emmajane.net

I like figuring out how things fit together. I hoard information and push it into different storage formats to understand how all the bits go together and what the relationships are between the bits of information.

My skincare recipes are currently stored in a printed ring binder and on Evernote. I'm not a huge fan of trusting companies with my data. Truth be told, I don't even trust software with a local copy of my data. Committing information into a data structure always seems limiting. I worry that as soon as I've committed my information to one storage format another, better format will present itself and I will be forced to move my data from one format to the other. I recognize this is neurotic--or maybe just a bit commitment-phobic--on my part. In any case, I use Evernote for its "private share" functionality which allows me to share my clippings and skincare recipes with specific people. Evernote's private share is a lot easier than creating a public site and having to worry about my personal notebook being considered internet plagiarism.

I've been starting quilts for a little over a decade. My favourite part is planning and creating the top of the quilt. Apparently at this point you can send your quilt off to someone else who likes the quilting part best and get a finished quilt (in exchange for a bit of money). But this doesn't seem right to me somehow. I think it's because most of my quilts are "rustic" at best in terms of their construction. Adding someone else's quilting to finish the blanket would somehow depersonalize the object. As a result I have a lot of quilt tops sitting around waiting for the next stage.

As part of my reduce-the-stash-by-using-things-already-in-house plan, I pulled out my quilt tops a few days ago and started digging through my fabric stash to see what I could use to back them. Most of the fabric I have is small pieces (a fat quarter would be a big piece of fabric for me). While I was staring at fabric trying to decide how I was going to make my quilt backs a shocking revelation came to me: I don't need to make a front AND a back for my quilts. I can make TWO fronts.

This, my friends, changes everything.

To say the least, 2011 was an interesting year. My first solo-authored book was published, I was a Green candidate in the federal election. I launched a new training program, I released seven new information products, I travelled less, but took up beekeeping. I got a ukulele. The list goes on and on. And even though I wrote thousands of words in 2011, what I didn’t do was capture my thoughts. I guess that’s the problem with thinking too much—there isn’t necessarily a place to put the thoughts while they’re still forming.