First Official Title of 2019

Happy 2019…I woke up to pretty blue skies after yesterday’s cloudy rainstorm. Both Christmas and New Year’s Eve were rainy…not normal for Southern California, but a nice change. We had a quiet evening in…mostly watched a movie and some TV and a bunch of random movie trailers, just so we could see the new year in. This morning, he’s off to gaming and I’m off to Lake Arrowhead to hang with the kids. Of course, I’m not actually packed or ready to go yet, but that’s OK. I have time.

Yesterday was a lot of trying to get things done…I finally pulled out the Project Paint piece, which had been percolating in my mind, and I drew the bits to go around it. I really wanted to add some fabric strips to it…I might even quilt it, but I haven’t decided yet. Certainly I’ll need to finish the edges somehow. But I started with a photocopy of his unfinished painting…

The word is relationships and he went for kids and games and picking his nose, so I added his big sister (even though he’s older than me…I’m a big sister) and then some stuff above and below, with some canvas squares for him to continue to paint in. He says he’s more of an abstract artist, so he can do what he wants in those squares. I’m not sure how the fusible web will work on the acrylic, so that should be interesting. Or complicated. We’ll find out. I like a challenge.

Then I traced all the pieces (there’s only like 160 or so) and cut them out.

I’m hoping to iron them to fabric this morning so I can take them with me and cut them out. I have until the 6th to get this done, and I will only be home on Friday, really. It could be tight. Yikes!

I meant to take down all the Christmas stuff yesterday. I got the tree done and that was it…this was before. I didn’t want to disturb Kitten…

Then again, she keeps eating the pine needles. I also didn’t want to put the tree back outside yesterday because we have a frost advisory tonight, and I think going from inside for 2 plus weeks to outside with frost is a bad plan for transitioning a tree. So I’ll wait until I come back.

I also went and talked to the diabetes nurse and it turns out the real problem is that my insulin dose is way too low, like not even normally low. I’m kind of irritated with my doctor and the pharmacist and the nurse practitioner who managed all this, because honestly, they didn’t. The diabetes nurse, in contrast, was really helpful and gave me guidelines to follow and emailed my doctor with what I should be doing. She’ll call me back tomorrow, when the doc is back in, and hopefully we’ll be adjusting my dosage the way it should have been back in November, and I’ll be feeling better. The feeling of being OFF has been present since the first time they put me on the new meds in July, and with the switch to insulin in November, it just makes me anxious to not understand how to manage the numbers. They’ve been so random. Of course, she talked about stress, which is the hardest thing for me to manage. Ah well. Bring back the meditation. And more hiking. I’m OK with that.

Here was the view from the car on the way back…

So 2019 will bring positive change for all that. Proof is in the sky. Hallelujah.

Kitten came out and sat with us last night for a good long while…same with Satchemo. Someday we’ll have cats who get along. Probably not these two, though…unfortunately. I drew my drawing for the night. Plus cut out a bunch of stuff.

I have a project I’ll be working on later this year where I won’t be able to show ANY of it, so I may go back to this drawing every night thing just to have something to show y’all. Or maybe I’ll do some small quilts at the same time. I drew some last year and never made them. I always have these plans to make smaller things or create a coloring book or sell prints or do Patreon, but then the actual DOING of it is overwhelming and it stops me. I’m not making any resolutions about that. If it happens, it happens.

Last night’s drawing…some influence from the diabetes discussion.

Get that pancreas under control dammit.

I cut things out for about three hours…

I finally see some progress. The first person is cut out, I think (well, the fifth person, because it’s in backwards order in the box) and I’m doing the sun now. I’m taking this with me to Arrowhead, because I can hopefully get it all done. It seems daunting when I say that now. Sigh.

I always feel like there’s not enough time. Because there isn’t.

Here’s all the colors from my year on Instagram. Interesting colors…

Not sure what I think about that, but it’s interesting data. Oh yeah! I made a thing with all of last year’s quilts…I always do that.

Two tiny quilts, one really big quilt, and eight medium-sized quilts of a variety of shapes and sizes. One commission. Five have already been in shows. Not bad. Working on getting the rest seen. Lots of suns and skies and rockets and hearts and rainbows. And cats! Always with the cats. And birds.

May the new year have more of all that and some new stuff as well. Many more finishes and challenges and good health and good people. Plus quiet nights at home and rowdy nights dancing to music and some good food and hopefully good news on the political and human front. Plus less stress or better management of the stress that already exists, or just plain old getting better at ignoring it. And happiness and joy to all. Even to the assholes.