She Needs a Head…

Does anyone know if sourdough starter is treated as a liquid by TSA? It’s not REALLY liquid…but if lotion is a ‘liquid’ to our airline security team, then starter probably is too. Girlchild is going home in just over a week, and apparently does not trust us to keep this shit alive (probably a realistic thing there…I think I can keep it alive over the summer, but who knows after that?). I’m gonna miss her (the girlchild, not the starter…we are keeping some of that here), not just for the cooking and weird late-night TV watching, but because she’s my kid and Boston is a long way away. Plus there’s a pandemic on, and you just want everyone close to you…at least within driving distance. She will, as always, provide proof of life by liking some (not all) of my Instagram posts, so that will have to do. It’s probably the longest time she’s been home since she went to college…strangely. These are strange times, though, and are bound to get stranger.

It’s officially the second day of summer break. We go back to school in 54 days. It’s horrible that I’m looking at that. I need to know where I stand. 54 days until true crazy starts? I’m thinking.

I ironed a lot yesterday…

All during a social Zoom…I finished her chest and other arm…

And then did the COVID arm behind her, coming to take her away.

Disproportionate numbers of BIPOC are affected by COVID. There are many reasons floating around out there, including some cultural ones, some socioeconomic ones, and some Why the Fuck Can’t We Just Give Everyone Good Healthcare ones. Either way, I wanted to document that in this quilt.

Now she needs a head…maybe tonight? The next few days are a little weird. We started pulling a piece of the backyard fence down this morning in preparation for replacing it. So I’ll be working some hard hours probably in the next few days. Not expecting much artmaking time. We’ll see though.

I also worked on this embroidery during the Zoom…

It’s from one of my own drawings, so it’s somewhere along the lines of insanely detailed. We had the designer for the pattern we’re using on a stitch-along stop by our Zoom and I wanted to actually listen to her, so I stitched while she was there.

I’ve made 6 blocks now for the stitch-along. I had to finally make a post-it for the basic sewing together, just so I wouldn’t have to keep looking it up in the pattern. And because my brain just cannot remember the difference between convex and concave, I labeled all the pieces with that too.

So I made two orange blocks…

I found a few more black and white prints that I thought would be OK for this…

I have a ton of black and white prints, but I’m looking for a shade of white plus a level of black vs white. I’m not sure about these yellow ones. They’re not as vibrant as the others.

But I also like how they fade out into the white. When I get all the blocks made, if they are an issue, I’ll make new ones.

I was supposed to have 5 done by tomorrow, so I’m doing OK. Next week, I need 10 more. Although I think I need 25 for the pattern, and we were told 5 + 10 + 5 and that ain’t 25. So I might need more. I don’t even know what I’m doing with this anyway, so I might need even more.

Speaking of quilts, I made this for that kid before she was born.

She’s 3 now? I think? Sheesh. They do last. This is the lightest, pinkest quilt I’ve ever made. Cats and math were the theme. I was told pink, gray, and white, and I added that wavy strip with extra colors just for some zing. Glad she still likes it.

I was seriously behind on dot-stitching, so I settled down around 10:30 last night to try to catch up…with Luna as witness.

I finished Friday’s first…under the yellow ball.

It was pretty easy.

That’s why I started with it.

Then I gave the lion a tail, because someone else did it and I liked it.

Although now maybe he needs feet and a body. Oh well.

Then I did Thursday’s ant, but I had been warned and given a picture, so I added two more legs and fattened him up more…

He was also pretty easy.

That’s a good ant color.

So now I’m two behind…today is an octopus and Wednesday was an acorn. I’ll get caught up eventually, no worries.

OK, well we have some Fathers’ Day-related social distancing to do, and then some decision about dinner probably. I didn’t get anything done today that I was supposed to artwise, just the fence and some watering…still have a bunch to do. That’s OK. I can piece and iron and stitch later. Or tomorrow. There’s time. Fifty-four days of it. Maybe. Well, you know how that goes. And yes, I’m still tired. I’ll get caught up eventually. I’ve been trying to use the meditation app before I go to bed…still have the issue of waking myself up with the actual GOING to bed. But otherwise I have to listen in bed with headphones on. Haven’t gotten there yet.