I spent a lot of time with fiber today…
I went up to Oceanside and Vista to see some quilt-related stuff, and that led to yarn bombing stuff…
Like this yarnbombed payphone that is actually an iPhone…
Pretty well done, actually…Wait. Actually it’s NOT an iPhone. It’s not even a payphone. It’s an empty space where a payphone used to be. Actually.
This is in front of the Oceanside Library, if you want to see it…
And the other cool stuff that was there…like sweaters for hamsters hanging out to dry.
Lots of yarn was used up in this endeavor…
As well as all those bits and pieces that you started knitting and crocheting and don’t know what to do with them?
Now you know.
Plus. If it has eyeballs…
Then odds are I’m going to take a picture of it…
But since this is the entrance to the library, you know the kids are gonna love it too…
Or be totally creeped out by it and refuse to go in.
Cool feet. And eyeball.
I used to knit AND crochet. Regular Renaissance woman, I am. Now I stick to being a modern woman. Except minus the pointy bra and the Mother’s Little Helper in the cupboard for afternoons post-child.
And yet I don’t yarnbomb. I’m kind of a fan of trees. But also of the absurd. I think it would be cool to yarnbomb a single tree about 20 miles from any access point, like way out in the mountains. But someone’s probably already done that.
So we went to the Rancho Buena Vista Adobe for some quilts that were there…
It had been a while since I’d been there, so I probably have a picture of this mosaic from a million years ago…
And no, it’s not like I needed inspiration to persuade myself that lots of pieces is better than not very many.
I really like that sun. And I liked her…
especially her face up close…
A level of peace I find hard to come by. Plus…waterspots. And this sign…
Too many words for drunk people.
From there, we headed to the Oceanside Museum of Art, where one of the traveling portions of Quilt National opened this last week. No photos allowed, but what’s funny is that I don’t remember some of the quilts. I must have gone through that exhibit 17 times over the three days we were there, and I didn’t remember some of them. There are some wonderful pieces up there, though, totally worth the $8. I would pay $8 just to see Susan Lenz’ graveyard rubbings and Paula Kovarik’s round piece again. Oh yeah, and Brooke Atherton’s journal/map piece. Drop dead gorgeous. So that was nice.
And afterwards, we had Thai food…I don’t know that I’ve ever had Thai, because…well, let’s just say it wasn’t a choice I made…to me, Asian food is all very similar, plus this spice or that one, minus this grass or that one. Then again, the only food I really can’t handle is fish…well, and chocolate, but that’s not usually the main dish.
Van Gogh was checking the time…
I love these Van-Gogh-esque trees (so much drawing inspiration…like I need MORE of that).
Even the tulips on the utility box…well, one of them anyway…
The other one was very bad and didn’t deserve tulips.
I didn’t start quilting until late…I know I have to finish this one up quickly, because I’ve got lots more to do before school starts…and this one is a big bad beastie of a quilt…this is the back…
Luckily, the thread isn’t breaking very often and it’s quilting well, but there are just a LOT of pieces and fiddly bits, so it takes time.
I made it through all the dirt parts, I think…Calli was incredibly helpful, of course.
This is where I gave up…I realized how early I have to get up in the morning for the soccer tournament, and my car overheated today, so I was down in the driveway at almost midnight putting coolant in the radiator, and I still don’t trust it to drive to UCSD tomorrow morning, so we’ll take the kids’ car, but it needs gas. Sigh.
I wanted to get like 5 hours of quilting in today (probably somewhat unrealistic). I managed two.
Eighteen (at least) to go. Realistically? I could finish quilting her by Tuesday maybe. I could do sooner, but only if girlchild doesn’t make it to the finals on Sunday. And I’m probably not supposed to hope for that. There’s no time between games tomorrow, but I have most of the afternoon…although I need to go to the gym and I’m blowing off any possibility of a social life to make quilts. Now there’s a decision for you. So I could realistically get maybe 3 or 4 hours in tomorrow. Sunday, maybe the same, depending on the final and grocery shopping. Monday could be the last bit. If I buckled down and worked my butt off. So I’m sticking with my Tuesday estimate. Of course, I’ll probably have to go back to the fabric store for binding again. Maybe that should just be my Tuesday thang. Buying binding fabric. Whether you need it or not.
Then I have all the materials for the house thing I need to do, plus now I need to do some birds for that as well, plus potentially three more birds. And the gender equality drawing needs to get done and numbered and traced. Plus I might need to actually think about and prepare for school. Nope. Fuck that. I will figure that balance thing out if it kills me. I did OK with balance last year in terms of art v. schoolwork. I just need to make sure I take care of myself too, and that was difficult last year. I have permission from my counselor at the moment to cry as needed, to do what I want, and to take care of myself for the next two weeks without dealing with school. It’s not a very realistic thing, that, but it’s nice to keep it in the back of my mind for when I’m feeling a bit crazy about going back and losing the boychild and coping with my existing life. I’m so incredibly busy, but so incredibly alone in that incredible busy-ness. Not good.
Working on this quilt though? Good. It’s powerful. Of course, that means it won’t get in anywhere, but whatever. It will still kick ass.
Kathy Nida 