Craft book review - Zentangle 2

I have another craft book to review for you.  GMC sent me quite a few when their last catalogue came out and I'm still working my way through them.  This one is Zentangle 2, Expanded Workbook Edition.

Before we go any further, the disclaimers.  I was sent the book for free to review but I was not told what to say and all opinions are 100% my own.  I didn't receive any monetary compensation.  Links in this post, as with all my book posts, are affiliated.  If you click over and buy something, I get a few pence towards an Amazon voucher.  

I'm quite intrigued by Zentangles, I'm an avid doodler in meetings or when I'm on the phone (I got told off for it in my appraisal, apparently it makes it look like you're bored!), so I wanted to see what this was all about.  I like the idea that it can be used for scrapbooks and journals, and presumably other papercrafts, too.

It's only a thin little book, but it's got a lot of patterns in it.  They're laid out like below, showing you how to make each one, then a picture of them in use.

You can put Zentangles into shapes too, and this page gives some fab examples.

There are then some workbook pages, letting you fill the boxes with Zentangle designs, the ones shown and the previous ones.  I like the one on the left below as it looks like pinwheel quilt blocks.

Then there are some shapes, all divided up ready, to fill with tangles.

Want to see my attempt?

I did this whilst watching TV and enjoyed it.  It was relaxing, but more structured than normal doodling.

Since then I've been filling up the workbook squares when I'm not stitching or knooking or kumihimoing.

As well as using tangles in papercrafts, my "big idea" was a Zentangle stitchery.  I'm using a piece of Sashiko cloth in indigo and some white Sashiko thread.  I've only got as far as dividing my circle, but next I'll move on to the patterns.  I'm not sure if this will work as the thread is quite thick, only time will tell, so stay tuned!

Paperback: 32 pages

Publisher: Design Originals; Revised edition (7 May 2014)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1574219103

ISBN-13: 978-1574219104

Product Dimensions: 27.2 x 20.8 x 0.5 cm

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Linking up to:








Something New for 2014

  

Disclaimer:

I was given a review copy of the book by GMC however this review and all opinions are 100% my own, I was not told what to say.  Amazon links are affiliate links.

The Great Craft Room Tidy...

I'm trying, I'm really trying to tidy up my craft room.  I know that I'm lucky to not only have a craft room, but to have a great big room with a lovely sunny window (in fairness, me and the hubster live in a 4 bed house, with attic and basement so to NOT have a craft room would be weird), but I just can't seem to keep it tidy.  Keep it tidy?  OK, make it tidy in the first place.

I keep making these plans to have a massive clear up in there, but it's never going to happen, so I'm starting small.  First up I bought some comic boards and started wrapping anything 1/2m or larger.  The 1m or larger pieces are on a full comic board (at the back, above), the half metres are on half a comic board.  I'm nothing if not thrifty.  I also realised I could get fabric in 2 deep in my Expedit, so it made sense to have one board half size so I can see what's behind.  To the left is a pile of layer cake squares, some Summersville FQs and .... something else, can't remember!  Not sure what to do with them, so they live here.

My small collection of solids got the same treatment.  The shelf above my neat fabric is my collection of bunny fabrics in 2 piles on the right, charm squares on the left.  Inside that cupboard is a big mess of felt.

So I've sorted out 4 cubes of my 12-cube Expedit...  I still have some way to go.  This is a box of solid scraps, with a wooden box of small but large scraps.  I really don't know what to do with them.

erm... and this would be a big mess!

To the side of the Expedit is a 4-drawer unit which holds my FQs neatly folded and arranged by colour.  I did that a while ago and have managed to keep it neat.  It would appear that quite some mess has grown up around it though!

I'm going to show my progress on my blog, hoping it might encourage me to do more!  If you don't see another post in the next month about my Great Craft Room Tidy, start nagging me please!

Sunday Stash

I'm not sure if Molli's doing a Sunday Stash this week, but if he is, I'm in.



I've got three stash additions to show you this week.  Starting with this:

That is a 120" wide roll of wadding.  Or is it batting?  Kerry!  I can't remember which is our word!  Anyway, I needed wadding/batting and didn't want to buy little packs, so this was the answer.  To the right you see one of my much treasured communist posters.  This is from the Czech Republic.  I love me a good communist poster.

Then we have the result of Oakshott having a half price sale and sending me an email about it.

I've wanted some Oakshott for a while and this F8th bundle of Lakes was mine after a few minute of frantic clicking.  It's shot with silver and I did intend to open it out to show you but I couldn't bring myself to do it.

The following F8th bundle was the result of a fabric swap hosted by Mara at Secretly Stitching. 

The theme was text prints, and most of them I really like, but there are 2 Christmas ones which I'm not so chuffed about.

Also, look what I found on one of them:

and on another:

Coffee stains.  Right in the middle.

I won't be joining in with the next round...

Hey!

In the area where I live, we have several wheelie bins.  A green one for general rubbish, a brown one for garden waste (or, in my case, rabbit poo) and a grey-lidded one for recyclables such as bottles, glass, paper and card.  To save going outside every time we finish a milk bottle, we had a canvas M&S bag in the corner.  It was gross.  Things had spilled in there, I'm pretty sure something had crawled in there to die... it was filthy.  A replacement was needed.  No photo of the filthy one as, quite frankly, I'm ashamed of myself (though I am exaggerating a little).

Laminate plastic tablecloth type fabric (not designer, I'm not made of money, it is a bin), cheapy black poly-cotton, a few hours of swearing and a recycling bin is born.

The laminate is on the inside for easy wipe-cleaning and I stitched up the four sides to try to give it structure as I'd failed to interface it.  That didn't work, but it's fine when it's full.  The swearing was not down to sewing with laminate, that wasn't a problem.  It was down to my inability to do the most basic of maths.  The first one turned out very wide and very short, that got unpicked, the second was too thin and too tall, that got thrown in a corner.

Now, we all have hay all over our kitchen floor don't we?  Also in our hair and all over our clothes, but there's nothing I can do about that.  But the kitchen floor annoys me.  I sweep, 2 seconds later it's covered in hay again.  Something needed to be done.  Where's that tall, skinny failure of a recycling bag?

Ta dah!  This has the laminate on the outside as it gets taken outside and put on the floor so the outer needs to be wipe-clean rather than the inside.  It's lined with the black polycotton. The hanging tag is so I can hang it on the door, once I've sorted out a second set of hooks.

The perfect solution for everyone's spilt hay issues.  Feel free to copy as I hate to think of you all sitting there with your hay-covered kitchens.

I can't believe I nearly forgot!  This is also my second 2014 FAL Q3 finish for the quarter!  Yay me.

 
See my goal setting post here.

Craft book review - The Knook

Today I've got something new and a bit unusual for you.  The lovely folk at GMC sent me another book to review - Leisure Arts-The Knook. 


Before we go any further, the disclaimers.  I was sent the book for free to review but I was not told what to say and all opinions are 100% my own.  I didn't receive any monetary compensation.  Links in this post, as with all my book posts, are affiliated.  If you click over and buy something, I get a few pence towards an Amazon voucher.  

This is less of a book and more of a booklet/kit.  As you can see above, you get 3 different sized Knookers (I've just invented that word) and some pieces of cord used to secure the stitches.  You have to add your own yarn.

The booklet takes you through casting on/starting, knit, purl and casting off.  Each one is shown for left- and right- handers.  Being a lefty who learnt to crochet right handed, there's no way I'm going through the pain of being a lefty-knooker, so right handed it is!  (If you're a lefty and learn to crochet, learn to do it right handed, it doesn't make that much difference to how you work as you use both hands anyway, but makes a world of difference in following tutorials etc.)

There are 4 patterns in the booklet; a scarf, a spa cloth and 2 blankets.  Above is one of the blankets which is lovely, but I could imagine taking forever!  You are limited by the width of the knooker, so I think this is made in strips.

I got started.  Getting that cord through the little hole in the knooker was a right $%£$%^&*.

Look, it split!  It still worked OK though.

And here is my sample.  I cast on, did a few rows of knit and one of purl, then gave up.  I was going to leave this review here, but I don't think that's fair, I mean, no-one can knit after 20 minutes of reading a book and trying it out, so I needed more time with this.

I moved on to the spa cloth.  Doesn't that look like the worst piece of knitting you ever saw??  Hey, I'm a beginner here!  So, the booklet tells you to forget what you know about crochet, you are knitting with a crochet hook and there are similarities to both skills, but it is different.  You start by making a chain, no problem, then you knit into the stitches.

Of course, as you only use one hook, this means pulling the stitches off the hook and onto the cord and knitting from there.  At first I thought this was stupid as the cord is not rigid and so it's hard to knit from.  There was MUCH cursing.  It was only after a few rows when I decided not to worry where the cord was and see what happened that it became much easier.  Instead of knitting against the cord, you just ignore it and it all works out.

Purling was also a nightmare.  It is very, very hard.  Even after 4 purl rows I find it tricky, though a You Tube tutorial showed me it wasn't as hard as I was making it.  

As I continue to knook this cloth (and I will finish it though I don't see me making a blanket!) I am getting quicker and it is more relaxing and even fun.  I'm not sure if I'll do more of this, I prefer to crochet and I do think knitting is quicker (and that says a lot for me!), but it was fun to learn.  If you are intrigued, I'd say to give it a go, it's possibly easier to learn than knitting for a complete beginner.  If you can already knit though, I'm not sure I see the benefit.

EDITED TO ADD:  OK, so I was going to give up the knooking after i finished this cloth.  Then I found this free pattern... I'm going to have to make one! 

• Product Dimensions: 19 x 15.9 x 15.9 cm
• Boxed-product Weight: 100 g
• Delivery Destinations: Visit the Delivery Destinations Help page to see where this item can be delivered.
• Item model number: LA46820
• ASIN: B005P1VHDI

Linking up to:










Something New for 2014

  

Disclaimer:

I was given a review copy of the book by GMC however this review and all opinions are 100% my own, I was not told what to say.  Amazon links are affiliate links.

August round up and September goals

A round up and goals all in one.  Mainly because I forgot to post the roundup, but also because not much happened.

Needlequest

The challenge for August was fabric colouring techniques.  I didn't find the time or energy for this.  For September we have autumn.  Hmmm, are bunnies autumnal?

Sew Kitschy paper piecing bom 

I didn't get August's block done and September's is the last one.  It's time to get some done and made into trivets and stuff, we are in desperate need!

Something New for 2014

Last month I tried beadweaving with pellet beads, this month I have several new techniques lined up, so stay tuned.

A Lovely Year of Finishes

I finished the bunny that was August's goal, yay me!  For September I'm going to get the Mackintosh wall hanging finished.

Craft Book Sew along

I reviewed Stitched Blooms last month, for September I already have 2 craft book reviews in the works so I'll be able to link up to this, and Craft Buds craft book month (why don't they ask me to participate, I'm craft book queen!)

Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Last month was light green, which I'd done with dark green, so I missed that.  This month is orange and I only have about 3 orange scraps so I see me missing this month too.

Smalls SAL

August's small was the Stitched Bloom, September's should be a small cross stitched bunny, but we'll wiat and see.

2014 FAL Q3

See the list here.  I managed 1 in August (2 actually, but I've yet to post about the other so I'm claiming that for September!


Related Posts

August goalsJuly review
July goals
June review
June goals
May review
May goals
April review
April goals
March review
March goals
February review 1
February review 2
February review 3
February goals
January review

Around the World Blog Hop

I know some of you don't like blog hops, and I'm not so keen on the 2-week long ones with 20 people each day, but I do like this one as it's one blogger leading to three others, who lead to three others... I've found some fab blogs to follow through this hop.  Today I'm joining in.  So here we go (intro shamelessly copy-and-pasted!)

I was invited to join in on the Around the World Blog Hop by Kris from Sew Sunshine

The idea is I get invited by someone. Then when it is my turn I get to tag 3 other bloggers in my post. The following week those three write a post and tag their own 3 bloggers.

I have 4 questions to answer, I hope you're interested enough to read on, but if not, skip to the bottom and go and visit my nominees, you may find your new favourite blog or a new bloggy friend:

1. What am I working on? 

Lots of things!  I'm a serial starter.  Here's a few of them:

This is a large blackwork sampler.  I love all kinds of needlework and I'm a bit obsessed with this one, I find it hard to put down.  You can see more in this blog post, including links to the previous posts on the subject.

This is a Stained Glass quilt I'm making, using Cuzco by Kate Spain.  I started this a good 2 years after the quilt-along finished!  You can read about it here.

That's pretty much all I can show you as I am terrible at taking photos of works in progress.  Other projects currently on the go are a knitted rabbit, a kumihimo necklace, a bead embroidered brooch, a quilt using Bluebird Park, a wall hanging using fusible bias tape, a large cross stitch, a small embroidery and a crochet dishcloth.  Maybe one day I'll get round to showing you.

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre? 

I don't think it does.  I don't have a style of my own, I use a lot of other people's patterns (I'm a craft book addict and not ashamed of it).  I don't think there's anything wrong with that as if no-one followed patterns, no pattern designer would ever make money.

Where I do think I'm a little different to many crafters is that I'm multi-craftual.  I wouldn't like to only quilt or only embroider, I like to do it all, try everything, have a go at new skills and techniques.

I also like to focus on my mistakes and failures.  This makes some of my readers annoyed or even angry and they tell me off.  But I don't mind my failures, it's fine.  If I've messed it up, I'm going to show you.  I certainly don't want to come across as one of these "perfect" bloggers who makes "perfect" stuff and takes "perfect" photos.  OK, you can pick yourselves up off the floor now you've enjoyed that good laugh.

3. Why do I write/create what I do? 

Because a life where I only go to work, watch TV and sleep would be very, very dull.

4. How does my writing/creating process work?

Generally I spot something - a pattern in a book, something on Pinterest or on someone's blog, or I see some fabric or something else that triggers an idea in my head.  I either then find all the supplies I need and get going, or a I buy the bits I need and wait for them to arrive, or I store it on my massive to-do list.  Occasionally I'll start and finish, more often I'll start, then start something new, then something else, then go back to the first project for a while.  I don't have a fixed way of working at all.

I do have more of a system with blog posts.  I try to post every 2 days.  I only get a chance to take photos at the weekend (especially as we're now heading into the dark end of the year), so I tend to write a few posts and schedule them throughout the next weeks.  Sometimes this means eeking* them out to one post every three days, other times I'm squeezing in a post a day.  Not having posts ready makes me anxious.  Yes, I know that's stupid, but I can't help it.  It's the same when I know we're running out of Marmite or milk, and especially toilet roll.  The panic of the last roll... not good for my heart.  

*I can't figure out how to spell that!

Anyway, got a bit sidetracked there, where was I?

Ah yes, on to my nominees.  I have chosen three ladies who are also multi-craftual.  They will be posting next Monday so make sure you go and visit.

First up is Jo who blogs at Explorations in Stitch. Jo is a quilting, appliqueing, cloth doll making, beading adventurer into all things fibre.  She's always working on plenty of fab projects, so go and see what she's up to now.

Then we have Wendy.  Yep, another Wendy.  She blogs at Wendy's Quilts and More.  She makes some amazing quilts, including a medallion one she's currently working on.  She also does needlework, you should see her gingerbread village, and wool applique.

My final nominee is Chris who blogs at UK City Crafter.  I emailed Chris asking if she'd like to join in, but didn't get a response (I hope she's just on holiday), but I think she's worth checking out anyway!