full page
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

My page is full….

work room
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

Edited to Add: Welcome to the GPP Street Team visitors – you can see this is an ongoing project! And yet, it fits right in with Challenge 23

It is taking too long. The plan is to move only the things I need back into the room, everything else goes Out or In the Cellar, or AWAY – whatever it takes.

I am thinking that this project that has swallowed months is a good candidate for both the August TIF challenge (balance in life) and the Sept one too (lists of things). I need the balance between stuff visible, and room to put things together. Between visual stimulation and room to make my own ideas. A sufficiency of supplies without overwhelming clutter.

Kirsty Hall has a lovely post about how balance is what it takes to not fall off the beam (thinking specifically of gymnastics). It isn't a static place, but a moving target. Some weeks a lot of this, other times more of something else.

And for the lists? Well, I've found myself finishing projects that have languished long enough rather than repack them into the (new! clean! space) for finishing later. Because this is later, and I might as well do it now.

So I am thinking both my TIFs are done and I can devote myself to getting the rest of the way back into this room without worrying that particular issue. Like a slow snail, there are still boxes stacked in my bedroom, and I ahve to draw the rest of the stuff into the room or leave it behind.

And this is post # 500. I can't believe I have that much to say! I can't believe you have read this far! Many thanks..

In other news, Lipizzaners now have girls!! Woot!!

The Spanish Riding School accepted two women into the program. They have some  probation, and then some learning to do, and in five years or so we get to see them perform. I always knew they'd eventually accept women, I just hoped, in 6th grade, that it would be ME.

Now all they need is to use some mares in the program, instead of only stallions…

Alice
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

headed to 5th grade – I’m doing ok with this one, actually.

Aerin
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

high school freshman.

eep, anyone?

Pretty much all told in this song here:

workroom, chaos to ….
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

The top shows how the room started at the beginning of the year. I pulled an astonishing amount of stuff out of it, and realized that I couldn’t bear the wall paper. So it is down to bare walls (as you read here earlier) and I primed it today.

If I start tomorrow early, I should be able to get two coats of paint on all the walls.

Then all I have to do is decide which of several possible bench/storage ideas will be work. Actually they would all work. I am aiming for some happy balance of done, not blindingly expensive, and easy to work with. I think it all requires a trip to Ikea.

The biggest problem with peeling off wallpaper is that there is so much stuff left to after that.

I took yesterday off to play with dyes with the FAWBBS (Fiber Artists with belly button scars – it is complicated) We experimented with various types of tied and clamped resists, which reminds me that I need to go take stuff out of the washing machine because I forgot yesterday. I was so tired and stiff I felt about 80 years old. Fortunately I was closer to my real age this morning. I managed to get paint and primer, ride one horse a lot, ride another horse just enough to decide she has a sore back, and after some digressions return home to face the walls.

They got washed today. All the old glue is scrubbed off, the walls are smooth and lovely, and ready for priming.

Excelsior!!

Jul TIF done
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

It may not be done, but I am done with it. I have the next month to finish on time, and some other projects that have been percolating so long they are banging on the inside of my brain begging to be let out.

I was thinking about dividing the piece in half, and realizing how permeable a half way mark really is. While Xeno talks about halfway to a fixed point, half way through a year feels much less identifiable, because of the following years piled against it.

I used light-reactive paint to cover half the image, and used rope to mark the wavy boundary between here and there. I like the way the paint spilled beyond the border, and the stitching works into the overflow, showing again how permeable the boundary is. I cleverly combined a need and a desire – I needed portability, and desired to use handwork to make the stitches.

IMG_3819
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

We are home. The laundry is done. We had a very nice time. I have some sewing to finish.