So my computer is being nonfunctional. Aka it’s on but refusing to behave…I restarted it because every time I tried to use the mouse, it would do something whack instead of just scrolling like a normal mouse. There was a cat/keyboard interaction Monday night that might have been part of it. The boychild comes back here tonight, so maybe he can figure it out.
I feel a little nonfunctional as well. I mean all I do is work work work and try to fit art around all that. Got back to clay on Monday…
Her hand needs some work. Trying to keep everything from breaking and/or falling apart is a challenge at the moment. Never mind trying to figure out the head. I have too much going on this week so I probably won’t get back there until next Monday. Which sucks.
Quiltwise, I need to be working on my friend’s mom’s quilt but haven’t been able to clear enough time at night. Just playing catch-up from being gone two weekends. So I’ve been spending a little time (not enough) with drawing the next piece, which will have four panels. I think. I drew the first one before I went to QuiltCon, but inked it Sunday. Monday, I added the author (it came to me…).
Then I sketched the 2nd page…
And yesterday, I inked it.
And numbered the first two pages. Then stared at a blank piece of paper for a while, waiting for pages 3 and 4 to manifest. I can always start tracing these. Hard to have brain power some nights unfortunately. It all got used up for the day job.
Ok. Today is a chill day where the kids are working independently and I’m grading. Originally I was supposed to be at the District Office one day this week and that fell through, so I had a lesson plan ready for a sub. I’m going to take advantage of that today so maybe I won’t have to spend the entire weekend grading. Ha! It’s not looking good. Then Pilates…thank goodness. I missed the weekend class. Then home to grade and draw. Hopefully. And quilt maybe too. I think if I just get the quilt back under the sewing machine, it will be easier to do a little every day. Oh yeah, and fix the computer. Sigh.
It’s Monday again. It’s like it happens every week. This one feels like a bit much. I really enjoyed my three days away from home, wallowing in quilty stuff. It was a relief. Talking to people about quilts and art (and politics, because that came up over and over again)…it was nice; it was a relief. Seeing all the quilts…yes, I have a million pictures and I may put some in here when I have time (when do I ever have time???)…even though I don’t make that kind of quilt, some of them truly sing to me. Having one’s head solidly in something that is not school-related is a blessing.
And now I’m back. Woo! Actually, I had kids emailing all weekend and a slew of coworker texts on Friday that just about made me implode in the car on the way to Phoenix. More last night. Anyway, I’m sure that will just be the norm from now until June 17. Wait, probably after that too.
So before I left for the show, I hung out and stitched with friends…
I thought I would work on this on the trip. Nope. Not at all. I did make a spectacular knot in this thread on Thursday night, and three stitchers valiantly tried to unknot it and got it to this…
Two well-managed bits on each side and then an uncontrolled disaster in the middle. Kind of a metaphor for life.
We drove to Phoenix, leaving Friday morning. We had a nice little cottagey condo, with these guys in the kitchen…
And their friends on the fence out back…
I’m a fan.
We spent a tiny bit of time out here. I spent most of my time at the convention center.
It was a comfortable place though.
I went to two lectures: Susan Hudson of the Navajo Quilt Project, which I’ve sent a ton of fabric to…
Don’t sit close if you want to see their faces…I will send her more fabric when I get around to going through it. I didn’t make it through all the colors.
And Anna Maria Parry (was Horner)…
No, I don’t make quilts like her at all…I do love to listen how artistic brains work though, so it was fascinating for that. Same with Susan’s.
Somewhere in between all that, I was back at the cottage.
Relaxed and exhausted.
I sat at the SAQA booth on Saturday for a couple of hours with my quilt, Woman 3.0, which is traveling with the StitchPunk exhibit.
It was nice to see her. And I finally met Maddie Kertay of BadAss Quilter Society and got one of her ribbons.
That was nice. Appreciate the ribbon too.
Saw some art that wasn’t fiber…
And took a nighttime class (with a lot of caffeine) from Nichole Vogelsinger (aka Wild Boho). It was fun; I enjoyed my tablemates and time to stitch…
Again, this was more about listening to how the artist thinks than trying to make her stuff. I did buy way too many sequins though…
And beads that didn’t arrive in time. It’s OK; I went through my stash and ended up using stuff from crazy quilt swaps I did a million years ago.
The Man walked back from the convention center with me at 9:30 PM, and we saw this amazing thing…Janet Echelman’s ‘Her Secret Is Patience’. Beautiful piece.
Then Sunday, we drove home, I pissed off someone in a Zoom meeting (well, I didn’t agree with her), and tried to get a bunch of stuff done. I didn’t draw at all this weekend. It’s OK, I’m fine with that. I inked the drawing I did on Wednesday night…
With no help from Bowie…
Or Nova, who kept taking my seat…
Yes, I bought fabric. I notionally said I wouldn’t, but I knew that was a lie because I was looking for e bond’s new line and the African fabrics fascinate me…but not a huge haul…
Fun stuff.
Anyway, now I’m back and need to grade a million things and deal with kids and adults and parents. Ugh. Starting with this morning and a meeting that starts in 45 minutes. Did I tell you that 4 subs canceled on me for Friday? So I got the one I’d requested in the beginning that the district made me cancel? Long (stupid) story. It’s fine. We’ll see how the kids did in a few hours…making them do presentations today on what they should have done Friday. We’ll see how that goes. Tons of meetings today and then clay. And grading. And hopefully drawing after that. I’m back and there’s nothing planned until Spring Break, which isn’t really planned. And may not happen. Sigh.
Oh hey, yeah I’m totally off on days this week. Oh well. Travel does that to you. I’ll be leaving tomorrow morning for Phoenix for QuiltCon, where I found out, one of my quilts IS actually hanging, but in the SAQA vendor booth. Check it out!
That’s my quilt, Woman 3.0, on the right side of the middle. IDK whether it’s random that it’s hanging there (this is part of the StitchPunk exhibit that’s been traveling) or they knew I’d be in the booth, but I love it! If you’re at QuiltCon, you should go see it. It’ll probably be the only time I’ll have a quilt at QuiltCon.
I’m totally jealous of all the people posting that they left early and are touring all the parts of Arizona etc that are naturally awesome (like as In Nature). I won’t have time for that this time. And school makes it always hard to tack on any extra time.
In other quilt news, I finished this piece, which has notionally been called Self Portrait for the four months I’ve been working on it.
I may or may not retitle it. It needs to be cleaned up and photographed. It’s got body bags and bunnies, bullets and a fox, lots of political stuff, lots of personal stuff. All drawn in October, before the election and all the crazy shit that is going on now…stuff I’m not even sure how to process into a visual image.
I have a deadline coming up, so last night, I started figuring that out. It needs to be a certain shape and size (book shape-ish). So I’ll need four ‘pages’. I started drawing one of them last night…
My goal is to get them drawn in the next few days, although I kinda have a shit ton of crap going on, so we’ll see how that goes. In the background, with all the writing on it, is another possible deadline. One I’m interested in, at least…I’m going to have to read a book to complete it though. Not that it’s usually a problem, but I’d need to read it, process it, and draw something in the next three weeks. Hmmm. It’s not impossible. I could. If I have an idea, I can draw it fast enough. And I’m trying to clear some weekends in March (ha!) because February is such a mess. It’s a GOOD mess, but hell, this day job just kicks my butt when anything else is going on.
In clay, girlchild made the boychild a chip and dip bowl for his birthday…
Although she then left it with me to bisque and glaze fire and it just came out. It’s pretty. One air bubble. No breakage! A miracle.
I also finally got to do some building…it’s been rough getting into the studio the last two weeks. I worked on the right arm and hand, which still need work, and lengthened the left arm.
The bottom piece is dryish, but I want to paint it with underglazes…so I’ve been spraying it to rehydrate it, but then not having time to paint (or in this case, I forgot the glazes and I barely had an hour to work anyway).
Normally I’d go tomorrow after school, but I won’t be in this state. So Monday it is. Maybe I’ll remember the glazes. I can paint at the bisque stage…but I think I want to carve into the underglazes, so that needs to be at this stage. I keep having to beg people to NOT put things on the shelf where I pulled the base off…it’s big and only fits in a few places. I’m constantly fighting to keep it in the same space. The top is on my shelf, so it’s OK, but the drying shelves are really full right now.
OK. Today. Yikes. Need to pack. I had ordered supplies for my Saturday class but they aren’t coming now until next week, so I had to raid my stash for stuff. I don’t have much in the way of sequins…plenty of beads. So hopefully the instructor has some or I can buy some at the show. I’m looking forward to messing around with stuff, but I did not do a good job of editing threads or beads. The Man will have to deliver a bag to me right before class so I don’t have to carry it all day. I need to finish/edit sub plans and print them, copy seating charts, prep my kids for not being dumbasses while I’m gone, start a group project, be observed teaching vocab, finish the notes from yesterday, be totally efficient during prep period, go to at least one, possible two kid meetings, and drive to a stitching meeting tonight with a quilt that has sold. WOW. Maybe eat dinner. I mean there are no guarantees. Oh yeah, do laundry so I actually CAN pack. Maybe sleep, but probably not. Why sleep when you can lie awake with stupid songs running through your head (see post title) and a list of all the things you need to get done (grading! FFS). Yeah. Don’t try this at home, kids.
I’m waiting for my photo editing app to restart, so I’m writing without pictures. I’m a visual person and pictures help me write. Ironically, I don’t need pictures to read because my brain makes them while I read. Probably explains a lot about how I make art. I’m in that complicated stage where I’ve been working on the same quilt for MONTHS and I’m almost done and the next one needs to just pop up so I can keep working without going insane. Drawing needs to happen. Drawing is hard. Not really, but having the mindspace for it at the end of a workday is hard. And right now, finding mindspace for anything is hard. Between an idiotic government, school crap, and grading, I’m just not there. But there’s a seed, a hint of an idea for the next piece, which will be constructed differently, so hopefully I can fan that seed into a fire. Wait, that’s not how it works. Or is it?
I spent the weekend in San Francisco with the girlchild, which meant plenty of art and good food and walking. My knees are reminding me of that part. My shoulders/back are kind whack from carrying an over-the-shoulder purse instead of a backpack. Easier in some ways, more complicated in others. I finished one book and started another. I stitched nothing and drew nothing (short flights…it’s hardly worth pulling things out of your bag, because then you’re descending). I graded a little, just enough to keep one nostril above the flood.
The night before I left, I was sewing binding. Sunday night, when I got back, I was sewing binding. Last night, I finally finished binding and got one sleeve and a bit done.
Tonight I finish.
OK, so the trip. Started with my taking pictures of Craig Calderwood murals in the baggage claim area…
There’s some fun airport art out there.
Then the next morning, walking to meet the girlchild for breakfast (my alarm didn’t go off)…
I took a bunch of pictures of murals…maybe some I took last time.
I stayed in the same place. It was quiet last time.
It was pretty quiet this time. Girlchild had a ceramics class in the morning and I was going to tag along and get a day pass and just make a thing while she advanced wheeled.
She made two things…my camera had clay on it by then.
Hence blurriness. But one marbled with two colors. While I made a coil pot.
So that was 2.5 hours, and then I thought class was done, but I looked over and they were all throwing a second pot, so I made something crazy.
Hopefully that neck will hold up. And the wings. We’ll see. I left them both for her to fire and glaze. Like a good mom. We were there a good 90 minutes later than we thought, so our second plan for the day (third?) was out due to closing times, so we met up with a high school friend of mine and a bunch of her family who all know the girlchild.
This was the walk back to change clothes though…
All one mural…
I didn’t even get it all…
Then we walked to the girlchild’s apartment for HER to change…
Lots of walking. It was the Chinese New Year parade, so traffic (even buses) was insane, but we grabbed takeout, walked up a huge hill, and ate in a park.
It was nice to see everyone, though I’d just seen my friend on Sunday (long story).
The next morning, I saw a rainbow across the Mission…
Mostly because it kept raining.
Then we went to the ICA (which is free) for some art.
Some beautiful work about mold and decay by Kathleen Ryan.
Fascinating how real it looks.
Another weirdness in the museum…
Maryam Yousif’s Riverbend pieces…
Ceramic and wood.
Rodney MacMillian’s Untitled (Orange Hills)…
Reminds me of screenprints I made in the 80s…spill and dribble the ink.
Shinique Smith’s Dusk…
There was definitely a lot of fabric going on at ICA…
Anthony Akinbola’s Neopolitan, made of durags.
Fun stuff. Tried to ignore politics, but it’s impossible.
So much stupid.
Oh yeah, I am. I’ll be sitting the SAQA booth on Saturday from 12-2 if you want to stop by. Taking a class, sitting in some lectures, checking out the art. Not sure how all the travel of the season ended up in consecutive weekends (gonna kick my butt), but whatever.
Nice kitty. My kitty bit someone because I wasn’t here to feed her. Hmmm. OK. School. Apparently I gotta go there and do things. Then ceramics. Then grading, the neverending grading. Ugh.
Deep breath in, deep breath out. It’s Friday. Oooh. Deep breath in. We only had a 4-day week. Deep breath out. There’s another 3-day weekend starting tomorrow. Deep breath in. Yesterday was a bit of a shit show. Deep breath out. It’s fine. We did the eyeball dissection lab…
It’s not hard, unless kids are being stupid. 99% of the kids were awesome, although having to yell through Period 6’s chatting habit so we wouldn’t still be dissecting at 2 AM was not fun. The four boys who were jerks about everything? Yeah. Well. Take the F. Take the phone call and see the principal who will call your mom and your made-up excuse for not wearing safety glasses? Sigh. Just stop that crap. It’s annoying.
I think eyeballs are way easier than frogs (we do those in 7th grade). Anyway, today, they turn a bunch of shit in and that’s good. I graded for about 3 1/2 hours last night (and no, I’m not done), which helps my panic recede a little bit. I’m gone for about 46 hours this weekend to see the girlchild, so I won’t be doing a ton of grading until Monday. Which is a holiday. Hallelujah. There’s also drama about kids changing teams and behaviors and bullshit and that was a huge chunk of yesterday, so I was extremely tired and irritated. Fun stuff. I’ve slept, I’ve meditated with fabric. I might be ready for today (nah, there’s a meeting this morning and it’s gonna be a rabble rouser).
I’m still binding. I was watching ceramics school videos Wednesday night…
I have like 99 hours of video to get through…I think I’ve watched 4 of the 33 instructors so far. It’s fascinating, but I feel like I need to take notes and that’s time-consuming. Will I ever read the notes again? Hard to say. It helps me remember things though. If I write them down. Even if I don’t read them.
Last night, my brain needed story time, so I watched whatever I was binge-watching three weeks ago before I started stitchdown.
I’m not even halfway y’all. It’s fine. It’s dark, the thread’s dark, I’m tired. I fly out tonight, so it won’t get worked on until Sunday night at the earliest. It’s fine. When I get back, my friend’s mom’s quilt goes back on the machine to get finished and I draw the next one and maybe start tracing it. I might even start drawing it this weekend, if I feel into it. I miss drawing all the time. I hate that this job has taken so much of my time. I made it to ceramics on Wednesday for just enough time to fix cracks and put new moist paper towels on everything. I’m hoping to go Monday for a couple of hours. I might need glaze too, but I doubt the clay place is open Monday. Their hours are horrible. Sucks. Ugh.
OK though…I did get on the announcement card for this FIG show opening in LA in a couple of weeks.
I feel bad because I’m about 90% sure I can’t go to the opening. I mean, I could, but then wouldn’t get grades done and I don’t want to do those on my birthday weekend. I’m not sure what I DO want to do (hike, have a nice dinner, draw, read my book), but I know grading isn’t part of it. EVER (and it often is because of when the trimester ends). Moya Devine made the original collage and then I made an art quilt based on that. I had to make the image my own at one point. As always. She made one of my drawings into a collage as well.
OK. I need to get my butt to school to deal with this meeting and the day. Then come home and actually PACK, beyond making piles that will eventually come with me. I’m looking forward to seeing the girlchild and being in SF, even for just a short time, despite all the stressy shit surrounding the trip. It’s just this time of year. Seven weeks until Spring Break…which comes with its own pile of stressy shit. In awesome news, the mammo came back clean, although then they sent this letter that says I should have an MRI screening as well because I have more than a 20% chance of breast cancer. Well that’s a nice letter to send. I bet most people never see that letter, because they’re like hidden in the app. I’m supposed to talk to my doc about it. Fun times. FUN TIMES. BREATHE IN BREATHE OUT.
Woke up early because annoying hot flash caused by small fluffy dog all over my legs, trapping me. Then the heat went on because morning. And my brain rolled over into Why the Fuck don’t they understand that the LIGHT is doing all the things and not the OBJECT, and also why do they think they can just copy the notes and that is proof that they understand something. Sigh. I sense a mini-lecture coming in class today (it was coming anyway…I just spent the last 30 minutes when I could have been asleep preparing it in my head). I then spent 35 minutes on the phone with the online pharmacy trying to get a refill on something that showed refills but wouldn’t let me order it. I hate that shit. I appreciate the woman that helped me, but it’s annoying to have to deal with all that. In the morning. Have I mentioned I’m not a morning person? I’m not. Really no.
Didn’t mean to wake up early. Didn’t want to. I have the mini-lecture all noted out on a piece of paper so I don’t forget the genius I was at 6 AM.
Where am I at this week? Trying to eke out time for artmaking, often at the detriment of other things, mostly sleep. Monday, I cleaned the floor just in time for the boychild to tromp across it in muddy shoe, completely avoiding the towel I was trying to put down. Fun times. Then I trimmed the quilt.
I didn’t think I’d need kneepads for a short trim, but my knees stated otherwise. They’ve been pretty bad lately. Hoping it’s the weather. Not just increased ouchiness for fun.
I bought the binding last weekend…good thing, because I didn’t have time this weekend. I got the binding on Monday night…
And last night, I put the sleeves on, zigzagged all the seams because I was trained as a clothing sewer before I became a quilter (does everyone zigzag their seams? I just think it holds all the layers together in a more stable manner so it’s easier to fold the binding over and stitch it down.). Then I pinned the whole thing and stabbed myself a million times. Yes, I know there are clips and basting sprays (ugh) and other ways to bind quilts. I like how this looks, so I stab myself a bunch of times for the pleasure of the final product. Tonight, I’ll start the handstitching part. I’ll be working on that for a while too. But the quilt will be done in February. Not December. Not January. Sigh. WHATEVER. 2025 might be kicking my butt at the moment.
I’ve been reading (listening to) this book series and it yells out “NEW ACHIEVEMENT” on a regular basis (really long story) and I’m hearing that in my head right now. Finally made it on a hike/walk with the dog and the Man.
Finally had the TIME to do it. I think my knees appreciated it? Not sure. I’ve been doing pilates all along and regularly, but have missed the hiking (and the gym, but that’s going to be a new level to unlock when I get through the next two weeks of traveling). So NEW ACHIEVEMENT! Hiked this weekend. More of that please. And fuck the clean house. It doesn’t last anyway. I still need to clean one of the gutters out and it’s raining today and tomorrow and I raked some stuff away from the house, but I think I’ll be on the ladder tonight in the dark trying to clear this one gutter. In the rain. It’ll be fine. It’s not torrential until tomorrow.
OK, on the one hand (Comparative Literature major here) this amuses me, and on the other…
It irritates the crap out of me, because unless you’re doing something to make my life easier right now, my shrew has a legit complaint. And she doesn’t need taming.
I love that my brain can hold both those feelings at the same time.
Today. Well, you already know I have a mini-lecture all drawn out for my classes today. Mostly they’re taking notes and I’m prepping for eyeball dissection tomorrow. And trying to finish the next unit. Ha! Not finishing. But I need a table of contents. By Tuesday. Copied. Tonight is a union meeting AND book club (I checked. I read the book. I didn’t really like it.). I don’t have to cook though (pro). I do need to get more grading done during school today. Somehow. It’s all good. I had a plan yesterday and got a whopping 2 out of 5 classes graded. Then came home and did the other 3 in like 45 minutes. Not even. Efficiency without kids in the class is AMAZEBALLS. Right now, I need a big hit of caffeine and to brush my teeth and take my meds and then off to school…it is (strangely) wear dark colors day (it’s kindness week? Not sure what dressing like a ninja has to do with that, but I’m doing it…not hard…I have lots of black).
Yo ho, Yo ho, it’s a Monday with no school. Gotta love those. Because after this month, there aren’t any for a Loooonnnggg time. Well it feels that way anyway. The Vast Expanse of March is coming. Fifty three days until Spring Break. Doesn’t sound long, but it will be. That said, I got this 3-day weekend and I had plans for each of the days and both Saturday and Sunday got co-opted by perfectly reasonable things that were either unexpected or I hadn’t really thought through the time expenditure and then the mile-long to-do list all landed today. Now I’ve been quite efficient, talked to the IRA company that locked me down because the damn cat kept sitting on the keyboard and trying to log in, moved all the money to consolidate shit like my bro (my ACTUAL bro) suggested, talked to the parentals, did some emailing. But the plan was to be at the ceramics studio around noon (not happening), finish grades yesterday (didn’t happen), go for a hike (hopefully still happening). I have shit every night this week and then I’m flying to the girlchild for a quick visit. Boom! And your free time is gone. I did finish quilting last night after staying up too late two nights running…
Started the background quilting the night before, barely, then got most of the empty space in the middle quilted, plus down most of one side and across the bottom. Then last night, again, staying up too late, just needed it done…finished the rest.
Well. I just typed like three paragraphs and WordPress deleted all of them. OK, I probably deleted them by clicking something I didn’t mean to click because I am typing fast. Why? Because I am behind. So. Quilting last night, stayed up too late, finished, about 13 hours of quilting. Today need to clean the entryway floor so I can trim this and then put a binding on it. All good. Then draw the next one, which will be different and smaller and hopefully less time-consuming, but if my art brain is involved, there are no guarantees. Then make a smaller quilt or two, think about the duo solo show coming up in 2026, plus a big one for the summer, yeah yeah yeah. Can’t think that far ahead. I’m like still in this week survival mode.
Saturday, we went to see my co-teacher dance in her ensemble thing…
All people from school (and family). That was the more time-consuming thing than I had originally thought it would be because I sometimes can’t add all the travel time on either side and parse that out. Whatever. The night before was a show with one of the Man’s band members. It was fun but tiring and I didn’t quilt. Which is fine. Social stuff needs to happen too. Yesterday, a friend spontaneously came down with her hubby for lunch…also good, but time. So I’m behind in grading and I’m feeling pressure to do things. Always pressure.
But hey, in awesome sauce news, we got the new owl box up and within two weeks, there’s an owl in it.
I’d seen her around in my trees, heard her screeching at night, and I hope this one makes babies that survive. Not sure what happened last time, but I’m happy they’re back.
OK. I need a shower. I need to do ceramics. I need to grade. I’m cooking tonight. I need to hike ffs. I need another damn day. I know! I got an extra one! Sheesh. Seriously need to rethink my career choices. Maybe too late for that.
Hey. This week chilled out a bit. It helped to have a day yesterday not in the classroom. We did a bunch of planning and literacy stuff. We got to go get lunch (and see a former student). We didn’t have to deal with behaviors and bathroom passes and kids with their heads down. It was easier. Interestingly, it meant the two 90-second planks I had to do at pilates were ALSO easier. Sometimes I’m also physically exhausted, not just mentally. I came home after all that and chilled for a bit, made dinner, then graded two more classes of last week’s academic assignment, then quilted. I’m still tired this morning, because I’ve had to be up early for meetings three days running and I (bad girl) didn’t actually go to bed any earlier. You know when you’re setting your alarm and it’s already under 7 hours and you haven’t fallen asleep yet (and that’s an issue for you) that there will be tired. No dog last night at least…he went with the boychild…but sometimes the cats are annoying enough. Bowie just walks right across me and then plops on my legs. Luna starts kneading my (insert any part of body she can touch) with her claws and then licks me. Then Bowie starts to cause trouble when he wants someone to get up and feed him. He scratches at the wall above the bed, starts bopping all the framed art so it bangs against the wall. He’s a not-so-holy terror at times. So I have a 3-day weekend where I’m not going anywhere (much) and I have a to-do list a mile long, but it includes finishing the quilting on this and putting the binding on, and also getting some time in the ceramics studio. I’d like a long walk too please. And reading time.
In case you forget when the holidays are, we get these awesome signs…
OK. I think this sign is in a hallway like 20 kids see. But I like it.
So I was outline quilting on Wednesday night…
And those words took forever.
The backing is a weird fabric.
I totally use leftovers and stuff people have gifted me for backings. No way would I ever use most of this on the front of a quilt. But you can see what the words look like from the back.
Last night, I finally finished the outlining and headed into the background quilting.
Some pieces don’t have much background quilting. This is not one of those pieces. There’s a pretty large area between the figure and the tree and around the tree that needs quilting. It’s gonna take a while. We have a show to go to tonight, so I don’t expect to get much done today. But I have the weekend and I’m gonna get it done and bound. Then I have one I need to do for a deadline. And then I don’t know what I’m going to do. How do you process what’s happening right now? I’m sort of in shock, I guess. I’ve read this book. I know how it ends. I’m not sure how to protest it all, to fight back. There’s too many moving pieces…psychotically moving pieces. And people yelling that this is what we all wanted. Crazy psycho shit. I guess when the MAGA parents of disabled kids figure out that they no longer have help? I don’t know. They won’t have any power by then. Bird flu with a heroin addict in charge? Yeah. Don’t know. Do I need to change the account I pay my tax refund into? Possibly move all that money? Maybe. Shades of Handmaid’s Tale, right? Or Brazil (the movie). Haven’t seen it? Don’t worry, you’re watching it now.
Meanwhile, in my classroom, I got 7 new kids in a week. This is one of them. He’s so not prepared for assessment in 8th-grade science.
He has the start of it…but the cutest Thank you. at the end. One on each slide. Thank you for testing me. Thank you for grading me. Wow. OK. Thanks for all the fish.
Sigh. So we have a parent meeting this morning. For once, it’s not my fault (it’s no one’s fault but the kid for lying and the mom for believing her), but we all have each others’ backs. Then I’m giving another test. My kids were really good with the sub yesterday, so I have candy to pass out. I’m shocked and surprised, but happily so and will thank them. Profusely. Because I’m out two more days this month that they don’t know about. Yet. I don’t know if I should be scared to get on a plane or not right now, but I’m going to hope it’s all OK (that’s next weekend). Certainly there’s a lot of fear AND fear-mongering. After school, I’m going to ceramics to work on arms and think about how to attach a head to this thing. Let alone how to fire it/glaze it. Not thinking about that part. Then home for dinner and a show. Sleep in? Probably not with cats and dogs. Then art, book, hang out with friends, probably have to grade some stuff…a lot of stuff probably. It’ll be fine. Enjoy the weekend and all. Work like a beast for the next 8 hours so I don’t have to do as much of it over the weekend. Yeah. I’d like to draw and hike and do some embroidery…hope I can fit those in too.
Oh my. This week keeps changing but it packs a punch. It’s fine. I’m rolling with it, but could use more sleep (my own fault…well, not all of it). I’m currently negotiating with a teenaged boy cat who’s trying to bug my frail old lady and a middle-aged crankyass dog. And I haven’t had my tea yet (just two mouthfuls), so I don’t have enough of a caffeine buffer to deal. I often feel that way when I get to school…except up the ante to 136 middle-schoolers and all the adults (honestly, sometimes the adults are the hardest part). Yeah well. This week, it’s hard to know who is easier to work with…it’s up in the air. The dog/cat/cat interactions are probably my best bet.
I’m still watching all the censorship of art quilt stuff roll around out there in internet world, interspersed with the nuts crap that is our ‘government’. Deep breaths. I’m glad the two art quilts that were removed were both purchased. That’s more validation than anything. (hint: International Quilt Museum…my banned quilt is still available…I Was Not Wearing a Life Jacket…it still doesn’t have a penis in it. I have pieces that do, if that’s what you’re into. Just call me. Actually. Email me.)
I’d forgotten about the oil spill…and the flying saucer underground. This was a weird dream I had, wrought in fabric, penis free. It had a buyer at one point, but that fell through. Ah well. And I think it was before the debacle.
I’m still quilting here.
Part of why I’m so tired this morning is because I stayed up too late quilting last night and had to be up early today.
Why did I stay up too late? I was in the zone and not watching the clock. When I looked up, it was almost 11 PM. Whoops. OK. So I think I’ll get the outlining done tonight? Maybe? Then start the background. I think I can get all that done by the weekend and then start the binding. A week past the deadline. Oh well. I do know what I’m doing next, although the drawing doesn’t exist. It’s been in my head for a good long time. It’s also for a deadline. Then I need to make more stuff…some smaller pieces until the summer. I’m thinking of an artist residency for the summer, but I’d need to find one and be able to afford it. So then I’d also need time to find one and apply to it. OK. So realistically? Yeah. Not this week. I’ll try.
So I killed another one of these…
I bought 3 (4?) in 2022. So not bad, one a year. I had one left. Ordered 3 more to arrive today, I think. They break where the thingie is banging up and down on them. I’d break there too if I were them. Badly designed…but cheap.
I made it to clay on Monday…finally. Glazed the boychild’s thing. Hopefully it doesn’t stick to things. Then worked on the arms…broke off a leg trying to move the base (it’s heavy). Good times.
I’ve tried to fix cracks in the shelf between the top and bottom about 17 times. Doesn’t work. Sigh. It’s looking good though. Not sure how the head is gonna go. I suspect I need to fire the bottom before I lose it completely. It’s not dry though. Close. Close enough to be breaking. Ugh. Finish the arms…then figure out the head. Decide if I’m carving the back. I want to. But it’s too dry I think at the moment. I can fix that. But I need to spend a few hours there to do that. Maybe Monday? I have the day off. That would be good…(don’t think about work…don’t think about work).
I’m waiting y’all. Sword rushing at Musk? I’m in. Take out the minions. A few RePUGlicans while you’re at it. That big orange guy? A spell…don’t kill him…cast a spell and make him put it all back. Sigh. Such a joke.
OK. Today. Meeting this morning. Need to leave in 15 minutes. Teach skin cancer. Exciting stuff. Then grade some shit. Unless my coteacher can stay and work on the space unit. We did yesterday. It was good, but it’s frustrating to have to plan around another shit that is annoying that some other adults at school decided we have to do (there’s a lot of that going around). I also have one day I’m gone for myself and one day I have to be at the district office (ugh, not my choice), so I’m planning around those things (plan stuff my kids can do with a sub, right?). Then I have the oh-so-exciting annual mammogram at like 7:20 pm. They keep moving it later. Annoyingly later. I’m a little anxious about that…after last year’s ‘oh hey, we found something’ and all the shit that happened and then gladly ended with no bad cancer shit? It’s a little nerve-wracking having another one. Plus things still hurt. So I’m gonna pop some pain pills ahead of time. Deep breaths for that too. Then quilting! Losing myself in the up and down of the needle tracing all the crazy shit I ironed down. Good end, as long as I go to bed on time. Wish me luck with that. Art Brain is a crazy bitch. She doesn’t care what I have to be able to do the next day.
OK. Monday. I see you. You have bright blue skies, you’re not totally freezing (I know, it’s Southern California; we’re never that cold, right?). Today is a day of direct instruction (all on, all day), a 2-hour staff meeting mostly about stuff I already do in my classroom (woo), then hopefully some clay and some sewing. Oh yeah, probably have to grade shit. I spent about 4 or 5 hours yesterday doing that. I should do more. Ha. Always.
Well, in awesome news, SAQA pulled the entire exhibit out of the AQS shows. AND both pieces sold, one to a private collector and one to the International Quilt Museum. I’m glad SAQA finally stood up to the bullies. I wish they’d done it sooner. Hey, IQM, I’ve got work you can acquire! Ha. Hopefully this is a sign for the next four years, of groups and people standing up to the power hungry, the critical, the categorizers, those who can’t let everyone exist without pigeonholing and censoring them. Because there’s a lot of that going on. Sigh. I’m glad the artists got the support they should have.
I went up to Palos Verdes on Saturday with Polly Jacobs Giacchina to a show we’re both in, 9×9 Contemporary Quilts and Containers, curated by Carrie Burckle and Jo Lauria, at the Palos Verdes Art Center. We were blessed by the traffic goddess, so very little of that either direction. We were able to see the show before all the people got there, so we took photos. Both of us got onto the banners, which is awesome.
Apparently just because our art was the right size for them, which made me laugh.
I have 4 pieces in the show…
All right outside the bathroom and at the top of the stairwell. Good viewpoints all.
There were a lot of people at the opening, which was cool. I talked to most of the quilt artists (I only knew some of them), and a bunch of other people who liked my work, which is always a cool thing.
Polly with some of her art…
She sold one…before the show even officially opened! Cool that. It was a long drive, but ultimately good to see the show and get all the kudos. It’s up through the middle of April, if you find yourself in the area. I grew up in LA, and I don’t think I’d ever been to Palos Verdes before. So there’s that.
Quiltwise, I didn’t get much done this weekend. On Friday night, I packed up a quilt and drawing for delivery on Saturday for a show in LA opening in March. I delivered that and bought binding fabric for this quilt, because the store with more choices is only open on Saturdays during non-working hours (they close at 3, y’all). I’ve given up on getting it done and photographed by Friday, so there’s that deadline gone. Oh well. I took a picture of where I was in the outlining when I pulled it off the machine to match binding…
And then I finally got back to the quilting last night. I bought thread too, because I was going to run out. Luckily they had it locally, but I had also bought it online and it arrived Saturday. All good. Plenty of thread now.
Guess I need to check the thread stash at the reopened store near me. I never go there…they never had much I needed before. Maybe they do now?
Sleepy Bowie…
Better than rampaging Bowie.
Oh yeah, ceramics. All but one tiny animal is out of the glaze fire…
My daughter’s trinket dish did not fare well…it is stuck to that cookie. I might be able to get it off. The other tiny animal got clear glaze put on and put back on the glazed shelf for the next firing. The other bowl thing got glazed, but it’s really thick, so I wanted to let it sit a bit and make sure it’s dry. Hopefully I’m going in today to do some actually hands-on clay, so I’ll put it on the glazed shelf too. Then back to the big sculpture! That I started in November and am still working on. Forever.
OK. To school. My coteacher was out Friday and will be out this morning. I have to find the rest of the flashlights during prep and put her lab stations together. Assuming I can find enough flashlights for that. I’m teaching the EM spectrum, mostly how the different wavelengths affect materials, eventually DNA. Which the stupid curriculum does not CALL DNA…it calls it ‘genetic material.’ Sigh. Like make it even harder for kids to figure out. So annoying. Then vocab literacy stuff after school. Then hands-on clay. Then quilting. Oh yeah, I’ll grade. I said that in the first paragraph. I never stop doing that until like June 17. It’s annoying. Oh well. Someday I won’t have to grade anything at all and the world might stop because of it.
Kathy Nida 