Dancing Crow Designs

hard wear

Feb 22
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

I was inspecting my younger child and admiring the knees sticking out of these holes, when I said "those pants have seen some hard wear" and it resonated. So she donated them to the cause, and I whacked off the knees for this postcard and gave her back a pair of shorts MONTHS before she has a chance of wearing them. It was quite the fashion statement. She prefers tall socks, her favorite is a pair with pom-poms on strings off the top. She realized if she pulled them up high enough, the pom-poms could be made to come out the holes in the knees.

Note for future reference: DO NOT iron the nice waterproof band-aids. They melt.

picture, real, picture

Feb 21
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

I was experimenting with washer arrangements and using the camera as a way to remember (thank you yarnstorm for proving I am not alone in this) and it showed up again today when I downloaded all the pix from visiting my mum (Hi Mum!). So I printed it out, and embroidered it some, but since it looked too flat I added two real washers as well. I broke two needles, failing to clear the washer. I swore if I broke a third, I'd stop, but I managed to finish it before killing anything else.

I am so pleased to be home. Not that I didn't have a lovely time. But to have access again to my own tools and stuff is bliss. Six different ideas popped out at me while I was ironing fabric onto this postcard.

Before we left my Mum, we all went to run on Crane's Beach with her lovely dog Parker.  You can see Mum and the A's (Big A, Little A) and Parker all standing on somebody's float that washed ashore.

Tomorrow I'll put up some pictures of us sledding after it warmed up. The girls and Mum were out in the -18 weather, while I huddled cravenly next to the woodstove and kept it blazing. I was very proud of them.

catching up

I managed to make a postcard every day. Some are great, one is really silly.

I posted them all to Flickr: Feb 16, Feb17, Feb 18, Feb 19, and Feb 20.

I still have to finish one for today.

a remote presence

So, I'm here but not from home, which is a strange feeling. I can't do anything about posting pictures because even though I have my camera, I don't have the wire and software to get pictures onto Mum's computer, and thence into cyberspace.

I had a lovely weekend being fed and allowed to sleep at Kate's house (Hi Kate! Hi Bob!) and managed to make a postcard a day while I was there. They need backs and photography, but they have been accomplished.

I attended a baby shower for a baby I could not be happier about. Really it could not happen to nicer, stronger, better adjusted people. I find it insanely difficult not to spew advice non-stop, so I spent a lot effort shutting up and letting others talk about what they remembered and how wonderful their babies were. They were all completely fabulous, of course. As were my own.

I'm with my mom now, for a couple of days, with the girls. Since we've all spent most of the last couple days traveling and because it is -18 F counting wind chill, we've been staying inside admiring the view out over the marshes instead of accomplishing anything that requires effort. We might have to venture out tonight to feed ourselves, but by then the wind should have moderated some. 30 knots with gusts much higher right now, thank you Very much. Plus it comes roaring in over the marshes and hits the house like a hammer. Fairly exciting. We'll be here another night or two, depending on the weather. Then home and the pursuit of boredom. It always helps to get the kids good and bored before making them go back to school. It makes school so much more enticing.

So - postcards when I hit home again, and probably not much else before then.

dailyness and travel

I'm about to address one of the major challenges to one-a-day anything: what do I do when I travel, especially when it is more vacation than anything else.

I haven't finished today's postcard yet, though I will before I leave, but I probably won't have time to post it. I'll be gone til Tuesday or Wednesday, and I think I need to make one a day for each of the days between now and then. I can pack stuff to use, and rely on handwork. I'll let you know when I get back what almost worked.

mashed embroidery?

Feb 15
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

The day after a snowstorm is always so bright and shiny! I carried this around with me on errands today, embroidering in the masher tracks, admiring the day. The base is an old hand-dye, with the molding paste on it, nicely colored. I was trying for a more marbled look, but the paint mixed in too fast. An embarassing thing is that I can't tell if I have it upside down or not - I turned it around and around while embroidering it. I took pictures of it both ways, and posted the one I liked best. You can turn it over if you want.

Happy Valentine's blizzard

Feb 14
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

A blizzard of hearts for Valentine's Day.

We'll return to our regularly scheduled potato mashers tomorrow.

mashed leaves

Feb 13
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

Starting with some hand printed fabric from a series of texture experiments a couple summers ago, put some gel medium on it (with color this time) and mashed it. It looked not-quite-finished, so I added some hand work to it. I liked doing the hand work, and I'm thinking of incorporating it into more things.

Today was one of the Brattleboro/Circus days. Little A and I take a private class with Marina (who I worship as discreetly as possible) while Big A takes an advanced class with a crew of interesting girls. They were tucking their feet behind their heads today, while Little A and I were practicing trapeze. Pictures of that later.

another good orange masher

Feb 12
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

I am liking the hand embroidery around the outside, but I should put it on before I fix the fabric to the postcard interior, the stiff interfacing. The stiffener is hard to pull needles through. (I know I've been knitting too much when I think about writing about kneedles.) The lines are just marker lines; I hadn't realized how they echoed the grids from last month until I was looking at the picture here!

A barn day today. I realized it is hard to talk about horses and fiber in the same place. I don't have so much to say about the horses. Part of it you don't want to know (I clean 4 stalls). Probably because it is so physical, and hard to describe. Really, beyond "I rode well" or "I was sore and stiff and made the pony mad" there isn't much that can be put into words.

I think that not a lot of physicality yields to description. You can dance something, or go for a run, but talking about it degenerates fast into poetry or babble.

I rode well, I had a good lesson, I had fun.

Big A's pet foot

When she's cold, she tucks it into her armpit.