Yo Ho Yo Ho, a pirate’s life for me. I wake up in the morning sometimes and wonder what my brain has been doing while I slept. Apparently piratey things, because that’s the song I’m hearing in my head. There was a quick rehash of some stupidity from last year (I know what triggered that). Love that. Thanks brain. Also, it’s hard to sleep well on Sunday nights during school…my brain is figuring the whole week out (and often worrying about it). I really pushed this weekend to NOT open the school computer. I did make a list for today (and the next three days). I cleaned out my notebook…I love that my notebooks last for years now instead of dying after one (heavy duty notebooks…what good are notebooks? OK, there’s the Talking Heads…that’s a better song than the pirate one). I didn’t have to buy folders this summer…there was extra money last year and I spent it on that. Hopefully I got enough…I should figure that out quickly, because I think they need them Friday.
So I finished the big quilt last night…I spent the last three nights (or more?) sewing binding and sleeves. Friday night…
Saturday night…I actually sewed for almost three hours (Saturday was very braindead)…got all the binding done and part of one sleeve.
And Sunday night…
Bowie assist…
We’re trying to get him to sleep at night instead of only during the day, so after this, I woke him up and played with him for a while. Didn’t work. He was up and down all night. Like me!
I stitched some on this on Friday at the back-to-school event. They had us go to the local mall and fed us breakfast (it was SO loud…so loud), then put us in the movie theaters by school and we watched videos and played games. It was shorter than usual, so that was a plus. It was also dark a lot.
Made it harder to stitch. Pros and cons. Then we went back to our schools and did the district-mandated meetings where we write on big poster paper and then never see this stuff again.
There’s my science team! Yes, we are dorks. Well, most of us anyway. You probably don’t wanna know why the science department is pointing at a math rubric. We had to send this to the principal who will send it to the district. Sigh. Anyway, at some point, the district will make something of all this and push it back to us in some format. Proving something. Yes, I’m cynical about all that.
Today, we have four hours of all-staff meetings, then about 30 minutes with our partner team-in-crime (which is finally wholly back with us), then who-knows-how-long with the core team. Then making a list of what to copy tomorrow AM, because I have to be up at 4 AM to make sure I am tired enough for the EEG at noon. Don’t ask. I’m not looking forward to it.
In between all this, I’m halfheartedly trying to finish painting the hallway.
It’s hot, I’m tired, my wrist starts to hurt after a while. All of the cutting in is done with one coat, about a third has two coats. Obviously need to roll two coats as well. I’m not highly motivated, but maybe I will be this week. It would be nice if it were done.
I also finally got everything appliqued down to this. I finally watched the video about the hexie papers and how to make that damn flower in the bottom left…
And then I made it Saturday and sewed it down, and sewed down the last velvet circle (those things are a pain in the ass) last night. So now I can do embellishment.
Little man plays with his tail a lot.
OK. School. Need to leave in about 5 minutes with more tea and my meds in me. Pack a lunch! Fuck. I forgot how to do all this. I’ll be exhausted later. It might not even be that long from now. Then hopefully starting something new.
Hey, officially summer is over for me…school starts this morning, 30 minutes earlier than usual, because they hate us or something…or because we’re an elementary district and those littles don’t mind getting up early. I need to leave in 22 minutes with a fresh cup of tea, all my meds in me (ugh, too early), the official school shirt on, my computer in my bag, my stitching in hand (speechifying…need to stay alert), my water, and some realization that I need to get my brain in gear. It’s OK…it started yesterday when I finished one of the six documents I was gonna edit this summer. I feel like I did the summer right…art every day, ceramics every other day, 27 books read. My goal for the new year? No 5-hour work sessions on Sundays. No working on Saturdays at all. It might take a miracle, but I’m going for it.
I did trim up the big quilt on Wednesday night and cut all the binding…
And last night, after my stitching meeting, I got all the bindings and sleeves sewed on by machine…
That is some bright green…and now there’s some handstitching to do. I also mended the pants I’m wearing today. The second mend on these, but they’re really comfy and I won’t give them up yet.
Yesterday, I got my second tattoo, which I’d been thinking about for a long time, by the artist Gloria Muriel. It’s not quite a barn owl because of the ears, but that’s OK.
I wanted the barn owl face in there…I need this year to go well, so here’s to manifesting that.
I had my stitching meeting last night…I’ve been working a little bit on Sue Spargo’s Rooted block of the month while I try to get everything appliqued on the Homegrown central panel.
These are easy enough, but relaxing. I like relaxing. I’m taking this with me today to the speechifying.
This is really my thing for this school year.
That might be my mantra across the board.
Cool mural in North Park on the way to tattooing. Not Tattooine. Probably spelled that wrong. Ah yes, no double tt’s. Tatooine.
These two have been coming to bed with me the last couple of nights…
The baby is ‘sleeping through the night’…midnight to 5:18 AM this morning. Woohoo!
OK. Go find my stuff, take my morning meds, make more tea. Sit through speeches and rah rah, then professional development of some type, interrupted (thank goodness) by a taco truck lunch, then more of the stuff. Then ceramics, because the studio’s closed all weekend for a class. Then probably a fucking nap. If I haven’t already taken one by then. Wish us all luck. It’s a new school year, my 22nd…and we’re all gonna need a little luck to get through it.
I exercised this morning instead of writing this. And then I ran errands. And now the day is half gone. I still need to fill two yardwaste trashcans and continue painting the hallway. The binding for the big quilt is purchased, though, and in the washer. So that can hopefully happen today as well…I need to trim the quilt first, and it’s big and that means washing the entryway floor again. Lots of physical stuff needs to happen…it’s been really warm, but today is somewhat cooler…a weather front is tossing up clouds and sprinkles, so that’s a nice change. Oh wait, we’re back to sunny and hot. Anyway, I’ll paint for a while (my wrist hurts if I do it for too long), cut gardeny shit up for a while, and get this giant-ass quilt bound (or at least start the binding process, because we’re gonna be here for a while.). I also need to iron and clean up two quilts for delivery to the photographer tomorrow. The next two days are a little overly busy…because we’re going back. To school.
Anyway, Monday night, I managed to ALMOST get all the background quilted…
Just the part where the pins are was not done, but I had to be an adult and get up early in the morning for a dental appointment, so I went to bed. Ugh. And then finished quilting last night…
Just under 14 hours of quilting. I bought binding this morning, so that’s up next.
I already have the next quilt drawn…it’s small (but still complicated, because I am me)…and there’s a deadline for it, so I’ll be working on it as soon as this one is completely stitched.
I went in to ceramics yesterday and did more on the base…
Honestly, I think that’s it…
It just needs to dry slowly and then I need to figure out how I’m going to glaze it. The rest of this piece is done, except for the fabric bits. I put the base of the world figure and the sgraffito piece on the bisque fire shelf. It’ll go in the kiln in the next few days. The top needs to keep drying slowly. And then I need to figure out what I’m doing next. I have lots of ideas from art stuff to needing a new mug because they all have cracks in them. We’ll see.
I found the needlebook instructions from the guild…and cut out all my little pieces…
Now that the quilt is out of the sewing machine, I could sew these together or sew the pieces for that Spargo tree block that needed to be pieced…it’s been sitting around since March. I’ve got a couple other low-priority things that I want to finish up too. And inevitably, I’m going to need to do some school stuff in the next few days. I’ll be at school tomorrow afternoon. Then officially back on Friday with all-day meetings.
Back to barn owls…the sweetheart in the tree from the last post? She leaves me pellets under there with lots of bones…
I leave them out and let them decompose all the fur and goop away until I just have a pile of bones. It’s like she knows what I really want. Best friend.
Oh yeah, I got interviewed earlier this summer. You can read it here…
OK. I took the migraine meds to see if it makes the hallucinations go away (which would make it a migraine)…just a test. It might make me tired…wait, I’m already tired. I’ve been staying up too late and still having to get up. Ah well. I might go read for a while before doing something physical. I had my COVID shot again yesterday in preparation for school…so I’ll be protected for a little bit…maybe. So my left arm hurts. That also might be why I’m tired. I’m accidentally reading a romance novel…I thought my book club was reading it, and it is, but the romance subset, which I don’t go to (one can only be in so many book clubs…and for me, that’s two). But I already had started the book when I realized. So now I have to finish it. It’s the rules. Sigh. Anyway, wish me luck…the school stuff is giving me the heebie jeebies…my team met yesterday and it was already too much. It’ll get better, I know, but I said that last year and it never did. So. I’m eternally positive in the front and a cynical mullet in the back.
Might be a fucking miracle to have finished painting anything this summer…but I did finish the damn closet. Yay! And I put everything back in it (except for the stuff I’m getting rid of). This week? I’m painting the damn hallway. I think it will actually be easier than the closet. I washed the walls yesterday after doing the final spackle. Trying to decide what to actually tape.
In quilting news, I was still outlining until last night around 11 PM. Quilting at night is really the only bearable time in this room. And that’s with two fans on me. It’s a big quilt, so it’s in my lap half the time.
I love this barn owl. I started the background quilting last night right about here…yes, at 11 PM.
And then when I took the dog out to pee at midnight, there was my baby…yeah, blurry, but look!
I’m 10 1/2 hours into the quilting and I’ve done maybe 1/6 of the background. So probably another 2-3 hours of that. I’m hoping to finish today so I can buy binding fabric tomorrow.
I did go to ceramics yesterday and spent an hour building this tiny car.
The winged woman is going to sit down into that depression. Hopefully. I made it bigger than it needed to be because shrinkage. I also marked the front on the newsprint so I could keep that in mind as I build.
I’m mostly impatient with building…I could have made it solid and then let it dry and hollowed it out, but no…I slab built it. Nuts.
The other piece didn’t crack again, so I’m just trying to dry it super slowly. I would have put the base into the kiln for a bisque fire, but there was no room on the shelves. She’ll probably load it today, so if I go in tomorrow, I can put that one and the other sgraffito one on the shelf to be fired. Someone asked what I’d be doing next…I don’t know! I have some ideas. I’ve been working on the winged woman since late March and the two-part piece (which is mostly climate change) since late April. I am not fast, y’all. Not fast at all. I kind of want to do a flat sgraffito piece, or maybe a frame? Also I’m thinking of how to make taller pieces that fit into each other…this is not easy if you don’t build them all in one go. As I’ve found…and with going back to school, I’ll be back to twice a week at the studio…not a lot of time. Unless I pick a weekend day that has nothing else (ha! OMG, you should see the next three months) and just build all day. Anyway. It’s been nice having the summer and going every couple of days. I’ll miss that.
I had so many meetings on Saturday…I stitched at the quilt guild one…
Almost done with the hair…then need to decide what else I’m going to put on it.
This thing. Bowie is either fast asleep like this or racing around like a hellion…mostly in the early morning with the racing. Ugh. We are both tired.
As you can see…
The Man has been the one getting up with Bowie…mostly Bowie is hungry and wants attention. Hungry a lot. So the Man is exhausted.
OK, I’ve had my eyes checked and new glasses ordered…eyes changed a lot this time…hopefully not related to the hallucinations/visual disturbances. But who knows. Next step is to try migraine meds and see if they make the visual stuff go away…then we would know it’s a visual migraine…and not epilepsy or MS (both bad). So I may do that later today. Taking new meds is always stressful for me…I’ve had so many bad reactions. I also need to go get a COVID shot again before we start school later this week. I need to paint. I’m talking to my naturopath again, just to update on stuff, consolidate supplements a bit. I need to quilt…I need to find the pattern and materials for the needlebook I’m supposed to be making for my guild, I need to fold all the really cheap hand-dyed fabric I got at the Visions veranda sale on Saturday (amazing and fun…$4/yard was a total deal…I only bought stuff that could be used for backgrounds or backings). I have a shitload of yardwork to do still…three greenery trashcans in three days. But I’m waiting until evening to do that, one per day. This last week before we go back to school is always such a challenge…I realize how little I got done over the summer and I kind of panic. I do need to do school stuff too but I don’t want to. Oh yeah, I also need to learn how to make a super-tiny hexie flower. I bought the glue pen because it just seemed easier…but I’m not totally sure how to do it…the YouTube video is already queued up. It would be good to get those set up today so I can stitch them at night after eating, while we watch Exploding Kittens. Enjoying that. So not a bad day today…tomorrow will be a little more stressful. Sigh. I have loved having this time to make art every day, so much more than during school. I need to reduce my Sunday workload and completely leave Saturdays open. It’s going to be better this year. It just has to be.
OK, yeah, I know, yesterday was Friday. I think. Let me look at the calendar. Fuck, it’s still on July. Stand up, change calendar to August (it’s OK, the one in the classroom is still on June)…cool, pictures of orphaned baby elephants being reintegrated into a Kenyan national park. Seems inspirational…and maybe too real as I start school officially in less than a week. Whatever. Not ready. Never am. Really just trying to finish all the things on the to-do list (ha! oh wait, hysterical laughter because nuh uh…not happening). Really trying to Just Finish Painting the Closet…but this thing…
This sweet little asleep kitten, when he is awake, he is a terror and it is impossible to paint, so I wait until he’s asleep, and then suddenly, he is awake. So I finally got most of the closet done last night, but the doors need a second coat. I would have done it this morning, because I was up early because of that cute little sleeping (not sleeping) thing in the picture and then no, because he was awake. So hopefully later today (after two meetings), I will finish painting and then I can start putting things back in there and to consider what day I am painting the hallway, which will probably also need two coats dammit. Sigh.
So many things to do. Strangely, he does not mess with the quilting process…he’s scared of the old lady kitty because she bops him and hisses quite loudly and he’s unsure of that. And her territory is the quilting room. So that’s a plus.
She has no tolerance for kitten pouncing. The other two do, so he does better with them.
So I have almost exactly 7 hours in the quilting so far, and I am still outlining.
Last night, I got the second figure done and about half of the third figure, maybe, plus all the stuff to the left of her…wait, not all of it, just most of it.
So I’m probably more than halfway done with the outlining, but not halfway on all the quilting because there is a lot of background. I need to be able to buy binding next week…no way do I have enough of anything to bind it in-house. But I’m only getting in 2-3 hours of quilting a day. I need to do more. But now I have a dental appointment next week (crown being replaced), an eye doctor appointment (for glasses, not the hallucination stuff, which created a whole host of new appointments, woo hoo!), and some other stuff I don’t even remember.
Claywise, I finally got this one to fit into the top one, but one hand was kind of in the wrong place, so all of a sudden, the top slipped down and broke again.
I’m going to redo it with a slight rotation of the elbow. It will be fine.
Actually, I already did fix it (two days in a row in the studio!), plus fixed the damn fingers and painted some more.
There’s some cracking going on, and one hand is a different color than the other, but I don’t care about that.
The bottom is dry and ready to fire, but there was no room on the shelf, so I’ll fit her butt in next week. Or maybe I’ll fire them together? Not sure.
And then I started a base for the winged woman piece.
She’s not entirely stable, so she could sit in that space in the middle and be glued in, I think.
I’m in the process of drawing her wings and deciding what goes on them.
Anyway. I obviously like the endless MAKING of the clay (I started the winged woman the end of March?) and the never-finishing of the clay. Process over product. Always.
More announcing stuffs.
They have Jan Soules on there twice…
I’m sure they’ll figure that out. From a design perspective, I can see how it happened. From a copyediting perspective, I can see they need one. But I’m grateful to be in the show. Also what was the logic for the order? Random? I’m sure that makes sense. Sigh. So critical. I am.
Heart-Shaped Box also got into the SAQA special exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art Contemporary Craft Show.
Strange piece. But I like that it got in…it definitely tells a story.
OK. Today is Saturday. I have dueling meetings, so I picked the one I knew about first, my quilt guild meeting. I will stitch there. I think. I could actually Zoom into one AND attend the other one. No. Nope. Then I will head over to an open house for the art show at Liberty Station, mostly because a muralist I like, Panca (I guess I like her work; I’ve never met her) is doing a group painting session at the same time and place. Also it might be cooler toward the beach and then I have shown up for the other group, even though I didn’t do the now monthly meeting that I can’t do. And I’m trying to not be irritated by people who don’t read emails or listen or understand how email groups work, because I am always saying the same things and the same people aren’t listening. As always. Then there will be some painting and quilting and a date night with the Man who had the same or less sleep than me (see note about kitten above), so we are both tired and cranky. Plus it’s supposed to be 97 degrees today and that’s not a good thing. But art will happen and so will reading my book. Hope your Saturday goes well and you get some good sleep and reading in. At least my calendar is on the right month now.
Straight up, I started this yesterday (well I downloaded a bunch of photos and cropped and resized them) and then totally forgot about it in the overwhelm of doing things. I thought I had written it…or at least part of it…nope. None of it. And I need to leave in like 10 minutes to go work on ceramics until my doctor’s appointment. And there is no way I’m finishing this before I go. I still need to finish the closet (that damn closet!)…we got the doors shortened (thanks to my ex) yesterday and back in…I was going to paint them outside, but installing them was enough of a pain in the ass that I will be painting them in place. Let’s not discuss the hallway, or the fact that I will be at school twice next week before I have to be back for real, and I have to be back in 7 days. And I am (as always) so incredibly not ready. I got 17 emails about required videos I have to watch (again. for the 22nd time…oh I guess sometimes they change over the years.) and who the new hires are districtwide (APs and principals). My principal’s email will probably come later today…or not. I’m not sure it matters. It only matters in how many meetings I’m going to have to attend. So far, one hour, plus a morning of professional development, plus another day of who the fuck knows what. And prep time. Although I didn’t have to take my room apart this year, so prep will be pretty easy, I think. Maybe. Y’all know the copier will be broken no matter what.
Anyway, I got home from San Francisco late Tuesday night and spent yesterday trying to be functional…kind of like all summer. Here’s some of the San Francisco stuff…back to PIQF…a few more things I didn’t post before…this by Carmay Knowles.
This bug is a detail on a piece by Ann Horton…
OK, I guess I’ll show you the whole thing (although the bugs were my favorite part).
There was a whole series of older pieces by Marilyn Bedford, created from paintings she had done.
And I know I posted some of the Social Justice Sewing Academy quilts earlier, but here is one of my blocks…I only did the embroidery…
There was another one but I didn’t notice it until someone else posted the quilt. I think I’d seen it before.
My fabric haul before Britex…mostly African textiles and aboriginal prints.
I was hyperfocused on owls and feathers apparently. Plus some kantha samples. Not sure why. Don’t question the artistic brain. The boychild sends us fire photos sometimes…although there’s no actual fire here.
He’s still at the Park Fire today…33 days? I’m not sure. By the way, I did start this in the morning, went to ceramics, was manhandling the top part of the piece to make sure it would fit in the bottom part, did fine, until it slipped and the damn left arm broke again…in a different place. Fixed that, painted more of it, set it to dry slowly, and went to the neurologist. Interesting that. No, he doesn’t know what the visual disturbance is (but he’s calling it a hallucination, so I am crazy, right?), so I’m getting more tests. One of them requires me to sleep only 4 hours the night before and we are starting school and there are only appointments Monday-Thursday AM. So I do the thing and then go teach on 4 hours of sleep? Ah shit. OK. Fuck me. ANYWAY.
The girlchild had made me a dog water bowl (the cats are enjoying it) in her ceramics class…
She didn’t want to ship it–afraid it would break–so I took it back in carryon. It’s cute!
More street art.
I love all the murals.
Saturday, we went to MOMA…I posted a bunch of stuff on Instagram, but really enjoyed the Kara E-Walker installation, even though two parts weren’t working.
The Zanele Muholi exhibit was also amazing…great photographs, but I did really love the bronze piece.
I had never seen any Yayoi Kusama in person and there were two, so that was cool.
Also, I was really bad at taking pictures of people, so if you know the girlchild (or her SO), there they are.
The tunnel was by Olafur Eliasson…
Definitely prettier on the way back. An interesting version of a flag…by Marlon Mullen.
I really enjoyed the 15-20 minutes we had in this…
I almost went back on Monday, but got kind of stuck in Golden Gate Park (mentally stuck really). It was very cool. Plus here’s a video of a Bruce Nauman neon piece…
Monday, I had some plans. Girlchild was back to work, so I was on my own. Headed out to see some contemporary quilts in an office building in the Financial District…I do love Margaret Fabrizio’s work…
Fun to look at.
There were two other artists, Joe Cunningham and Adia Millett; I posted pictures on Instagram of those too. From there, I shopped at Britex and then headed to Golden Gate Park…I wanted to see bison in the city.
They were pretty far away and very much not mobile at the time. The girlchild had recommended the Japanese Tea Garden, and I knew the DeYoung Museum was in the same area, so I headed in that direction…this is part of how I hit 9 miles of walking that day. Yes, I did figure out the bus system, but there isn’t always a bus. The park has a golden mile that is longer than a mile and has bits and pieces of art along it. A series about California climate decisions…this is the bad choices direction; the good choices had that sequoia living to 250 years old.
Meanwhile, the Park Fire is raging.
This piece was part of a series…I never saw the artist info, but this was my favorite…
Also the favorite of small children and teenage boys. When I got to the garden, I decided to buy the gardens ticket and go see all of them…I thought the botanical garden would be the best, but it ended up being the one I got lost in (should have gone back for the map); the Japanese garden fed me lunch at 2:30 PM…
Damn good tea…also, yes, I did read my book for a while.
And the conservatory was the most interesting, with all the carnivorous plants, mostly Nepenthes…
And like I said, botanical garden…take the map…
I realized my phone was dying and I needed to meet the kids for a soccer game (I wasn’t playing; they were)…
So I mapped things and there were locked gates where the map told me to go…
So I mapped again and got some chai with a plug in the wall…
Got the phone back up to 50% (yes, I have a charger brick thing, but I couldn’t find it…read back to the post about moving everything out of the bedrooms into the living room and there’s a bunch of stuff I still haven’t found)…then ran (not really) for the bus…if it had been on time, I would have been 30 minutes late to the game, but it was early, so I ended up in a Lyft.
I do still love watching her play.
I do not miss 4 games a weekend though.
It was a long, exhausting day. I packed up all my crap and stitched for a bit…
This is Sue Spargo’s Rooted block-of-the-month…I had appliqued everything down last year (it was easy to do that), but hadn’t done any of the embroidery. My stitching friend said I should take 6 blocks with me; I took 3 and barely worked on this one. I’m still appliqueing stuff onto the center block borders for Homegrown, so it wasn’t ready for embroidery.
I was up early the next morning so the girlchild could drop me at the train station…I went south to visit a friend who happens to own some of my quilts…I had never seen them hung in her house, so that was cool.
Very colorful hallway…
Nice to see them again…
We hung out all day and ate and talked and walked…and then I flew home. And it’s taken me all day to get this post done. Yikes!
Bowie in the tent, playing…
And this…yes this…
I did quilt for a while during a Zoom this afternoon. I am going to go patch the holes on the closet doors so I can either prime them later tonight or tomorrow morning. Tomorrow, there is nothing…oh no, I lied. Pilates in the AM (not my favorite day or time, but the only time I could get) and dentist in the afternoon…I think one of my crowns was loosened during surgery (breathing mask instead of tube). Eye doctor on Monday. Then school stuff Tuesday and Thursday, in for real on Friday. So I need to finish quilting this weekend and figure out what binding is going to work. I also need to do a couple of school-related things (ugh). And yardwork and painting…because the hallway still isn’t painted dammit. Ugh. UGH.
But this evening, I have a lovely artichoke for dinner, plus I’m going to quilt some more and read a bit and maybe paint. I don’t know. Painting in the dark is difficult for me.
I have appreciated this summer…although we didn’t really go anywhere and camp, and I did have to deal with a lot of house stuff, but I did lots of ceramics and fabric and reading. I got to hang out with the girlchild, which was cool. I didn’t work. I was so burnt out after the last school year. I can’t say I’m ready to go back (I’m not; I never am), but I am hoping this year will be less of the bullshit and more doing what I know and am good at…we’ll see if that’s how it rolls. Also I need to change the damn calendar to August.
A blackberry/pistachio croissant…but no chai. Ah well…only so much sugar at once, right? Not sure how long it will take to write this. Maybe in more than one coffee shop today. Pro of traveling: I can sleep in because no dog/kitten in the AM. Also I’m trying not to fill every moment, which tends to be how I roll…mostly out of necessity, although maybe choice.
Yes, I’m still in San Francisco…and if you’re a friend of mine and I haven’t contacted you, know that I am trying to be present with my kid…she’s been here for over a year and it’s my first visit. That said, I did go to PIQF on Friday for a few hours…and promptly ran into 3 San Diego folks. There were a few quilts that caught my eye…
Jan Soules’ Finding Neverland #7: Fanfare…I had just read an article about her Neverland quilts, so it was cool to see one in person.
All the Social Justice Sewing Academy quilts…two of the blocks I embroidered were there, which is always cool to see (2nd row from left, 3rd down).
I actually didn’t see the other block until someone else posted it. Not sure I photographed it. This blogpost is just gonna get written in pieces all day. I’ve finished my croissant and tea and am moving on to an exhibit of quilts in a random building. So I need to figure out how to get there. My kid and her SO were good about bus training me (so much easier than San Diego’s public transport)…so I’ll head there and write more later. Or I’ll write on the bus!
I found a few good vendors for fabrics I find difficult to locate at home, so that might have been the best part. I did see a few more quilts I liked, but my iPad is ancient and doesn’t like to load photos, so this is all you get.
Friday night I met up with my daughter and her boyfriend, and we had dinner and drinks out, with a giant hike up Divisadero in between (Uber and Waymo were too expensive…totally got a workout there). None of us woke up early on Saturday, but eventually we made it to a farmers’ market and then MOMA, which was really great. More pictures on Instagram, but here’s me with the girlchild and some of Yayoi Kusama’s pumpkins…
We only had about 2 1/2 hours…I’m considering going back today to listen to the whole Ragnar musical thing, but probably won’t. It was beautiful though. The girlchild cooked Saturday night, fresh from the market, so good. I’m staying at an Airbnb that’s about a 10-minute walk from her, and they are nice enough to walk me home at night (something about not sending me off alone into the dark).
Sunday we hiked up in the Tennessee Valley, drove across the iconic bridge and hiked out to the ocean.
Hopefully I’ll get a better picture of the bridge today…although it’s cloudy and delightfully cool again. Can’t complain about cool weather in July.
I needed a nap after that (and really good pizza…pizza, then hike, then nap). We had great Indian food for dinner and then I drew and read and watched some show.
Can’t explain the drawing, sorry. There’s a headless cat in there. Hoping to do some drawing today as well. I did a little embroidery Saturday, lots of reading. I’ll see them tonight for soccer and dinner, then hanging out with an old friend tomorrow and home tomorrow night. I love hanging out with my kid and getting to know her SO better. I also love not having a work/home to-do list at the moment. Getting off at the next stop…saving the draft!
I managed to see this exhibit in the Mills Building in the Financial district….first…no second stop of the day
I love Margaret’s work, especially how she incorporates existing items into the pieces, such as the umbrella in this one.
Joe Cunningham’s work has really interesting lines throughout, whether quilted, painted, part of the actual fabric, or as a thin strip of meandering fabric…
And I was introduced to the work of Adia Millett here too…
I love that a local business building is celebrating quilt art. OK, I’m going to post this now from the Financial District. Got more tea, planning on Britex Fabrics (0.2 miles), maybe some bison, maybe a boat ride. Not sure what else. I would like to finish my book….with lunch? And maybe draw somewhere. We’ll see.
Sitting in an airport, drinking tea, waiting to board. I may or may not have enough books or stitching for this trip. I always bring too much of everything, but my bags seem very light. I’m going to San Francisco to see the girlchild, which is cool.
Yesterday, I managed (in the sweaty heat) to paint the closet, sew a backing together, wash and dry batting, clear out the entryway, wash the floor, and pinbaste that big quilt.
Yes, that’s a cleared out entryway. You should have seen it before.
Ready to be quilted when I get back.
I also spent some time underglazing this piece…
There are a couple of cracks…it dried too fast. I shoved a bunch of damp paper towels in there so hopefully it won’t be too bad when I get back. The bottom of this is already on the green ware shelf and will probably be ready to fire when I get back.
Speaking of fire, the boy child is now at the insanely huge Park Fire near Chico. I don’t expect him to be home any time soon. This fire was started by some dumbass who has already been arrested. Humans can be really stupid sometimes.
So my plan for today includes PIQF and dinner with my kid and her SO. Probably there will be some reading on the plane. It’s too short a flight to try to draw or stitch, but we’ll see. I’m looking forward to cooler weather for sure. and a new view for a few days…
Oh hey. It’s some day. In the week. During summer break. Most summer breaks, I take on extra paid work, mostly copyediting, but nothing came up this summer (thank goodness) except the house stuff, which is like another whiny job that never goes away. I stared at the closet for a long time before finally deciding I really should just paint it. And then I stared at it even longer before starting the process. NO, I haven’t painted yet. But it’s cleaned out and washed, and yesterday, I finally made it to Home Depot (procrastinated for a week, y’all) to get what I needed. Today is prime the unprimed/bad paint sections. Maybe paint. Maybe. I hate painting. Really. I do. But I want the closet done so I can put stuff away in it. The house is still a freaking disaster. I put 5 pillows away yesterday. Why are there 5 more pillows? I really don’t know.
I didn’t make it to ceramics on Monday because we puppysat, so I ironed a big chunk instead and managed to finish.
There were a bunch of pieces that were loose on this piece, couldn’t be ironed down until I got to the background.
Then Monday night, I ironed everything down…
There were 5 pieces I never found, so I made new ones.
Usually with a piece this big, I’ll iron it down on the entryway floor so I can see and place the whole thing. There were two major pieces and then a lot of smaller things. But the entryway floor is a fucking disaster (see closet discussion above), so it wasn’t an option. So the pro is I did it on the ironing board. The con is that it’s not straight on the bottom, but I’ll fix that when I sandwich and pinbaste it. Here’s the whole thing, late at night, in the dark…
And then yesterday, I started stitching it down. I looked at how long it took to do the Supreme Court stitchdown (8 1/2 hours about). This is a similar size…it’s about 54″ wide and 80″ high.
My goal is to be finished with stitchdown before I go to San Francisco Friday, so I figured I needed to do at least 3 hours of stitchdown a day. I managed more than that yesterday and got the entire base and I think two whole figures done? I think I’m more than halfway, but I could be wrong. I think the Supremes had more pieces by quite a bit, and that’s kind of what decides how long stitchdown and outline quilting will take.
If I finish today, I’ll try to sandwich and pinbaste tomorrow, although that means clearing space on that damn entryway floor. Ugh.
I also finally finished the handstitching on this one…
So that’s two ready to go to the photographer. There’s Bowie too. He likes quilts. All cats do.
Not going to ceramics on Monday meant my phone told me I needed to go on Tuesday. OK. I’ll go with that.
I finished the glaze on this and put it on the shelf to dry.
It’s all underglaze. And then I went to unwrap the top part of the figure I’ve been working on. I hadn’t been in for a long time, due to my schedule and the classes in over the weekend, and it had dried too fast. Two parts cracked, so I wrapped them while I was finishing up the other piece and then reattached. I’ll go in today and/or tomorrow to check on it and start underglazing it to match the base. There were a ton of people in the last two times I’ve been there. I prefer quiet. Honestly.
This one is kind of refusing to come out to eat. Poor kitty.
There’s her half-toothless face. I try to bribe her with treats. She must be eating something, though, because she’s not super skinny at the moment. It’s warm and she doesn’t like that. I worry about her lots. Leaving her for 5 days…ugh. She won’t take her meds if I’m not here. But she’s fighting taking them now. So there’s that.
In other quilt news, I’m on this poster, as my quilt is in this exhibition, opening this weekend.
Nice to be invited.
Ah yes…
Sharknado? I’m good with it…although I don’t think he can run that fast.
Anyway. Today. I need to think about packing for the trip. I already found a few books and downloaded them, and decided what stitching I’m taking with me. The piece I’ve been traveling with is not in a good stage for that at the moment. And I’m unlikely to have the time to get it into a good stage. However, I had a series of 9 small blocks that are appliqued but not embellished (another Sue Spargo, shockingly), so I grabbed a few of those. It’s unfortunate that the place I’m staying does not have a comfy chair in the room (this type of Airbnb never does…annoyingly), but I’m not really expecting to spend much time in the room. If there’s down time, I’ll go to a coffee shop or something. There’s only about 20 within a short walking distance. Tea, snack, stitching, while watching some videos. Need to remember my headphones. Girlchild is working some of the time I’m there, so I do have some options for down time. Maybe some fabric, maybe some art, maybe a boat ride. Who knows? We might go visit the boychild if he gets stationed far enough south. Right now, he’s about 3 hours north of San Francisco, and that’s without traffic. That would be a long day. ANYWAY. Also today, at least 3 hours of stitchdown. Priming a closet (ooh exciting. not.). Plus maybe ceramics. If not today, tomorrow definitely. Yardwork! I’ve filled 1.5 trashcans and need to fill 1.5 more. Fun times. Bush from hell around the pool. It just takes forever to trim this bush. I would totally pay someone to take this bush down to 6 feet all the way across. OK, IDK how much I would pay them, because yeah, this summer has not been cheap. OK. Eat breakfast, more tea, change into painting clothes and do the first step of getting this closet put back together. That’s a plan.
Oh hey. I’m not sure what day it is again. Pros and cons to that feeling. It’s Monday! Best to avoid Monday feelings. What a crazy weekend, eh? I’ve been saying for months that I’ll vote democrat no matter what, because the alternative is evil Satan (not satin…although satin has some evil qualities). I’m really pro voting for a woman again and for a person of color again. When I look at the small portion of Project 2025 I’ve seen (no, I have not read all 900 pages…yet), I realize that my retirement plan would be sidelined by them…I wouldn’t be able to afford to retire when I want. Insulin costs alone would make it impossible. But it’s not just about me…I heard someone explain the difference between the current Republican party and the Democrats as one party cares about money and power and one cares about people. I wouldn’t be a teacher if I didn’t care about people. I wouldn’t make the art I make if I was in it for the money and power. So I guess it’s always obvious where I roll on that. That said, I’m putting my vote in for Kamala Harris…but if the Democrats nominate another candidate, I’d still put my vote in for them. I won’t vote for rapists and pedophiles. I won’t vote for a party that is so incredibly clueless and careless about anyone who isn’t rich and white and male. I’m hoping voters come out and make it happen. I have friends who don’t vote and I don’t understand it. Anyway. That’s where I’m at right now. Flabbergasted a little, but rallying. Still not voting for the orange asshole, no matter what.
Artwise, I presented some bug demonstrations at the Oceanside Museum of Art Street Level event on Friday. It was good…not a ton of people, but I was busy explaining and ironing all night.
They set me up right in front of my own quilt, which was cool. I brought some quilts and pinned them to the table (thanks to the Man and some bystanders for helping me with that idea).
And then I spent an hour demonstrating and talking.
It went fast. Yes, that’s my pool noodle. Meant to shove that under the table. Never happened. Oh well.
The Man hung out in a bar until near the end, and then helped with photos and cleanup.
It was an experience. I had overthought it completely in my head (how my anxiety helps me?), and it worked really well. I didn’t do hardly any embroidery, but I did iron three or four bugs down to backgrounds. Everything is still in the box…so I should probably get my act together and figure out how to finish the rest of them. Certainly binding them is really time-consuming and makes them really expensive, so I think I’ll change that up and toss them all on Etsy. The embroidery also makes them expensive, so maybe that’s something I could do by machine as well, but I think it really adds to the piece. We’ll see. It’s not super high on my priority list.
I didn’t iron Friday…Friday was too busy. Saturday, I went to a friends and stitched for a while and then came back and read a book. So braindead. No pictures of that apparently. But I did iron an owl and some bombing planes…
Sunday, I finally got it together again and started ironing for real…
So the crone figure is part of a tree. She’s standing behind the other three figures. She’s missing her head here and a large part of her lower torso, which is behind the figures. But I got most of this part done. Fussy as shit. So what’s left? Her head, a cat (gotta be a cat), and one of her very complicated hands. I’m in the 1400s, but oh no, wait…I’m in the 1500s. So hopefully I finish today, pick a relevant background, and iron her down. I wanted stitchdown to be done before I left for San Francisco. That MIGHT happen? Certainly it will be started.
I got no clay done in the last three days, between my schedule and a class being in the studio. Hoping to get over there today. Yesterday, I measured the pieces I want to add fabric to and made notes in my journal about what I wanted to do. I have plans! I did pick up the winged woman after her final glaze and I am really happy with her, but now she needs fabric and a base.
This is some awesome artistic photography here…barely cleared space for her.
Love that cat…
Definitely some burnout of underglaze that wasn’t covered by the satin clear, but man, those arteries rock. By the way, there is nothing quick or cheap about how I am making ceramics pieces. But I am enjoying the journey, so that’s the plus.
Other crap that happened this weekend? I bought a bunch of milkweed to supplement those in my yard, which were grown from seed two or three years ago. I got some narrow leaf, but also some special kind and some woolypod, which is what grows in our mountains. Two of the plants came with caterpillars…
Butterfly starter kits…
So I got those in the ground yesterday evening. Too hot before that.
I’m having a hard time balancing the stuff that needs to be done (I really need to paint and I really don’t want to) with the stuff I want to do (read, clay, fabric). I’m doing my best.
The boychild got released from one fire and sent further north to another one.
23 days gone? 24? Not sure. I need to wash his fridge out (I just put it outside, hoping he would come home soon) and move one of his furniture pieces out of the living room that the cats are just way too interested in…need energy for that though.
This thing wakes us up early though, so I’m tired…
And then he sleeps half the day. Like a kitten.
That’s a yawn, not a yell.
Meanwhile, I’m listening to the mom behind me screaming at her kids. I think she said she would paddle one of them into the next planet if they didn’t get over here right now. She’s fun. I get being frustrated as a mom. I was there. I know. But she is a screamer.
THIS.
Man, even those who didn’t teach for very long, or, and this is key, haven’t taught post-COVID. My lord. Y’all know nothing. And we don’t just have one class…there’s five of them with a four-minute break between…max. I remember my principal saying we needed to be at the door immediately after the last class came out, no shutting the door in between. Dude, sometimes we need a reset…of the classroom, the materials, our BRAINS.
We need a few of these here.
Love that.
And from the book I’m currently reading, A House with Good Bones, which is already good…
This is exactly how my brain works. If you’re wondering how I got from here to there, because you can’t see the path, this is what’s going on inside my head. ALL THE TIME.
OK. So. Monday then. I need food and a shower, possibly in opposite order. Then I’m going to go work on ceramic stuff…I know I’m going to be gone for 5 days, so although I want to start the base for the winged woman, I think it’s better if I wait until next week, when I get back. I have one piece that’s ready to go on the drying rack and another piece that needs a few hours of underglazing. I should focus on that. I love starting new things, but it will just dry out while I’m gone, and I don’t want that. I’m also planning on ironing a lot, and dammit, I’m going to at least wash the closet and prime the two parts that have no paint or wait, three parts, need to be primed so the paint will stick. I’d also like to plant a few more things, but I’m a little concerned about the Man watering while I’m gone. So maybe wait on those. We’ll see. It’s already a lot for the day and I’m losing time just sitting here typing. I’m also still not awake. Not enough tea. Never enough tea. And I have a Zoom call at 1 PM, so I have to work around that. Ugh. Get going.
Kathy Nida 