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!

I got so carried away thinking about grids that I made 6 different ones, and then shuffled this out to start with.

This whole one-a-day thing is interesting in that I feel free to try multiple takes on a concept and see how they play. I don’t deeply care if a couple (or more) really suck. I know out of a January’s worth of cards there might be one or two fabulous ones, but the great thing is that any four people would probably pick four different ones as the absolute best of the month. I’d probably pick a fifth!

We had a friend over for supper last night, braised lamb shanks, roasted vegetables, russian banana fingerling potatos (I love the name, the potatos are merely OK) and a Cake for dessert. K made the most amazing cake, devil’s food, from Cooks Illustrated, with whipped cream for frosting. I had many pieces last night, and a couple more tonight. It is one of those foods I am not entirely rational in the presence of. So, I get to eat it until it is gone, which isn’t all bad. Cook’s has a coconut cake like that too – I can’t make it unless I have many other people to feed it to, because I am completely capable of eating the whole thing and regretting it fiercely later.

And then this morning I was in  K’s blog ! This is a strange feeling, I must say. I mean I understood, kind of, about the whole putting oneself out there kind of thing, but to show up somewhere is just, well, odd.

Do leave me a note if you stop by, this thing is still in the testing phase. If I like it, I’ll sign up for more than January, but if the novelty has worn off, I’m done!

I like her – she was a bit more x-rated when she was completely nekkid, but I really like the way the blanket makes her both more dreamy and more decent, without really covering up too much.

My dolls with breasts, and pictures I make of women with shape make my elder daughter crazy. She is just finishing being 12, and really would embrace the option (if someone would offer her) of brain-in-a-box. Except she likes her muscles. She does a lot of circus training, and she enjoys the hanging upside down and the tricks and the fact that she can do it.  If fact it looked like such fun I signed the whole family up for Family Circus class last year, and again this year. Both girls love knowing they have more skills than either of us adults. My husband and I enjoy the fact that we are not too old to try this stuff. He has produced some deeply ugly cartwheels, the first in his life, at age 47, and we both possess creditable handstands. We accomplished a short family routine at the Spring Recital last spring, and might do so again this year.

The postcard for Jan 3. The other two are still on Flickr   and this one is too, I’m just experimenting with sticking pictures in here too.

The picture management program is freaking out because three different programs are duking it out to get the images off the camera. Adobe’s thing is the most obstreperous, but there is some Twain driver that is elbowing into the conversation and the stuff that came with the camera is a slow third. Which is a pain because I like it best.

I will eventually have it under control.

This is a test. This is only a test. In the event of an actual blog entry, something real must have happened and I would be writing about it here.

Actually, the New Year happened. I flat refuse to do resolutions, I am already eating better and have lost weight, so I wrote down some things I intend to do that will (I hope) improve my life in a good way.

It came out to a list of six things, with a bunch of rules and regs about the first thing, which is:

1. make a fabric postcard every day

• 4" x 6"
• every day, must be done, edges and back finished
• color of the month, shape of the month (Jan is blue, circle)
• digital picture to be posted to Flickr

After that, the rest are (relatively) easy:

1. talk to friends more, every couple of days
2. knit all the socks from the Blue Moon Sock Club, when they come in
3. call my mother more, at least every other day
4. ride the new bike when the weather is above 45 degrees
5. ride horses whenever the opportunity presents itself, no sloping off after cleaning stalls just because you can’t face a particular horse or don’t quite feel like it

So I did Yoga, ran a mile and rode a black mare, and made my postcard yesterday and today.

The postcards are at Flickr and once I have figured out how I’ll make them their own little folder separate from other artwork that will, by grace or sweat, be included as well.