bracelet frenzy
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

Red Kate came over yesterday, after the Holiday Parade in Florence.

Let me take a moment to describe the Holiday Parade in Florence because it is nearly perfect. It started with six troupes of Brownies and Girls Scouts, followed by the High School Band in warm clothes and Santa hats, then local politicians, a bagpipe band, Shriners in little goofy cars, Veterans, Revolutionary War Re-enactors, another community band and Santa. The parade route is so short, they go twice around the block, so if you miss anything the first time you get to clap all over again. It is tiny, local, and friendly.

Anyhow – Red Kate came over and made earrings from the beads she'd brought with her, so I dragged my stash downstairs and picked out a handful of interesting things. Apparently it was fun, because I couldn't stop. I finished off some strings of beads I've been saving for some other project I've forgotten, and random handfuls of pretty things that kind of go together. I am quite pleased with myself.

I am less pleased with the last of the Nano pieces. It still requires a fair amount of work, which is supposed to be done by Tuesday.

A freaky and ugly thing happened to us Thursday night. Someone opened the (generally unlocked) back door, and walked out with my pocketbook, Al's wallet and my daughter's Macbook. We were in the house, asleep upstairs. No one was hurt, nothing else was taken, no unpleasant surprises were left for us, but it still feels nasty.

After spending most of Friday on the phone to credit card companies, in the bank changing account numbers and at the registry getting a temporary license so I could drive again, I find myself mourning the working systems I had in place. The calendar/day runner thing that they don't make anymore. The phone that had all the numbers in it (I am grateful my number didn't change) that I need to recollect and get in somehow. The sketchbook.

I feel like keening over the sketchbook – it had some trees and some shells and the pugs from my brother's house… I was practicing seeing the island, not using the camera, and now those results are gone. Oddly, I seem to want to throw out more stuff rather than get new to replace things. I don't quite understand that. Going on a cleaning spree as a result of a burglary?

But that has been my weekend, except I also got to see Hamelt, which was teriffic, and help with the set strike which was speedy and raucous and fun, and lunch with my group.

My group: Audrey, Timna, Cindy-of-the-hand-dyes and Lynne-with-no-blog (yet).  Together, we fight crime make things and cheer each other on. Thanks guys!

veils of mist +1
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

I was thinking I'd try adding layers of organza until it wouldn't fit under the sewing machine foot, but I think this one is done, so I'll have to save that experiment for a different piece.

I really like the way the organza implies the depth of the mist, and distance from the viewer. While I am not completely sure about the top layer of silk, over everything, I like it better with than without.

I feel like I am developing a vocabulary for water and trees and sky. Silk is perfect for water and sky – it has a kind of glow that few other fibers do, it takes color well, and (in utter woo-woo terms) the organic nature of the fiber shows through. Cotton and wool are my preferred materials for land and objects. They look more opaque, more solid and grounded. A very good thing for trees.

That makes three so far, for November, and I still have time and materials….

Onward!

misty moisty morning
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

A small piece of Nano 3 – all about the fog.

If I can, I'll take pictures of the Hamlet hangings, and the ghost, to demonstrate my other works this month.

I think the point of Nano is just to sit and do whatever-it-is even if there isn't time. Take lunches and sty up later than you should and workworkwork on the project in hand to get a rough draft, or a body of work. So I am still plugging away, even thogh it has been quiet!

cattails
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

I just finished this one, and found my camera, and found the tiny disk that goes in it so it can save pictures (that was in the netbook).

So – more reflections, same tiny pond. Honestly, it is a mere puddle, but I seem to be working my way around the shoreline in 10 ft chunks. The sewing machine was having some issues stitching in the reeds, so I may have overworked that area some, but I am pleased over all, and delighted with the small red tree in the understory that is completely perfect if I do say so.

I'm working hard on the second one, cattails at the other end of the tiny pond, but my camera has temporarily vanished and I can't show you my (astonishing) progress.

Sorry. It looks pretty fine.

yellow leaves
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

The first NaNoCraftMo piece was actually done on Thursday, but I completely ran out of steam to upload it and write anything about it.

I am most pleased with the leaves on the trees, and how multiple layers of stitching and fabric give the idea of things in front of and behind. I am also delighted with the lumps of leaves – I was unsure when I stuck down the blobby fabric shapes how that would work, but stitching the edges made them blurrier and gave a better feel for the wispyness of the leaves.

Onward!

thread for the weather
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

While the weather outside was the color of the first thread – cold and gray and pelting rain – my internal weather was much more like the rest of the threads and even the fabrics.

I used to care fiercely about fiber content in the threads I used, I think as a hold-over from caring about the threads I wear (small joke). I was a natural fiber snob. Except Coast and Clark have come out with some truly gorgeous polyester thread and I am smitten. And won over. They are smooth and pretty, and really that is all I care about when I'm stitching with them. So, my thread palette has grown over the last year with new reels of shiny thread. It makes me verry happy.

I must mention the hand dyes I've been using for a lot of the outdoor colors too. They come from Cindy Lioselle, who still has no online presence that I am aware of (Cindy! What gives?!) Cindy is a talented dyer whose dedication to color in general and getting a particular color is amazing. She kindly handed me a pile of scraps (they are HUGE scraps for me) I was drooling over last fall, and I have been mining the pile for lovely muted colors for a while.

Nov 2
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

I am whimpering – my days suddenly filled with barn work I didn't anticipate and Hamlet production stress, but I think I have started the month's projects with a bang.

Aerin and I spent a couple hours rigging the ghost of Hamlet's father, so it can fly on and off stage, and furl to hide behind the curtain. I had started to hate it, but the director likes it, and I have two more options for when or if he decides he hates it.

Think ahead – that's my motto.

Also: A Job Well Dreaded is a Job Half Done.

November is NaNoWriMo which stands for National Novel Writing Month. People with a desire to write a book sit down and whag out 50,000 words over the course of November. The point being to just sit there and do it, whatever level of drivel or sublime results, to have accomplished this one big thing.

Sadly, I am pretty sure I do not want to write a novel. But I really like the idea of doing something big, and solid, and a real creative stretch. There is also NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) but really, I just don't have that much to say.

Enter NaNoCraftMo – National mumble Craft Month – with a Flickr group to show our results.

So here we go. I am working on a series of 8×10" pieces on the pond, the same pond in the last piece, from different directions and different angles. I prepped backgrounds for 10, I have new ideas for mounting and framing them that should be more economical, and still durable, I have sketches for 5.  I have the first piece laid out and I'll start stitching tomorrow.