Lee Thomson

Jan 14
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

I love the William Morris fabrics, and I have dozens of them in different colors, all untouched. I owe myself a point for cutting into TWO of them, and for figuring out how to get the circles properly centered from the back. I don’t think this one works so well as some others, it is better in person than in the picture, but it still needs… something.

I got my new issue of Craft on Friday. I like it, but it makes me feel really really old. I don’t know if it is a kind of undergraduate pleasures feel to it, or just-slightly-post-graduate or the whole cutting edge thing is far away from where I am. There have been flights of great magazines, and I am sorry to report most of them died long ago. Some of you might be able to lay hands on a copy of one from the early 1980s (that I think was called Craft too, but my memory is hazy these days). It had sewing and knitting, interesting patterns, great photography and kind,  informal writing.

Then, there is Threads, the old version and the new one. I have all the 1st ten years of Threads, 60 issues safely stashed in holders because I still refer to them. I love the cross pollination between disciplines, and the fact that everyone is an artist and pursuing their craft at the most extreme and interesting edge. I miss the range of interest in the current Threads, so I get it from the library or friends, and it takes minutes instead of hours to go through it.

I like all the different things from Interweave, but I can’t stand having to get 5 or 6 magazines to cover a dilletante’s interest in felting, spinning, weaving, knitting, beading and they don’t have sewing at all because really Threads and Sew News cover the waterfront.

But I digress. Craft is here, and I shall go see what kind of trouble I can get into this month.

Jan 13
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

Whew! Two things in one day, although you only get one at the moment. The postcard is a silk background, cut from a scarf in the stash (1 point) and a real rock glued on, and a picture of a shell I printed on fabric. I needed to get away from the grids, although you may notice the woven check taking its place, but I liked the work-from-the-back feeling.

The second thing I was working on was a page of quilt journal. I am taking a class at Valley Fabrics  (a totally rocking spot). It meets once a month, and this was the first meeting. The plan is to have a page for each month, for the whole year. It looks like a great group of people. Everyone got right to work , thinking about what they wanted to do. I like having people around who have a grip. No whining! (The brits say whingeing)

I got completely paralyzed there, because I wanted to use the computer to print pictures and I hadn’t finished thinking yet, and I had been trying not to over-think any of it and just work, and I had no flow…. It felt much better to be home and start storming around my space again. I dropped the one idea I had had in the store, and pursued the idea I had to begin with, and I have a river running through the middle of it, just like I think I meant to do.

Jan 12
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

Real pennies and dimes, little wooden wheels, and a couple of buttons. I have this incredibly cool punch from a couple birthdays ago (my amazing husband! I adore him) that has enough leverage to punch holes through nickels. A Roper Whitney No 5 Jr. hand punch. I love that I can make dangles out of almost anything that I can punch holes in. Although some materials work better than others. Shells sometimes punch well and sometimes shatter. Glass always shatters. Rock doesn’t work at all. You can see what I have always wanted to punch holes through so I could sew them onto things! Or string as beads.

Today I walked into Ikea for the first time ever. It was kind of cool, and profoundly overwhelming. I am thankful I had a good guide and friend, and we packed snacks. Mostly I looked at things, and thought about exactly how small our house is, but I have some concepts for the closet finally, and a bunch of things to think about for the rest of the house. It is important to get stuff OUT of the house first, and then organize what is left.

It reminded of the old Design Research stuff in Cambridge in my youth, that became (I think) Crate and Barrel. It is nice to have scandinavian design for cheap, and while it is true the stuff may only last for 5 years, at the rate life is changing, that could be a good thing, right? I mean Whoo hoo!! New furniture in 5 years! Could work. The alternatives are expensive new, expensive antique old (which makes me so nervous to use it I can hardly breath) and cheap old which frankly is what we have now and I am sick of.

But I digress.

Jan 11
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

I feel like I am almost done with the grids and the filmy fabrics. I like the feeling of in front/behind (why does so much of art come down to Sesame Street? Grover is IN FRONT OF the truck….)

I was afraid I’d get bored, or run out of concepts, but I seem to be able to spin off ideas from here, and once started I am realizing it feeds itself. Phillip Pullman, whose books I adore, says that inspiration waits for him at his desk. He shows up and picks up his pencil and starts working on the story. Sometimes it flows quickly, sometimes it flows slowly, but it doesn’t get done at all if he isn’t sitting at his desk. Certainly inspiration is waiting in my room.

According to the points scale of yesterday, I may only get 4 for this one. Nothing I made in it, but I hit the stash, I cleaned, and it certainly looks related to the last couple days. Now I have to figure out how to tally the points, and what they are good for.

Jan 10
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

I wanted to hang sequins off some of the circles, but couldn’t find the ones I had been thinking of. But then I remembered that I had made handfuls (handfuls I tell you – what was I thinking?) of dangly bits from shrinky plastic. Some were stamped-then-shrunk and others were shrunk and then embossed with the stamp. I think there might have been embossing powder involved as well. I was so pleased to see them again, and delighted to use them.

I am thinking of awarding myself points for the making of these things. I get a point just for making one that doesn’t suck. I get two more for using something else I made in it. I get a point for thematic unity from day to day. I get a point if I put stuff away too, either after I am done with it, or because I am desperately looking for a particular thing that is under a pile o crap on the table. I get extra credit if I cut into something I have been hoarding into "because I don’t want to waste it". 

Given that scale, I think I get 6 points for today. Dunno what that means, but I’ll take it!

It feels so good to use things I made to use, and bought to use. It is nice to see these fabrics coming out into the light again. Even tiny pieces of them are great friends. I guess that is what having work space is all about – you go there, and find the stuff you bought to make things, and then you, well, make things.

Jan 9
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

I had a good name for this while I was working on it, but I forgot it when I went away to get a kid from school. The perils of parenthood!

This is from an old doodle I found cleaning my knitting shelf. I was trying to draw more last year, and rather than drawing the salt shakers over and over at restaurants while waiting for people, I started doing these regular doodles of squares and circles and diamonds. I keep finding them at odd moments. They do have a kind of regularity that I don’t think I display normally.

Jan 8
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

More grids! I need to figure out how to see the grid on the front even though I am doing the gridding on the back using thin ribbon in the bobbin of the machine. That’s why it has that great couched look, bright pink specks on dark purple ribbon. With the grid on both sides I could center the circles better.

A friend asked Why Circles? Why Blue? Good questions. I wanted to keep some kind of thematic unity for the month, and having a color and shape theme makes it easier to figure out what I can do do next. It all has to do with setting limits. With no limits, I tend to flail a lot, trying to decide what to do next. Limits get me thinking about how to interpret them, and how to submit to the letter of the law while flouting the spirit of the law.

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

So there is this site, How Many of Me?   where you can find out how many people have your first, last and combined names.

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 26 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

And I have now figured outhow to do something new in my blog. I am a happy woman!