Slower and Sweatier

I was looking forward to this weekend. It’s three days for us (random school board decision), and I knew I’d have a ton of grading and other stuff to do (car needs oil change AND smog), but with three days, I had a chance of getting a lot done AND having time to relax and make art (those are two separate things by the way). But now it’s supposed to be hot as hell and I don’t have A/C and it sounds like ugh. Plus I’m at the ironing stage of this quilt, so doing hot things during hot weather is honestly not particularly fun. Quilts are hot. Hot on your lap. Irons are hot. They put off heat. I can’t have a fan pointed at my head because all the tiny pieces will fly off. So it’s even hotter. Three-day weekend doesn’t sound so lovely any more. Oh well. I’m still going to have to do the things; I’ll just be much slower and sweatier about it.

So I started to sort on Monday night…

Scribble kept trying to stand in the boxes. I spent an hour plus before this packing two quilts to be shipped, so I didn’t have a full hour to sort. At 11 PM, I remembered I had to be up early for a parent meeting, so I stopped…

And finished last night…

It never looks like much here. Just tiny pieces. I started ironing last night, but I didn’t get far.

I also entered a show. And laid out the first 100 pieces, most of which are much smaller than this. I’m not sure I’ll be finishing this piece in time for the deadline. I’d like to, but there’s a lot left to do and the day job is a time suck. All my grading time at school gets sucked up by other things. I have a kid who will be out for an unknown amount of time and we’re doing a hands-on group project. The curriculum has nothing relevant she can do, so I’m not sure what to give her. I will have to spend my prep period figuring that out. For one kid. Of 140+. It’s frustrating.

So interesting question…why do so many words associated with extreme heat start with the letter ‘s’? I don’t think I would have noticed if my weather app wasn’t overusing them.

And the next day…

Does sizzling feel different than scorching? I mean, I’m sure it does…dropping below 100 degrees after 104 (now going to be 106) will be noticeable. Sizzling has a sound factor that scorching does not. They both have smells associated with them. Yes, overthinking the weather. It’s not fall. It’s hell. I think I’ll take a break every 30 minutes and step into the pool? Maybe? Dripping chlorinated water and ironing might be a bad combo.

A German woman contacted me about writing an article for an online German textile publication. Here’s the article. I have another interview to do for one in Los Angeles. It’s been a heavy art BUSINESS couple of weeks: deliveries, pickups, packing, shipping (expensive!), writing stuff, etc. I have one more blogpost I need to do for another art group, but haven’t been able to find the time. Oh wait, I think there’s two I need to do. Ugh. Add that to the list.

Today though. Today is Wednesday and it is still a reasonable temperature. Hell starts tomorrow or Friday I think. I swear, every time I look at the app, the predicted temperatures have gone up. Now Saturday is 109. So today and tomorrow are still bearable. Good to know. I have to meet with a teacher this morning about a union issue; I need to talk to another teacher too, but IDK when that will happen. I’m finishing up a simulation today and then trying to reteach how to write the reasoning part of a CER. Double ugh. Then pilates and a Zoom meeting. The Man took over cooking tonight, which is a good plan. Apparently he doesn’t like eating at 8:30 PM (IDK why…I’m totally OK with it). Somehow I need to grade stuff in there, plus fix a sprinkler that looks beyond my capabilities, and iron some more. Same old.

Participating in Art…

Rough weekend. Not as bad as next weekend. I think of a good weekend as some relaxation time with a book or some art, and a hike in the late afternoon (haven’t done that since I got back from Oregon…mostly due to heat, but lately due to life). Lots of time to wander the house, maybe water some stuff, clean up a little. Just not a lot of pressure to get things done. No deadlines looming. This was not one of those. Grades are due Tuesday (I finished those). It sucks to spend most of a weekend day on that. And that’s what happened. There’s no way to get all the planning, copying, designing, and grading done during the real work day. Or even in an hour after the kids leave. It’s frustrating. September is always a hard adjustment. We’re getting near the end of it though…so maybe I’ll adjust better in October. Ha!

My art goals this weekend included washing a few more dye paintings out and finishing the ironing to fabrics on the current quilt. I did achieve both of those things. I ironed Friday night…

This thing took forever, mostly because each little clump of mushrooms needed a new color range.

I ironed for a little bit on Saturday afternoon, after finishing grading the assignments I needed for the progress report.

The Man had a show Saturday night until midnight, so I knew I wouldn’t get time after that. And then last night, I stayed up a little late to finish all the ironing.

Almost 16 hours to iron 800+ pieces. Insane. Also, I need to organize the fabrics in color order. There’s lots of brown. Because mushrooms. Anyway, I’ll be cutting things out starting tonight. Hoping to be done by the weekend, but that may not be realistic. I do have 70 thousand Zooms this week I can trim through (slight exaggeration). This one has a deadline.

I also managed to wash out two dye paintings. No photo of that. I have two more to do and then another one that needs more dye painting. Not sure when that will happen. I have a Friday off next week (random 3-day weekend, thank you, school board). Maybe then.

Some book club friends of mine drove up to Oceanside to see the FIG exhibit there with 6 of my pieces in it. They sent me a photo…

I was in the middle of grading and it was so nice to see that. It’s one thing to tell people you make art, and another to have them just show up to see it. It was cool. By the way, the closing exhibition is this Sunday from 1-4. I’ll be there for the last bit, mostly to take stuff down.

The Man’s show Saturday night was interesting. I enjoyed the show…the venue was weird about glass on the dance floor, but they ran out of tables/seats and the bar was serving in glass?

The Man had hurt his back on the way over…but he powered through.

They do fewer shows now, so I try to go when I can. I was pretty tired though. Not so tired that I didn’t dance a bit. A lot. Maybe.

Scribble tore up a cat toy and then fell asleep on the innards.

She’s a cute baby.

I wish this were true…but it’s not.

AI is staying. It’s annoying except when it’s helpful. Like what is up with Muse wanting to help me. I don’t even know how to turn that off. I just keep Xing the box. I read a thread about AI and art and someone was saying that if we didn’t let them use AI, then they weren’t allowed to participate in making art. Um. Sigh. So many things wrong with that. Also, I could stop putting my images online, but the whole purpose of social media is to share, and I want to share my art…I just don’t want AI (or anyone really) using it to copy or make their own art. I’m not sure why that’s so hard to understand. It’s not the same as a human brain processing images it’s seen and interpreted with its life and background and turned into its own art. It’s just pulling bits and pieces and putting them together. There’s no life experience in that. And it shows.

Anyway. No AI here y’all. Shockingly. Work today though. Giving a test. Didn’t really tell them it was today. I’m OK with that though. Then a staff meeting and chiropractor. Trying to get my neck/shoulders to behave. Then hopefully cutting some stuff out. Probably need to do yardwork first…I did some of that yesterday. It finally cooled down enough and I had time during daylight (well, almost…I was stomping around in the dusky bits trying to figure sprinklers out. Was not successful). So more of that this week. Also have a fence falling down I need to deal with. I’m not sure HOW to deal with it, but I’m sure I’ll figure it out.

Dreams

Y’all, the day after Back-to-School Night is always the worst. I feel like I’ve already done a whole week. Usually I’m smart and plan independent work, a low-key day, but no…we’re doing a lab. Ugh. Bad plan. So yeah. At least I’m getting better from the weird virus I had…never really manifested as a cold…just sat around and made me feel like shit for four days. And grades are due, so I’ve been trying to get through all of that and plan for next week and copy stuff for next week and go to a million meetings…I have another one this morning. Most of the issues we’re having are either learning issues that should have been dealt with by 8th grade, but teachers dropped the ball (which is so annoying) or parenting issues…please don’t let your kids do whatever they want. We’re in the middle of some particularly exhausting parental bullshit. Fun times.

So I make art all through that, because it is my sanity. On Wednesday, I started sorting fabrics for the next figure. I did iron some stuff too, but not much because I was washing out a dye painting as well. Here’s the washout, but it still needs a couple more washes…

Another one of my summer pieces that needed more washing. There’s still more.

Here’s the beginning of laying out the second figure.

I didn’t finish on Wednesday. Thursday, I got home close to 7 PM after staying all day and working. So I didn’t work at home. I had a book that was getting sucked back to the library that I needed to finish for book club (it’s 11 weeks before I can get it again), so I was trying to finish that and gave up and went and ironed for almost two hours…

I ironed all of the fleshy bits for the second figure, which rolled into a brownish-green color, but I still have all the things in and around, like the heart and the eyeball and about a million fungal things with mycelial things.

All that stuff. And another bin full of stuff. There’s a tree in there too. So I still have no clue how many I’ve ironed and how many there are to go, which is how I predict how much time is left. It’s frustrating, but it’s my fault for numbering the way I did. I pulled from the 400s to the 700s for the 2nd figure, but not ALL those pieces. So I’ll be working my way through these tonight. I’m getting close, but I’m not there yet. And the weekend is a shitshow, as always. It must be September.

Rustic Sphinx moth last night.

The cats were fascinated. It was apparently throwing itself against the screen. The Man sent photos of all four cats enthralled. Cool moth though.

OK. Lab today. Meeting this morning. Kamikaze out to a new chiropractor after school. The neck is truly a mess. I need a new pillow and don’t know what to get. Hoping they have suggestions. Plus relief. Of some sort. Grading. Figuring out dinner. Ironing. Tomorrow, a lot of the same, although the Man has a show. So hopefully I’ll get plenty of rest tonight (ha!) for that. More than getting up at 6 AM anyway. Hopefully I’ll be efficient at school today and get through some of the grading while the kids follow instructions I explained yesterday. Hopefully no fights about vaping in the bathroom (not me). The right eye is twitching. Early in the year for that. It’s fine. I have art to make, shows to enter, residencies to enter. That’s where my brain is right now. And the stuff at school doesn’t make those dreams go away.

The Alternative

Being sick sucks; being sick as a teacher sucks even more. The job is physically and mentally challenging on a good day; trying to do it when you’re feeling shaky is harder, but the alternative is writing sub plans, assuming your classroom will be a disaster and no one will get anything done, and betting on the fact that you’ll feel better tomorrow…like is THIS the worst day of this illness? Or will that be tomorrow. And it won’t matter tomorrow because it’s a lab day (not leaving that with a sub) AND back-to-school night and one teacher on your team is already going to be missing. Plus you don’t really know how you’re going to feel until you get up in the morning, and then it’s too late usually to get a sub so a bunch of random teachers will have to be in your classroom. So yeah. That’s where I’m at. Today is NOT independent work mostly. There’s a bunch of talking and excitement I’m supposed to be pushing out (with what energy?) and then lots of walking around and encouraging. Meanwhile, the honors kids are trying to work ahead on everything, because it’s how they roll. They don’t know how to just let something sit. And wait. I understand that. I want the blank papers done too y’all.

I’m still ironing…so very slowly.

Not sure why it’s so slow.

Last night’s…

I just laid out the 400s. Some of them were already ironed to flesh bits, but mostly not. I might be halfway; I might not. It’s impossible to say. I feel like I’ve done a lot and question why I am not done yet.

I washed out the dye painting that needed repainting…

Doing some crazy stuff with distilled water in the laundry room, because I think my really hard water bleaches some f the dye out.

After drying…much better.

So yeah, the dyes I mixed at the end of July are still working.

I also washed out one of the glue resist pieces…

It needed more glue removal. I think it’s good now. They’ll both go through a regular machine wash at some point.

And then I finally made it to ceramics.

I’m done underglazing. Just need to figure out when it can go in the kiln.

I have a neck that fits in that hole sitting in my damp box, ready for me to build a head. And maybe a bird. That was the original plan anyway. We’ll see how that flies. It’s nice to have progress at least.

This AI conversation…interestingly, I heard one pundit talking about how we needed to stop separating AI from the techies who built it/own it. To hold them responsible.

They designed this system to make them money, and in doing so, endangered the future of billions of humans. And the big dumb guy says all we need to control it is a smart president. Oh well.

I’m sick. Definitely worse than yesterday. Hoping the meds kick in. I’m supposed to have pilates after school and it’s too late to cancel without a penalty. I’m watching a squirrel yell at something in the neighbor’s yard. I need to be better tomorrow. Doing a lab while sick is hard. Labs are hard anyway. It’s not even set up. I need to go in this morning and try to get through that. I started yesterday and it got too complicated. I really just want to go back to bed. Too late for that. Time to bully through. Ugh. And grades are due next week, so I just grade nonstop at the moment. Also not fun. Hope it gets better…the cold at least.

Mushroom Ironing

It’s finally cooler. Still summer for us, but not in the 100s. Still running all the fans and appreciating when it cools down at night…knock on wood, so it doesn’t go away. My studio still holds onto daytime warmth, which is great in winter and not so much now, so I’m ironing with a fan on my legs so it doesn’t blow the pieces away. I feel like I’ve been ironing for days (I have). Wait. Not a lot of days actually…well, I started slow. I’m not sure I’m not still slow. It feels incredibly slow.

OK, I’m 7 1/2 hours into the ironing and I’m still in the early 300s. That said, I did iron a bunch of the 800s already. It still feels like I should be further along. Here’s Friday night…

I got all the flesh laid out and ironed…

I feel like there’s some 400s and 500s in there too. Can’t remember.

Saturday night, I managed a couple of hours…

Ironed the heart and some other stuff. Then last night…

A couple of trees, some mushrooms, some of the bits and pieces of the body that weren’t flesh-colored. Like I said, low 300s. Over 800 pieces in this thing. I usually figure 100 pieces a night, although I’m not hitting anywhere near that at the moment. Each little clump of mushrooms is a different thought of what color, how many shades of that color. So notionally, I could be done ironing Friday? Ugh but this week is painful and grades are due next Tuesday. We’ll see how that goes. Too much on my plate again.

I made time on Saturday to set this up…this is the last dye painting I did at Playa, on the last day. The flesh color washed out completely.

I checked the dyes a few weeks ago and they were still holding. The stuff that washed out had been mixed with about a thousand other things at that point. So I made a new version of the flesh color.

It won’t be that dark…I added a bunch of print paste to lighten it. But it looks much better. Now I just need to make time to wash it out. Hopefully tonight.

Bowie and Scribble come in here to investigate. I think Bowie is still looking for Kitten. He was mean to her in the end, so I locked him out for a few weeks at the end.

He does like to come in and sniff around.

It’s baby lizard season. The leaf in the background shows how tiny this one is.

Luckily it’s outside. We keep finding them inside, and I think there’s still one in my car. I’m hoping it got out. I mean, it got in.

I saw something yesterday about how the current admin is gonna let power plants pollute with impunity.

The ignorance is mind-boggling. And devastating.

OK. It’s Monday. I’m tired. What’s new? I have a parent meeting with a translator this morning, the counselor called in sick, we need to call the translator, and our current conference room doesn’t have a phone. Because the main office removed it. Because we don’t need it? WTF. In case you’re wondering about the state of education these days. I have to use my personal phone to call a translator so we can do a parent meeting in Haitian Creole. Yup. I am still teaching energy transformations and transfers. Hopefully getting to a little independent work today, because I need to grade packets…and tests…and set up for a lab later this week…and realized that Back to School Night will be in the middle of a 2-day lab, so my room will be a mess. Fun times. Two-hour staff meeting after school teaching me how to do something I already know how to do AND already do. Regularly. Also fun. Then hopefully ceramics, because I didn’t get there all last week. Frustrating. I canvassed for the local school board on Saturday, because two of ours are ignorant. Annoying. But there will be mushroom ironing at the end of the day. Not often you get to say that.

All That Flesh

The heat is finally starting to fuck off. I meant to put some artsy evocative word there, but this is more appropriate. 104 degrees. Ugh. Still in the 90s, but bearable. My studio was down to 88 degrees last night…it’s amazing the difference it makes. The heat will probably be back…it’s September and that’s what September (and sometimes October) does. It’s just hard to concentrate on work and art when it’s that hot.

So ironing progress has been slow. Some of that is the heat and some is what I’m ironing. I did a bunch of grass and mycelial network on Wednesday night.

I love this idea of everything being connected. What we do in one place affects something somewhere else. Last night, I ironed a bunch of fungi, and then started to lay out the fabrics for one of the main figures. This is a pain because they are in the 100s bin all the way to the 800s bin. So I started pulling the flesh pieces and trying to sort them from everything else and I made it into the 300s.

All this stuff is NOT flesh in those bins…

So yeah, I’m not done with that bit. I probably will be tonight, but I’d already been working for an hour and needed to go to sleep. There is a second large figure too, so I’ll have to do that one in a bit. This weekend is a shitshow though. So I don’t think I’ll get any time beyond the hour or so each night. Too much other stuff to do. Ah September, you like to kick my ass.

At school, we had two false fire alarms yesterday. Fun times. Still teaching energy, despite my lack of it personally. I had stitching last night, where I sewed down 14 circles. It was good. Ten to go. I’d like to get to ceramics after school, but I have duty and then a parent meeting, so it depends on how I feel afterwards. I’ll still have to set up my classroom for next week. Then I’m cooking tonight (ugh) and grading and ironing. Hopefully all that flesh. I have political canvassing this weekend, although no one has contacted me about where to meet (problematic)…our school board is fucked up. I can say that, because one of the members says I’m an evil Communist predator. He’s lying about all of that, so that’s what makes it fucked up. Well, that’s not the only thing. And there’s meetings and stuff I need to do…some of it is art related and some isn’t. I managed one group blogpost last weekend with an extra day. I don’t think I can pull off another group’s post…maybe I can get all the photos organized and resized and write it next weekend. We’ll see. OK. I’m tired still. I need more caffeine. And I need to go to school and set up for the reorganization of the teaching that my brain came up with at 12:41 AM when it couldn’t sleep. Thanks brain?

Ebb and Flow

Weird week. Really hot…supposed to be 105 degrees today. My studio was 91 degrees at 10:45 last night…right now, there’s a tiny coolish breeze coming in, but it’ll be gone by the time I get home again. This house just holds heat…it sucks. This is the time every year when I think about air conditioning. Because we barely slept last night…it was just too hot. Sigh. One more day of the really bad, then one just in the high 90s, and then some reasonable semblance of a fall temperature in Southern California. Low 90s sounds lovely. If you say 80s, I may swoon.

But today is still hot. And ironing fabric when it’s hot is hard. I did manage to do the small piece for the ceramic sculpture that’s been sitting around, waiting for it.

This piece is obviously not much of a rush.

Then I started ironing for the new piece. It has some really big pieces because I was trying to keep it simple.

For some definition of simple. Last night, I managed about 40 minutes of dirt before I gave up in here…

It was (still is) hot and I was tired. It was a long weekend and a long day. I’ve been taking care of my parents’ dog, and we knew she was near the end. Well, yesterday was the end. Poor Katie girl…a good long loved life.

It sucks. But it was time; she was ready. And she was a good girl.

Luna is also a good girl, but very much alive…and kinda flat.

All the cats are kinda flat. It’s hot. Looking forward to Friday’s temperatures. Sooner rather than later.

I’m unfortunately going to have to sit in the heat this evening again, trying to grade papers or iron in yucky temperatures. I could stay at school to grade for a while, but it’s not very comfortable. Can’t iron there. Anyway, hopefully I’ll be able to stand it in here for a little bit tonight, at least an hour. This one is on a deadline. Aren’t they all?

I got two pieces into Quilts = Art = Quilts, so that’s cool. I had a dearth of acceptances at the end of the last school year, so it’s nice to get into a few this fall. Appreciate the ebb and flow? Or not.

Today, I’m teaching energy…despite my lack thereof. I might need to find some stuff when I get to school. Sand. Thermometers. Ice. For a demo! Not my shirt. Although last night, as I was attempting to fall asleep, I thought putting all the ice packs under the sheets wouldn’t be so bad. Union meeting after school. Then home to swelter, grade, and iron. Maybe sleep at night, but probably it will still be too hot in here. Ice packs, y’all.

Smoky Skies

I’m sitting here in the quiet morning (well, there’s birds). I’ve had most of one cup of tea, breakfast, a shower, went and refilled my water jug (issues with arsenic in the water) and got my dyes out of the big fridge…hoping they last longer, although last year, I painted one piece 10 days after I mixed them and there didn’t seem to be much color loss. I made sure there’s enough money for the mortgage (don’t get paid in summer). The skies are smoky again today from fires well east of here, so no danger, just hazy skies.

There’s a lot of sitting around and staring at stuff, interspersed with dealing with food (not my favorite and the kitchen is small and a bit of a challenge), and reading. I’ve managed to finish stitching the binding and sleeves on this piece from last year…

And I started the embroidery last night, which is gonna take a while…but it’s kind of rhythmic, meditative, and a little brainless honestly, so I do this at night.

During the day, I started dye painting yesterday. The first one was a line drawing I did last summer, so I just colored it in.

It’s gotta sit around for a day, and it will be much less bright after I wash it out. They all will. I aimed for pastels (some) on this one because the landscape here is more in that range. We’ll see what actually comes of it.

I’m a pretty haphazard dye painter. I don’t test things out; I don’t keep track (much) of what I’m doing. I just wing it and hope for the best. Like this one…

It won’t be that bright.

I started a drawing yesterday but it’s not what I meant to draw…

It’s also not done. I sat on my porch for an hour or so and drew for a bit, stared for a bit, read a little, repeat. Like this is what life should be like.

Here’s the three drawings I did on the way here…I think all the fire pix were blurry.

I also used Inktense pencils and fabric painting medium to color this drawing from last year.

It’s not all art, all the time though. I went swimming in the local reservoir with some of the residents.

I went to the Paisley Mosquito Festival…the parade…

And the quilt show in the church…

Voted for my favorite. Also had some BBQ for lunch and checked out the two local convenience stores, which have milk and some other stuff, but not much in the way of veggies.

I’ve walked out on the Playa twice, once just a ways out…

So many crazy ground textures out there.

The next night, I ate dinner earlier, then set out prepared with a wet washcloth for my feet, plus water and a headlamp. At 3/4 of a mile, I hit mud that was collecting on my shoes, sticky stuff, so I went barefoot.

At about 1 mile out, it was so slippery, I knew I’d have issues…damn knees. And the water was still not close! So I turned around and came back. I walked some on the dried stuff but it got to the point that it was too painful…

The top layer wiggles a bit as you walk across it. Eventually I got some of the mud off and shoes and socks back on. If I try again, I’m taking my poles. We have muck boots we can use, but the mud is so sticky, it just builds up on the shoes/feet and you lose grip. Not today…too much smoke. Even sitting here, it’s gotten worse. All these poor people (and animals) being evacuated.

Morning sky…

I can’t see those mountains any more.

Ironing view…

Including cute little iron my mom gave me. Hoping to track down another table today for a dry setup. Not enough flat surfaces to cover for me.

Today’s plan is to dye paint some more…I’ve got a couple more line drawings that need stuff, plus a ton of fabric ready to go. Maybe finish that drawing. There’s a resident dinner tonight, so that should be fun. I realized I barely talked to anyone yesterday, but I did a bunch of socializing the day before…so that seems to balance out. It’s cooler the last two days, which is also nice, and less windy. Peaceful. I miss my kitty, but I get a daily pic…

Sometimes with bonus animals. And the Man sends a daily update on how annoying my chores are 😂. Yeah. Well aware. Anyway, gonna go make more tea and check the dye temperature…and then make some more art.

Not in the Car…

Well sleeping in is not a thing I’m doing this summer. I try. Sleep is just an absolute mess, honestly. I try. I put my pillow over my head, I deep breathe, I meditate. I’m taking a sleep tincture; just added some Chinese herbs that should calm my whole system down (ha! as if that’s a thing…OK, sure it is for some people, but I seem to roll in overdrive). I’d just like to make it to 8:30 AM without waking up 47 times…and that’s not happening. I was sure I’d sleep last night because I hadn’t the night before, and usually, exhaustion sets in, but no. No such luck. Ah well. When I am retired, I will sleep badly at night and take a nap in the afternoon, when I am lagging. Stay up late, like my brain prefers…make up for it later. For now? I will just be tired. I still get the things done; I just yawn a lot.

Some part of it is probably planning anxiety. I always get like this with a trip, and this one is complicated by the art stuff. The residency is so far away from everything that I have to be sure I have what I need with me, whether in the car or shipped. So that’s a lot. And my brain obsesses over the lists of stuff and making sure I’m getting stuff done every day. Because I don’t have much time before we leave and I go back to school right when I get back. It’ll be fine, honestly, once I get in the car.

I’m not in the car yet.

So I’m trying to get the current quilt to the pinbasted stage before I leave. I finished ironing it to the background on Wednesday night…

It’s kind of a crazy piece…I started with a drawing I did in a very long staff meeting last year of just the center head and the arm and the birds, and then I added to the top and the bottom. I was just going to do the head and shoulders, back in January, when I got another assignment that needed to be done quickly, so I put this aside, and by the time I was ready to make it, there were political issues pressing on my mind (again), and I had to add to it. Kind of a living in this world, but unable to ignore the crap thing. Which is real, of course. I’m lucky to not have all of it in my face every day (as long as I don’t interact with the world in any way). Especially in summer, when I often hermit through huge chunks of it. This year, I’m gonna hermit in (what did my daughter call it?) Buttfuck, Oregon. Don’t be offended, Oregon; she just means in the middle of nowhere. And it’s not nowhere to those who live there. It’s just isolated. I’m ready for isolated.

It took almost 18 hours to iron it together; I’m guessing at least 5 total to stitch it down. I’m 2 1/2 hours in…

I did some in the afternoon…and some at night.

I’m up in her upper torso. One arm is mostly done. So am I halfway? Not quite, but close. Like I said, another 2 1/2 hours ish. Hopefully done today? We’ll see. I had plans for clay, but I don’t think the timing is going to work, since I have to cook dinner and I have pilates at a weird time plus a breast MRI. And I need to ship some stuff.

I also put the binding on this dye painting from last year.

I quilted it the other day; it still needs the hand stitching, but I can do that later. What I really wanted was something I could slow stitch on and maybe finish in August for all the shows I need to have work for when I get back.

I did my back-to-school shopping yesterday. It had to get done before I left. It was simple, but let’s see if I remember where I put everything when I get back. I’m trying to be logical, but August brain may not agree with July’s logic. Hard to say.

I have two more art exhibits I need to enter before I leave. I still need to organize and pack; I organize a little every day. I think and worry about it way more than I do it. But I will get there. I want to finish this squirrel before I go…

These Spargo blocks are perfect for the car or for sitting around in the evening, but this one is almost done, so it’s silly not to just finish it before I go and start the next one on the way north. I need to finish the background stitching around that leaf and then add five ladybugs. That’s what will take the most time. I’m not sure I’ll finish painting the fascia before I go. I need to sand and put another layer of Bondo in the bad wood, then prime a couple of times, then paint three times, I think. So probably not done before I go. The yard will never be done, so there’s that.

I will get done what I can. That’s all I can ever do. I’ve never been gone this long before.

This little cockatiel was hanging out by the pool yesterday.

It talked to me. I talked to it. It had a friend flying around. It was warm? Maybe it needed a break? By the time I found it some water and food, it had left, but it was here for a long while. Not a native bird, for sure.

One thing I need to do before I leave is deliver my work for this exhibit. I’ll be at the opening.

That’s the plan anyway. It’s a big space; should be a good show. Speaking of making cool things…

Let’s hope…because this is the alternative.

Watching the government go after people with differing opinions…well, that’s not a democracy. That’s not patriotism. That’s another form of government that we fought against on multiple occasions.

Yeah. That isn’t going to improve in the next month. OK. Today. Shower, then boob thing. It’ll be a week or more (last year it was 10 days) until I know it’s all clear. I still haven’t heard back on the brain; same deal. It’s summer and info trickles. Not really worried about either of them; low level health anxiety always rides in the back. But I’ll have a new brain picture to use in a quilt, right? Then pilates at a weird time. Plus stitchdown. And shipping. And crossing things off the to-do list. Love that part. It’s the best.

All for Good…

Yo. So crazy right now. Need a secretary to prioritize things. I had a friend in town for the last two days and she helped with some of the errands I needed to run (I made her go to REI), but every time I would cross one thing off my list, I would need to write two more down. It’s freaking me out! Hoping to cross a bunch off today…gonna pack some stuff up to get it out of here, then go get some stuff. Not sure when I’m making it to ceramics. And I want to finish ironing the quilt top together today…sometime. Somehow. There’s only about 150 pieces left and then it needs to go on the background. Stitchdown, then pinbaste. I really need it pinbasted before I leave. Even then, I’m not sure I’ll be able to get it done for the deadline. Oh well. It’ll go somewhere…although at the moment, I don’t seem to get into any shows. That said, my Unsustainable quilt will apparently be at Houston with the Soul Stories show…there was a moment when it might not, but now it is. Woo hoo! I’m hoping to go, but money is always the issue. And time. As always.

So I haven’t been ironing as much as usual due to said friend in town, but here’s Monday night…

I didn’t get much done…the sun, one of the birds, some overlapping arm stuff, and the one smaller figure.

Last night, I did almost two hours (much better!)…yes, if I am ironing, it means I am not doing other things, like getting ready to go to Oregon. Or finishing painting the outside of the house. Or even watering, which is a bad thing. Plants need water, but I can only do it in the evening, and I have not been home in the evening for four days? Five? Not sure.

I got the rest of that arm done, plus the other smaller figure and most of the larger top figure. She needs an eye and then there’s three hands coming down and all the detritus that goes with them. Not a lot…at this point, the entire rest of the quilt is ironed together and rolled up at the bottom of this picture. Insanely. It’s a logistical nightmare, needs to be weighted so it doesn’t fall off the ironing board, and I’m constantly ironing around all those things that help it stay on the board. I’m close.

So who was I hanging out with? I’ve known this woman since middle school…

We see each other at least once a year, because she is very good about coming down, and now that the girlchild lives near her, I sometimes see her up in San Francisco as well. I made her walk three miles on the beach, fed her sporadically (OK, honestly, she fed me), made her watch half the Belgian/US game (ugh…it’s ok that we lost, really), and dragged her on a tour of malls and plazas of San Diego. I had an original plan of all museums, but then they were almost all closed, except for the Mingei yesterday…molas for the win!

Also indigenous glass…there were two pieces by Angela Babby that were just amazing…

Yup. Glass. Kiksuyapi 1890 (Remember, Don’t Forget) about the Wounded Knee Massacre. Her work is glasswork that is fired in a kiln. Check it out…it’s amazing.

The exhibit also had a bunch of more traditional glass art by indigenous peoples; beautiful work. I don’t remember why I thought going to the Mingei was a good idea, but it might have been this…

An entire bathroom, refrigerator, microwave, and fire extinguisher made out of wicker. Weird yes, but interesting and thought-provoking…and amusing. This is by India Thompson, an exhibit called Looks Like Home…does it though? Fun to see. I’m sorry we didn’t get to the other museums/exhibits, but they weren’t open, so that kind of sucks, because I don’t think I’ll have time to go before I leave. Ah well. Life happens.

See, we did eat food, just at weird times and trying to mollify my blood sugar, which was all over the place.

And last night, we went to dinner with our requisite male attachments…mine is celebrating his 60th birthday this week, so the poor waiter tried to light the candle about 6 times and it was there for seconds, we yelled “Happy B!” and it went out.

I didn’t even catch it. But we had a good time and good food. I enjoy hanging out with her and she made things a little easier by helping me shop…for a bathing suit, of all things. She also got some stuff…it was all good. But now, I am on the quest of getting everything ready to leave next week, plus making sure everything here is done. EVERYTHING. OK, not happening, but I do need to buy a few things for school (anathema!!) and the trip still, plus send out some packages, and enter some art shows, and finish some ceramics and I don’t know what else, because every time I turn around, there’s something else. It’s going to be fine, and it’s my fault for deciding I was taking the Man somewhere this weekend for his birthday…it’s too hard to come up with appropriate gifts (although I did think of one AFTER I booked this weekend…sigh). So I’ll be gone for like 24 hours, plus I had to fit all 8 July pilates classes into 2 1/2 weeks, so I have pilates like every other day, plus another 5 medical appointments. Hopefully no more than that. It’s summer, so getting test results takes forever…trying not to think about all those things. Occasionally I forget about being a teacher too, until I see this stuff.

Damn socialists…trying to take care of the people. I bet the Islamic Republic of Japan doesn’t do that (oh my, when will someone admit the Prez is losing it).

Lovely mural on the way back from downtown on one of my many trips to and from there to pick up my friend.

By DABSMYLA, a husband/wife team of muralists.

Gonna need to get gas this week. Need to pull all the camping gear out and start organizing what we’re actually taking, since we’re not really camping. Just camp cooking really. Definitely getting more excited…I mean, I’ve been excited about this trip since last October…so yeah. I’ve been taking notes on all the middle-of-the-night drawing ideas that pop up when I can’t sleep. Ready for those too. How many pairs of scissors will I need? All of them, I think. No, not really.

OK. Today. I have acupuncture for my foot…I have pilates. I need dog food and school supplies. I need to iron. I don’t need gas yet, but I will soon. I need to bondo the fascia wood. I need to paint and water. I need to fill at least one greenery trash can. So two of those things could be done before I shower, because it’s gonna be hot today and tomorrow. I say bondo first and then see how much time is left. If I bondo now, I can sand this evening and get this damn thing primed and painted. So no ceramics today…maybe tomorrow? We’ll see. So much to do. All for good though…getting the house taken care of and getting me ready to leave.