OK. I need another week. I realize most of you don’t get a 3-week break around Christmas, and you think I’m a whiner about this, and maybe I am, but all of the deadlines and to-do list items just slammed into me like a Mack truck and I’m panicking. It’s OK. I do this every Winter Break. But when your diabetes nurse is telling you that stress increases your blood sugar and you’re still trying to get that under control, thinking about stress causing that just causes more stress and maybe I should blow off everything and just go for a long hike. There are many arguments for that.
But I am also a responsible adult. Apparently.
So I drove back from Arrowhead yesterday morning. We all left early to get back to life. And deadlines. And stress. Aack. Seriously. I need to get a hold of this.
So let’s remember this…because it’s pretty. Although effing cold.
I don’t think my feet got warm until like 6 PM yesterday night.
Lots of lolling around with dogs. Reading books. On devices.
I didn’t finish mine, but I checked out three more and then went on airplane mode so the library couldn’t suck back the book that was due yesterday that I’m almost done with but literally have no time to read what am I thinking. Sigh.
Wednesday was the boychild’s birthday. He made everyone dinner and cake, but then the sprinkles container exploded all over the kitchen.
Well then. Impressive.
More sleeping puppy.
We played Settlers of Catan (need to get us some extensions I think) and I drew and if you follow my Insta, you saw the in-progress drawing that I did while gaming. Yes, I’m not a super serious gamer because I draw or stitch (or sometimes grade) at the same time, but I almost won this time. Maybe. Or we all almost won and the girlchild did win. But here’s the drawing…
This one could be a quilt. Totally. In fact, it shall be. I don’t know when though. Don’t ask me that.
Wednesday night’s cutting…I am so far behind on this.
But there is progress. That’s a plus. I didn’t work on it yesterday though. Yesterday I panicked about a piece that is supposed to be done by Sunday, but it would be really convenient if it were done by tomorrow. Noon. So. Yeah. I don’t know if I can pull that off, but it’s what I’m trying to do.
Yesterday afternoon, I trimmed all the pieces for the Project Paint piece…
There’s about 161 pieces I think. Not a ton.
Then I ironed the first section together…
Ironing eyeballs separately. So the inmate I’m working with had painted a young boy picking his nose and playing with a barrel of monkeys…so I did his older sister…
She’s playing solitaire, because her little brother is too annoying to play with. You know. And then I ironed her onto the canvas that he had painted on…
Now honestly, I could stop there. Well, I need to stitch some. But I didn’t stop there. Because I wanted to go beyond relationships between siblings and games and older/younger…I wanted to go out into the big wide world.
So I’ll be working on the top and bottom strips today, then stitching down, and deciding how to finish it. And wondering why I do this to myself, except I think it’s a good cause. I still need to write a response to the inmate as well and figure out how to get it done before noon tomorrow.
Don’t talk to me about the other things I need to do today.
I did have my stitching meeting last night. No, I haven’t implemented my one piece per night thing yet. I’m still on break. Plus I’ve been working on this one at stitching meeting forever. I finished the zebra and started the antelope…
But realized I am probably going to run out of the thread I’m using. I can’t figure out what it is, and I thought I had more of it. I lost the label for it. I haven’t looked too hard yet though. I will see if I can get around the antelope’s body and then maybe find a replacement. I still need to do the other flowers on this block too…but they are on the other instruction sheet…the one I don’t carry around.
It’s interesting. I put stuff on my to-do list that really isn’t necessary, like the drawing a night thing…here’s last night’s.
But I do that for my sanity and to make sure that the job stuff doesn’t take over the world. Because it would if I let it.
OK, I’ve got work to do. Later today? Dog walk and probably phone replacement. And more of this stuff. A drawing. Maybe some stitching. Most definitely trying to finish the Project Paint thing. Some school stuff maybe. Not forgetting about that quilt I have to ship. Aargh. Too much. (Do not ask me about grading. My principal called me yesterday. On break. Yeah. Teaching. The job that sucks up your brain and spits it out.)
So I just realized the silly app on my iPad tossed all these photos into the post in backward order. Sigh. No. I don’t have the patience to move them all. Seriously. Hmn. Wait, there might be a workaround…there is! Sigh. Yes, I’m on three different devices up here and none of them is the best for getting stuff where I need it to be. And one needs to be back in airplane mode before it deletes the book that I am reading…I only have 100 pages left to read, but it’s supposed to be due sometime tonight, and I won’t get all those pages read by then. I’m losing time, it seems. It’s always like that in the days before we go back to school. Time compresses strangely and disappears without notice.
So I wanted to iron the Wonder Under to fabric for the Project Paint piece before I came up the mountain, so I did. Here they are…
Hopefully I’ll get them cut out tonight. I also need to cut the other stuff out, but that’s going to take me longer I think.
I used all the fabrics from the last big quilt, except I added a few…these…
Nothing much…just needed to fill a space.
Here’s the pile from the last one…the fabrics I used are all on top of the boxes.
Plus random dog toy. I meant to leave for the mountains at around noon…well, it was almost 2 PM. Whatever.
I made it up before dark…ensconsed myself on the couch with the computer, and finished one of the hellish grading things I had created. Girlchild with puppy…also on couch.
It was pretty cold, 30 degrees, when I got here…a delightful 27 this morning. I don’t have clothes for this. It warmed up today, though. Mostly we are all sitting around reading or watching things. It’s the boychild’s birthday and he will be cooking…impressive. The sun is already dropping and I’ve gotten very little done. I’m in the middle of grading another assignment. I didn’t do a very good job in the middle week of getting crap done. Oh well. Being a teacher is a crazy thing sometimes. I can’t be a teacher every day.
I did cut some stuff out last night…not a lot…the grading sucked up my brain.
Plus we played Sorry. I lost. But not as bad as some people. Still a lot of cutting to do.
Still drawing. In space. With aliens.
It will maybe be hard to stop doing this? Or not? I’m not sure. I know you have to do something like 30 days in a row to make it a habit. Meditation too, right? Supposed to be doing that. Ugh. Can’t remember to do everything.
So today was some shopping, wherein mostly the boychild and I stood around and watched the other two buy things, but we realized most of the shoes in the Bass outlet store had names, like people names. So we went around and judged the hell out of that…this was the closest to mine (I’m not a Kathleen), and I was thoroughly offended that I was the bog standard loafer. Ugh.
Although I feel like I could be cheaper. Seriously. I don’t think I even wore these in the preppy high school era of the 80s when they were the thing. I think I had knock-offs for a while, but I mostly gave up on that stuff and went Kmart and thrift shop. Much more my style.
Anyway, back to grading after walking dogs, then cutting things up and another drawing tonight, plus some gaming probably. Maybe I’ll read some more too. Who knows?
Well happy New Years Eve, all. Or for some, you’re already in 2019 and that’s just weird. Time is weird though, so what’s new. Yesterday I didn’t write because I was hiking, which was cool. Today the kids leave for Lake Arrowhead…I will follow them tomorrow, when the wind gusts will kick up to 45 mph, so that will be a fun drive. Plus really cold up there for people who don’t own puffy coats. I have fleece. That’s it. Fleece and Uggs. Prepare to freeze.
It will be fine. I’m looking forward to some artmaking time today, but also to a diabetes educator appointment. My insulin isn’t working right. Or I’m not working right, which is more likely. So I got a last-minute appointment to go in. Apparently no one wants to go to the nurse on NYE, but me…I’m OK with that. I’d rather deal with it now than try to fit it in during school. It’s so difficult to get appointments of any kind around my job. Frustrating. So maybe we can figure out WTF is going on with my body as part of the new year.
But yesterday, we hiked to Eagle Rock, which is on part of the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail). I’ve been there a few times, and it’s a relatively easy hike, but not super short…I think we did 6 1/2 miles.
First we drove way the freak out to Warner Springs…
It was chilly at first, but exercise warmed us up enough to shed the outer layers, even in the shade of the oaks…
It was a beautiful clear day, no wind, just a bit of a breeze…welcome as we got out into the flat areas…
I call this hike mostly flat. My hiking partner did not agree. I think I just forget about the hills after I hike them.
Mostly flat.
There were a lot of people out there, but not too many. Most of them had dogs.
Ah! There’s the eagle in Eagle Rock…and my partner, glad to be halfway. When we started dating, he had written that he liked to hike…
I’m not sure he and I agree on what hiking is…but he’s a good sport about it. Here’s the view of the valley from the rock formation.
The hard rocks that survived erosion over the years…
Proof I was there!
The last time I hiked this was May 2014…more flowers then. More water too, strangely.
There’s this place in Ramona that looks like a total dive from the outside, but is pretty hip on the inside, so we stopped for some food and a drink before driving all the way home.
Came back to lounging tiredly around post-hike, with puppy, who did no hike at all…
He ran around a lot in the morning.
I took a long time to draw this…just tired, I guess.
Yes, that’s T. rex as a spirit animal.
Girlchild eventually showed up again.
Puppy likes her. Although I think he slept on everybody. I haven’t seen the kid much…friends in town.
I finally started cutting out, but late…
It was an Avengers night…but it doesn’t look like I got much done.
Seriously, that’s three hours of cutting. Sheesh.
This is what’s left. A lot.
I’ll do some of that tonight. I’m not a fan of big NYE partying. We have errands to do today and I have that collaboration piece I need to get done by next Sunday, so I should get going on that today. I’ll go to Arrowhead tomorrow with all my crap that needs doing, hang out with the kids etc. for a few days, and head back to face the fact that I’m going back to work. Stressful. Oh well. I had time off…I still have almost a week. Use it wisely.
Happy Boxing Day! Seriously, if you’ve survived the holidays so far, you’re doing great…just a few more things to get out of the way, right? The year is almost ready to end, there’s still some family stuff to do, there’s post-holiday cleanup, there’s trying to use up all the gift cards and certificates before you forget about them. You have a bunch of books to read, if you’re from my family. I have a lot more fuzzy socks than I did before, which is good, because a bunch of mine had holes in them. It’s all good. Well, just don’t think about deadlines or going back to work or finishing grades, and everything will be fine. I think I’m officially halfway through my Winter Break, and my phone map thinks I need to go back to school. Because it’s Wednesday and I’m not at work yet. Eleven days until back to school? That’s less than half left. Or exactly half. Something like that. So many things to get done before then! I tried to grade yesterday and mostly failed at it. Granted, it was Christmas Day, but in between this and that, I thought I could be efficient. Not so much.
First of all, back to Christmas Eve…I ironed in between the morning event and the evening event, trying to finish up all the bits that belonged to Figure number 2, like this bird.
Meanwhile, Kitten is watching real birds outside.
And in the evening, I drew my requisite, geez, aren’t they getting weirder and weirder, drawing…
There is a second figure bending over on the right. It has to do with how I drew the arm. She didn’t fit with the arm any more.
And then I laid out all the pieces for Figure 3…
I’ve been using a different run of flesh fabrics for each person, but honestly have not paid much attention to what might happen when they overlap, which is really just where the arms are. There’s always ink and thread for that issue.
So Christmas Eve, when I gave up and went to bed, this is all I had used. I have tried to keep the fleshy bits for each figure in a separate box, just so I can see them.
There’s lots of fabric in this one. And here’s all the Wonder Under bits that are not flesh but still part of Figure 3.
I didn’t get to those until Christmas Day…because in the years past, I have managed to stay out of the cooking/food prep part of Christmas evening (mostly) and so I can do art stuff in the hours in between. I would have walked dogs too, but it rained most of the day, so I opted out of outside.
Rushing ahead though. Here’s the pile of stuff to be cut out from Christmas Eve.
Christmas Day is opening presents and cuddling animals…
Animals with chew toys.
Animals who resemble presents…
That tile is from Spain. Or Portugal. Now I can’t remember.
All the animals…
Well, until he’s ready to guard us from the rain. It really did pour for a while.
We got over half an inch. Which reminds me…I need to go turn the sprinklers off again.
Kitten did a damn good job of guarding the bed…
I brought her a catnip toy to entertain her. She’s kind of antisocial.
Rainy driveway.
Today of course is beautiful and sunny. But we have an afternoon thing that will keep me from enjoying it. Oh well.
I did fabric stuff for about an hour in the afternoon, and then we headed off for Christmas dinner, which is a mix of stuff to keep everyone sort of happy.
Girlchild is a good cook. Which is nice.
I worked on the zebra for a bit.
No, he’s still not done. They’re never done.
And then I mostly drew this in the dark. Which might explain my spelling issue.
It might explain a lot of things. This would be a hellish quilt to make. But it was relaxing to draw.
Back to the ironing. While I’m actually picking fabrics, this is what the fabric pile looks like.
It’s a little chaotic. When it gets really bad, I clean up…here’s everything used so far…
I got through Figure 3 and all the attached bits…like this snake…
I’m ready for Figure 4, which has snakes for hair. Complicated overlapping snakes for hair. Yup. What am I, nuts? Don’t answer that.
I’m 12 1/2 hours into the ironing, and barely over the halfway point for pieces…about halfway through the 800s, I think.
The box gets more and more full.
My hours per week are up in the last 7 days, but still not where they need to be. I need to be fully ironed to fabric before I leave for the cabin, and honestly, I’d like to be done well before that and cutting the pieces out already. Done with that by the time I get back, and then ironing down, because then I go back to school. Yikes. No time for that. The next figure is also on fire. I really am trying to use totally different fabrics in each figure, even the reds for the hearts, although the last one had a gray heart. I want to cut into fabrics that have never felt scissor love. I want to use up things that I have large pieces of and that don’t need to be quite so large in the stash. Kitten just tried to turn on toggle sound on the computer. She’s using the keyboard as a pillow. Nice one, cat.
OK, but for now, I need to get ready for the last official family event, which means breakfast and a shower. And then maybe iron a bit before we leave. Figure 4 for tonight then. Some more grading at some point. Ugh. Some exercise some time. Tomorrow probably. Scissor love though. Gotta love me some fabric.
OK I’m writing on a Sunday because I didn’t realize it was a Sunday because I’ve finally reached the part of my Winter Break when I have no idea what day it is until someone tells me. And this clears my brain and lets me set goals for the day or even the week, although right now, let’s just focus on one day at a time, because more than that makes me panic about deadlines and stuff like that, and that’s not a good place to be right now. Right now should be all cookies and kittens, people. Maybe some puppies or bunnies too, and a cute little sloth or hedgehog would also be appreciated. Plus clean floors. Still don’t have those.
So with that, I spent a lot of time yesterday ironing…for good, not evil, no worries. No clothing was harmed in the process. And I’m totally OK with having all that time to iron. I wanted it. I did not leave the house. And it was fine.
Before I did that, I cut some background blocks for the moons I bought from Jude Hill of Spirit Cloth…I’m planning some of my typical fusing on each block and then a bunch of hand embroidery.
It’s not something for a show…it’s just something for me. What a concept! Trying something new anyway. That’s always a good thing. This is the project that will occupy me on Sundays, so I needed to get it up and running. Fusing next.
Then I hung the drawing for the new piece…twice, because it does have a top, but sometimes I get confused by where that is.
Goddess forbid I label the damn thing with TOP. It’s big…more horizontal than usual. More horizontal than vertical.
There’s a lot of flesh in this. Five heads means five different flesh runs. This is the first and the smallest of the figures. Kitten is fascinated.
Geez. So there it was after I found all the pieces for that person…I think it’s the only one that has a torso down into the legs. They all have arms though.
Some of the biggest pieces in here are arm parts.
For once, I numbered intelligently. I numbered everything in each figure and then everything that touches it that’s not another figure. So logical. This is the third fabric in the flesh run. Fitting all the pieces together. I am giving a talk at my local quilt guild in January and I need process pictures.
I don’t really like puzzles, but I also don’t like wasting fabric. So I’m very thoughtful about how I iron.
Then I started picking fabrics for Figure 2…bigger pieces, but still only a run of 5 fabrics for the main fleshy bits. I have to worry a bit about having enough of each fabric to actually cut out the pieces…the second one was a bit tight.
Or maybe it was the first one. Can’t remember. It’s OK. I want to use up fabric and have them be in quilts. I don’t want them to languish away in drawers, lonely and bereft of admiration.
I did take a few hours of a break and finished grading that big assignment (yay! Yes, there are 6 more, but they’re all smaller, hallelujah) and then drew this crazy thing while watching a movie with the sick man.
I can’t explain it. I just didn’t know what to do with the legs. They were too far apart to put a body on them, and besides, the paper wasn’t long enough for that, and it was really about being underground anyway, and someone was making me watch the news at some point, and that’s never a good thing.
When the sick guy went to bed (hope he’s better soon…he’s miserable), I went back and ironed down the last of the fleshy bits on Figure 2. Here’s everything ironed down so far.
I still have to do all the non-flesh bits of Figure 2, like the heart, lungs, and eyeballs. I ironed for almost 5 hours yesterday. Perfect! Hoping for a repeat today, but…well…we’ll see. More stuff going on today. I’m not sure where I am in the pieces…I pulled from the 200s and the 300s, but didn’t iron all of them down, so I probably have at least 300 pieces ironed. I’m guessing it will take about 20 hours to iron all of this…so it’ll be sometime this week. I think. I do have other stuff to do, lots of family stuff, which is good, but eats into my artmaking time. That sounds cranky, but I am in serious hermit mode right now and didn’t leave the house yesterday. I won’t be able to pull that off today. I will have to fight holiday grocery store crowds and be nice about it. Ugh. And I should grade something and I will definitely draw again. Hopefully something less psychotic, but honestly, it doesn’t matter, because I’m just drawing to draw…and I finished that sketchbook last night (from 2014), and found another one that I started in 2014 (why? Why two in the same year? I cannot say.), so now I’ll try to fill that one.
But for now, I’m waiting on the children, so I can go to the grocery store and get that over with. Woo! Love it! Yeah! Then ironing. Please.
Another no-art day. Ah Christmas. You eat up my spare time with your neediness. Today will be different. I feel it. Christmas morning will be here at the house, so cleaning, plus we have to deal with grocery shopping for the festivities, but that’s not much…just some dusting, some floor cleaning, and an hour at the store, maybe more. Today I personally have no plans, although there is still a to-do list. I don’t have to do anything on it though…except my daily Winter Break drawing.
Yesterday. Yesterday was a lot of cleaning and cooking and then we walked the dogs to really tire them out…oh wait, but before that, I finished the present wrapping and there’s Kitten, guarding the tree.
She hasn’t gacked up any pine needles yet, but it’s not for wont of trying.
We took the dogs out to Crestridge Ecological Reserve…I keep forgetting about this one, because it’s a longer drive to get there.
It has a beautiful grove of old oak trees though. Obvious rain damage to the trail from the two batches of rain we got a few weeks ago.
We were trying to do 4 miles, but were just short. The weather was perfect…a little chilly even.
The last time I was here, it was too hot.
We wandered around a trail for a bit…
The dogs like to forage. Mostly. Here boychild went to explore a pile of stuff in the brush, and Simba refused to go with him. So we waited.
This is coyote country, so I do pay attention to Simba’s instincts. Although he’s also a rampant barker…but not on leash.
Even in winter, we get flowers…
Although not many. More of that rain damage.
Makes for interesting patterns on the ground. Remember that for the next drawing.
Anyway, then I bathed the big dog. She has skin issues and needed her special soap. Dinner. Picked up girlchild from the airport, which was hellish. Too many people. Three introverts in a car looking for the one extrovert. Then they dropped me at the music venue where my guy was playing last night.
And I upped my daily step count yet again. It was a nice way to end the day…short set, not too late, got a good view up front. Wine was horrendously expensive, so I gave up on that.
I did draw while waiting for the band to come out, though. Got some weird looks and some comments. I was there by myself, so I was OK with it.
This is one of the smallest sketchbooks. It fits in my purse. I did most of the drawing in the 20 minutes before the band came out (shitty lighting), and then finished it while waiting for the man to pack up his equipment. This is 6×9″ I think. I don’t like the bird, but the rest is fine. Filling spaces. Like I said, I enjoy the freedom of drawing without a purpose. One woman wanted to know why I didn’t do it earlier in the day, since I knew I was coming here. I was like, “I didn’t have time. Plus I knew I’d be standing here.” I think the idea of going somewhere by yourself was confusing to her. Maybe if I’d explained that I was with the band? She was all talking about how she had friends in both bands. OK. Well. I go to a lot of these and there’s a lot of waiting around and I like to have my brain busy. So I read or draw. I also danced for an hour, so I’m OK with that.
Meanwhile…did I get anything done on that quilt in progress? Fuck no, I did not. Nothing at all. That will change today. The kids are Christmas shopping and then they will go to their dad’s. The man is sick, so I’m suspecting dinner here or out and that’s it, and I’m OK with that. I’d like to start ironing this quilt to fabric today. I would like to get a big chunk of that done, like 4 or 5 hours. I’d like to do the same tomorrow, but tomorrow gets more complicated. I’d like this shingles vaccine rash to go away (I finally took Benadryl last night…it helped a little.). I’d like more sleep. All these things are possible. I want to finish grading the last of the science units. I got about a third of the way through the last period yesterday. I even did a few at 11 PM after the show, but I didn’t finish. Today I would like to finish, so I can pack that pile up and just deal with the computer stuff. I might change out of pajamas…but I might not. That’s a decision I can make later.
There’s something about the three breaks I get a year as a teacher…work takes up so much mental space that it’s hard to do anything beyond the necessary errands and short, quick self-care, like hikes and art exhibits and music and dinners out with loved ones. Then I get three weeks off, albeit three weeks with the girlchild home and a bunch of holiday requirements, you must be here and there and bring stuff that has to be organized, blah blah blah. That’s not my favorite part of any holiday. And then because I’m a teacher, I have to balance my desire to completely blow off my job for 3 weeks (some manage this…I don’t know how) with the hope that if I work hard enough, I could start teaching again in January with very little backlog. It’s never NO backlog. That’s a joke. But get the big nasty stuff out of the way, for sure. Especially since grades are due when we get back.
But January 1, the new year, is always mentally a place where we evaluate life, love, and the pursuit of happiness, right? OK, teachers do that over the summer too. Plus cleaning…it’s all about cleaning and finishing things, right? I used to always start new projects around Thanksgiving, because I’d have time then to do that, and then with Winter Break I could finish something large. It’s funny…I actually spent more hours making art the last week of school, that crazy-ass week with night-time meetings every day after school, then this week, which has kind of sucked for that, except for the drawings, which honestly are taking around 30 minutes, except that one night I was sick. That took longer. I’m hoping next week has more art time built in, but who knows? Certainly there was no art made yesterday besides the daily draw.
That said, I needed to get a lot of things done…and today will be the same. The bougainvillea got trimmed and the steps swept from when the boychild tossed everything on the roof down. Boychild started working on the disastrous wood pile. I got a bunch of stuff out of the entryway in preparation for Christmas morning here. I put a few more ornaments on my tree. I cleaned the girlchild’s room, which meant putting a bunch of quilts away. I cleaned the studio, so now it’s ready for ironing today, if I get to it. And I sorted through a bunch of started-but-never-finished projects. I like to finish those. I’ve been trying to take on a few each break. I have a binding that’s still not done from summer though! Because that’s hard? No. It’s really not. Just not motivated to finish it.
So I identified 7 projects I wanted to get finished in 2019. Some of them are barely started, one isn’t even anything but a pile of stuff, and on the other extreme, some are very close to being finished. I tried to pick things that could be done while sitting on the couch, in that post-dinner TV-watching time. It’s maybe 30-45 minutes an evening…although sometimes, I don’t do the TV part. And sometimes I grade instead. But in 2017, I made an effort to hand stitch a little every night before grading or other stuff, and if it helps me get these piles of unfinished things done, I’m looking forward to that. So I spent time yesterday finding parts of things that went with all these projects…I’m still missing about 9 blocks of a wool quilt from a million years ago. I know they’re somewhere…I just don’t know where somewhere is. But I have the four borders to work on until I find them.
Now I found this…I think from the trip we took to Oregon? Or maybe this was Sweden? I can’t remember. I wanted handwork…but didn’t get very far. This is not in the Pile of 7.
Obviously still needs a face and at least one nipple.
This is block 10 of 12…yes, hand applique. I do enjoy it. This looks really weird at the moment. But with three blocks left…really? I should totally finish this.
Seriously, half the quilt is sewn together. So that’s one of the projects for this year. The Sue Spargo Folk Tails quilt I’ve been working on for a couple of years is also one of them.
This house is 6 of 9…big and colorful and obnoxious use of interesting fabrics (not that you can tell here, because it’s all covered with freezer paper…you’ll just have to trust me). Easy peasy and fun.
So block 7 is already cut out too…so little left to do.
This is an art quilt. I keep finding it and putting it somewhere so I’ll work on it. This is the year to get it done. It’s so close. Really close.
And weird. It’s definitely weird. From probably the early 2000s. I think. I really don’t know. There’s no date on the drawing. But I gave up on hand-appliqueing quilts really early on. And it’s pre-blog. I’ve been blogging for a long time, but not long enough to document this.
What else? A body quilt that needs a lot of hand embroidery that has been sitting around for months. A pile of moons I like but want to make my own. That wool quilt where I can’t find the majority of the blocks. Anyway, I assigned one to each day of the week. Because I was finding it hard to finish things, so if I change it up, maybe I will be more motivated…and obviously, sometimes I won’t work on anything that night, but I figure with 52 weeks in the year, that’s 26 hours or so that might go into that piece. And some of them would be done with just 5 or 6 hours of work. Or at least the handwork would be done and they could go into the machine-work pile. It’s not like I don’t have 4 things already on the list to take their place on the hand-work pile. It’s a plan anyway. Sometimes I’m good at these types of New Year’s resolutions and sometimes I suck.
Simba is looking forward to laptime while I sew.
He’s not a fan of the chair.
Another thing I’m going to try to do is use up more of the larger pieces of fabric I have stashed away for backings. I can piece. I hate it but I can do it. I need to clear space out in my drawers for new stuff…like these.
You’d think I use up a lot of fabric, but I buy more than I use up in a year, I think. OK, I know. But it’s my palette. I don’t use very much of any one fabric in a quilt. Sigh. So going into the drawers and grabbing all the yard pieces of fish fabrics (why so many? I don’t know.) and piecing them into a backing…that’s a thing for 2019. I already have been trying to do that with the bigger fabrics in 2018…all the weird bits I’ve picked up over the years when people clean out and/or die. I’ve been using them. Christmas fabrics too. Good place for them.
A friend of mine grabbed this poster from Mesa College…they were cleaning up. That’s my (sold) quilt on the poster! I love it!
Nice decoration for the door.
So I had all these leeks to use up (still have one giant one left)…and I have this risotto I make that I love, but it takes forever to make. Because risotto. So I always do something at the same time…
And that something is often grading…I’m really happy to say I only have one more class of these to grade.
(And then 6 more assignments, but none of them is as big and hefty as this one.). Stir in broth, grade one kid’s science unit, stir in more broth, grade the next one. Tasted great.
Then I did my 6th drawing in a row…it was late though. Because I was still trying to clean up too.
The days just fly by on break. I try to be efficient. I think I’m efficient. There’s just so many things to get done.
It was midnight when I started cleaning up in here. I was wired by then. Not sleeping. And I wanted it clean in here. So I did that.
Found homes for all of it, straightened up all the Christmas and birthday stuff that was everywhere. Wrapped some of it. Moved some of it. Wasted some time with calendar stuff for the year. I needed to get my head straight over some things. You should stay up until 2 in the morning at least once in a while to remind yourself how quiet and peaceful the middle of the night is. Ignore the morning headache you will inevitably have because you can’t sleep in due to daylight and hungry cats. You will survive.
Girlchild is on her way to the airport! She’ll be here tonight. I’ll be at a show though. I’ll see her at the airport first though, before they drop me at the venue. And tomorrow we’ll start the holiday grocery list.
So I didn’t iron anything yesterday. I didn’t make any progress on the quilt at all, unless you count cleaning the studio. Which I don’t. I mean, it had to happen, but it’s not making art. It’s work. But I’m ready to iron now. I need to grab the drawing and pin it up and sort the first 100 pieces of Wonder Under, and then I can iron. But first? Ha ha ha. Yeah, that to-do list is kicking my ass. Today? Yeah. Maybe some of the things will shift over to next week. We will be walking dogs and hopefully cleaning floors. Some of them anyway. Although it might be better to wait until cooking has happened. Hmmm. Don’t want to do things twice if I don’t have to.
Shingles vaccine is down to just the rash…which is unfortunately worse this morning than this last night…
It’s complicated by some allergic reaction I had to something that bit me last week. But the top two red bits are now connected and growing. Hot and painful to the touch. Fun stuff. No fever or fatigue after the first 24 hours though, so I’m counting myself lucky.
Oh yeah, and I took Christmas cards and a letter off my plate for this year. I can’t deal. I might write something here instead. It’s not a task that anyone helps with, so I’m too overwhelmed this year to deal with it. There’s other stuff that has a higher priority. Sorry. Not sorry. You can read my parents’ letter instead. Oh wait. I kinda got left out of the letter. I have a bunch of people that show up places, but that’s my only mention…Kathy’s bunch. My contingent. We might need to print a revision…the Seattle crew and I have already discussed how to rewrite. I’m sure Dad will be pleased that we critique his version of the State of the Nida Conglomerate.
OK, with that, I’m going to eat something and shower, and then figure out what’s next on the list. I think I need to go to the store. Since I didn’t leave the house at all yesterday, it means I will have to put on real clothes and maybe a bra (I really think those should be optional). May your holiday prep proceed in a timely fashion. And involve cookies. Definitely cookies.
Awesome news! This time around, the shingles vaccine is NOT kicking my butt like last time. I felt like crap the first night. I still have a rash on my arm. I’ve had a few bouts of fatigue and chills and headache like last time, but it’s the 2nd day after the shot and I’m not conked out on the couch. Last time, I was sick for 5 days straight and almost ended up in Urgent Care (knock on wood). This is good! You know what’s bad though? It’s only good for 5 years. I didn’t know that. That sucks. It means I have to do this again in 5 years. Ugh. That’s annoying. I guess it makes sense though. I do the flu shot every year (and I don’t get the flu…which when you teach in a middle school is kind of amazing). Honestly, I don’t even get colds very often. I had pneumonia about 4 years ago…that kicked my butt. You’d think with the small amount of sleep I get and the stress from school that I’d be sick all the time…but I’m lucky that way. Immune system kicks ass, even though it’s “compromised” by diabetes. Whatever.
So my arm is painful and itchy, but I can stand up and do stuff! I’ll take it. It’s a good thing, really, because I remembered yesterday that I need to clean the girlchild’s room before she shows up tomorrow. I store my quilts on her bed while she’s gone…it’s easier than pulling them out of storage 10 times a year. So I’m going to deal with putting them all away today. I also need to clean the studio up, because it’s time for ironing! Yay! One of my favorite parts of quiltmaking…when I get to pick the fabrics. I’m totally going to enjoy that for the next 5 days or so.
So I finished cutting stuff out in the early evening. I did some in the morning, while the windshield guy replaced my windshield. It’s a good thing he didn’t replace anything else, because obviously he’s the windshield guy. I shipped stuff to Seattle for Christmas, I went to the quilt store and got background fabric that I think I’ve used in another quilt. I really tried to get something that wasn’t dark blue, but my brain wasn’t having it. I got some other stuff too, including this one fabric with eyeballs on it that the nice woman cutting my fabric said looked like something I would use. Um. Wait. So you know who I am? Apparently yes. Weird. And then I got my hair cut shorter, hallelujah, because it was bugging me. All THAT! And some other stuff. Big pile of pieces on the left, trash on the right…wait, that’s not even the done box…because there’s still a yard of uncut Wonder Under underneath it.
That must have been before I went for the haircut etc.
So then I came back and the dogs were all needy and shit…
Because they like people and all. So then I cut out the last yard…and here’s the two official last pictures of that endeavor…a little over 10 hours of cutting. It didn’t feel that long.
So that was around 5:30 or so. Then I graded another class of that huge assignment. Three down, two to go…the two smallest, honestly. That’s a good thing.
Dear WordPress, when I add a picture, you do not need to pop yourself back to the top of the post. That is fucking annoying. It’s gotta be a bug. I thought you fixed that one. Sigh.
So then I started a drawing that popped into my head of a woman with an arm ending in a cactus.
Is this number 5? I don’t know. Yes it is. Well done. Five days in a row. Keep it up. I think there are 23? days of break?
Then I sorted the Wonder Under under the tree lights. OK it’s not a very big tree, so not really UNDER it. But next to it.
It took a little over an hour to do that. OK. Closer to an hour and a half. It doesn’t have a ton of pieces, like it’s not over 2K, but it’s still 1559 pieces. That’s not really a small quilt.
All sorted and ready for ironing.
Ah, if only the rest of the house were ready for that. Today’s list includes another period of science units, cleaning the girlchild’s room (which is mostly quilt organization and rolling, plus laundering bedding), making risotto (like you do), a phone call about an upcoming solo show (that’s exciting! More on that later), cleaning the studio so I can iron tonight, finishing any Christmas crap, and apparently going back to the grocery store for the girlchild. And another drawing. If I look at my to-do list, there might be more things, but that’s enough for now. I think I wanted to go to the nursery for a plant or something. And maybe the pet store for doggie gifts. Plus cat food. Ugh. Even on break, there’s so much to do. At least I got more sleep. And that damn shot didn’t fuck me up as badly this time. Good stuff.
Well Hello. I am alive. For now. My paranoia about the 2nd shingles shot notwithstanding (the boychild has been notified that if I pass out or collapse, he is to call 911, but while he’s waiting, grab my iPad, the charger, and my stitching, in case I’m in the hospital for any length of time). Yeah, my body doesn’t respond well to these crazy vaccinations. I’m hoping it’s better this time. Just in case, my to-do list for today is 10 miles long. Windshield fix is scheduled, oil change is scheduled. All good.
Why so quiet? I survived the colonoscopy (no cancer! no polyps! Yeah because I eat all the Brussels sprouts in the world) and more importantly, the prep for it. Diabetics on no solid food…fun! Not. The plus is that I read 17 chapters of my book that’s due any day now in the middle of the night. Plus I don’t have to go back for 10 more years, and maybe by then, they’ll have figured out how to do this better. Seems unlikely though.
So what else have I been doing? Some holiday shopping. Some drawing. Some trimming of the Wonder Under. Lots of animal cuddling.
Christmas shopping at the Liberty Station Public Market, with murals by Hugo Crosthwaite…
Hey those weren’t there the last time I was there…
Nice.
I also got this clipping and a letter…which is most undoubtedly some sort of Christmas mystery thing…
No Professor Sherman Nida in this family. Yes, I Googled it. I know it’s a thing. I don’t want details. Let me experience it as if I did not know how to Google. (I stopped reading about it online as soon as I figured out it was a thing.) Exciting!
So I have this goal over Winter Break to do a drawing a day. They don’t all have to be big and fancy, but this one was, because we were watching a movie. This is the big sketchbook, 14×17″. Saturday night’s drawing.
I’m not aiming for stuff that needs to be a quilt. I’m just drawing. I do have two big drawings I need to do over break, but I haven’t started yet, and one of them, I won’t be able to show anywhere for a while. Which is hard for me. But Imma gonna do it anyway (in the words of my students).
When I was done drawing, I cut this stuff out for an hour or two…this is two yards of Wonder Under done.
Doesn’t look like much. Trash on the left.
Sunday was no food day. I picked this piece up. So I mentioned before that I’m doing this as a collaboration with a prisoner at Donovan State Prison with Project Paint. I picked a word (relationships…trying to keep it no-nudity for the prison crew) and they started the piece on canvas paper.
So this is the first layer, he says. He is Steve. He says this is the conscious relationship of playing the game a Barrel of Monkeys and the subconscious relationship of picking one’s nose. At the same time. Multiple relationships…hmmm. Not where I thought this was going, but the organizer matched me with Steve for a reason, she said. Uh huh. So he’s left space on the right (presumably for my part? He doesn’t know I don’t paint.). I could also add a strip or border, but nothing bigger than 6″ square, because they could use it as a disguise. Huh. OK. But a border is OK.
My collaborator states that he “will not be held liable for any detriment, ill effect or monetary damages to [my] career as an artist by [my] collaboration with [his] project and or so called art.” Also good. No worries, Steve. We’re good. He likes out-of-the-box abstract, he says. Me not so abstract. So I have a few weeks to put my part together and then it goes back to him to finish. I think I need to go buy some canvas paper because he’s gonna need more space. I think. Letting it percolate.
Sunday afternoon’s drawing (evening?) while experiencing the first of the colonoscopy prep liquid. Blech.
This is part of another idea. You’ll probably see stuff like this again.
Our tree grew…it’s a good thing it’s bent over, because it wouldn’t fit otherwise.
I predicted it might be too tall this year. Next year, it will need to go on the floor. I might have to plant it out after next year, but maybe a 4th year in the house? We’ll see. That was the original plan.
After the prep was fully ingested, my body calmed down enough for me to cut out two more yards of Wonder Under…
I was freezing, hence blanket. No food equals cold body.
This is after 4 yards is cut out. Does it look any different?
Not really. What about sideways?
A little.
Maybe.
Monday, after the procedure, I tried to grade some stuff, but fell asleep for 3 hours instead. Then I got up and graded one period of the largest assignment. Start with the big stuff! The dogs were oh so helpful.
Mostly. My driver conked out at 8:30 AM. This was even earlier, I think.
He had animal support.
After grading, I drew…faster this time.
Combining some older ideas with a newer one that’s been rolling around in my head.
Then I started cutting out Wonder Under again. My cat never comes out, but that Christmas tree lured her out. And then she stayed! She doesn’t usually…
She’s on my right side. And the other one is on my left side…
Understand they do not like each other. They do not like to share space or humans at all. When I got up to pee, I put the box of trash between them so they wouldn’t freak out over the other’s presence.
Strange animals.
Six yards cut out, only three to go.
Side view? Should have taken one. I only have 3 yards left. I’ve cut out for almost 8 hours. It takes 2-3 1/2 hours to cut out two yards, so I probably have 3-4 1/2 hours left. Tonight? Maybe. I’m trying to grade one period of that huge ugly assignment every day. If I do that, I’ll be done by Friday, maybe earlier. Then finish cutting these out by tomorrow…sort tomorrow night. I need to go buy background fabric, but I’m sitting here now, waiting for a quilt to be delivered that needs a signature. Then walking the dogs. Tomorrow morning is replacing the cracked windshield…then haircut in the afternoon. I need cash for that. I need to cut some matts for Christmas gifts today, so I can ship this silly box. I set up the oil change for the car. I ordered a French press for the girlchild. Not sure if there’s coffee, but WTF. AND a drawing a day, every day. Plus hiking. Plus yard work. Plus clean house. Plus wrap shit. Plus sleep more. That’s a crazy thing. Suck at that, even on vacation. But I want to be ironing to fabric by Thursday. That sounds reasonable, yeah? Probably going to be about 20 hours of that…so I could be done by Christmas and then cutting stuff out then? Maybe? We’ll see. I love being able to see whole days of maybe getting art done. Maybe.
So every break I have, I make a to-do list. I used to always do them on post-it notes, then graduated to a typed list that I rarely looked at, but that had sections for art, house, work, etc. I’d print those out sometimes. Then I tried electronic to-do lists, which worked for about 6 months, but I don’t even look at them any more, although I use one to keep track of the meetings or trainings I’ve been to, because my district sometimes fucks up on those. I’m currently using a bullet journal type of listmaking, which includes the month, the week, and then some more general pages that have specifics on them…like I always seem to have an art ideas or art in progress page, and also one for Spring Break vacation trips. Although that’s usually a messy planning page and then a neater one for when we’re actually traveling that has all the reservation numbers and addresses and weird shit like that…the stuff you actually need while traveling. But since Spring Break isn’t for another 118 days, I think I can wait on that page for a bit.
This break is no different though. I have a list of 7 assignments that need grading, the largest of which will probably take me at least 10 hours. Some of them will take a couple of hours, and at least one, maybe two, will take less than an hour.
I have a quilt to finish. I finished tracing Wonder Under on it last night, finally. Nine yards total. 21 hours and 46 minutes to trace 1559 pieces. Calli is very helpful in this process.
So I finished that after midnight, but then my brain was wired, which is funny, because it was notoriously asleep at gaming before that…
Cosmic something or other. I’ve played before but remembered absolutely nothing. It’s a good thing I don’t care a lot about winning. I’m not that good at strategy games. I just play to go out in a blaze of glory.
What else is on the to-do list? Drawing every day. Cleaning house. Some yardwork/gardening. Reconsidering Patreon again. I go back and forth on that one. Probably I’m going to try it and see how it goes. Maybe. Read ALL the books. I love to read. Exercise…hikes! Dog walks! All the things that fell off my list when the time changed and it was so dark and the school meetings were taking over my life. Ugh. Eating vegetables again…but can’t do that until Monday afternoon. Ugh. Sleep. Didn’t get enough of that last night. Was so wired, I ended up cleaning things last night so I could move the Christmas tree back in the house today. So it was about 2 AM when I went to bed. Then puppy is barking this morning, so I’ve a tiny bit more sleep than a normal school night, I have a headache and can’t take Motrin, and today is the All White Food day, which is better than tomorrow, which is All Liquid Day. It will be over soon! No more food restrictions. Looking forward to it. And the rest…drawing and relaxing and yeah, I’ll grade at some point, but not yet. But first, to cut out all that Wonder Under, which hopefully won’t take another 20-some hours. I’d like to be done soon and then ironing! I love the ironing. Get that done before Christmas…ironing by New Years? We’ll see. My plans always get fucked by reality, so accepting that is part of the process. But making a list helps. Today? Christmas shopping, a movie, some white food, reading a book. At least. All good.
Kathy Nida 