Tag: cats

Current Mental State

Today is Friday before nine days off from school. Will I still have to do school things? Fuck yeah. Will I have to be on campus? Or deal with kids? Or meetings? Fuck no. Win win. I even turned today’s video into one that they need to do on their own, with headphones on. Good reason for that, actually…there’s a bunch of kids who need to complete one or two academic assignments, and this keeps it quiet. You know who else gets some quiet? Or at least can help some of the super low babies? ME. Yup. Smart move, Thursday Night Nida. You anticipated my lost voice, my tired brain, my DONE mentality. Good one. Sigh.

Had to get up early today for a parent meeting. So I’m rolling more tired than usual. This is the second one this week too. Pros from this week: my TA (teacher’s aide) took apart ALL the roller coasters, so my counters are CLEAN again. Bless that child. She just knows how to do the things. She also put away all the magnet stuff. I pulled the last bit, magnetic fields, and did it as a demo for most classes, because some dumbass kid did this…

If you’ve never had to get iron filings off a magnet, you might not understand what an asshole maneuver this is. I do. I’ve done it before. I warned them and then one sweet dumbass did this. So I took them away. There was some “not fair” being called out. It isn’t fair; you’re right. But there is my sanity. Anyway, magnets are done…electricity and light after break. Eyeballs after Winter Break. I still do labs. Just frustrated at the moment. Welcome to middle school.

I’ve been sewing binding for days…

Nova has decided it’s ‘commune with Kathy’ time. Which is fine. It’s nice to have a cat next to me (although she’d prefer ON me) on the couch. I made it all the way around the binding last night and started on the sleeves.

Looks like the same picture. Certainly I’m back in my pajamas. Different sweatshirt though.

And she’s actually nibbling my arm and making very sharp, pointy biscuits in my leg.

I have officially poked a hole in my finger, AND I can’t find the sticky thimble things. I put them somewhere safe. Again. I looked everywhere.

Speaking of looking everywhere, I lost the spool of thread I was using for the handstitching on Wednesday night. Couldn’t find it anywhere. Looked in the couch, under it, under the coffee table, etc. Thursday night, I took everything off the couch (it’s my embroidery project storage area really) and couldn’t find it, until I pulled the quilt out…I had looked before, but there it was, slipped down into the sleeve. Fun times. I love spending an hour looking for something like that. It’s a sign of my current mental state. Soon to be better! More sleep, more time to just be, get some stuff done, start a new quilt (this one is going to the photographer tomorrow). All good. Take the time, relax. Read 17 books. You know. YES, I have to clean house for Thanksgiving and do all the sociable things I don’t feel like doing, plus dentist, doggie eye doctor, make a decision about pneumonia shot (I’m still sporting a rash from the COVID/flu shot extravaganza from last week). It’ll be fine. It’s time anyway, and that’s one thing I always need more of.

That Mindspace

OK. It’s Monday, but it’s a week until I get a week off. Yes, I just had a day off, and yes, I enjoyed the extra time before I had to buckle down and work for the day job. I need more of that. I’m a little in burnout mode right now. Trying to stay out of that…it won’t help me get through the rest of the year. Not sure what will, though. So can I do this 5 days? Um. Maybe. Seriously. Not sure how long all the things will take. I added new stuff this year to stuff I did last year, so there’s always this sense of not having a clue how long anything will take. But only half of it, because the other half is stuff I did do. Ugh. Anyway, we’re in magnets and at least there’s some hands-on stuff this week, but a bunch of stuff is up in the air, hope it works, or hope it doesn’t, or shift this because of that. So that’s not something I really enjoy. I like knowing what I’m doing and how long it will take. Yup.

Plus there’s like 4 parent meetings, but I can’t go to one of them, and one of the others, I need to get through a phone call visit with my doctor in time to go to that one, which I organized (it’s not how I meant it to be), so that’s fun. Double ugh.

Meanwhile, I did finish quilting on Saturday night…

Spent a few hours Friday night…

Finished the outlining with an hour or so on Saturday morning, then packed it up and went to buy binding, because the store is closed on Sunday. Then came back and started the background.

Saturday, I quilted for 5 hours.

I remember back in the old days, pre-COVID, when I could spend most of Saturday working on art stuff if I wanted to.

The only way I could pull it off this weekend was because I had Friday free too. Sad but true.

Then last night, I trimmed the quilt and started getting the binding and sleeves on.

I didn’t finish. I started at 9 PM (worked on school stuff from 2 PM until then, minus cooking and eating dinner). And then it was 10:40 and I needed to go to bed.

I still have one sleeve to put on plus all the hand stitching. I’ll be on the couch with that this week. Then I’m emailing the photographer. He’ll have a field day with this one. Then hopefully mail it off to its new owner. Although my quilt guild wants to see it…so we’ll see if the timing works on that for the next meeting.

Anyway. The next one is in my head. Not sure if I have time to finish it for that deadline, but we’ll see.

Meanwhile, I’ve been drawing in restaurants and forgetting to photograph any of it.

Sometimes it takes two nights out to finish a drawing. Not that one. They took a really long time to serve us.

I drew at the book signing while I was waiting. Shootings are apparently often on my brain.

Sad but true.

It’s the one time I get to draw at the moment. No other free time, really. I need to have a certain frame of mind to draw, and it’s harder to find that mindspace. If I’m home, I’m more likely to pick up my computer and try to get school stuff done. Because it’s ever present.

Friday, I spent time with my old veteran, replacing some lattice covers so I could plant something to cover them.

The old ones were 20 years old and broken, so these have another 20 years hopefully. I also got two vaccines, one of which is causing an allergic reaction on my arm…fun times. Then two MRIs (one for each knee!). It was a weird day. But some stuff got done, which is good.

OK. Well. Today is what it is. I go to work and keep teaching magnets, and hope the labs work out etc. And all the parent meetings this week go well. And I feel less burnt? Unlikely. That’s just the way this year is rolling. Ah well. Time to build some mental health days into my curriculum, eh? I think so.

Feels Different

Hey. It’s later than usual. It’s Friday and I’m not at work! And I’m not sick! And a veteran is coming over later to help me do some work around the house! That’s how you celebrate THIS veteran. Make him help you do work. Plus he has way better tools than I do. What other exciting things am I doing today? I’m getting three vaccines (like a nutball) and two MRIs. Yeah! Do not try this at home, y’all. I’m fully expecting them to tell me I can only have two of the vaccines. Three might be too many. Kitten has already drawn blood on my right hand (IDK what I did, but she didn’t like it). I braved nasty traffic last night to hang out with my stitching friends…got very little done on this…

I think some window sashing and 1 1/2 shutters, plus some running stitch. I’m impressed by the people who can stitch one of these in a year. I guess I have a lot of other stuff going on.

The literacy meeting on Wednesday allowed me to get some small things done, so that was good. It also netted me stickers.

I finished a good book last night, Shoot the Moon…it did not go the way I thought it would, which was delightful.

I finished that last night…came home after stitching group and just sat there for an hour and devoured the last half. I need more of that.

Then I quilted for an hour…because I knew I could sleep in this morning. So Wednesday’s quilting…I refused to work that night, so I did over an hour…

Got the torso done, and then started on the justices to the left (when upside down…when right side up, they are to the right, which makes more sense…not sure I planned that? But maybe I did).

In the longer time frame, I got through three justices that night…

Then did the other two last night…

My camera recognizes the faces as faces, which is weird. So now all I have left is the arms and head of the goddess and everything above her, PLUS all the background quilting. I’m at about 10 hours in…and I was figuring 15 or so? I think. And I still think that’s valid. There’s a lot of little fussy spaces to be filled. I’ve done some of it as I was outlining, but not all of it. So hopefully this weekend? I’m going to have to go buy binding tomorrow anyway, or I won’t get to until next weekend, which would suck. And it looks like I might be starting a new quilt over Thanksgiving, which is good, because I have two deadlines coming up, and one is coming very quickly. Yikes.

I’m so proud that I have finally been able to color in a unit packet cover page…so many of last year’s didn’t get done because two grade levels, and I never finished Unit 2 this year either.

My students say he looks lit. AKA stoned. I said it’s daylight savings week…he’s tired. Also asked them if they’d looked in mirrors lately. So yeah. Great.

Nova in the air biscuit competition. Still winning.

Will I have to work this weekend on school stuff? Of course I will. I’m also quilting and trying to install these lattice things to replace the old broken ones so I can plant a viney thing to grow up it and also clean some stuff and quilt…did I say quilt? Yeah. That. But today is kind of busy. My fault of course. It’s nice to have a day off though. Really nice. Feels so different than a regular weekend. Fully appreciating that.

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.

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.

Minor Panic…

Somebody barked all night. It wasn’t me. I realize the coyotes were trying to break down the door, so it was justifiable barking, but still. Hard way to start a school week.

I remembered this morning all the things I was supposed to do this weekend and didn’t. Whoops. There will probably be more. I had a to-do list…it just didn’t have all the things on it. Typical. I did do a lot of art things, which isn’t bad…it just comes back during the week to bite me in the ass. There are things that are much easier to do on the weekend, but now I will have to try and shove them all in after school instead. Sometimes Art Brain wins.

I ironed Friday night…after a 2-hour curriculum meeting and the Visions opening of Interpretations. Here’s my obligatory selfie with my piece…

Usually I have photographers with me, but everyone ditched me this weekend.

I ironed the rest of Brown Jackson and then Kagan.

After the artist talks on Saturday, which were really good…I love hearing artists talk about their work, even if I totally wasn’t prepared for it…I came home and ironed for like 3+ hours. I should have done some other stuff too, but I didn’t. I wanted the justices done.

So that’s what I did. Toldja. Art Brain won. Then there was an artists’ dinner and I hung out with my friend Dinah Sargeant, who I hadn’t seen in ages (stupid COVID) and juror Dolores Miller, and had some pretty amazing conversations about art and life.

After dinner, you know what? I ironed some more. Pre-COVID, I used to just iron all day on Saturday when I was making a quilt. It was fucking delightful. All in all on Saturday, I put in 4 1/2 hours on this baby.

Got myself into the 1700s.

I only had an hour last night…had to work yesterday. Plus went to dinner with the parentals. That was nice. Hadn’t seen them for a while.

Finished the goddess and started the last bits on top. I’m about halfway through the 1800s…so about 200 pieces left. My goal is to be ironed down this week and stitching down by the incredibly busy (technically four meetings, no way can I do all of them) weekend. I have almost 25 hours into the ironing so far…it’ll be close to 30 by the end. I’m still debating the background fabric. I might need to fuss with it a bit to get it to do what I want it to do. We’ll see.

The Man is still hiking Catalina…today is his last day of hiking…I think.

He seems to be enjoying it.

This cat is a bed hog.

This cat puked in probably 17 places this weekend.

Fun times.

And here is my retirement goal.

OK. Today is what it is. The end of the project where they work quietly and I can get stuff done. The beginning of three major things that need grading. I’m so tired. In general due to dog barking last night, but also of school. I guess October burnout is a real thing. I always felt like that’s when it felt like things eased up a bit, but not so much this year. I’ve got a minor panic riding in my belly. It’ll be fine. I’ll figure it out. Just not probably today. More ironing tonight anyway.