Change.

Well it isn't the new year but one can not always wait for January to make a resolution for change. November seems to be just as good a time for new beginnings. Maybe its the change of the season from a busy summer of activity to a slower pace in which there is room for reflection on the last years changes. As for myself there were many.

Last year on November 1st I set out to lose 35 pounds. I succeeded by February and have successfully maintained that weight loss for a year now. In February I met someone new who would by June become an important relationship in my life. My youngest son moved out on his own and my oldest got engaged. And at the end of this year my parents and I will be closing the larger studio know as Swift Weavers in Benson.

Change is inevitable and sometimes bittersweet. When I opened Swift Weavers in 2008 it seemed to be a blessed endeavor, I called it a "God thing." All the pieces fell into place effortlessly. When my Mom and Dad moved to Benson I taught  my father to weave and he began to assist me at the shop. We managed to stay afloat but some circumstances in my life demanded that I return to work full time to support my family. My Dad continued to maintain the shop, handling a large  part of the weaving and the day to day operation. As a person who needs something to do I believe it gave him purpose. I look back now and see that Swift Weavers was not in God's plan for me but for my father. Who knew?

I'd like to thank my Dad and Mom for faithfully keeping the doors of Swift Weavers open for the last 3 years. And while we will be closing the main studio this January we will be retaining a small yarn section in Bugs and Flowers and continue meeting on Tuesday afternoon with the knitters. As for the future I would like to return to blogging on a regular basis, continuing to weave at home this winter and establishing more of an online presence for Swift Weavers.

Thanks to everyone for all their patronage and support for the last six years. It has been a privilege to have met and served you all!

Zentangle Challenge - Pendrills

This week's zentangle challenge involved using the new tangle, called Pendrills, which Rick and Maria just unveiled in their newsletter. You can read all about here.

I just love this tangle. It so organic and flows so easily. I love the feel of the grapevines from which it was inspired but it also remind me of netting. I think we will all have a lot of fun with this one. I know I did.

Zentangle Challenge - Fairyland

Once upon a time I was an avid reader of fairy tales. I would wander the library in search of all things magical and extraordinary. I read fairy tale stories of every color. The Blue Fairy Book, the Red Fairy Book etc. Do you know you can download the whole spectrum (all 12) as e-books for virtually free. They are classics. As are their themes. Good vs. evil. It never gets old and it is never not true.

In fairyland good always triumphs over evil. Not always so here in the real world. But the lessons we learned in those stores apply here as well. Hereos never give up and tomorrow is another day. Giants are meant to be faced down and overcome. A handful of fast friends and family will see us through the journey. There is a higher power watching over us. Beauty is all around us and yes, there really is a happily ever after.

Zentangle Challenge - Initialize

This weeks challenge at the Diva blog was a guest challenge by Christina Vandervlist. She is expanding on the string theory by asking us to use our initials as a string. This challenge was a lot of fun. I had a little trouble getting a D and a T to work well together. One is so fat, and the other so thin but I finally came up with something with which I was happy.

I think the idea of initials or monograms could make nice personalized cards or t-shirts. Here is one I had made previously based on the letters of our high school here in Benson. BHS - Benson High School.

Happy Tangling!

Zentangle Challenge - Creative Genesis

Guest challenger Sue Jacobs, CZT has expanded once again on the string theory challenge. And rightly so since drawing a fresh, new string for each tangle can be a challenge in itself. I read that the inspiration for the "string" in drawing a Zentangle is just that. If you held a string in your hand and dropped it on your tile and drew the lines in with pencil you would have a design to start your tangle off. And so Sue's challenge is to tie a weight to a string, drop the string onto your tile and trace the resulting lines onto the tile. Surprisingly this seems to generate a lot of "strings" which look like the ones I draw for myself. Very loopy. However, the challenge has a nice randomness about it and was fun to do.

Rain, Rain, Gone Away

This picture pretty much sums up how I feel now that the sun is out and the rain has stopped. Here's hoping it will be a long running weather trend, like for the rest of what is left of summer!

However, rainy days serve their purpose, and when it poured this past weekend I took the opportunity to clean house and sew, neither of which I confess I am inclined to do too often. However, these little fabric postcards were such fun I may be at my sewing machine awhile yet.

Three events facilitated the making of these little art cards. First, a good friend had recently donated a couple of boxes of upholstery samples to me and I have been looking for a way to use them since. Second, I received the new issue of Cloth, Paper and Scissors, a mixed media magazine full of fun and inpiration. It was all about fabric and sewing, with a couple of cool projects I want to try. And thirdly, a discussion arose with another friend on printing photos onto fabric. I have been wanting to try a few products and methods for this because I was always dissatisfied with the iron on transfers of old.

Put all this together and you have a recipe for fabric postcards.

Fabric postcards were begun by quilters as small mini-quilt projects. They are fun to make and, yes, they are mailable. You can find detailed directions and techniques here. The minimum card and letter size for US Postal Service mailings is 3-1/2" x 5". Most fabric postcards made measure 4" x 6" and can be mailed using one self-adhesive first class stamp. Keep fabric postcards 1/8" or less thick to stay within weight limits; cards over 1/4" thick require an extra fee for their depth and will weigh more. You can make cards that are larger and heavier, but postage will be higher.

Depending on the fabric and the backing used you may need a filler layer for sturdiness. One of the reasons I love using the upholstery samples is that they are thick and sturdy in and of themselves. I cut them out as 4"x6" rectangles, sew on collaged layers of fabrics and ribbons, sew on a picture printed or stamped on fabric, and tightly zig zag the whole piece to a Tyvek backing. Tyvek is strong, can be altered by painting or drawing, is easily written or printed onto, and is sewable.You can find templates for postcard backs or real vintage postcard back images free on the internet.
You are only limited in your creativity by your craft stash and your imagination!

Zentangle Challenge - Zendala

I have always loved mandalas. They remind me of kaliedescopes in a way and I have always been fascinated by the ever-changing designs of those magical devices. I had seen the tangled mandalas or "Zendalas" on flickr and other sites but had yet to try one. So this challenge seemed like just the time to try my hand at one and the bonus was I didn't even have to come up with my own zendala string. Yea!
I am posting two versions - one the traditional black and white and another in color. I actually did the color version first, the zendala just seemed to lend itself to color especially well. Back to that love of kaliediscopes I imagine. The tricky thing for me was to not just keep repeating the same things over and over as I moved around the circle. I tried to mix it up a bit as I moved away from the center. I found if I broke the spaces up smaller and smaller then things were more interesting.
Another thing I did not do this challenge is view any other zendalas before I tackled my own. Often I am so excited by a new challenge and the fact that many other tangler's out there post so quickly that I jump right in and look at the "early bird" posts. I resisted this time so that I would be working on my own Zendalas with no outside influence or ideas. So after posting tonight I am off to the Diva's blog to see all the wonderful work by so many other talented tanglers!
Here is the link to the mandala template from Genevieve Crabe, who was the guest tangle challenger this week at the Diva's blog. It was easy to download and I printed it out directly to cardstock which I then drew on right away. I would love to do more of the Zendala's and am open to any suggestions on ways to make the "string." One good idea I have seen is to use an apple corer as a template maker. This kitchen tool has possiblities! Any other good ideas out there?