Quilt Journal/Sketch Book

I have finally started a quilting journal/sketch book. I am not really sure what to call it. Seems like a quilting diary, sketch book, journal all in one. But after reading and discussing with others the way in which quilters keep their notes in a sketch book for ideas on quilts and machine quilting, I decided it was time for me to do the same!! No more sticky notes!!

So here is my journal/sketch book. I had an old pencil holder that I taped to the front of the book so that I would always have my pencils, pens, crayons and rulers with me, no matter where I found myself sketching!!

The front of the book is dedicated to learning the art of Zentangle. After seeing some of the work that Cathy of: http://thehappygreenfrog.wordpress.com/ was doing with "Tangles", I started to read up on it. Tons of fun!!! I want to learn more and will probably need to purchase a book, but there are many online Zentangle blogs and websites which I am now following and they share new and old designs.

Here is some of my practicing, notice the yellow sticky note!

And another sticky note with some more practicing!! My tangle library is pretty limited, but I am learning.

Yesterday I looked into Maori Tribal Tattoos and noticed that many of the designs that they use are also used in Zentangle and as quilting designs!! Hmmmm, so what came first??? I will have to do more investigating!!! It is fascinating reading about the history of their tattoos and the beauty of them! I would love to incorporate parts of the designs into my quilts.

So back to the journal. If I flip my journal/sketch book to the back, it turns into the beginning of my quilting sketches!!

That way I can easily keep the two entity's separated and find what I need quicker, but, at the same time, they are together, and I only need one journal/sketch book, perfect! :^)

A couple of quilt designs I am contemplating

It is really nice to NOT have dozens of sticky notes all over the place. And it makes it so much easier to find the designs when I want to work on  a small piece.
Having a place to sketch machine quilting designs that I am learning from the 2012 Free Motion Quilting Challenge is also fabulous!!

Take care, Happy Quilting and keep those scissors sharp!! Martha