windows open to feel some of the gentle breezes and listen to the crows cawing.  It all makes me want to bake and get settled in for the upcoming winter (which NONE of us are ready for yet).  The sale of the house is dragging on which has brought about other changes (that I don't like), but since there is a time for everything, I'm trying to enjoy what's in front of me right now.  Step outside and take in a deep breath and be thankful for all that you have going on!

Fill it up!

For some reason when I was working on this piece, I just kept going until I had the entire page filled.  I don't know if it was subconsciously intentional or if I just lost track of my design, but it just kept growing and growing.  Obviously I didn't have a string with this one and just added pattern after pattern.  Sometimes I do better without a string and other times I need the structure of the string.  I can see where I would change some of the pattern placements if I could re-do this, but since I can't, it is what it is.  Thanks for taking the time to read my blog my friends!!

Challenge 42 - Hope

The challenge this  for was to tangle something representing Hope. Hope can and is a lot of different things to a lot of different people.  But after thinking about this, I've come to the conclusion that hope is something that spreads.  Even if it doesn't start with us (because we've lost hope due to something we're going through or have been through) the people around you that have hope will share theirs, which ultimately spreads hope all around.  You will eventually find your hope again (yes, I'm speaking from personal experience) and then it will be your turn to spread hope to others.  Really, we all have hope inside of us, we just get overwhelmed sometimes and forget its there.  Share your hope with someone who's misplaced theirs - it's a gift that WILL make a difference!!

Falling and spinning

During the week of the pinwheel challenge I must have started six or seven pieces that never made it to completion.  I just couldn't get the pinwheel concept from my head to my paper.  It was so frustrating!!!  This week I was just playing around and before I knew it, I had these pinwheel looking things staring at me.  How could that happen????  Well I guess whatever the reason is (like I don't do well under pressure, or I'm stubborn and only want to do things in my own time) I'm glad I got this done and it could fit into the challenge of weeks gone by.  Maybe the message is that it's ok to march to our own drum.  If that's the case my friends, then drum away!!!!

Indian Tendencies

I've been a little slow to tangle this week and therefore am behind a little in my posting.  I've been enjoying trying out new patterns and putting them together.  This one seems to have a little indian flair to me.  Enjoy and thanks for stopping by my blog!!