Art and Sleep

Sitting here this morning, listening to Amanda Palmer’s morning voice ramble. A great way to start the day…

Lately, when I’ve been opening the WordPress app, on the first try, it always says my website refuses to open. REFUSES. Hmm. Like I asked it and it’s like, no, not right now. I don’t wanna. And then I refresh, and it’s like, OK, sorry, I thought you were someone else, here you go. Yes, I attribute even the internet with feelings and thoughts. The entity itself refusing to interact with me. Talk about bringing your job everywhere with you.

It’s OK…my job is my job. It is what it is. It’s not easy most days, but sometimes, there’s just two kids who normally fight you tooth and nail, and for some unknown reason (it was a full moon last night), they sit down and do the work. You have no freakin’ idea why, because it’s the same two that wouldn’t let you fall asleep last night, because you were so worried about how to engage them in a project that was harder than they might be capable of, and then they just do it. I can’t even roll my eyes that far back in my head.

Meanwhile, I’m trying to decide if I can even finish what I’m working on in time, and the answer is…maybe. But I have to be careful about what else I add into the mix, because everything is taking too long. So that means working every night on it. It won’t get done if I don’t. Last night was tiring…I came home from a lot of walking and questions and helping, and I packed two quilts that need to be delivered today after school…the girlchild’s bed is useful for such endeavors.

Calli was having some post-thunderstorm issues, following me around and panting and staring into corners.

Then I had to drive across town to pick up the ceramics that we painted on Saturday…

Wait. Guess which one is mine…

My friend had never painted ceramics before…so you can’t judge her turtle. You can’t put naked people on a turtle. He looks good. He’ll look even better with a plant in him. I can never have enough mugs. I think. The boychild thinks I have enough.

Then off to book club, where we discussed Borderline by Mishell Baker.

We’ve been reading a lot of books off the Sirens conference list. We all grew up reading so many male authors…and we are a women’s reading group, so it only makes sense that we gravitate toward female or other-gendered authors. Baker has been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, and she writes a character in a fantasy novel who has the same disorder. There were things I liked about this book: the interactions between people in the house specifically. I’m not a huge fan of urban fantasy though, and this one was set in Hollywood, so that’s not my fun place either. The rest of book club mostly liked it though, so maybe you should listen to them! I’d give it a solid 3 or 4 out of 5. It was well written…so that’s a plus. I think I fall more solidly in the sci fi realm for books though.

After that, it was late and I was tired. I sat here for a bit…

With these guys. That was nice. But eventually the art brain kicked me off the couch, into the studio. I didn’t iron for long…too tired. But I got the things in the sky ironed…so a spaceship, a rocket (missing one piece on that), some clouds, raindrops, and the stars…they’re all done. It doesn’t sound like much. It isn’t much. It’s something though. I’m hoping to have more energy tonight. Ha! Thursday night. What a joke.

But there’s the pile…

Didn’t even organize those fabrics afterwards. Sleep was nice. More tonight. Art and sleep.

When You’re Quiet, I’ll Start…

Yesterday was loooooong. At the end, there was art. I used to really only make art during breaks from school, a little bit during school, but mostly when I had time off. But it got more and more necessary that I make art during the teaching months, and now, I’d better be doing something every night or I get antsy, irritable (ha! more than usual), totally cranky. Sometimes that means I get behind in grading, but I figure I’ll catch up eventually. I was at work yesterday from 7:45-4:45, worked through lunch, did a meeting before school and tutoring after…but I didn’t grade when I got home, because by the time I went to the chiropractor and Costco and came home and did a bunch of tasks, ate dinner, finished the binding and sleeves on that giant quilt I started in freakin’ December (yes! a finish in 2019!), washed the dishes, made breakfasts for the rest of the week (fucked that up majorly), and calendared the evening (it was past 9:30 pm) by then…I wasn’t gonna grade anything. Oh yeah, I forgot 30 minutes on the stationary bike so I could actually eat something for dinner, because the diet program is convinced if I don’t eat, I’ll lose weight. Well DUH. Not happening.

Seriously though…I brought grading home and I’m taking it back to school undone. I’m gonna have to be one efficient motherfucker at school the next three days and get through it there. I couldn’t get anything done yesterday due to having to fill out a million psych forms on kids and getting a couple of independent study contracts together, plus monitoring a bunch of kids NOT reading directions during a lab. But mostly standing there, patient as a…well…a teacher…waiting for them to stop talking. When you’re quiet, I’ll start…I can stand here for hours. I do it every day. My stubbornness knows no bounds. I have 52 years of stubborn. You lose.

It’s not really a game of win or lose. That’s the fun part with teaching middle school. It’s not even what they learn, because often they come back and it’s what they remember…this crazy lab, or mostly because I teach sex ed at the end of the year, that’s what they remember me for (for better or worse)…it really is just about those who could tell you cared about them, even when you were mad at them constantly (especially then). Which reminds me, I need to check in with another teacher about a kid who’s driving me nuts, and it’s the end of the day and he’s a challenge, and that’s part of my problem. I need a plan.

Sometimes the biggest positive with making the art is that it shuts up the teacher brain so I can stop worrying about how much I have to do, or about this or that kid…I can just be in my head with something I feel successful about. And that doesn’t usually stress me out…until I have to be packing stuff up or shipping it out (tonight).

Last night, from 10:30 on, it was all about the sky…

The twelve different colors of the sky. That was fun. But complicated to iron…I needed lots of space to do those long skinny pieces.

Here’s the colors so far. I told you it would get more colorful!

What’s next in ironing? Hmmm. I think the things in the sky, like the rocket and spaceship…and then maybe the sun? No, it’s probably the things in the torso, like the heart, lungs, etc. Those are fun. More colors. I have book club tonight, but before and after, I’ll get some shit done and then iron some more. It’s coming. Faster than the last one. I think the plan is to do the big quilts over breaks and the smaller ones in the Spring, when I have little patience but need a lot of art time in which to recover. But I also need successes. Lots of them. Yup. Lots of that and hikes in nature and books to read and exercise of all sorts.

Today though? Today is rain and trying to get kids on task while getting stuff graded. I can do that. Maybe.

“You’ve Been in the House Too Long” She Said*

You know how exercise is supposed to help you sleep? Hmm. Me too. I know that. I don’t always have that experience, but I know it’s supposed to. Last night. Sheesh. No rest. I don’t know if my brain was the issue or my body (my neck really needs the chiropractor, which is tonight, unless I forget again, which is what got me in trouble in the first place)…the dog needed to pee at around 4:30 AM; that was fun. I just don’t know anything but that I was awake a lot for such a short period of time of sleep. I went to bed too late because I was ironing the flesh colors down and I like doing that in one fell swoop, but then I had to be up early for a meeting (ugh). You might have noticed that I don’t like early. I don’t. And I was really tired yesterday after the dog walk…it took me a long while to rally.

The plus is that the kids were much better at labs yesterday, thus saving me from sacrificing one (or ten) of them to the science teacher goddess. Let’s hope that continues. The staff meeting was short and sweet. Also a blessing. Well, not sweet, but certainly not as onerous as some of them are.

Mondays are for dog walks…when I don’t have 2-hour meetings and no daylight. We haven’t been here for a while, maybe a month…the first part of the trail is still underwater…

No biggie…we go around. Although there were ducks swimming in it…and tadpoles growing in it (OK, they’re really hard to see in here, but they’re gray-ish and pretty large).

Is this a quilt blog? Well, sort of. Quilters should go on walks and get inspired.

Still green and bloomy…although not superbloomy here…the dogs still like it…

I just like to get out and exercise…

The wildflowers make it good too though…

It’s like this annual fascination with Spring…

Every year I’m like OMG, look! There’s flowers!

Some sort of renewal in the brain brought on by the weather. Honestly, these flowers are easier to think about than job stress, weight loss, the shooting in Christchurch, the flooding in Mozambique, the idiocy of my elected officials.

Yup. Flowers. And a good long walk after work.

For some reason, the puppy doesn’t like this hike as much as the others. He fights it until we turn back toward the car, and then he’s fine…

Although we took another side trip up to see the vernal pool…which was huge!

And had those other big fat tadpoles, but also these tiny ones…

Makes me wonder where all the frogs are most of the time…

There’s glass up there…that’s why he’s carrying the pup. So he doesn’t get glass in his toes from the dumbasses who break their beer bottles up there. It’s nature, but the town is right there. And people are stupid.

They kept following me around when we got home…although I think this was following someone else around.

After the walk, I did some photo editing for work, some scanning for embroidery designs, some business paperwork, some email…picked colors for this one…

I have a really hard time seeing what they will look like without stitching them out. That’s soon, I guess.

After some flailing time, some braindead time, I finally persuaded my old tired body into the studio for this…picking flesh.

It’s really much easier to do all the fleshy bits in one go, so I did. It was pieces from the 100s through the 800s, so I have no idea how much I actually did…at least 100 pieces, I suspect. I have one piece of the cheek that I couldn’t find, so I’ll need to retrace that tonight.

Fitting pieces together. I don’t like to waste fabric.

Somewhat obsessive about that. Here’s where I’m at so far…

Not a whole lot of color yet. Wait until I do all the other stuff…bugs and sky and heart and hair…it’ll have lots of color then. I fell asleep to imagining the hair all the colors of nature. Which is good, because that’s what this quilt is about…my need to be outside for a little bit every day, for longer when I can. This week will be a mishmash of finding that space, for sure…too many meetings. So I’m glad I got yesterday’s walk in.

OK…meeting, school (last day of labs hallelujah), tutoring, chiropractor (oh holy moley my back and neck will be so happy), and then whatever else I can handle before I iron again. It’s a good plan.

*The Smiths, Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now

Revel In It…

The weather was truly beautiful this weekend…hints of warmth, but cool enough that you might need a sweater at times. Beautiful blue skies, birds singing everywhere, some wispy clouds in the sky…definitely Spring-like. I wish I’d spent more of it outside, but that was the way the weekend went.

I had a huge mess going on in the office/studio…

So I spent time on Saturday trying to get it under control.

I can’t start ironing for a new quilt without putting everything away…I stacked up all the loose fabrics by color and started organizing…

Kitten did not help…

She never does.

Then I went off to meet a friend for pottery painting…and wine…

Very relaxing…came back home and headed out for dinner. There really is no excuse for making my wine green.

Seriously. It wasn’t even St. Patrick’s Day. We came home and put a movie on and I tried to bust out this monster binding that I have not been working on…

I realized I hadn’t finished a quilt yet this year, and that never happens. It’s March! I should finish something. So I’m going to. But not Saturday night…Satchemo was so happy to have both of us on the couch…

He can be a very needy beast.

Now it’s ready for ironing. That table is clear, the ironing board is clear…pretty good.

But there were things to grade and stuff to do…here’s where I sat down and figured out the week…

Someone should clear off the table…again.

Eggshell pieces on the front porch…I haven’t seen any expectant parents around there…

Who knows what happened.

So we had a play to go to in the afternoon, but I wanted all this ready to go for when I came back…drawing hung, boxes of pieces ready to sort.

Background fabric ready to match…oh wait, after dinner, more stitching…

I finished all the binding and one sleeve…just one to go. This thing is huge. Then I graded for a while. I can’t NOT grade right now. Finally though! Into the studio and sorted the first hundred pieces…

It’s all dirt and rocks…

I made a run of 8 for the dirt, plus some other stuff that was in there…roots and a hole or two. Then on to the rocks…

Five different grays for the rocks…

I made it through most of the first 100 pieces…only 700 to go.

I guess I can hope I’ll be done ironing by the weekend. I think it’s unlikely, due to three nights out this week…but I can hope. This is one of my favorite parts, that’s for sure. So I’m going to be putting in some hours on it.

Kitten guarding my space…

But first, I’m going to school and hopefully having a much better day than Friday. Because I might notionally in my head sacrifice someone to the science goddess otherwise. Not really. But seriously, they can’t be as braindead as they were on Friday (sure, they could be worse…). Deep breaths. Positive thoughts. It’s still a gorgeous day. Revel in it.

Not a Soul Up Ahead and Nothing Behind*

So. I ironed it. It’s all ironed. It took 4 hours last night, but I did it. I’m glad. I needed to see it all together. The end of the day was just shit and I’m still carrying all that crap around in my head and I needed to see this done and put together and whole. Ironic, because one of the questions for Monday’s staff meeting is about self care for teachers. Yeah. That. Now did I get enough sleep last night? Fuck no! Of course not. Brain worrying about school shit kept me up and then woke me up early. Thanks brain. That and the covers getting stolen a few million times. Rolling eyes on that one. Sigh.

But I finished the ironing. It took a little over 21 hours total to iron it all…but first, the boychild fed me dinner…

‘Twas good. Nice broken plate there…

I had company on the couch as I decompressed a bit. It was only a 10.5-hour day. No biggie. Really. I’ve done worse.

Thanks guys. I needed that. Have I told you about my soft fluffy animal socks? They have animal faces on them. I put them on my Amazon wishlist for Christmas and my ex got them for me. I love them. Wearing smiling animal faces on my cold feet is awesome. So are pajamas. Pajamas are very awesome.

Then around 8, I went in and ironed the bee and the bug on a leaf onto her face…

She’s got some nature going on.

Then I ironed and sewed together the background fabric…this thing is freaking huge, by the way. The background is cut a little over 79″ w x 70″ h. This might be some of why this thing is taking so long.

It fills the entryway, for sure. I couldn’t go a lot bigger and do this here. So when they’re this big and in multiple pieces, I iron on the entryway floor, because I can’t see everything on the ironing board to line it up. And the tile can take it.

Please remind me when I am old to make smaller quilts. Kneeling on tile is not easy.

One head at a time, Figure 5 first…she’s the base on the left…so it’s an easy place to start.

I moved her a few times, trying to get the spacing right. Her head is not actually attached to her body at this point. When I’m trying to fit a bunch of stuff together that has to actually touch, it’s easier to have a few things loose for leeway.

Adding the head for Figure 4…it overlaps Figure 5’s mouth…

Right now, I have Figure 5’s arm all piled up, because it’s supposed to overlap a bunch of stuff and I’m sorta praying to the fabric goddess at this point that it will all line up.

Shockingly, it did. Figures 1-3 were all ironed together in one piece with the arm from Figure 4…so I plopped that beast down and started trying to make it all go in the right place. I’m still missing the bottom torso piece for Figure 2 here, plus the other hand for Figure 3. And a moth. Oh yeah, and a cloud.

Plus nothing is ironed down.

Finally got it all tacked down well enough to move it, although I lost part of a snake eyeball and the syringe fell apart…

And this is the correct orientation. Syringe fixed. Moth ironed. Cloud placed. Shit, still no snake eyeball. Gotta fix that. That pink arm made it all the way across onto Figure 1 and fit just perfectly. Wow. It’s like it was meant to be. I’m really happy with this. I realize I have at least 10 hours of stitchdown, and then 20+ hours of quilting, plus a lot of inches of binding to do, but it’s all good. It was totally worth it. Every year, I try to make at least one big quilt that isn’t based on an upcoming show or theme or deadline. It’s true that I was trying to get this one done in time for a deadline, but I failed…but that’s OK, because I needed to make it.

People keep trying to guess what it’s about…the core is anxiety. That’s what it feels like sometimes to have all these worries eating at you, trying to swallow you. This is like inside my brain some days. I started drawing swallowing heads about a year ago and then I kept trying to draw them until I got this to work.

OK, well I need to take Kitten to the vet, so she can whack them again. And then I have an art meeting tonight, plus at least one opening, plus another art meeting tomorrow, and somewhere in there, I need to grade a bunch of stuff. So there’s that. But hopefully I’ll start stitchdown tonight. I’m not really in the mood to people much, so that should work. Ironic with all those meetings I’ve got to go to, but that’s how it rolls some weekends.

OK, you may not know that most of my titles come from whatever music I’m listening to in the morning while writing. But I’m listening to a new Pandora station and it seems to be ALL freaking love songs, and that is just not how I’m feeling this morning, so I’ve rejected the lyrics to two songs so far. If the tech really is listening in, Pandora should figure out that I need something angsty right now or even positive life shit, but not lovey dovey crap. OK, this is still a love song, but I can handle it. Sheesh.

*Walk the Moon, One Foot

My Head’s Above the Rain and Roses*

Yesterday a kid muttered while we were all working, “Yeah, Ms. Nida knows how to color stuff in.” Hmmm. Well. That’s something. I do have years of experience in coloring, although I used to do more of it. I used to screenprint my art, and I would make two copies of the original drawing, one for tracing the next screen iteration and one to color in, so I would know what colors things would be. I don’t do that any more. Can you imagine trying to color in a quilt this size with colored pencils? I’d be here for days. Months. So now I do it in my head. Yeah, I know that sounds crazy, but it’s true. A lot of things go on in my head. I’m thankful my brain allows that. It’s not always the best brain. It’s a worrywart. It responds to stress in a sometimes inappropriate way. It’s not always clear on tact. But it draws and colors like a beast. I think my 12-year-old brain would be absolutely thrilled by what my brain can do now.

Although more sleep would always be appreciated. I was convinced by the end of the day that yesterday was Friday. (It was not.) I sat there grading last night on the couch, almost falling asleep (certain hours of the day really kick my butt cognitively), sure that I was sleeping in this morning (I did not. Because it’s not Saturday.). Painful realization. I’m trying to get caught up on grading, which is a never-ending proposition, but all of a sudden, I was significantly behind and I panicked. I finished one assignment last night and input some grades and got most of the way through another assignment. It’s progress. This weekend is a clusterfuck, though, so I need to be on task.

It meant I didn’t get as far with the ironing as I wanted…I didn’t leave myself enough time to finish…

First I pulled the torso off the teflon with Kitten watching…

And then I started ironing the head together…

She has a bee on her cheek and then a leaf with a beetle. At 12:06 AM, I decided that would be at least another 30 minutes and I couldn’t do that. So I went to bed. But now I really want to see it done tonight. I want to see all the heads in one place, all connected. The plus is that I’m not in charge of dinner tonight, so I have a chance of pulling this off. The minus is that I really do need to grade stuff as well. So we’ll see how that goes. I’m excited though. I haven’t seen this thing in color, except in my head, and it’s nowhere near as vibrant in there as it is here. Plus the contrast against a dark background is going to make it pop. Geez, call in sick and finish it! No. That’s not responsible. I’m mostly responsible.

Yesterday’s unit cover page for my science kids…

A nice relaxing day coloring with the kids. Except the ones who are never relaxing.

Next week is a bunch of labs, so I should enjoy today’s quiet (they’re watching videos and figuring stuff out without my help)…well, I’ll be grading and trying to get those kids on task who are never on task. I think my co-teacher will be on her third day in a row of labs today, so she should be losing her shit. It’s so hard not being on the same page…we’re too used to working together and supporting our nervous breakdowns. When she finishes piloting this unit, we’ll be back. In 6 weeks. I have my own stints of labs coming up.

Simba in his lookout position, ready to guard us from any intrusions…

Sweet little asshole. He did not help with the grading though. And I think he’s really part cat.

OK. Now it really IS Friday and I am dead tired. But I’ll survive and rally and hopefully really really iron this thing together tonight, instead of all the other nights I thought I’d iron it together. Yeah. Hopefully.

*Green Day, Still Breathing

I Told You the Truth About the Old Me*

Oh Thursday, you wannabe Friday. But you’re not. You dawned chilly (for us pitiful Southwesterners) and bright, a light breeze wobbling the tree leaves around outside my window. Thursday, you hold no meetings for me. No appointments. No have-tos (well, please don’t ignore grading, dear, because you need to get your teacher act in gear). I will finish ironing today. I will. Imagine me in the front yard, barefoot (why can’t I remember to put socks on when I get dressed? Yes! All you high-school friends. I am still barefoot. Fuck the school AP who made me come into his office to discuss my refusal to wear shoes.), raising my arms to the heavens, fists clenched. I WILL FINISH IRONING TODAY!

This quilt has not been quick and easy. It’s OK. They’re not supposed to be. But sometimes, I want to be done with the task I’m on. And I’m not. This would be one of those times.

But I had book club last night…so after I came home from work and did about a million silly tasks and answered ALL the emails (OK, not all of them), I went to book club. I like book club. I like that I read all these books that otherwise I might not see…because I can be pretty insular in what I read. Plus I’m not very social, so this makes me leave the house. Besides for work. Plus did I mention it’s in a wine-tasting place?

Can’t argue with that. I made it home close to 10 PM, hung out for a while with the people and the dogs and the cats, and then went in to iron, because that’s how I get stuff done…I do a little every day. I ironed for almost an hour…no, I haven’t been in bed before midnight at all this week.

I got the second arm ironed down…that hand got ironed together with the second figure, so I’ll need to connect them up at some point. And then I did the wings. So there’s just the head to do, then put it all together and onto a background, which I suspect will take a much larger floor than I have in here. Sometimes I can do it on the ironing board, but I don’t think this is that time. I’m suspecting I’ll be cleaning the entryway floor tonight and doing it there. Which is fine.

And then stitchdown and sandwich and quilt and bind. But first, go to school and deal with the stress of The Day We Turn All the Things In. I can tell it’s stressful, because I had high-level kids emailing me at 11 PM and expecting an answer. Sometimes I wish I was the kind of teacher who could totally unplug and leave the job at school, and then I’m OK with not being that person. Really, I was so efficient yesterday with all the phone calls and emails and stuff. If only I could do that every day.

Well, today is Thursday, the day I will finish ironing. That makes it a good day. Plus I don’t have to cook tonight and I still have one of these kickass scones for breakfast. Apple cheddar by Smitten Kitchen…

OMG, these are to die for. I had apples to use up, so I made a batch and froze them so I (and the boychild, because I am sometimes a nice mom) could have one a day. They don’t last well, apparently, although the boychild says they’re fine. He eats cold food though when I would heat it up, so whatever. I tried to explain to Kitten that she wouldn’t like them. This is the cat who eats my Shredded Wheat if given a chance. Anyway, I’ve been baking one each morning. Yum. Makes a nice change to cold cereal, which I’ll be back to tomorrow.

Oh yeah! My Quilt National piece is going to France! That’s cool…here’s Beyond the Concrete…

It’ll be at the European Patchwork Meeting in Sainte-Marie-Aux-Mines, France, September 12 – 15, 2019. It hasn’t traveled much, but this seems good. I wish I could go with it…

*Cold War Kids, So Tied Up

Until the Stars Lost the War*

I did well. It was good. I did all the things. I think. Well, if I didn’t do them all, it’s because I forgot they existed. Or it was grading, and I just didn’t get to that. (and that’s OK)

Mostly, I wanted to be sure I ironed. I want to get this thing all put together so I can SEE it. Plus I have deadlines that are barking at my ankles like a little dog.

So school, tutoring, chiropractor, gym. I started ironing after 10 PM…I’m on Figure 5…and she’s one of the most complicated figures…

She has a torso and both arms, and they’re really LOOOONG…because I made them stretch all the way across the bottom of the quilt.

I didn’t even get to both arms…just the one and then most of the torso…

Also she has wings and they have lots of pieces…I didn’t even get to those.

Geez. This is not a small quilt. But I’m pretty sure I only have about 150 pieces left to iron down. So that’s cool.

Her head, other arm, and all the crap that surrounds her. Then put the whole thing together. Looking forward to seeing it.

Yes, she’s really pink. I tried to do each figure in a different range of flesh tones. Me? I run kinda pink. Maybe not this pink, unless I’ve been in the sun. But since all of these are me, because all this is inside my head…she can be my sunburnt self I guess.

Meanwhile. I stayed up too late again. I was trying to finish that section! Kitten is currently spazzing out under the drawing and trying to figure out how to destroy it.

I need to go to work and manage the last day of a project on the same day as a massive math test. I have book club tonight, which is cool. I might get to iron as well…maybe. I hope so. Her other arm? Her head? Seriously, 150 pieces won’t take long. Maybe ironed onto the background on Thursday? Starting stitch down on Friday? I totally will miss the deadline I had for this one, but I just have to assume there was a good reason for that. Mine, not some superpower’s…and I need to start drawing the next one. It will need to be done early so I can do the NEXT next one on time. It should be fine…they finally did the specs for the next show, and although they said no size restrictions when I asked back in December, now it’s max 30″ wide, which is nothing. Tiny. So I’m glad I hadn’t already started drawing. Need to rethink that one a bit. But that’s a future thing. Not a LOT in the future, but probably not tonight. I have to say I really look forward to MAKING every night. This weekend is a bunch of stuff I have to do and making will not be able to be a priority. Last weekend was the same. Ugh. Wish it were different. I would seriously hermit at home all the time if I could get away with it.

Anyway…finishing my delicious fresh-baked scone (OMG, these are good)…then going to work and trying NOT to be irritated by the kid who called me an Old Ass yesterday (I might be, but he doesn’t get to tell me that…he’s gotta LIVE with me to tell me that). Meditative breathing before dealing with him again. It’s not the name-calling that bugs me…I know he has stuff he’s dealing with that causes that…it’s the constant disruption of other kids. So we’ll be dealing with that today. Fun stuff…

Revivalists, Wish I Knew You

Justifying Crazy

Hello not Monday morning but feels like Monday morning because I was one of those lucky people who did not have to go to work yesterday because of MLK. Appreciate it. Appreciate him more, but in the moment, I’ll take the day off as well. One of the people I follow on Instagram said, Hey! White people! Instead of dropping an MLK quote on the day, send some money to a group that supports people of color. Awesome idea…I don’t have lots of money, but every $20 counts. I’ll be doing that tonight.

Yesterday was kind of a rush. Doctor (no solutions yet), scheduling more doctor, blood-letting (love that), shopping, dog walking…gotta love dog walking in the middle of a beautiful winter day with bright blue skies and sun, but not too warm (sorry Northeast…I apologize for January’s wintry weather in San Diego).

All the greenery here is dead…but further out, the typical grassy hills that turn green after the rain…I’m pretty sure I took this picture by accident.

I love that I do this walk all the time and see new stuff on a regular basis. This is a very interesting mushroom growing out of the hillside next to the trail.

We have another interesting one in the backyard, fed mostly by dog poop I think. Probably not edible.

There’s the green hill! Of a landfill.

We spend most of the year staring at dead brown grass, so this is nice.

After that and making scones (like you do, because you have apples that need to be used up and you can then cook them for breakfast)…I went to my guild, Canyon Quilters, and did a talk.

None of those are me. There are probably pictures of me out there, but I don’t have any of them. Those are my quilts though. I talked for an hour or so about how I make quilts and why I apparently get so much done (I don’t feel like I get a lot done, especially currently…feels like molasses these days). I remember nothing I said. Apparently I amused some, but there was one woman asleep in the front, so it was a little like teaching 12-year-olds (well, not much, because no one was tapping on their desk with a pencil or trying to mouth a conversation across the room). I appreciate the opportunity to try to explain what I do. Justifying the crazy! Oh hell, you know I’d make the stuff anyway.

I was tired afterwards, but I didn’t get any art done all day, which is frustrating. I also didn’t get any grading done, but I’m less frustrated by that. THAT job would take over my life if I let it.

So I got my butt off the chair and wandered into the studio at 11:24 PM. I ironed the eyeballs and nose slits on those three snakes…

Pulled the Figure 4 head off the teflon sheet, and put it in the box with Figures 1-3. There to wait until I’m ready to iron it all down.

And then I ironed the sun.

That was all I had time and energy for last night. I spent half the night trying to persuade the puppy that coyotes were not invading us and he could stop barking. I feel a little drugged at the moment, up too early with not enough concentrated dream time, but a freshly baked apple cheddar scone is making the world a better place, one hot steamy bite at a time. Can’t beat that. Now I just need to persuade the boychild that he can’t eat all of the rest of the scones today. It’s amazing what a delicious baked good can do for a morning.

My plan for the day? I think I’m in survival mode for a while. I’ll let you know. Certainly I would hope ironing Figure 5 would make it into the final plan, but I’m really tired right now and I know the gym is in my future…AFTER school and tutoring and the chiropractor. Wish me luck…

Catch Up…

Such efficiency yesterday. School stuff done (not all of it, but the stuff that had to be done…although that’s a never-ending task), groceries done (except for what I need to go to a different store for today, which is luckily a holiday for me so I can do that), cooked dinner, tried to use things up, mostly successful (way too many potatoes), finished the slides for tonight (just need to roll up all the quilts and then NOT forget to take anything), did the assigned daily art item, graded some stuff, AND ironed a head together. I feel pretty good about yesterday. Let’s hope today continues that feeling. Because I know going to school tomorrow will once again make me feel like I’m way behind (laughs until cries). I do keep track of my grading to-do list. It used to be piles of papers, but now it’s mostly online, so it is harder to see. I still FEEL it though. Never caught up. Never caught up.

So today I go to the doctor to talk about the weird pain that waxes and wanes. Maybe to talk about my blood sugar numbers. Maybe I will get a little irritated about how that shit was handled. We’ll see. Irritated doesn’t really help things. Straightforward criticism of patient instructions (or lack thereof) is probably more useful. We’ll see. I like my doctor. I don’t really want to find a new one. I just don’t think diabetes care is her specialty.

Anyway. So. Kitten keeps me company as I work on the computer.

Or she might be about to eat that magazine. Hard to say. I spend a lot of time on computers. For art. For work. For everything. Oh yeah, you can go here if you want to see a local article about me. They basically have the artists write their own articles and then refer them to friends. It’s nice to see all my friends’ articles though. We talk about art, but not usually in these terms.

I traced the moon appliques onto freezer paper and got most of them cut out last night. Now to choose some appropriate flesh fabrics.

That was actually Sunday’s assigned project I was working on. A miracle. We watched a movie (and the moon!), so I had some extra time. Or maybe I did this while dinner was finishing up. Can’t remember.

After dinner and dishes, though, into the office/studio for ironing. I started by unsticking everything I’d done…carefully folding it up so hopefully I don’t lose any pieces.

It will come back out later. I need to deal with the last two heads by themselves. They’re just too damn big.

The bottom half of Figure 4’s jaw…

This thing is bigger than it looks here.

You can get a better idea of size here…

That head could swallow that cat.

Head done, except for the eyes and nose slits for the snakes.

I needed to go to bed, because even though I have today off, I had to get up for the doctor. Need to leave soon actually. Anyway, I feel pretty good about that extra hour I did…I’ll finish the eyeballs and nose slits today and then move on. Although today is busy, so we’ll see what I can get done. Dogs walked, doc, groceries, talk plus dinner…hopefully some schoolwork in there. There’s a few assignments I just want done and out of my hair. Let’s hope I’m motivated today.

It’s nice to have an extra day off. Helps me “catch up”, whatever that means.