The Wondrousness That Is Quilting…

Weird week. Grades were due (check). Roller coaster projects were due (check). Roller coaster project packets were due (check). I have a literacy meeting this morning, but teaching in the afternoon. Sub plans were due (check). Then Friday is a holiday. Gonna appreciate the hell out of that by getting 3 shots and 2 MRIs. Meanwhile, my heel is hurting again after a 16+-year break from no pain. Fun times. Can’t get a cortisone shot at the moment…blood sugar is confused by my existence. So hmmm.

In awesome sauce news, My Body. My Choice. got into Art Quilt Elements, at the Wayne Art Center in Wayne, PA, starting in March.

And I’m still quilting…in the fussy tiny bits that are the faces and hands of the justices. Monday night, I finished all the people under the umbrella, the umbrella itself, and one justice…

Then last night, I did three more justices…

And the roots under the Supreme Court building. I do end up quilting all their faces upside down, which isn’t really an issue. Seems weird as I’m photographing it though. I also cleaned out the bobbin enclosure. It wasn’t very dirty. I need to take the machine in once this quilt is done.

Monday, I tried to ship the sold quilt, but the UPS store that was supposed to be downtown and open late was no longer there. It was a big hole in the ground. When I called UPS (after walking a mile around downtown due to my stupid map app putting me half a mile away from a location that didn’t exist), they first sent me to another address, which also didn’t have a UPS, but at least wasn’t a hole in the ground, and then I called again (pretty pissed off by now, plus I saw more crack pipes in use on my wander around downtown than I have in a long time), and they were sure that hole in the ground had a UPS Customer Center in it. Nope. Very frustrating. Still frustrated. Emailed, told them to fix their website, make one store open later so real people could actually use it, etc. Ended up sending it with the Man to his work for pickup ($8 for that), because the UPS guy can’t come to my job, isn’t allowed on campus while I’m teaching, and UPS pickup can’t be an hour in the morning or afternoon, they apparently need a chunk of time. My last resort would have been driving around until I found a UPS truck, because the driver can sign for it. It’s insured, which is why I can only take it to a Customer Center. There’s one out here and it closes at 2 PM. UPS’ final answer was to get a friend or family member to take it. Great service, y’all. I hope she likes the quilt. I do. Yes, it’s OK to sell them, to send them off. I’m OK with that. The making is the most important part for me. As long as it’s documented in photos, I’m good.

I did grade all the roller coaster projects on Monday…well, I still need to do the math, but they’re done. And the kids evaluated them today, so I started cleaning up yesterday. They still need to take them apart, so that’s either tomorrow or Monday. We’ll see. They fall down really quickly.

They were pretty creative. I did cut this down from 5 weeks last year to 2 weeks, maybe 2 1/2 if I count the extra stuff we did at the beginning of the unit. No drawing, 3 days off the building, gave them labels (half of them still didn’t do them). No history of roller coasters. It’s not necessary and I wanted more time for electromagnets this year, plus more time for genetics, natural selection, and geologic time scale, which I barely had time for last year. So magnets, electricity (briefly), and light are next. I ordered cow eyeballs for dissection. Looking forward to that in January. Then we’ll do genetics, which is familiar ground at least. Although I need new stuff. The new teacher has provided a bunch of assignments, but no real logical story to how they all fit together, and then doesn’t answer emails or show up for meetings. I’m kind of done. I think this is about when I was done last year, although I still had hope for the teacher coming back from paternity leave. He gave me 6 weeks of help in February and March last year and then mostly ghosted me for the rest of the year. It’s just fucked up. Sigh. I spent an hour last night just editing a set of slides and a worksheet, plus I did happily find a book that has a ton of homework related to this unit. Bought that. Seriously, anything that helps. I’m tired of the workload. I’m either grading or planning. When I’m doing one, I’m behind in the other. Maybe next year will be better (she says until she retires).

OK. I miss my prep today. Better be fucking worth it. Need to plan literacy with my team after listening to the ‘coaches’ tell us a bunch of bullshit. Then teach…but it’s cover pages, which is chill. I might not have time to do my own cover page (again…didn’t finish the last one either) because I need to prep the labs for Monday. Hopefully my TA will be here today (she was absent yesterday). Then union meeting after school (ugh). Dark when I get home. I miss drawing. I miss embroidery time. I need to clean the damn house and take care of the yard. I am forcing time for reading my book every day. I’m allowed. The Man had tooth surgery Monday, so he is on soft foods for a few days…I probably will just eat leftovers tonight, work some more, then back to the wondrousness that is quilting. Blessed be.

Y’all Didn’t Read Instructions…

Grades are done. A miracle in itself. It felt never-ending. I mean, I say they’re done, but that’s just Trimester 1. I have four more iterations of panicking over grades. This school year. I actually already have stuff to be graded for Trimester 2…oh yay! A project is finishing up today and tomorrow, with a packet and roller coaster to be graded. 34 roller coasters, as quickly as possible, before the tape starts to fail and they don’t work. I’d do it today, but I have to ship a quilt. Tomorrow after school is pilates and Wednesday is a union meeting. Thursday? I don’t know. I still need sub plans for Wednesday morning’s literacy meeting. Not sure when I’m doing those, let alone making sure I have everything copied for next week (I don’t. None of it.),

I get frustrated with kids who continually resubmit their work without actually reading instructions or comments. I have two who tried to resubmit over the weekend (gradebook closed 10/27 y’all) but no. Y’all didn’t read instructions. You didn’t follow them. You didn’t read or follow comments. I’m done. I’m out. I cannot grade 24 hours a day.

I did get some other things done this weekend: I fixed the damn showerhead so there’s actual water coming out of it. Plus! That was a kamikaze trip to Home Depot. I also got the boychild and the ex to buy me lattice (it won’t fit in my car; I needed a truck) so I can replace what’s on the deck posts and maybe plant some things that will grow up it. I need dad’s help with that. I planted out a bunch of succulents that had been (unhappily) living on the kitchen counter. I have two more that need to go out there, but I went to my quilt guild meeting, which was nice…got to see everyone’s scrap block challenge pieces, the one I never got to. I know…I never do. Well, except during COVID.

And I quilted…Friday night…in the swamp.

Saturday night, I worked on pedestals…

Last night, I finished the pedestals, did the goddess’ legs up to the pubic area, and got most of the people under the umbrella done.

I have two people left to do. The machine is being a little fussy. Not sure how to make it stop. Probably needs cleaning. Next time I refill the bobbin thread, I’ll do that. See if it helps. Also, when I finish, I probably need to call the machine guy and put it on the list to be serviced. I think it’s been a year. They used to put a sticker on it so I would know. Not finding it. Doesn’t mean a cat didn’t eat it.

Probably not this one…

Nova has been clawing my ass in the work chair out in the living room, or making air biscuits here on the couch. But not in my office/studio.

We went hiking on Saturday…

It’s getting dark so early. Ugh. Even earlier tonight.

The next month is a little lighter on the weekend events. Plus some days off from work, which will be much appreciated. I’ll still need to grade and plan, but not while I’m working in the classroom. After today, I can put all the roller coaster materials away and we can move on to the next stuff. After I find all the magnets. I know they’re somewhere. Probably multiple somewheres.

She is cute.

So I’ll be quilting all week, probably. I tried to buy binding on Saturday on the way back from my guild meeting, but I didn’t find anything obvious that would work. I’m going to have to wait until I’m done (or near done) quilting and take the whole quilt in. Friday or Saturday. The quilt store isn’t open late enough during the week. I do have Friday off, so hallelujah. Today is finish building roller coasters, get packets in order, ready to turn in, babysit some kids who didn’t go on the other team’s field trip, a staff meeting, then drive to the UPS place that is actually open after 2 PM to ship this quilt. I have to cook tonight, plus plan some more or something for school. Then quilt. Blessed quilt.

Focus.

Hey yo. Going into Friday with an attempt at zen that will probably dissolve into wack. British spelling. Means something different than what I might do to a mole. Anyway. So that’s my brain falling into rabbit holes. FOCUS Nida. Focus.

As I’m grading all this last-minute crap, that’s what I’m constantly telling myself. Some of them are doing a great job; it’s a joy to regrade their work, note the improvement, tell them how awesome they are. But then a chunk are just rushing it, they’re still not getting it, they’re fixing as fast as possible and still doing a crap job. Frustrating. And those are the ones sending me emails begging me to change their grade, or asking me “does ANYONE get an A in your class?”. Yes dear, but today? Not you. Can that change? Sure. Keep working. If I’d had her last year, she’d be there, but of course, this is the year where you have to have a 4.0 and outstanding in behavior every fucking trimester to get on the stage at graduation. This is one of the things I hate about 8th grade. The begging and pleading. Just listen to the instructions, turn your brain on, and stop writing random stuff. And then there’s the one kid who is using AI. But I’m worried about her. But I’m not letting her get away with it. Sigh. Plus the kids who are still turning in late work and trying to resubmit stuff when the deadline is past. Way past.

I have one more major redo to grade, and then a whole host of little bits and pieces to check. Plus a quilt to pack for shipping. Plus a quilt guild meeting. I want to hike tomorrow. Sometime. Daylight savings is about to fuck us over, so do it now! Hike!

Let’s talk about quilting. Because I finally am. There’s a lot of detail on this thing, but I can look back at the cyberpunk piece, which was a similar size and detail, not as many pieces though, and it was 14 hours of quilting. I’m going to buy binding this weekend though. Not because I need to this week; I could probably push it to next weekend, but because the week has been shit and I need to reward my hard-ass work with some fabric. Don’t look at my stash as I say that. It’s not warranted. But it is necessary.

So Wednesday night, I finally got everything ironed and laid out on the floor…

It was pretty easy, no fussiness. Which is nice.

It took more than an hour to iron stuff and then lay it out, so I didn’t get to quilting until last night.

I started late, because I was still grading crap at 9:30 PM. Fun times. Came home and that’s all I did except make dinner in the middle of that 5-hour time frame. Also the girlchild was on FaceTime with me as she tried to find parking near a Day of the Dead celebration, which unfortunately for her parking situation, was right near her apartment. I don’t miss parking troubles, for sure. Anyway, that’s about 55 minutes of quilting done. One chapter of Ursula K. LeGuin on audiobook. I have a hard time concentrating on audiobooks. I might need to not read book-club books that way. I don’t really hold onto the info. I need to see the words. I’m done with Chapter 3 and I’m still not really sure why this person is on this other planet. Hopefully in the next 10 hours, it will make more sense. Or I’ll have to get the real book and try again.

So I’ll be quilting for the next week. In case you were wondering. I’m good with that. I have the next quilt pre-drawn in my head, which is good, because it’ll be like a 5- to 6-week turnaround. Yikes!

Here was my grading setup yesterday…

Laptop has assignment I’m checking. Candy corn post-its are lists of whose stuff has actually be resubmitted on the form (I ignore the rest; they randomly resubmit without changing anything and it drives me bonkers). Extra monitor has the rubric up for whatever I’m grading. Judgy cat butt is there for general excitement. She’s looking for geckos. To her left is my notebook, propped up on a drawer so (a) I can note any grade changes and (b) Nova can eventually knock it off when she panics about something and jumps off. I’ll be there again tonight and part of tomorrow probably. We’ll see.

Ugh. Here’s one of the four books I’m reading…this is Margaret Atwood in one of her essays/speeches.

Sigh. I never feel like I do enough for that.

School is getting me down. Last year, I was losing my mind about now over 8th grade, but the teacher on leave was coming back at the beginning of November, so I saw a light. Well he didn’t support until mid-February, gave me 6 weeks, and then bowed out. I’m not seeing a light this year, and I suspect last year kinda traumatized me (OK, more than kinda), so I’m just depressed about all of it this year. Put your head down and get it done. Not a fan. That said, here’s a bunch of paper roller coasters half done…

Amusingly, they are supposed to BE done today. We’ll see how that goes. I remember now that the lazy sit-on-your-butt and do-nothing kids drove me crazy during this project, so I’m glad I shortened it this year. They’ll get it done…or not. I’m OK with that. They can still do the academic part without the coaster done; they’ll just lose effort points.

Today. They build. I manage. They have a quiz. Ha! I grade tonight. I quilt tonight. At least I don’t have to wake up in the dark tomorrow morning. Pro. And I think I get to hang out with some friends tonight, briefly. That’s cool.

Find the Zen…

Ah. November. I see a few breaks coming up. This is a good thing. Deeply in need of no school, no pressure to have stuff done in 40 seconds flat, no racing around. There will still be grading, sure, but not like this, piecemeal, at the end of every day, all Saturday, during every class. I do need to find some zen, to find a way to take the overwhelmed feeling of all the work pressing down on me and whoosh it away. Shove it in a cupboard. Lock it the fuck up. Somehow. Haven’t figured it out yet. Certainly not today. I haven’t figured it out as of this moment. Unfortunate.

The quilt is on to the next step…I finished stitchdown on Monday night…

I’m always fascinated by the back of this…and then it disappears forever when I sandwich the quilt. So it’s only available for like a day, sometimes not even that.

Last night, I found a piece of batting big enough for this quilt in my already washed stash. Coolio. Because I thought I was going to have to wash and dry last night too, but no. I then found a piece of fabric that has been around for AGES…seriously, I bought it for baby quilts for babies who are now graduated from high school, or at least it’s that era. So 18 or so years old. But I had 4 yards of it. It’s super bright and colorful. It seemed to work. So I ironed it and pieced it and trimmed it…

Oh yeah. That’s the fun stuff. I still have a pretty big chunk of it for something. I’ve only ever used a small piece of it in a quilt. I don’t even remember which one, but there was a small corner chopped off. Find the fabric! It’s mind-boggling that I haven’t used it before now. It was waiting for this quilt.

In other news, The Way Out sold…so it’ll be shipping off to its new owner hopefully later this week (note to self, find boxes or buy boxes).

Last summer’s quilt…she was supposed to be much smaller, because I had a deadline, but in the end, the world made her have to be bigger. Yeah.

And now I can get the trees trimmed. And maybe pay the property taxes. What a concept.

Last night, while cooking dinner, I made a rough draft of the next unit. The table of contents anyway. And stuff on the calendar. I got through the first week of January. Which is 3 weeks longer than the other teacher wants to go. She wants to skip magnets. I did pull sound out, although she has a little of it, so I might put some back in. It feels better to at least have that. I don’t have everything done for next week, not even close, but I think I can get there in time. Hopefully. Not sure I can get it COPIED in time. Minor issue.

It’s funny, I saw this in the copier workroom…and had to put a correction…

But didn’t notice until today that “Usa” is also spelled wrong…well, unless you’re writing in Spanish. Ah well. I really do think teachers need to check their spelling. I mean, how can we expect kids to learn it if we don’t. Or if you know you have an issue with certain things, like my co-teacher, you tell the kids. And you’re constantly using spell check. My mom couldn’t spell spaghetti to save her life. And I have words I constantly have to look up. I can’t think of any of them right now though. Funny. Anyway. Yes, I’m a copyeditor on the side. It shows.

OK. Find the zen. Be chill. Teach how to fold a paper funnel for a roller coaster. Review kinetic energy. Grade 5th period’s unit packets. Maybe even grade 6th period (unlikely). Meet with 8th-grade science. Ignore that annoying kid today instead of trying to get him to work. His mom made him the way he is, as evidenced by her emails. You can’t fix that. She’s had 13 years on him and you’ve had 2 months. Never gonna beat that one. Ignore his whining. Then go to pilates. Then home and water some stuff, grade some stuff, then book club (I don’t even know what book we’re on), then pinbaste and start quilting. If you can. It’s OK. The shitty stuff is still there, but it’ll figure itself out…or not. I need more hikes. I need more outside. I need more time that doesn’t feel like I need to run or multitask or it won’t get done. I might need a different job, but that’s a bigger issue and probably not gonna be solved any time soon. I think I just need this job to be different and that’s a hard thing to make happen. Yeah. Oh shit, it’s the day after Halloween. Let’s talk about the candy in the classroom, y’all. Ugh.

Just Let Me…

It was a busy weekend. I managed tiny bits of artmaking, through stubbornness and refusal to sleep, really. I did a few things I wanted to do, not as many as I would have preferred, but I also worked a heinous number of hours for the day job. And that will continue all this week, because the next unit is not planned and it starts in a week and a half. Plus grades are due. So yeah. I’m hating it right now, really overwhelmed and not happy with any of it. If you see me, I probably need a hug and a donut…well, no one ever really NEEDS a donut…I probably need a hike more, but a donut takes less time. And time is something I don’t have enough of at the moment, nowhere close.

So…art first! Always. Even if that’s not what happens in real life. Friday night, after a book signing and dinner out, I managed an hour before bed…it was late, but I did it anyway.

Up in the heads and robes.

Saturday night, it was really late, after the Man’s show. Stayed up too late again…but got another 50 minutes in.

More heads. And last night, after working a million hours and cooking dinner and watering all the plants, I managed another 50 minutes.

Heads are done…I’m doing the goddess’ arms and the things above her.

This is the only time you get to see the back…

It’s kinda creepy.

Anyway, there’s not much left. I’m at 7 hours and 24 minutes. I think I might have more than 36 minutes to go? But I’m not positive. Maybe tonight? I’d like to be pinbasted and quilting this week. That’s my goal. Harder to find the time to get pinbasted though. Need to wash the batting, piece a backing, lay it all out, and then finally pin. Sounds like a lot for a work night when I’m buried.

Friday was a field trip with school to Old Town.

It’s not my favorite field trip…that would be the zoo…but it’s nice to be outside. My group was OK…some infighting occurred, which I knew would happen, because I had the kid who causes those things. Could’ve done without that. That said, we came back and mostly the kids either slept, gamed, watched the movie, or built their roller coasters while I graded. Useful. I’ll be doing lots of that this week…and planning.

Old Town was decorated for Day of the Dead, which was cool.

We do a scavenger hunt, which is nice, because we have a purpose, unlike most of the time.

That night, we ventured out to a book signing (not sure I’ve ever done one of those)…Stephan Pastis, author of Pearls Before Swine (and other things) was here in San Diego and I went to high school with him.

Here’s the actual moment when I told him we went to high school together…

It’s OK, Steph…I don’t recognize the kid you were in high school in your adult face either, except sometimes when you talk. We were on cross country together, with my brother and others, but he was the grade between us. So yeah. Fun stuff though. We ate dinner in a total dive bar, but the food is always good, isn’t it? Not sure why.

Saturday was a clusterfuck of work work work, in between an art meeting at the Lakeside Library, which had art by Bhavna Mehta…her paper work translated into metal.

Pretty cool stuff.

And then at night, the Man’s band had a show at a tiny place that blew out my eardrums and gave me a sore throat from the smoke machine (ugh). It was a good thing to dance and be sweaty for a few hours’ break though. I needed that.

Up late.

So all in all a busy weekend. I’m looking forward to a nice quiet weekend at some point. Not sure when that can be slotted in. Probably never.

So the kids are building roller coasters all week. I need to plan one thing for this week, hopefully today so I have time to copy it. But otherwise, after I demo one thing a day to build, maybe two, I’m hoping I can just finish grading and then start planning the next unit. If it works. Don’t take my prep period, don’t add any more shit to the pile of things to do (insert snotty comments about people who don’t understand email accounts), just let me get the things done. That’s what I need. And then maybe I can get this quilt pinbasted and back under the machine. Hoping.

Too Far Out…

Yeah. Friday. Friday with a field trip: pros and cons. Pro: a day off (well half a day) from teaching. Con: I’m already tired and it’s a walking trip. They’re all walking trips, though, so that’s nothing new. It’s Old Town decorated for Halloween, so hopefully that’s cool. We’ll see. Hopefully some people are absent today and a bunch go home right after the field trip…except there’s a dance, so hmm. I went to all the dances in middle school. They were awkward. Nothing is new for that, I think.

So I’m still doing stitchdown. I’m 5 1/2 hours in. I still think my 8-hour guess is good. Wednesday, I had finished those pedestals and the legs up to the knees, plus everyone under the umbrella.

Last night, I finished the legs, the Supreme Court building, and the umbrella, and had barely started the justices on the left (all of their shoes and ankles are done).

So I need to do the justices, the Earth Goddess from the torso up, and everything on her arms. Sounds like 3 hours (at least) to me. I was hoping to be further along. I’m not sure I’ll get anything done tonight. Tomorrow is kind of a mess…art meeting plopped right in the middle of the day plus a shit-ton of grading to do. Ugh. I’m really hoping to get it done this weekend. I wanted to be pinbasting Sunday. It might still happen, but a lot of other things would have to disappear for that to happen. Unfortunately. I’m also panicking about school…I haven’t really planned the next unit. It’s rough. I’m trying to fix some stuff from last year. I’m trying to incorporate stuff from the newbie, but it’s disparate and I need an overarching story or idea and I don’t have one. Ugh. I think I won’t ever get 8th grade under control. I have this year, which is not going to be the year it all makes sense, then next year, and then I go back to 7th grade. Which does make sense. And will probably feel like a relief after this shit. Seriously. At least I know what I’m doing in 7th grade and can do it without any assist. Things to look forward to? Too far out. Doesn’t get me through the next week. Ha.

I think I posted this last year…

Still relevant. First trimester ends in a week. One third done. Two thirds left to kick my tired ass.

Here’s a video of the California Fibers’ show in Los Angeles…

I did not drive up for this meeting…it was a Sunday and it would have been an 8- to 9-hour turnaround. Talk about not having time for any of that shit. They’re doing a closing reception kind of thing in December. Not. I’m not driving up there. Too far. Too long. I don’t have that many hours to disappear to driving. Not unless someone else is driving and I’m grading or lesson planning the whole time. Not happening.

This week. The shit in Maine? More deaths because a whole state wants to carry guns without permits? I have family sheltering/locking down in Maine. This is fucked up. I keep updating the news sites, honestly hoping the mentally ill asshole with guns has killed himself. Sad but true. Meanwhile, Israel/Gaza/Hamas…we are the worst at humanity, y’all. We just suck. Take care of people. Help people. Care for people. Don’t kidnap them, kill them, bomb them, shoot them, stab them, or terrorize them. Sigh. I know, it’s simplifying a very complex issue, but that’s where I’m at. I can’t begin to understand all the sides (and I have friends on all the sides), but I can care for those who are being traumatized. On all sides.

So yeah. Meanwhile, in the US, Scholastic Book Fairs are back on my OK list after a brief WTF.

Let parents choose, not school districts. Because we’re talking about bringing these back at my school, or some equivalent. And I don’t want my school board to have any say in the books my students choose.

I actually got (forced) some stitching time last night that was not under pressure…

I love how crooked it is. It’s wonderful. Yeah, I should have been grading, but I was on Zoom with stitching friends, so I couldn’t grade and chat. I could barely stitch (needed to read instructions out loud, my brain was so fried). So it was a good break from all the things. Yes, I graded afterwards. Duh.

An uneasy truce.

Luna is saying, “Why the fuck did you put that dog on my bed?” I’m thinking, “Where the fuck do I go?” It worked out. Everyone furry ends up in the middle, sometimes uncomfortably. Last night, Simba was quiet. So that was good.

OK, field trip, survive last two periods of day by putting on a movie and trying to grade shit. Then duty at the light (no fights today…there’s a dance…priorities). Then going to a book signing tonight, I hope. Then home and maybe some stitching, if I can sit up that long. Tomorrow is a mess. Ah well. Survive it, get shit done, etc.

Rewind…

So I feel like I blinked an eye and October slid past. Weird. It’s usually one of the longer months of the year for school, but no, our field trip and Halloween are looming on the horizon, with the end of Trimester 1 (and grades due. Grades are always due.). November is easier; December has its ups and downs. Well, November is only through Thanksgiving. That last week is really part of December (ask a teacher; they’ll agree). I have not adjusted this year to anything, even the overwork. I cried on the way home yesterday, not for anything in particular, just feeling like lots of little tiny things that needed doing would eventually bury me. Managing other people’s shit. I could do without that. That is this year though. Lots of that. I came home and put together roller coaster groups for today…there are some definite issues that I can’t fix with those. Ah well. ‘Tis always the case. There’s always one kid that every group wants and one that no one wants. Then I went to the gym. So I could read a book and not think about school. Not so successful with school texting me, but whatever.

Giant ass sigh. The pro is that it’s very easy to get up off the couch (after working some more after dinner on school stuff) and come in here and do stitchdown. It’s meditative. I’m listening to a book, which is not always a successful endeavor for me…I tend to space out and then wonder what the fuck the reader is talking about. I wonder if I would like this book better if I were reading it myself. It has some good things, but some things are just not as good. It’s John Scalzi, Starter Villain, read by Wil Wheaton. You’d think those would all be good things. I’m not sure. I got a year’s subscription to Audible just for this purpose, quilting and stitchdown entertainment. But I do have a hard time listening to words. I have to rewind. Rewind? I am old. Anyway, I’ve managed about an hour a night…here’s Monday…

And Tuesday…

Everything under the umbrella is done, plus the goddess’ legs up to the knees, plus the swamp and cloud going into the swamp fires. So I suspect I’m doing pedestals next on the right. Three hours in. I suspect it will be 8 total. Ish. I only have 4 hours left of the book I’m listening to. There will be another, I suspect.

Got this (and a check) for the anti-anti-abortionist quilt…

Nice. Appreciate the vote of confidence. That piece deserves it.

I just washed all those, Kitten. After you threw up on them.

Sigh. This cat. She keeps eating bits of leaves and pine needles and then vomiting them all over the house. I cleaned one set of floors; I need the Man to do the other. Double sigh. He has a show this weekend, so that won’t happen. And the boychild has reneged on any household duties except his own room and bathroom. Ugh.

I woke up to a really weird unsettling dream this morning. I didn’t like it. It’s still hanging around my shoulders and I still don’t like it. Thanks brain. Appreciate those moments. Perhaps you could be more supportive? Oh yeah, this is you being supportive. Eh.

Then last night, while I’m trying to grade using all those papers, Nova just plopped in the middle of all of them.

It’s unlike her…but she kept trying for my lap and that wasn’t an option, so I guess everything else I needed was. That irritated look is because I just pulled half of them out from under her.

That project grades really slow. Not a fan. Trying to decide how to modify for next year.

OK. Today. Some parts of today will just be hard…it’s a lot. We’re starting roller coasters (built out of paper). Tomorrow will be more chill, but today is a little chaotic. I have way too many adults coming in and out of my classes for observations. The field trip is not fully planned, although I think I am fucking done with my part (and next time, y’all can do it, even if you don’t have all the kids. OK. I’ll probably change my mind about that. Maybe). I have pilates today and potentially four errands after that. Which is a lot. I might move one to tomorrow. It would be easier. Pro? I get to stitch later. While listening to a book. That I will partially ignore. Yeah!

It’s Totally Me…

You know, I was never a good sleeper, even as a kid…I remember lying awake as the dark turned to light. Last night was no different. By the end of the week, I’ll be exhausted, so I’ll fall asleep quicker (knock on wood). Also the dog won’t be in the bed…he is part of the issue sometimes. Then again, so is the cat and the Man, and last week, he was gone hiking, and I still couldn’t fall asleep. That was the heat. Right? It’s not me, right? Oh, it’s totally me.

I had three art group meetings this weekend, two on Zoom. I’m glad to be in these groups…they bring exhibit opportunities and peopling opportunities, however much I suck at those. One group is talking about moving meetings from North County San Diego to Orange County…sheesh, it’s already an hour’s drive, more if I go to a friend’s house to drive with her and others…add another 45 minutes to an hour. Ugh. Lost day. This job makes it hard to lose a day. I graded Saturday morning before the first meeting…it was in person out in Ramona. Every jerk on the road was going to Ramona. But it was cool to see the art in person for potential new members. Fiber, craft, they all look better in person.

It was warm, though. I tried to argue for a fiber person on the image jury, but I got sort of shot down. Hmm. We are the minority in this group, for sure.

I had to bounce out of one of the art group Zooms early to go grocery shopping, but the other one was kind of cool. I did work through it. Day job never ends. SAQA So Ca/NV has had a hard time keeping a consistent group going for years. It’s frustrating. There are so many quilt artists in the area that it just seems silly that regular meetings aren’t happening. I tried pre-COVID and it was a stretch to get three other women to show up. The Zooms are another option, although 50% of them will be during the workday, so that’s out for me. Ah well.

In current quilt news, Friday night, I put the drapes behind the justices and ironed the whole thing down…

Big and complicated. She’s actually not that big. I think it’s 67″ h x 54″ w. Something like that. Anyway, next up is stitchdown. I had a plan to start Saturday but that got stymied by a last-minute invite to a Halloween thing. So we went…

We hung out with the Man’s fam and ate free food and drank free alcohol, including a whiskey room (I did not partake) with fancy bottles (you just pick by bottle shape, yeah?).

We found this friend, who apparently doesn’t belong here…

Traveled on a boat to get here? Or maybe momma did. Or grandmomma. It’s silly to think bugs stay where they’re supposed to if humans don’t.

We won absolutely none of the prizes or opportunity things. It was fun, though…a different way to spend the evening for once. Hence no stitching. I think we got home around 10 and it was too late (and I was too tired) to start. So last night, I started…

Deep in the swamp. I figure it’ll be at least 8 hours of this, so all week. Maybe more. There’s stuff this weekend again, yet another art meeting, possible book signing, the Man has a show, and grades are coming up, so I’m panicking a bit about getting all that done in time. But I’m trying for this week to be done, pinbasting by the end of the weekend? We’ll see.

Cats get to sleep so much.

So jealous.

OK, head down, get everything done. I have a quilt errand after school (not my quilt. Just an assist.) and then grading. Grading every night, I think. Not gonna get done magically unfortunately. Planning too. That’s a thing. And I need supplies. So many things on the to-do list. I finally replaced the blown lightbulb in the bathroom…it only took 6 days. It wasn’t horrible to take showers in the semi-dark. I cleaned floors, but not the shower…it needs it. Cleaning really does fall by the wayside. Sigh.

OK. School. Meetings. Errand. Grading. Art.

All of Them…

Hey. Friday. Hey, I’m glad to see you. I’m not sure where you’ve been hiding. The other days just haven’t been as friendly as you. Thursday tries really hard but it’s not the same. Although my workload won’t be any less. I still have a pile of stuff to grade and plan that is beyond overwhelming, but I’m doing a little at a time and I may actually feel like I’ve conquered some of it after the weekend. Maybe. Or it’ll be Monday and y’all know what they’re like. Too much, y’all, too much.

So I had hoped to be done ironing last night, and I would have been, except Art Brain objected to the background behind the justices, so I had to scramble a bit. It’s OK…the scramble took 36 minutes so far. When I tell people I keep track of my time to make these, I’m not sure what they think. I have a tracker. I turn it on when I start and off when I finish. I track each task, which is really useful when I need to figure out WHEN THE FUCK I can move on to the next step. Seriously. I’m at almost 29 hours on the ironing and there’s probably another hour. I guessed 30. That’s pretty good.

Anyway, on Wednesday night, I finished ironing all the bits I thought I’d be ironing…

Cool! I thought. I just need to iron it to the background. But a friend had suggested the drapes in the Supreme Court might be burgundy (they’re not, but that’s another thing). I had originally thought to put just a lighter blue behind them, but the idea of the drapes coming down from the goddess’ arms really appealed to me.

I pulled the image off the teflon sheets (a task unto itself, let me tell you)…

And laid it on the chosen background fabric…

I have changed the background fabric on other quilts, but not often. The difficulty here is if I go lighter for all of it, there are issues with other parts of the quilt. But that blue is too close to the justice’s robes.

So I started looking for drapery fabric for behind them…

And this seemed to work.

So last night, during my stitching Zoom, I pieced the background and laid the image on top of it, and ironed the bottom half down…

And I’m thinking, I’ll just freehand cut a piece to go behind the heads. But what about the feet? Shouldn’t the drapes go all the way down to their feet? This is getting complicated. Plus it needs to be fused. It’s too big to NOT fuse it. Huh.

So I grabbed the drawing and drew the drapes, and then traced them on Wonder Under, trimmed them, and ironed them to fabric…

Which you can see in that video. Tonight, I’ll trim those pieces, slide them behind the other pieces, and iron the rest of it down. Then I can start stitching…which I’m estimating at 8-10 hours. So hopefully I’ll be pinbasting next weekend. This weekend has meetings. Next weekend now has meetings. Grades are coming up again (when are they ever not?). My life is not my own.

Here’s the part that’s not ironed down yet…

And a cat. And here’s the background pieces…

Although my process looks like chaos, it is actually very controlled. Parts of it anyway. The fabric choosing is a crazy thing that happens in my head.

So this pile is (a) pieces that stand on their own and will need to be ironed down tonight and (b) random pieces that never made it into the quilt because (i) I lost them and already recut them or (ii) I don’t really know where they go.

Not that big green piece. I think that’s from the previous quilt. I think it was the wrong color. I have a hard time throwing away the orphaned pieces. They’re useless. Those two skinny red pieces, those were the wrong color. Somehow when I ironed them to fabric, they ended up red instead of white. So I recut those. The money all has a home.

So yeah. That’s where the quilt is at. It looks awesome. I know you can’t really tell from the photos, but hopefully tonight, there will be a whole quilt top photo. Definitely worth the time.

Meanwhile, the Man keeps thinking he’s hearing/seeing a cat on the roof, for over a year now. He’s out on the deck at night and hears it and calls to it and it won’t come down. He gets fleeting views, nothing definitive. I’ve asked, are you sure it’s a cat? Oh yeah. Totally. Last night, after I went to bed (I did hear the banging around for this), he heard the cat (let’s just do this…’cat’) and put some food in a bowl and shook it around and called for the kitty to come down. He put the food down and…well…watch this.

Um. Three. Three Not Cats. Nope. Those aren’t cats. Not surprising. We’ve had raccoons before. They are cute, but not feeding any more of them. Probably explains the ‘cat poop’ in the backyard that the dog is totally interested in too. And I think that’s the dog’s bowl, so that should be interesting when the dog comes back. Hmmm.

Anyway. Mystery solved. Those are young ones too.

Work today…finish all the things. Do all the things. Get the kids to do all the things. Find all the things. Grade all the things. Get all the things ready for next week. ALL OF THEM. At least my observation is over. Doesn’t matter how long you’ve been teaching, they stress you out. So that’s done. Just a shit-ton of grading and planning left. Art meeting tomorrow that’s a potluck…these also stress me out. I am not a good potlucker. Some people are. I’m not. Ironing tonight. Hopefully stitchdown tomorrow. Need to deal with the house, clean floors, get a quilt to another stitcher (but I need to get thread for that too). Yeah. Crazy busy. But Friday.

Not So Quietly…

Hey. This week. Yup. It took 4 hours yesterday to read through 2 classes of claim/evidence/reasoning (CERs). And it was pretty disheartening. It’s OK. I’ll hammer them again. And again. We’ve reviewed twice. Doesn’t seem to stick. Must be doing it wrong. Try again.

The Man actually comes back today after hiking all over Catalina. It’s good, because I’m tired of being the only human in the house. Maybe someone else can cook or feed a cat. Wait. We’re not cooking cats. Cooking food for humans. THEN feeding cats. That would be nice. The dog has been such a weenie about my being the only human that he is the Boofy King at night. I started playing white noise on my phone to try to drown out whatever he was thinking about barking at…it seems to have worked. Anyway. He’ll be a happier dog tonight.

I’m still ironing, but I’m so close to done, I can taste it. Monday night, I worked on the flag…

And the coathanger. Here’s the side view of the whole top…

I have one background fabric for the whole thing, but I’m not sure it will work in the justice section…it might need something lighter, but not too light…so I might be doing something there. I’m not sure yet until I get it all onto the original background and see what it looks like. It’s always hard to judge here because I iron onto a white teflon sheet and that is a very different look than when I usually use a dark background. Those black robes may need something different. I have some ideas in my head for how to deal with it…might need an all-new color, but my local quilt shop closes at 3 PM STILL, even with COVID long gone. Super frustrating.

Then last night, I ironed Ruth and her wings, plus that diploma.

I’ve got two relatively small things on the end and then that’s it. I’m done. Well, the background needs to exist. I’m debating stopping at another quilt store…it doesn’t have a massive selection of fabrics, but I have an idea of what might work instead of what I have, and it’s near pilates…wait, no, it closes at 5. Sigh. Working quilting people…what do you do? Buy everything online? I find it really hard to buy fabric online effectively. And it won’t get here quickly enough. Sigh. I might have to wait until Saturday. Ugh. You don’t wanna know how cranky I’ll get with no art in the evening. And I’m already pretty cranky this week. Too many adults doing stupid stuff. Copier issues. Lesson material issues. More things piled up…I realized last night when I was trying to fall asleep (good timing, brain) that I had 17 little stupid things that needed to happen this week and I had done maybe 1 of them. And I will probably forget them today.

Just losing my mind over here. Not so quietly. And the weekends are chock full of places I need to be, things I need to do.

Foggy this morning. Makes it easier to see the giant-ass spider webs before they are all over your face.

Grumble. Not a fan of all this right now. I want more time, more help, more support, fewer things I have to do, more time for art, someone to change the damn lightbulb in the bathroom because I forget until I’m trying to take a shower in the dark. Maybe someone could vacuum. Maybe stop asking me to do more things. I want the other people using the copier to realize they are not special and their copies are not more important than everyone else’s. I want time after school to go for a walk. I want a quilt store that realizes some of us work during the day…just one day a week, stay open until 6 PM for goodness sake. Or even 4:30. I could probably get to the other one by then on a good day. Today is not a good day for that. SIGH. Yup. Cranky.