Random thoughts about doodling … and other things

As I have recently said, I am taking up the daily zen doodle thing again.  I have stuck to the small format so far but am feeling a smidgin of interest in trying to produce a larger image.
I have also been in the company of friends who are artists and have expressed interest in zen doodling, so I pointed them in the direction of a couple of sites and a book I had.

Then I was given a book for Christmas (yes, I have read it already, even though it is not yet Christmas).  This book is about the The Great Tapestry of Scotland.  It is very interesting, especially given my Scottish and Irish heritage.  The tapestry is based on the Bayeux Tapestry and the Prestonpans Tapestry, among other things. None of these works are, strictly speaking, tapestries as they are not woven but they are still called that historically. They are all embroideries.
As I was doing further research about the Great Tapestry of Scotland online, I got sidetracked to my local embroiderers guild and noticed they are having classes for crewel embroidery in the new year.
This got me to thinking about counted thread embroidery I have done in the past and how you make up little patterns to fill in the spaces - just like doodling.

This has to be over 20 years old - who says I keep things a long time??

The thing about the crewel and Jacobean work is that is usually has colour and that can change the process. I don't think it matters though, it is still in the same area of design technique.

THEN I wandered off to some Pinterest sites about Jacobean and crewel embroidery.  The images are very reminiscent of doodling - no need to be making up my own designs, I think they have all been invented.  From there I decided to look for some free designs, just to see how much like doodling they really are.  I came across quite a few interesting sites. Several of the sites I visited pointed me to the Gutenberg project site and the book on Jacobean embroidery.  Such an interesting read - and source of designs.

While I was doing a desultory clean-up for the Christmas period, I also came across some designs I drew up when I was doing the blackwork workshop at the Embroiderers Guild.

As I was doing counted thread work, I used graph paper to help me.  But this is a design that is very much like the doodling patterns, I have just tried to remember what I would need to do to be sewing the designs rather than simply doodling.

I was off and running then, looking around all sorts of links connected to my current train of thought. I often come across this site when I am idling around the web - it is always worth a visit.  There are some great links on this post.
This site isn't for crewel embroidery, it is sashiko patterns but they look just like doodling patterns to me.
Here is another site I found through Pinterest.
No wonder I have liked doing the doodling thing - I have been playing around with similar stuff most of my life - off and on.

AND THEN I remembered Dijanne Cevaal's free motion embroidery patterns that she has published recently. They, too, look a lot like doodling.

So, although I have been busy with visiting and preparing for Christmas, not doing any of my creative stuff, I have been busy in my mind.

And the hollyhocks are blooming profusely at the moment, the freezer is filling up with flowers and the pressure is on to get the them out and start dyeing. Someone very selfishly wants to use the freezer for food - as if it were summer.