NOW It’s Friday…

OK. NOW it’s Friday. Yesterday was NOT Friday, despite my brain repeatedly trying to make it so. It’s fine. I’m tired. We’re all tired. We’re all already behind on school stuff. Very little that is supposed to be done by today is actually done. I stayed an hour at work yesterday to finally type my rosters up. Sure, I could use the school ones, but they drive me bonkers, and I add stuff like nicknames and tutorial teachers for the special ed kids so I know who to bug about missing work. Makes MY life easier. Once it’s done. I have to start grading things today. Fun times. I also need to find the demo stuff for today when I get to school, plus lock everything up because the district is doing this mock Williams Act thing where they inspect our classrooms and make sure every kid is assigned a book, except science doesn’t have books, so we have to show them digitally, but not every kid had a computer until yesterday afternoon (and some STILL don’t), so there was no point in going through the process until everyone had one. So they come today and we are explaining today. PLUS, we get a school board member touring today…stay the fuck out of my classroom. Yay!

Anyway, we’ll get to a routine. The kids are starting to test the boundaries with gum, food, games, phones, airpods, and dress code…fun times. Oh yeah, and throwing things. I might need to stay after school more than an hour today to get seating charts done.

So I’ve been short on art time most nights. I cooked late Wednesday because of pilates and getting all the trash ready for pickup and IDK what else I did. So I finished cleaning up the studio finally and picked the fabric for the background of this one, and laid out the first 100 pieces.

Not much…cleaning took a long time…a few hours. I swept the floor even…didn’t mop though.

Last night, I started late because I ate late because I had my stitching Zoom…but I got a few pieces ironed.

Honestly this piece isn’t very big…hopefully it’ll be done sometime in the next few days.

At my stitching Zoom (during the Zoom? At the couch?), I worked on embellishing the flowers around the edges.

Not quick. But I finished one…that I started during dinner TV hour sometime this week…

They’re not hard, unless you’re tired, and then reading instructions is hard. Stitching is not hard. Progress.

Nova has taken to hiding in the hammock because the kitten can’t reach her.

His neutering is maybe scheduled. He was sleeping with me last night, and then he wasn’t (he bit my knee at some point), and then he was again, and then he wasn’t. I get it, Nova. I’d sleep in a hammock too if I could.

Bowie trying to figure out how to attack Luna from below. Luna contemplating landing on Bowie.

I don’t think I fell asleep until 1 AM because of the cats and dog moving around and making noise (barking at whatever was on the roof…nice, Simba). Not a lot of sleep all week.

Apparently the Man’s car resembles enough of a naturescape that this praying mantis was hanging out.

OK. Go to school, lock up all the cabinets so they think we don’t have chemicals in a science classroom, then find the demo stuff. Wait. Find the demo stuff, THEN lock everything up. Teach kids how to access a digital curriculum we never wanted and will probably never use, then teach about energy…while we have none…ironically. Get through the whole day, work some more after school, and then go to ceramics and try to figure out what I’m doing next. All good. It’s Friday.

Stashes of Snaps

Hmmm. So not much art happening at the moment. Mostly cleaning up after art. Which is a thing. It’s a thing many people do when they’re procrastinating about making art. Me? Not so much. I hate the cleaning up, but realize it’s necessary. It’s part of my process. I put things away so that there’s a fresh palette for the new quilt. The last quilt was BIG and had lots of fabric, so I had a lot to put away. Plus I had the bug fabrics and the needlebook fabrics (you haven’t seen that yet unless you follow me on Instagram)…and some stuff I bought. So it was chaos in here. Hadn’t been truly cleaned out all summer due to moving everything around for carpet and then the girlchild was here. So now would be a good time to try to straighten shit up. Except it’s hot and I’m tired and cleaning is not my superpower. So Monday night, I dragged myself in here and started stacking up fabrics by color. I got about halfway through, also sorting out big pieces for backgrounds and backings, and then left it for last night to finish.

That’s the top of the ironing board. The one the kitten would topple the next day.

Ugh. I have to tell you, as someone who doesn’t really like cleaning and organizing, having to do it again the next day, organize the SAME things you just organized? Extreme will power in play. I want to be ironing, not cleaning. But I did it. I did more, I put a bunch away (all the pinks and some of the browns and whites and all the oranges…those two cupboards are way too full). I unfortunately have more to put away tonight…I also have the trash to deal with, the food waste, cooking dinner, and pilates. Not a light night. It’ll be fine; I just don’t have a lot of hope for getting to the actual ironing tonight. SOON. Maybe.

I did go to ceramics yesterday. I worked on the girlchild’s boot she made on Saturday. She mentioned decorating it with stars. I looked up cowboy boots stars and got some ideas.

It still needs a little work? So Friday. And then I’ll let it dry etc etc. She also left that not-paper bag for me to work on, and I totally forgot to check on it and my mug. It was hot. I was hot. I wanted to get out of there before the classes showed up, so I rushed. Ah well. Everything can rehydrate if necessary.

I also finished (well, almost) the needlebook my quilt guild did…

I should probably be able to tell you whose pattern this is. Dammit. Hang on. Rosie Taylor…she’s on Etsy here. It was relatively easy. I mean, it still took me forever because I was doing it in bits and pieces, but it turned out well. It’s not done because I decided to put a snap on it and I didn’t have any. They arrived yesterday, so that’ll go on soon and then I’ll lose all the other snaps for any future projects for which I might need them. When I die, my children will find stashes of snaps (and many other things) all over the place and they’ll wonder what the fuck I was thinking. Fair enough.

OK. So as you can see, I’m not getting much done. I think I finished the needlebook Sunday night because I didn’t want to clean the studio instead. So much needs doing. I don’t know how normal people do it. I guess they don’t work? I don’t know. Or they have help. My local SAQA group is moving their Zoom meetings in 2025 to a day and/or time I can’t go to…ever. It’s frustrating. Some of us work full time, y’all. And then they’re doing an artist’s day out to a show I’m actually in, on a weekday in the middle of the day. I guess I’m not interacting with that group much any more. Sadly. Another group I’m in keeps setting up meetings with less than 10 days’ notice. Well I’m usually already booked by then. So I’ve missed a bunch of their meetings. I missed ALL the meetings in July I think. All my quarterly groups met on the same weekend, the one when I was in San Francisco. It’s fine. When I am retired (if I ever get there), I can go to ALL the meetings and advocate for those of us who work during the weekdays and can’t do the things. It does make one feel a bit isolated though. Luckily I have the ceramics studio and my stitching group.

OK, I must go to school and do the things. Finishing up safety today with an academic assessment. Still getting new kids every day. Have a couple kids I’ve only seen once. Some I’ve never seen, but that’s normal at the beginning…usually they’ve moved. Lots of crazy stuff needed left and right. I tried not working at home, but last night, had to cave. I needed an hour with no distractions to figure out a plan and the order…did that. I still need rosters. Like today. Ha! I’ll get those done eventually. Maybe.

Teeth Chaos…

Hey. Monday. Too early. Too much. Bright sun, blue skies. Still pretty chill…morning air…but we know what you’re gonna do for the next three days…be hot. Not a huge fan of the hot. Don’t really feel ready to teach today, but what’s new? I tried not working all weekend, until I remembered there were a few things I actually needed to do. It’s a balance…I spent an hour typing kids’ names and printing their pictures. I sent a parent email. In three languages. It’s OK. Friday self wasn’t prepared to get the classroom set up for Monday, so I need to do some things this morning. I’m not quite into the routine yet…after two full days with kids. This week? It’s the first full week of teaching. It’s gonna be tiring. But it’s not hard teaching. Reminds me: I need to find my apron for tomorrow.

OK, so artwise, I wasn’t super productive because the girlchild was here and there was stuff. Plus I needed an oil change…and to finish a book. Very important. And recover from school.

So I finished cutting out all the Wonder Under for the newest quilt, which is pretty small. This was Friday night’s progress…

After taking a nap on the couch and trying to figure out what dinner looked like because everyone left.

Saturday night, I was more awake…

Finished it up and then sorted it…

There’s less than 400 pieces, so it was fast. Next step is cleaning the studio, putting all the fabric away from the last quilt, so I can start ironing for this one. I did not do that last night.

Saturday, the girlchild and I went to ceramics. I finished up the basic shape of my mug…

Very lumpy bumpy. Gotta work on that, but it was getting too wobbly for that. Girlchild made two things…a bag…

And then a cowboy boot…on the left…

Both need a little work, firing, and glazing, so those will end up on my to-do list. Fun to hang out with her and clay though. I realized I have like no pictures of her from this weekend except that. And we took no family photos last night at dinner. Totally out of it. I keep meaning to do those things and forgetting. I do have Bowie helping to hold my book up.

Not really. He does like to lean on an iPad though.

I said no to one of said roles last week.

Life/work balance y’all. And J.D. Vance? You’re a dick.

Although I guess technically you could argue I take care of kids, if by ‘take care’ you mean ‘educate for the future’. I’m with the princess. Where do men come up with this shit? I hope his wife has read Lysistrata and is withholding until he stops being such a dick.

Here’s my brain.

I just realized I could see all my brain pictures on the app, so I’m totally using one in a drawing in the future. This one is nice. Teeth chaos in the front.

And this is from the book I’m reading. I can’t decide if she’s being serious or making fun.

I’ll keep reading…maybe it will become obvious.

OK. Teaching safety today. Some other general sciencey stuff too. Two staff meetings, ugh. Then driving the girlchild to the airport. Fun times. I’m tired, it’s true. I often am. Hoping to figure out the sleep thing soon…doesn’t help that there’s a kitten who sleeps like a 1-year-old…or worse…actually, maybe like a 4-month-old. Not up every two hours…he gets a solid five. But that’s it. Neutering is in his future. Should help.

A Lot of Hope

Hey. Yo. It’s Friday. I’m tired. I have survived the first day of actual school with kids. It was fine. Too much talking. I have a new prep period; kind of adjusting to that. It’s earlier but not by much. Definitely had a pulled muscle yesterday, but I think it was from pilates on Wednesday. After school, I did a 1-hour round trip (rush-hour traffic with accidents as a side) to drop another quilt with my photographer. That’s three. It’s cool. I feel like I finished some stuff this year finally.

I traced the last two nights…

Either Bowie is slightly better at listening, or I’m better at picking kitten sleepy times to trace. I had to move him off the light table to be in zoom with stitching friends and trace, but he was so tired, he just curled up again and went back to sleep.

And I managed to finish tracing…

Small quilt, small pieces, not very many of them. Compared to the bigger ones. And then I started cutting them out. This is where small is not so fun.

I started. I will continue. Probably tonight, but who knows? I’m missing the Man’s show tonight…

The girlchild is here, I’m exhausted, the boychild is home from fires. I just wanna hang out. Watch, they’ll both just disappear and I’ll be home on the couch with all the furry beasts. That also might be OK. The Man has a ton of weddings coming up in the next 6 weeks…wants to sneak me in. I don’t mind crashing like birthday parties and stuff, but weddings are dress-up things. Not doing it. So lots of Saturday nights coming up where I will just have to sit around and make art? Hmmm. Pros and cons.

Ceramics-wise, I know two of my things came out of the bisque fire fine…the base of the world figure is there on the right.

The top part is still drying. And the sgraffito thing I made for the garden stake thing they’re doing…it’s there in the middle bottom.

The clay is really light for the background. Wondering about getting some black clay for a sgraffito thing. I just don’t need 25 pounds of it. Hmmm. Anyway, I haven’t been able to get to the studio yet…maybe tomorrow. I also need to fill a tire with air, possibly get new tires, put oil in my car, and also washer fluid. All that popped up in the last week or so. Sigh. Couldn’t do that over the summer when I had plenty of time? Nah.

School! Here’s the 8th-grade team (minus the combo team). We’re back together after…um…2 years?

Yes, we have matching shirts, but science went for a darker gray. I would have gone even darker if there’d been an option. They like their super light colors. I do not.

Here’s my specific team, again.

IDK how many years we’ve been a team, but it’s been a long while. The principal thought about breaking us up because there were so many new teachers, to spread us out. I’m glad he didn’t.

Sometimes they drive me nuts, but that’s true of all teams. And no, I don’t get to be on the same floor as them. So they talk about stuff up there and think I know what they’re talking about. I don’t.

My district passed that stupid parent info thing that violates state law. And some states do this stupid shit.

There’s a local election in November. If it goes a certain way and the dumbasses are in charge, the next 5 years are gonna be shit for teachers in our district. Please vote intelligently. Research the stories you post and make sure they are the truth and not made-up-shit, because I see so much of that. And it’s exhausting. And if you’re trying to friend me on Facebook and we don’t have a personal connection, and you have a picture of Trump and his fist in the air with his tiny ear scratch as your main photo? Don’t friend me. I’ve been unfriending a lot. I keep some because of that personal connection, but I do sometimes question their sanity. Kids first. Your adult agendas need to consider that if your child tells their teacher their pronoun/name preference and NOT YOU, it is because YOU ARE NOT THE SAFE SPACE. You do WANT teachers to be a safe space, right? Well then don’t fuck with our ability to be that. And figure your own parenting shit out on your own time.

Welcome to my TedTalk. Oh, yeah, today is a chill day in science…some vocab, some cover pages, some coloring. I’m in for it. Plus trying to learn kids’ names (hard!) and get ahead of next week for once. Sundays free! Hopefully. I have a lot of hope for life-work balance this year.

Because I Do…

OK. Midweek. No kids yet…they start tomorrow. I’ve sat through a ton of meetings, including a really stupid school board meeting that is gonna cost thousands to fix (why are we passing things that are against state law?). Plus I had an EEG with sleep deprivation…26 electrodes stuck onto my scalp, then got to go back to work after that. Yesterday was LOOOONG. I was up at 4:15, per instructions, at work by 6:15 (I worked here first because the alarms at school were on…and maybe I set them off yesterday, because now they’re telling us a later time. Whoops! I searched through my email and found an earlier time, so who the fuck knows what happened there.), worked until 11:30, when I went for the EEG, came back, worked some more, went home and showered gel and crap out of my hair, then to the school board meeting. Home. Cooked. Ugh. I remember how hard it is to get up off the couch after all that and DO something. But I did. Because I do. I packed up the big quilt to deliver to the photographer tomorrow. Had to iron it and dehair it and wrap it up. THEN it was 10:10 PM and I still wanted to do real art, like something besides paperwork and gruntwork.

So on the art front, I’m going to have a piece in an upcoming show about women’s rights, called We Got the Power, based on the story of Lysistrata. The CAMP Gallery in Miami, Florida, has been doing an annual show of art related to literature, called Women Pulling at the Threads of Social Discourse and this is this year’s version. I did a drawing back in June/July and was accepted based on that. But now I need to make the actual piece. It’s small. It’ll be easy. Well, but it’s complicated, because…me. It’s got about 390 pieces in it I started tracing Monday night…

I forgot what it was like to do this with a kitten in the house. Luckily, it’s small. And Bowie mostly listens to ‘no’. With Luna, I just had to wait for her to be asleep to trace.

The pieces are small too, so it’s going pretty fast, although most of this was Monday night. Last night, I got about 30 minutes after getting that quilt ready to go.

Much easier when he’s asleep.

I’m somewhere in the 200s. Not very far in. Tonight I need to pick up the girlchild from the airport, plus I’m fucking exhausted from yesterday, and kids start at school tomorrow, so I have to be awake, alert, and not cranky. First day. Yikes. All that to say, I don’t think I’m getting this fully traced tonight…it’ll probably be done tomorrow night.

Monday, I went to ceramics and put two things on the drying rack, after finishing this up last week. There will be some glaze added after the bisque firing.

And some iron oxide. I also started a mug. Like a real mug. To drink tea out of. Both my mugs (the ones I like to use) have cracks in them. In fact, there might be three with cracks, now that I think about it. So I am preemptively making a new mug. We’ll see how that goes. I have a few non-artsy things to make and this seemed like a good time to do that…finish up the little bits of clay I have before I pick a new type to try. Not sure when I will next be able to go to clay…maybe tomorrow after school? If I’m alive? Oh wait, no, I’m delivering a quilt. Ha! Well. Maybe Friday or Saturday.

There was a fire near where we often hike…

They stopped it, but there’s only one way in and out to the area that I know of, so they were having people shelter in place. Scary. I don’t think it burned the actual part of the reserve we hike, but we might need to go up and hike it. Once it’s safe.

This amuses the crap out of me.

Seriously. I wear all black all the time. When I’m depressed or not. It’s just easier than colors. I know, ironic when you look at my quilts, but black always goes with black. Although there are different shades of black, but they all go together! OK, I know some fashionistas would argue with me, but whatever.

OK. Today currently has three meetings, plus I really do need to get all the school stuff done. Well or do I? Because then what would I do on my prep tomorrow? I know all my preps will be buried eventually, but not yet. I am tired. Really tired. The beginning of the school year is always like this…tiring, sort of anxiety-making, too many meetings, lots of discombobulated rushing around and trying to remember to do things. Plus coming home and realizing you have no free time anymore. I hate that part. But I gotta pay the bills, so that’s how it rolls. OK. More tea. That’s a given.

What Good Are Notebooks?

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.

A Little Luck…

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.

Cynical Mullet

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.

Finished a Closet

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.

The Right Month…

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.