Distracted by Actual Squirrels.

Hey ho, why is there so short a time to write this morning? I guess I did things, and then I watched the squirrels running up and down the tree (they’re young ones, so they’re kinda funny about who goes first on the branch thing. But not sure how it got this late. Also I have no photos of said squirrels. Sorry.

So. The weekend. Seemed short. I did things, sure, but not very many things. I planted 5 things, 3 ceanothus (one that had been sitting in a pot for two years) and 2 milkweed. I weeded. I’m always weeding these days. I confirmed that my owl cam is dead (weather damage) and ordered a new one. I bought new deodorant! This is a big thing because I have to go to a different store than the grocery store and it takes me forever to get errands like that done these days. I was on a Zoom for two hours. I went to an art exhibit. I hiked only two miles because the dog wasn’t ready for the third mile. I did some art. I had a mammogram. Ouch. Hopefully no biopsy this year…knock on wood. They don’t find that shit in the squishy mammo…they find it in the MRI. So that’s in July, I think. Fun times.

Artwise, there’s finally progress, although it still doesn’t look like it (there’s three squirrel babies, by the way, and I am distracted). All photos with cat interference.

This was Saturday night…with Nova. I didn’t do anything Friday night because the Man had a show and we didn’t get home until midnight or so. I finished the pink though and then had to search through my stash for a good purple. That was chaotic because I pulled it from something I haven’t finished stitching yet and I have to remember where it goes when I’m done.

Now with Scribble. I have a few blue-green bits I need to go back and do and then I’m going to figure out what beads and/or sequins I’m going to use. There better be less cat interaction with those.

Friday night’s music stuff…

A friend had a 50th birthday party and the Man and his former singer did the last three songs of the night. They did actually sing and not just posture.

Saturday afternoon’s hike with the pup.

He’s old and gets tired easier.

The art exhibit is at Art Produce; it’s a protest show. This is Linda Litteral’s, one of her Don’t Shut Up pieces about childhood sexual abuse.

This is Nicholas Danger’s work,

Tool of the Trade (the machete) and The Orange Monster. The hat says ‘maggot’. Legit.

Back of the machete.

This is Michelle Montjoy’s Bluebird of Happiness.

She must embroider much faster than I do (yes, I know she didn’t do the birds).

We went to dinner afterwards and I was fascinated with the light on the brewery tanks.

Did you hear that San Diego wants to cut almost all funding to the arts and libraries? And give it to the cops instead?

Frustrating.

And ignorant of what the arts and libraries do for the community. Speak up! I don’t actually live in the city, but this will kill the arts in this county. And remember this.

You CAN do both.

I don’t think I had that. I had about 10 minutes when I realized I had planted and watered the 5 new things and then I realized how much more needed to happen and I only had an hour and spent most of it walking from one part of the yard to another with a shovel.

This is the reality.

Except I cleaned nothing; I only did yardwork. Well, I did do the grocery shopping and the laundry. And I made lists. And I graded, because I am always doing that. I also went to ceramics Friday night and I don’t think I took photos? Or did I? No one knows.

Finishing up teaching about pregnancy today, then preventing unplanned pregnancies, then staff meetings blech and finally ceramics, where hopefully I really will take a photo AND find room on the drying shelf for my piece so I can start the head and the owl. Ha! Hasn’t been space for weeks. Then home to dinner, grading (ugh), and more embroidery…woo hoo! That’s a plus.

Hot Funk, Cool Punk, Even If It’s Old Junk*

It was a busy crazy weekend. Quilts were delivered…always good. Went to a show. Pix below. Made some art, watched a movie, graded stuff, dealt with the death of a phone (well, not totally dealt with yet, but hopefully today)…all that. Didn’t sleep well last night. Hours of tossing and turning and hot flashes and busy brain. Feel pretty braindead this morning. Lack of sleep is not the best way to start a week, unfortunately.

So we drove up to the Boehm Gallery at Palomar College for the show That’s What She Said, here with 3 other FIG members under Helen Redman’s work (the amazing woman in the pink scarf). This is here to remind me to put it on the FIG page as well.

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Helen does some amazing work on wood and paper…

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Michelle Montjoy also has work in this show…

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There was no statement for this one, a bunch of marks covering a pillowcase, counting up what? I wanted to know.

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As a mom and a teacher, living today, right now…this was particularly good.

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There were many more.

Also in the show was the Sien Collective, the collaborative work of artists Meagan Shein and Siobhan Arnold. I particularly liked the cyanotypes…this is a uterus on legs.

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And it was as tall as I am. This one is much smaller and unfortunately photographed crooked (there was an issue with lighting)…but very cool.

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Meanwhile, in Springfield, Missouri, the Extreme Fibers show was opening at IdeaXfactory, with two of my pieces and some very interesting works by other artists. The pieces in the back are Fruits of Nature and Storybook Paper Dress by Hannah Klein. Mine is In Deep.

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Then my work Untied, with Big Head by Shen Chen Hsieh, and the dress again in the background by Klein.

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It’s always cool to be invited to be in shows, especially when the work is so varied.

Saturday night, we watched Annihilation, and I cut out the whole quilt. There’s the book I’m reading…book club is Wednesday, and I probably won’t be able to go, but I’m trying to read anyway.

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Sunday was a chaotic day. Then we went to the parentals for dinner. Simba has to be on a leash, because he takes off into the upper regions of the yard and can’t be retrieved. In the far distance, my dad is explaining all the sprinkler issues to Calli…or maybe to the boychild.

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Yes, I was grading. It needed to get done. Then we came home and I did some stuff for school…and then set up for sorting Wonder Under, which I’d really wanted to get done way earlier.

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Sorted!

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Then back to the office, where I had to clean up from the last quilt. Lots of trying to organize by color. There’s definitely a space issue in here…always has been.

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It took about an hour to clean everything up. It was late then…but I did start picking the base fabrics…plus the background, that blue at the bottom.

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I didn’t iron all of them though, because it was after midnight and a school night, so that means it’s bed time.

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I have lots more to do on this, obviously. All week? Well, all week, I have meeting after meeting after meeting. Plus back-to-school night, which is exhausting. So I’m going to get some of it done, but I suspect it will take me all week to get ironed. Maybe not. Cutting out by the weekend? Sure. That’s doable, I think.

Kitten’s not sure…

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Meanwhile, I need to go function. Unlike my printer at the moment. It’s not functioning. Or my brain. Annoying. The music is trying to wake me up, but the boychild says it’s fully apparent that I am not functioning well. Only half a cup of tea in me. Definitely still asleep.

*Billy Joel, It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me

From the Ranks of the Freaks*

I need to go back and read blogposts from previous months of March, to remind myself that this month is a slog…through grades and assignments and trying not to look ahead to Spring Break, because if you do, you’ll forget about the 7 meetings you have this week. OK, I’m not up to 7 yet, but it’s getting there. And two of them are 2 hours long. I just checked. I’m at 6. 6 meetings. Ugh.

My birthday was Friday and I have to admit it was a rough one. I have a friend who always takes her birthday off from school, but her interactions with kids are not as a teacher, so I think it’s easier for her to walk away from it for a day. Ours requires lesson plans and a hope that shit will actually go the way you planned. The kids singing Happy Birthday was alternately awful and heartfelt. I got lots of hugs. But it was still a lab day…and those are hard. I’m not a big birthday person anyway…I just like a little acknowledgement. Middle school is probably too much acknowledgement.

So I decided that I was not working yesterday. I did do a little work, but mostly I quilted. Which was the right thing to do. My brain is still not happy, but art brain had fun.

Really all I’m doing is outlining. It’s the drawing line brought back in…

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It was a rainy day anyway…

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Sure, I had errands I could have done. I could have graded tests. Ugh.

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It was way more fun to finish the outlining. Besides, I had a plan of getting the binding fabric on Saturday, because we have a thing today that will take up some of the afternoon.

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So I just kept going. It’s meditative. It lets my brain relax.

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I haven’t quilted the outside part yet, but that’s tiny and won’t take long. I finished the shoe about an hour before the quilt store closed, kamikazed over there, and picked out two possible binding fabrics (I’m not good at deciding sometimes)…

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Came home, threw the fabrics in the washing machine, and then headed out to two art openings in the rain. I feel like when it rains, the artists need even more support, because fewer people go out in it. More on those shows later this week. I’m way behind in posting about where I’ve been.

This is Friday night, though. I was waiting for my dinner companion to show up, so I was tracing Wonder Under for the next piece. I didn’t quilt Friday night, because I was tired and that’s when I make mistakes. So I traced. Except Satchemo was pretty convinced it was dinner time (it wasn’t).

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Kitten came out and sat with me for a bit. You can see the reflection of the light table in the window. I love my light table. It’s my favorite piece of furniture in the house.

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And here’s back in time to Thursday night, the opening of #MyVoice/#MiVoz, the 11th Annual Dia de la Mujer exhibit at The Front in San Ysidro.

This piece was fascinating…the three parts kept turning, so it was hard to photograph, but I tried! This is Hidden Treasures by Paola Viola, 3rd place in Emerging Artists.

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Another view as the pieces keep twirling…

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And people are hiding behind, reading the pieces…

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This is Hurts Like Hell by Michelle Montjoy.

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This piece is by Kim Niehans, a fellow FIG member. I was tired, so I was bad about photographing the labels, so I don’t know what it’s called. Luckily, I am computer savvy, so I went to her website and checked…and she is so good at posting her work! I love artists who realize they need to post stuff. This is Self Evident

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This is Gail Schneider’s Sally Yates.

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More fiber! This is Will Work for Free by Cat Chiu Phillips…made of fabric from designer bags.

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And one of my favorite FIG artists, Bhavna Mehta’s work in paper and embroidery, Resist with your voice #3.

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She’s got crazy talent…

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I saw the mural at the San Diego Art Institute for this, but love this print too…this is Arzu Ozkal’s San Diego Women in Resistance.

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Detail shots…

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It’s a beautiful piece…

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This is another FIG member, Judith Christensen, and her piece Women’s Work 2015-2018.

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Each piece is part of a list, lots of groceries and other stuff. We all make lists.

FIG member Anna Stump won 1st prize for Established Artist with her Another Fucking Princess piece that was in our Don’t Shut Up exhibit last year (my piece in this show was also in that exhibit).

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This is a detail of Ingrid Hernandez’ Make America Great Again (MAGA)

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Ah yes, Donald Trump on toilet paper. A classic.

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This piece was resin and leaves, very interesting…Mara Nasland, winning 2nd place in Emerging Artist, with her piece Rising from the Ashes, Stronger Than She Ever Was

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Intriguing structure, glowing with light.

So that was Thursday night. I think I have 4 other shows to post about, but not now. Now I need cat food and breakfast and a plan for groceries and maybe a revised birthday sometime in the future. Like a day where I redo it. Redo’s are good.

*Aimee Mann, Save Me