All tangled up.

I felt very lost after Henry was born. Crafting and creating were out of the question because all I wanted to do was cry and sleep, sleep and cry. The crying quickly got better, but the general fatigue and well, let's be honest, emptiness were unsettling. I could barely even watch TV.

So I wasn't really paying attention when my mom started yammering about this new art form and a person who teaches it in Kansas City. She signed us up for a private lesson two weeks after Henry was born, and I slowly and surely started feeling like me again.

Zentangle is essentially drawing repetitive patterns one line at a time. It's kind of like doodling, but with shading and nice supplies. Official Zentangles are done on 3.5" x 3.5" high quality paper with a Micron pen and a pencil. I still use the drawing implements, but now I tangle in a moleskin notebook.

Listen, I'll be the first to tell you that I can't draw. But tangles are broken down into simple repetitive steps. Even I can do this.

For me, the best part about tangling is that even when my day is crazy and I can't make it downstairs to sew, or I don't have time to sit down with a sock, I can usually find a few minutes to tangle. (To be honest, it's been awhile because all of a sudden this child sleeps and I have time to play again.) I use my notebook as a kind of journal that helps me remember what was going on while I was drawing.

Tangling has also made me look at my quilting in a new way, and I know a lot of tanglers are also quilters. I feel more comfortable trying to come up with quilting designs that are specific to my pieced top.

I'm going to try to share my tangles in a more timely fashion (and try to keep up with my blogging, too). Are there any other tanglers out there?