As One Should…

We’re Baa-aack. With emphasis on the AACK. Today is not the first official day of school…that’s tomorrow, when I have to trolley to SDSU, sit through the 150 minutes of rah rah, then trolley or get a ride back to my car, drive to my school, and sit through an hourlong meeting there. Taking a book and probably some stitching. Considering driving to SDSU instead, but they claim there’s limited free parking and I’m trying to be a good citizen. Not sure why, since they didn’t really consider us in their design process. As usual.

Am I ready for a new school year? Well. No. But I never am. Curriculum-wise, I’m OK, although I’m still tweaking the first few days and I have no clue what will be going on with the rest of 8th grade. Not entirely my problem. Probably some of my problem. We’ll see. I am entirely one grade level this year, though, which is nice. I think. There were pros to only having to grade 2 or 3 classes of an assignment. The con was there were twice as many assignments and very little help with one grade level. So there’s that. It can’t be worse, right? I’ve got a fairly zen attitude at the moment. We’ll see how that goes. I’m not really known for being zen. My grandma’s name was Genevieve Zenobia, Zenobia being a family name. I always wished I’d been named Zenobia (although if I actually HAD been, I probably would have hated it…why couldn’t you name me something NORMAL, like KATHY). Then I could be Zen for short. And I am short. Ha ha ha.

OK. So I’ve been cutting out Wonder Under. It never looks like much at this stage. I see progress. You probably don’t. So here’s Monday night, when I got 1/3 done…

And then last night, when I was halfway done…

The piles are bigger. That’s it. I’ve got three more yards to do. I’ve been getting one done a night. At this rate, I’ll be done and ready to sort by Friday night. I say that, but I have meetings tonight and tomorrow night, and Friday I have an art opening. So who the fuck knows what I can actually get done. Today, I have two official school meetings and one unofficial one, plus pilates and book club. I’m not even sure WHICH book club and WHICH book. Let’s hope I read it. And I have been hugely unsuccessful in retraining myself on a 10:30 PM bedtime. Let’s face it, my natural sleep cycle can’t be changed, despite what my doctor says. I will suffer, exhausted, this week, and eventually my body will be like, FIIIINE. I won’t go to bed after midnight. You’re such a wimp. Stomps off into the distance.

When I retire, I will not get up early and I will stay up late.

Here’s the official Team Science at Art photo from Monday…

Look! We are out in the world! Hey, I tend to hermit during the summer. As one should.

This is so true…

I don’t try to be a bit much. It just happens.

So I have this piece that was at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, UK, last weekend. I made it in 2019 and it was accepted into the SAQA Opposites Attract show. It was sent off to Australia for its opening exhibit in, well, May 2020. So you know what happened there. And I think it’s been shown in Australia, but I’m not exactly sure where and when at this point. This is the first time I’ve seen it exhibited, and Quilter on Fire made a video. Mine is the last one in the video, which is actually kind of cool, considering how she ended it.

Interestingly, I think it’s hung upside down. Which for this quilt, might not matter, but usually I put a label on them and so if I did, the label is also upside down. This is Each Piece Belongs…

Man, it’s been so long since I’ve seen this quilt. I must have shipped it off at the end of 2019 or the beginning of 2020. I know I’ve mentally lost it a few times, mostly due to a lack of communication, honestly. But I do know it is supposed to be at the Dairy Barn in Athens, Ohio, opening October 13 through December 3. So go see it. Unless you saw it in Australia or the UK. Now I’m wondering why it was upside down. Sigh. Whatever. It doesn’t really matter. I’m just glad it finally got shown.

OK. School meeting with team. School meeting with coteacher. School meeting with literacy team. School school school. We know how all that goes. Simba is not thrilled about his week at all…no boychild, nobody. Oh yeah! And it’s the girlchild’s birthday. She’s ancient. OK, not really. But here’s where I find an old picture of her when she was an adorable (loud, door-banging, delightful) child. WAIT! Even better…oh look at all those red eyes. The boychild behind the chair, girlchild on the chair, holding the nephew that just graduated high school and is going to COLLEGE, and the niece on the left who is just starting her senior year in college.

LOOK AT THOSE PANTS. And the sweatshirt matches. I’m losing my mind. Also the nephew’s face may be skinnier, but he totally looks the same. Miss all those people.

In That We Flail…

So this is kind of like summer break for teachers, in that we flail and don’t know what to do next, but also not, because I can’t run all the errands I don’t run during the school year. Or go to the gym more. I did ‘work out’ this morning, best I could with three cats judging me. And trying to sniff me. And getting in the way in general. The world is weird. We’re all negotiating it from different places.

Saturday, I watched/listened to more of the SAQA virtual conference. It was interesting. I stitched during some of it…still working on the Folk Tails Block of the Month from Sue Spargo, 2015. I’m close to the stage where I can sew all of it together…

Which will be interesting. It’s why I was working on some different blocks, because although I’ve dragged this one around on at least three different camping trips, it’s getting too big for that. So I was prepping others for our Spring Break trip, which is now officially and sadly canceled. We might camp out in the front yard, but it won’t be the same. The man and I watched the CNN Pandemic show on Saturday night…probably not the cheeriest stuff at the moment, but we were interested…and I almost finished these two blocks, minus the road, grass, and flowers, which can’t be done until I sew the whole thing together and find the instructions for how to do the flowers…

I think I just have two lettuces to stitch in the vegetable garden. Then October is done and ready to stitch to everything else. I need to add a hut somewhere and a monkey somewhere else, and then IDK what else. It’s nowhere near ACTUALLY done…trust me.

Have you seen Kitten’s eyes? This is the look she gets when I’m convinced she’s staring at ghosts, because when I turn around to see what she’s looking at…

There’s never anything there.

I did a little stitch down after that…just an hour or so. Listened to a podcast about anxiety in a pandemic.

I should meditate more. Exercise more. Yeah, I know.

I’ve had a hard time with #marchmeetthemaker and #igquiltfest lately, but Saturday’s word for one was Change. Well. I do all the things. It feels chaotic and changey right now.

Change can be good or bad. Or both. This one just feels…changey.

Sunday morning dawned sunny-ish and I took myself out onto the deck and drew.

During Winter Break, I did a drawing a day. It’s possible that’s a good thing right now. Although the table needed cleaning (I did it later).

I even recorded some of this for my Patreon folks.

I also recorded video of my reading one chapter of the book that my co-teacher and I are reading to our kids. For those who are actually paying attention. She says there are 4 of them. Well. That’s interesting. I’m wondering if we go to online education on April 20, which seems likely, how many kids will actually show up.

I need to record the next one soon. Well. Before Thursday. I should be able to do that. I’m…not very booked up right now. I also set up my calendar for the new week. It’s mostly empty.

I’m still not grading things until I know if this trimester is going to count.

Sigh. This quilt…I got the catalog for Opposites Attract, which is supposed to open in Australia next month…at the moment, it won’t open in April…but it will eventually. Which is all we can hope for.

I have another quilt UPS is trying to deliver to a venue, shipped before the venue closed. They’re still going to hang the show, but they don’t know if the public will ever see it in person. OK. That’s what we’ve got right now. I said before that I’m lucky I’m not dependent on art income for survival. For now, my teacher salary is intact, so deep breaths. I know people in dire straits, but our household will survive for now.

#marchmeetthemaker yesterday was Tools and Materials…always starting with a sketchbook and pens, then Wonder Under (didn’t make the photo) and fabric, plus scissors and thread and a sewing machine. My gloves…

Seriously need washing…a different view…

You’ll be glad to know I finally got them in the wash today. Yay! They’re nice and clean now.

More stitch down last night…in fact, I finished.

Four hours and 40 minutes total to stitch it all down. Right now, I’m washing batting so I can pinbaste it. Hopefully before dinner.

A view of the back, to be hidden inside for eternity.

This is what kept me up until 1 AM.

Today has been relatively quiet. The man is working 13-hour shifts for three days, and then he’s off for four. He was up early. I wasn’t. By the way, this is the best cat toy ever. There’s one hole we cut in the top, plus the two you can see. They’ve played with this for weeks now.

I can’t even finish a book at the moment. Sad but true. I have a list of things to do, but my brain is fighting it.

This is the stash of glass from boychild digging planting holes in the backyard…it’s like a dump, about a foot or two deep. Old glass mostly…

Weird. We used to be the trash dump?

I sold a quilt on Etsy. Oh hey, I’m on Etsy…the link is in the sidebar. Not that there’s much on there any more…but one of the cat quilts sold, so I took myself and two wipes to the post office, wiped down the self-serve machine, and shipped that baby. I saw two people.

Ah yes, made bean soup. This is my lunch this week…with the additional of bread things.

Girlchild added an egg on top. She’s creative that way. Sounds good though. Beans taste good.

OK, so the day is more than half done. I have batting washing…then I’ll pinbaste. Ready to quilt. I want to draw again today. I’m tired. I think we’ll try to walk the dogs tomorrow. Or at least me. Because that’s two days inside, no, three, and I’m going a little bonkers. Maybe not so quietly. Music helps. I feel bad for canceling on my chiropractor…she’s a good person, trying to stay afloat, I’m sure, but I’m feeling like we’re quarantining mostly here…with girlchild having been on a plane. Maybe it’s pointless because the man is going to work…I just don’t know. It’s hard to know where to draw the line. I don’t want to get her sick if I’m exposed; then she really can’t work. I did go to the store yesterday, but I did my best to stay away from people. It’s hard when they don’t move sometimes. I talked to my neighbors on Friday from about 20 feet away. The pool guy showed up this morning and knocked on the door…it’s a new guy, and he wouldn’t back up. Aargh! People! More people I know are quarantining because of fevers and other symptoms. Stay healthy. Stay hydrated. Stay sane, whatever that looks like. Stay calm, as much as you can.

At Peace…

A really sad day yesterday. Poor kitty. Satchemo is finally at peace. Hard day for the rest of us. I prefer to remember him well…

In my stuff, sneezing in my face, claws in my leg, begging for food, silent meow. That’s 4 cats we’ve lost in less than 5 years, I think. All older cats. It’s been rough. It’s a weird house now with only one cat in it. Don’t know how long that will last.

Ironically, we are doing a Check Your Mood presentation in science today all day, so I’ll be sitting through that, checking my own mood, which is sad and slightly weepy. Yesterday, I had a few kids offer me free kittens. Strangely, it’s always the kids who are the loudest, most needy bastards who are ready to go find you a kitten or beat someone up for you. I guess that’s how you know you have a connection with them. At my old school, they wouldn’t have asked first…they would just have shown up with one and handed it to me at the door as they walked in. That’s how I got the pet tarantula (no, I didn’t put my hands out for that one…be aware that a 7th grader with closed hands outstretched toward you is never a good thing). I’ll sit and grade all day while the counselors present. I have a lot to get through.

In good news, my dearth of SAQA exhibits has ended finally. Each Piece Belongs got into Opposites Attract and will be traveling to Australia in the spring.

Hopefully they’ll hang it right side up. Better make sure it has a label on it. I shipped the two sold quilts to Texas yesterday. Hope their owner enjoys them. I’ll miss them, but it’s good to be able to pay off the big ugly bills.

One of my art friends sent a picture of Swallow Me Whole at Beyond the Surface in St. Louis, MO…

It looks good. It was a good quilt to make…no theme, no show in mind…just make what’s in my head. I really just want to stay home today, take a mental hell day…wait, a mental HEALTH day, draw all day. That would be nice. Not an option. OK. Noted. Like yesterday, boychild texted me a picture of a jury summons, because the universe sucks. It’s for November, when we’re in the middle of a huge project that’s full of labs that I really really can’t leave for a sub unless we want explosions. So you know what I’m doing on my first day of Winter Break? Two days before Christmas? Getting my ass up early and going to the damn courthouse. What I will need by then is a break. Hopefully it’ll be one day because no one will want a trial right before Christmas and then I can go on my break. I can’t push it out to summer…it’s too far. Fuckers. I want to go see my kid too, so hopefully going to be able to do that at the end of Winter Break, if she doesn’t come home. We’ll see.

I did grade last night. One kid’s doodles led sad us to K-pop and weird Korean animations. It was something to watch to keep our brains from being sad. Then I cut stuff out…

It doesn’t look a whole lot different than it did before, but I’m out of the body pieces and into the background…so there’s a lot of bigger pieces that cut out much faster than the small ones. I’m still not close to done, I think, but maybe after tonight. OK…off to the workplace…