What Happened to Your Face?!

Hey yo. I’m not sure I can feel this tired in the morning forever. I feel like my body should be adjusting. I’m going to bed at the appropriate time for the time shift, so I’m getting the ‘right’ amount of sleep (or the amount of sleep I normally get anyway, which is probably nowhere near enough)…but I feel like a truck hit me every time I get up. I’m sure this happens every year and I feel like shit like this every year, and every year, I mentally block it out and think it will never happen again. And then it does. Good times.

Quilt progress…I finally got binding and sleeves on all four quilts…OK, this isn’t a picture of that. I think I finished quilting this one? I don’t even know.

I just pick up the next one on the pile and figure out what to do with it next.

I used the same purple binding on two of them because the fabric store I was at is apparently phasing out the fabric parts and there were very few fabrics that would work and I didn’t have time to drive to the next fabric store, the better one, before it closed. So I got what worked.

They have different sleeve fabrics, which doesn’t matter at all. To me anyway. Don’t look at my backs. They’re not meant to be pretty. Some people do that; I don’t.

So tonight, I’ll start all the handsewing of the bindings…I think I’ll leave at least some of the sleeves loose so they don’t get in the way of any embroidery I might be doing.

Monday, I cut a hole in her chest.

I needed it to be sturdy enough for that. And then I started adding things…

That took a long time…and it’s not done. Fun though.

My bowl made it through the bisque fire.

It has one tiny crack on the edge that will either fade away or turn into something horrible in the glaze fire. That’s how it goes. I have no room on my shelf for it and I didn’t bring my glazes on Monday, so I’ll have to remember on Friday to do that. Clear glaze on the outside, something on the inside. I don’t have a lot of choices for the inside.

I have two pieces in this show that opens this weekend. I should be at the opening in the first hour.

It’s usually a pretty cool venue/gathering of quilts.

I finished a book yesterday. This is a quote…I used to know how to screenshot stuff with my iPad, but apparently I forgot and resorted to taking a blurry picture with my phone.

I agree.

And this too.

OK. My mouth is still sore. My face is still bruised but better. I’ve had a billion students yell, “What happened to your face?!” at me in the last two days, even though I explained it. Shows you how much they listen. I’m exhausted. I still have six stitches in my gum, which will come out Friday. I’m running out of pain meds, but will be fine…really…I think some of the pain is the weather seesawing between chilly and rain to Santa Ana winds and hot weather. They fixed my air conditioning at school before it hits 93 degrees tomorrow. I’m behind on EVERYTHING. In case you were wondering. Today, I am continuing to teach Punnett squares and then going to a union meeting. Then coming home and grading and handstitching. And OMG sleep. Ugh. So I can be up even earlier tomorrow morning. There’s 8 days of school before Spring Break. And one assembly. And a field trip. And and and. Ugh.

Weird Week…

This week is messy. Mentally. Not really. I had a training thing on Monday, which lasted 12 minutes and then we spent the rest of the day planning the next three weeks before Spring Break, so we wouldn’t lose our minds (good plan) and starting a plan for after break. Then I gave a test Tuesday. Then I took today off to deal with my knee evaluation for physical therapy (we have a plan! Finally!) and to do an art group Zoom. I also graded half the day, which catches me up somewhat for the end of trimester, which is coming fast. It is ironic that I have to take time off work in order to get caught up with work. Is that ironic or just stupid? Hard to say. Anyway, all that to say that I am totally off on writing today. It’s nighttime. I write in the morning. But I had to be at school this morning for a meeting (and then race back home for the Zoom).

Sigh. Anyway. I’m still working on the dye paintings, trying to get them all bordered and then sandwiched to start. I finished the second one…but I had been trying to get the wrinkles out and cut the borders but then decided to rewash it and see if the wrinkles would come out (they did). Oh wait, first I sandwiched and pinbasted this one.

Then I cut borders…

Then the next night, I sewed them on…

And pinbasted it…

That’s three so far, one to go (tonight). It’s the smallest.

I also made it to ceramics on Monday…spent two hours finishing the upper torso and doing one shoulder and one arm.

I’m going to cut a hole in the chest once everything is a little dryer and more solid.

Not entirely sure how I’m handling the rest of the arms. I’ll figure that out as I go. It’s already almost too tall for my shelf, but all the bigger shelves are full, so IDK what my plan is. Head separate? Owl definitely separate. Although both will have issues for standing up in the kiln then. Sigh. I meant for this to be smaller. Apparently I don’t do small.

I have two pieces in this show and will be at the opening on March 15.

Come check it out. Looks to be a fun show.

I love these quotes…

There really is a feeling of oh well, this is what I have, although trying to make all the parts work better is definitely always a goal. But not what it looks like. Just how it works. Here’s another side to that.

I guess I never really conformed. And I don’t really consider beauty something to aim for…but being comfortable with oneself is a nice place to be. And when I’m not comfortable, being self aware enough to do something about it, whether it’s physical or mental.

But the world we live in now doesn’t really want us to think that…especially if we are young and could have babies.

It is exhausting. I suspect this would help.

But hey, gas is cheap and so is food? Wait, no it’s not. And we’re not going to have durable medical equipment suppliers? WTF. I’m just so done with the inability of others to make sense. Across the board.

This is what stared at me from the bed this morning when I was trying to find the landscape fabric (don’t you keep yours in the bedroom? I do. Long story.).

And if I rotated left…

Obviously I interrupted their daily meeting. Whoops. Sorry. Leaving now.

I did take some time today to read a little (good book), plus move some stuff on the deck (plants) and to where the veggie planter is going, plus move the tarp that was covering the septic pumpouts when it rained like crazy. Put that tarp away. Recycled some papers from Christmas and threw away two pens that didn’t work. That felt like a lot. It wasn’t.

Every few days, I see these two, together, in exactly this place. If I go out the door to get a better picture, they leave.

So this is through the screen in the kitchen. It’s such a weird place to regularly hang out. They must be friends, right? Do geckos have mates they stay with? I don’t even know. Also, do Podocarpus trees have males and females? And if so, which one has more of the seed pods? I know, I could Google those things, but I need to put another dye-painted quilt together so I can start quilting them and then handsewing stuff on them. Soon.

Tomorrow is more eyeball stuff and Friday we dissect eyeballs. Fun times. It’s supposed to be like 90 degrees on Friday; meanwhile, I’m trying to figure out what I’m going to wear in Virginia if it’s still in the 20s at night when I go. Freaky stuff.

Let It Run All over Me*

Busy weekend, working and music and art opening…I did manage some of that down time…which was a good thing. I didn’t disappear the to-do list though. It still lurks, reminding me that summer vacation is a misnomer…that teachers pick up all the pieces in summer that they’ve been dropping all year long. At least I might be able to sleep in an hour or two. At least I won’t have to deal with 12-year-olds for 8 weeks. I might get more free time. I’ll certainly have more time for exercise, especially hiking. I’m looking forward to that.

But first we survive the last week of school. And that is not a small thing, for teachers or students.

So first of all, I have three pieces hanging at the Poway Center for the Performing Arts through June 24, part of the SAQA Untethered Thread exhibit…yes, I had three with no nudity (although the larger one is called NakedMan).

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You should check out the show…there are some very nice pieces in it.

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Then we headed over to the parentals for dinner…it’s been a while. Yes, Calli is still a conehead. Her foot troubles have been a pain. She’s a good dog. Just keeps conking us with the cone.

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She uses it to scoop up balls while playing fetch though.

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I did a bunch of grading this weekend…I’m basically done. I have a few more things that need to go in, but then that’s it. I need to do all the comments too. Ugh. Hate that.

I finished the one piece of trellis stitch that I hadn’t done on Friday.

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I did three nights on here…two on Sunday morning and one on Sunday night. Let’s see if I can remember what: the herringbone and cretan lines on the left, plus the fishy lazy daisies on the right.

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Now I’ll embellish off of them.

My parents’ dog is here for one night. We offer a special service. We will remove one dog’s worth of hair from your dog if you let them stay here. Yes, that’s right…one dog’s worth of hair.

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Such a deal. This dog sheds weird. The boychild did that. He wasn’t sure when to stop (before the dog has no hair?).

Then I decided I had earned art time. I traced for an hour or so…

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I did all the tiny tree parts, basically…from piece 71 to piece 176.

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I’m not sure how much I can really justify working on this in the next three weeks…unfortunately, it’s not on the to-do list. It will be, but probably after July 1. I think that’s when my vacation really starts. I hope.

*Van Morrison, And It Stoned Me

Stitch Dialectic

I braved the rain Sunday for the opening of a local SAQA show, Stitch Dialectic.

Sometimes, when I remember to make a quilt without boobs in it, I have a piece for this exhibit. Not this year, but I did find some pieces I really liked while I wandered around.

Canyon De Chelly, by Patricia Charity, had all this amazing textural complexity. It’s even better in real life (because you can ignore the unfortunate lighting).

Broken, by David Charity, her husband, has a graphic quality, in this case both in image and subject matter, that I truly appreciate.

Rusted, by Carol Sebastian-Neeley, is another one that is even more radiant in real life. The surface of her work was truly beautiful.

Whidbey Island 5, by Sherri Foster, was simple but so textural, with lines of close stitching only visible up close.

Siena Portal, by Carol Sebastian-Neeley, used that yellow hand-dyed fabric to create a sense of dimension.

Close Reading, by Viviana Lombrozo, is ironically so much better up close. I should have taken a detail, but I was in a hurry. There’s hand-stitching everywhere in what looks like a secret alphabet.

Waiting Expectantly, by Sherry Davis Kleinman, is simple, but so evocative of that last month, waiting for baby to come out. So few lines and limited detail create a beautiful portrait of her daughter.

From the show postcard, Botanica Balboa and Floribunda Balboa, by Karen Cunagin. If you’re local, these quilts speak of Balboa Park.

Kalamina Gorge, by Carol Sebastian-Neeley, has more of that complicated surface beauty that is hard to photograph.

Bitmap, by David Charity, shows his sense of humor.

Three-Eighths, by Catherine Baltgalvis, is exactly the kind of subtle yet complex quilt that I could never make, but appreciate for its visual interest.

There were many other quilts to catch your fancy. It’s up until the 24th, so you should stop by.

Recovery

I apparently needed some recovery the last two nights. I got home from the drawing thing relatively early (well, for normal people, it would have been bedtime), and I couldn’t focus on ironing or grading (the two things that currently rule my world), so I made a cup of tea and took it to bed with a book. That is one of those things I love to do, by the way, and I rarely do it: read in bed with a cup of tea. I try to fit it in to my weekends, at least once on the two days, but honestly, sometimes it’s just not possible (like this weekend, for example). I’m feeling incredibly overwhelmed with work and life and even art, working my butt off in every realm, so it made sense to just take a break from all of it and read about somebody else’s world.

I was hoping I would be less useless last night, but ha! Oh yeah. So I went to an opening after school and counseling, not a short drive, blood sugar not great (I did not plan well…I plan better for hikes than I do for social events). The SAQA regional exhibit Shades of Passion opened officially last night at the Poway Center for the Performing Arts. It runs through October 29 and is open Tuesday through Friday from 9-5 and Saturdays from 11-3, although I suspect most people see the work when they are there for a performance or event. I think my piece might confuse a few people…

Eyeball Tree has no nudity, so it was really my only option for entry. There’s a size and content restriction, so I often struggle with finding work in my collection for this show. I do try to have a few smaller, nude-free pieces around for stuff like this. There’s another one I know is coming up next summer for Ventura’s public buildings, so I will need to think about making a few more next year (after I finish the crazy that I’m working on now). That is probably the closest I get to changing my work for upcoming shows…I go through my drawings and find the ones with no nudity and make one or two of those if I like them. Or I don’t. It’s interesting, though, that the two pieces that did get into Visions and Quilt National were both minus nudity.

It was early when I got to the opening, so there weren’t a lot of people…mostly women, some wandering around and asking if this art quilt thang was a new thang. Um. No. But thanks for coming. My pictures are crap and I didn’t even try to write artists’ names down (I blame exhaustion)…

But there is some very nice work in the show…

As always, I’m never really sure how the theme pertains to what’s hung.

But it probably doesn’t matter to those observing.

I didn’t even get pictures of all the quilts…too many people in the way.

But it gives you an idea of what’s there, in case you want to stop in and take much better photos than I did.

I have two more openings tonight, one the second soft opening of the FIG show at Art Produce and one is QuiltVisions, which I’m looking forward to, mostly to see what got in, but maybe to see people as well. Depends on how social I’m feeling. Hopefully more social than last night, after more than 8 hours of sleep.

Because what I did when I got home? I waffled. I sat down on the couch and arranged the stuff to be graded. I ARRANGED it. I did not start grading. I made a cup of tea because I was tired. Then I started reading my book. And I kept meaning to stop reading and do some grading or ironing, and then I got distracted by weird bills from Cornell that said the boychild had gone to the doctor, when he says he didn’t. Money’s tight. I’m not paying for someone else’s STD testing. (that’s not really what it was, but you can mess with the boychild pretty easily if you want about that stuff) And then the girlchild came home from Homecoming (came home from…that’s funny) and we finally got the lizard off the ceiling after three days (it’s a really high ceiling…it took a box, a bench, a stepladder, and a duster). And then I was going to try (after second cup of tea) to iron. And then I was just too damn tired. So I went to bed. And about 14 things woke me up in the night, so I am still tired now, but I obviously needed all that sleep.

I will iron today. I will grade today. I will get caught up on something. My goal of being ironed down to the background fabric by next Friday? Um. I don’t know. I’m hoping I can pull it off, but it honestly means I will probably have to get at least 4 hours done this weekend, which I can probably do, unless my brain wanders off and reads a whole book in one evening like it did last night. Stupid brain.

And all the rejection stuff in my head, because rejection is not just living in my art at the moment, I’m just pushing it off into the corner and working. Because if I get enough work done, whether it’s grading papers or ironing tiny pieces of fabric together, I think the rest of it will matter less.

Fiber Reactions in Poway

My local SAQA exhibit Fiber Reactions opened at the Poway Center for the Performing Arts in Poway, California, yesterday and runs through early January.

I have two pieces in the show, hanging next to David Charity’s work, which makes total sense to me.

The official opening is Saturday, December 14, but I will not be there…

Nor will I be at either of the two docent tours, being as how I have to work and all.

At some point, I will get up there to see the show, but honestly, probably not until Winter Break. If you want to see Ball…

And BirdWatch (I’m wondering how the Poway crowd is going to take these two pieces), then check it out. Send me pictures.

I have a couple, but they’re blurry. I have pictures of my quilts, obviously, so you should grab a total stranger and have them stand in front of my quilt and wave while you take the picture. Or something.

Protected: Getting in and Getting on…