First of all, I wrote this Friday. And then forgot to post it. If that’s not evidence of my brain fuzz at the beginning of this year, I don’t know what is. Enjoy.
I don’t know if I have a ton of words today. I’ve spent the last two days go go going for work, and now I realize why I can’t do much on school breaks…I’m exhausted. It’s so much ON. Today is more ON (3 1/2 hours of one meeting, who knows how much of another meeting…although that is only four people total) and hopefully some prep time in my classroom. Everything has to be put back and they still hadn’t finished my floors as of yesterday afternoon. I hid out in the prep room and did lesson prep. That was after the 3 hours in a sports arena where I stitched for sanity.
I listen to all the things. I just need something to counteract all the loud noises and people.
I did hang out with my core team…
IDK how many years this is with them, but it’s a good thing. 7? 8? Crazy. There’s a lot of change on our campus this year, so it’s nice to have this group as backup.
I’ve been trying to trim one yard of Wonder Under a night. Wednesday night, that was fine…here’s 2/3s done…
Last night? Not so much. I did have a stitching meeting and didn’t get home until 9 PM (after stopping by In ‘n Out and having a former student in the pay window). And then I was trying to find my middle-school yearbooks and couldn’t, because I need a middle-school photo for school. I have my school photos somewhere, but IDK where that is either. I found MY kids school photos, a nice little envelope of each year that the girlchild will treasure and the boychild will probably not. If only I had been so organized with my own photos. Ah well.
So then I only cut things for an hour (and I still went to bed late, whoops), and didn’t finish the yard.
I have one more yard after this, but I have an art opening tonight. So. Yeah. Not sure how that will go. I’d like to finish. And I don’t have to be up early tomorrow (but inevitably, the neighborhood and animals will not let me sleep). So we’ll see. Hoping to be sorting them tomorrow, then maybe I’ll try to figure out what the backing fabric will be, clean up the studio from the last quilt, and then start ironing to fabric. Maybe not all on Saturday, but who knows? I do need to do some planning for school, but who knows how much needs to happen this weekend. And if it does, it’ll be Sunday afternoon.
Sigh though. I don’t feel ready. I can do the teaching and the kids, although I’m also doing literacy and the sex ed curriculum (toe to toe with dumbassery) this year. It’s the time suck I can’t do. It should be better than last year. We’ll see what that looks like. And I have some repeat kids I’d rather not have. But whatever. Yesterday’s meeting about whatever personality test they had us do the last school year that was supposed to help us know our work style better? Y’all, I’ve been working in multiple fields for a really long time. I do know how I work. I learned nothing from the new 5 designations you’ve given me (Strategic, Input, Determination, Achiever, can’t remember the last one). Plus some are adjectives and some are nouns. That’s just damn annoying. I know what I bring to the table. So does my team. Maybe the new science teachers don’t, but they’ll figure it out pretty quickly. Anyway. I’m looking forward to a year of just one grade level in this subject. I’m looking forward to HELP this year on that grade level. I’m looking forward to a new group of kids, new personalities, new quirks (only the fun and weird ones). I’m looking forward to bringing books back in the classroom. And I’m always looking forward to coming home and making art.
Oh yeah, I finished another book yesterday. That was also nice.
Pros: I’m almost done with copyediting this project. Correction. I am done, I just need to do some final shit so I can send it back. It was not the easy ride I wanted. It took ALL the time and still needs a proofreader, I think, but I know I did an awesome job. Well. I’m sure I missed some things because at some point, it was too much. But hey, I get to send it back. I don’t have to proofread it. Someone should. It’s also the last full week of vacation before school starts. I have a few things planned or that I have to do, but mostly, once I send the copyediting project back, it’s my week. So lots of gravel moving and tracing will hopefully happen. We’ll see, though. I also need to sort through clothing and get organized for school, so there’s that.
Cons: See comment above about school. Not ready. Never am. It’s warm and humid here, although it rained briefly this morning. I think my yardwork days are today and Thursday, looking at the weather. The whole-wheat flour keeps getting bugs. I’m annoyed by that. Not too bad for cons.
I’ve been tracing every day. I have not been particularly good about photographing it, because it all looks the same, honestly…
I have a little over 800 pieces traced…not even halfway, y’all. Such a joke that I thought I might be able to finish this weekend. The copyediting took a healthy chunk of my days.
Not helping, Luna. Not.
I’ve got almost 11 hours into the tracing so far. So another 15 to go? Maybe? I feel like the bigger pieces take longer to trace and I’m about to do all the justices and they have lots of little fingers and eyeballs. Those trace faster. But then their robes are bigger pieces. Huh. I guess we’ll see. Not expecting much. Not gonna be done quickly.
Saturday, I made us leave the house and walk three miles…but at the beach, at Silver Strand. It started out very peoply, but got better quickly.
In fact, it got very birdy instead.
We saw dolphins too…but no photos of those.
It was good. It was cooler than home, although still not particularly cool in temperature.
It’s hard to find hikes/walks in the summer that don’t just feel like work because of the heat. The Man is planning to hike the Trans-Catalina Trail in October, so he needs to get some hikes in. So do I, although the knee does not necessarily appreciate it. Oh well. Sorry knee.
I’ve been using this cup to drink chai each evening, mostly so I can giggle when I get to the bottom.
I’m very mature for my age. I actually don’t like the word ‘tit’ for my breasts, but it makes a nice bird.
Did this drawing at dinner Saturday night…definitely weird.
Finished stitching things down on this. Easy to do the stitchdown…
Then need to find the mental space for the embroidery. Don’t have that right now. Soon? Maybe.
OK, so I have the rest of the day to move gravel…it’s cooler and raining occasionally, but just a few big drops…nothing really big. And I need to decide how to handle the rest of this copyediting project. Gonna do that first. Then I have some books to read and art to make. And it’s my summer break, so I’m gonna do that. No school stuff today…maybe later this week, but not today.
WTH July? Where are you going? STAAAY. It’s OK. We can do more things, hike on the beach, go to a wine bar, sit outside and read our book. You don’t need to leave. PLEEEAAAASE. Yup. Here it is. August. In your face. Though the school district has never stopped sending emails. Ever. Nope. Hasn’t. Stopped.
I’ve been doing a pretty good job ignoring it though. I needed the Visa bill to post before I could afford to order stuff for school. I don’t think I need a lot, luckily. Just folders and some minor stuff for me to start the year. I don’t get paid from the end of June to the end of August, so it’s a stretch getting through that period. Always. Although it’s been OK this year so far (knock on wood). Getting close to the time I need to think more seriously about school. Some planning, some copying. Ugh. Not in the mood. Don’t have to be yet, but it’s coming.
The copyediting is slow. Mostly that’s because of me, I think. I ran a bunch of errands yesterday that needed doing, and I was supposed to go BACK to the copyediting after, and I didn’t…I entered an art show instead. I have two more to enter in the next few days.
So I started tracing Wonder Under on Wednesday night…
Not fast. Uh uh. Not sure why. Bottom pieces are bigger…they take longer. Landscape stuff takes longer. Maybe. I got through 100 pieces in almost two hours. Man that’s slow.
Last night was no better…my goal was to finish tracing the swamp and I did that…another two hours for about 100 pieces. I think.
Three hours and 46 minutes in, got to piece 206. SLOW. Everything is slow at the moment, though, except the days and the weeks and the damn month. Getting things DONE is slow. So I have about 1832 pieces to go. I had to add 8 pieces because I forgot to number them. Wait. Actually. I think it’s 9. or maybe 10. This is why I stop keeping track. I’m barely in the 200s. There is no actual point in counting right now. I need to finish copyediting so I can do more of this every day. Ha! Yeah. Well next week has a bunch of stuff, appointments, meetings, etc. So I am way less efficient than I’d like to be. How is it Friday already? Damn.
I’m hoping to be done with the tracing by next weekend. I figure that’s plenty of time. We’ll see. I also need to clean out my clothes, but I feel like that’s gonna take a big chunk of time, so I need to finish copyediting first. I just don’t feel like it. It’s haaarrddd. God I’m whiny. Gotta go pick up the dog; boychild is back to real work. Then shower, then copyedit until the cows come home. Whoo!
I had my stitching meeting on Zoom last night and finished the third June block of Homegrown.
It’s cute. I started the last June block. So then there are only 3 or 4 houses left after that, and then the center and the borders. I might finish in 2025. Maybe. I was supposed to finish quilting the Bird Crazy (not its real name) quilt this summer, or maybe even over Spring Break. Nope. Not done. It’s half done. I really should just do it, but it’s hot and the damn thing is wool. So I would quilt even faster!
I don’t really want to be extinct. I just like paintings where dinos are yelling at each other. “Did you vacuum today?” “No, dammit, I was playing with my dinner!” Someone needs to vacuum. And clean the kitchen floor. And put a bunch of shit away. Seriously. Summer is never as productive as I need it to be.
OK. Dog. Then shower. Might wake up. Copyedit. Lots. Then trace. Pro: it was cooler here yesterday afternoon. Lovely clouds. The really hot day next week, I might just take the work computer somewhere air-conditioned and do some schoolwork there. Like SCHOOL. Summer school is out of my room finally. Pros and cons. Until then, ignore that job. Do something else.
Well. I finished the drawing. And I numbered it. That in itself is a major achievement for the week. I’ve also been copyediting a teacher’s manual, which is different, but not. It’s work. I need the money to pay for the dog’s dental visit and the dryer fix, which both add up to much more than I will get paid for this, but that’s OK. It means I spend a few hours each day staring at this computer in this hot room and feeling like I’m getting nothing done. Which is fine. It’s too hot to do the other things anyway. I currently have two fans blowing almost directly on me, not on my eyeballs, because they get dry and weepy and tired if I do that. My goal is to finish the copyediting this week, around the other things I need to do, and then next week is mostly wide open, if I ignore all the appointments and meetings I tossed in there. Yeah. That. They have to happen sometime. I did get the referral to musculoskeletal for my knee…they messaged asking for days/times, and I ever so hopefully gave them all this time before school started, and then realistically gave them some guidelines for after school starting, and then said if it was more than a month out with those guidelines, to use these other guidelines. I have an appointment in October. They should have just said they were booking two months out. I’m glad I’m mobile and can get around…it just hurts. It’s workable.
So finishing the drawing happened in bits and pieces at night, when it cooled down. I can’t draw in the heat and make sense of it. This was near the end…most of the last bit was penciled in when I went to bed on Sunday…
And then I finished it Monday night…
It’s about 48″ x 56″ I think. Not as big as I thought, but still big. And complicated. Kitten for scale…
I started numbering it Monday night and realized it would take forever…
So I finished last night, very late…didn’t even start until 10 something…
I thought it was 2023 pieces last night, thought that was weird because that’s this year, but it was actually 2029, which is funny, because that’s the year I’ve set for retiring from teaching. It may slip a year or two, but that’s the goal, that’s what’s keeping me going with all the clusterfucks, and yes, I’ll still have to work, copyediting or something else, but it won’t be in the classroom.
I had guessed 2000 pieces, so that was a good guess. I knew it was complicated. It took 15 hours and 38 minutes to draw it and 2 hours and 54 minutes to number it. Big time. Tonight I start tracing. It’s good going into the new school year with a big project. I appreciate the meditative time to work on it.
I did a little of this while watching TV over the last few nights.
Very basic applique. All I can handle. I say that, and I’m reading two books at a time. Not sure why. Some sort of ploy by my brain to read twice as much because I haven’t read any of that book today, even though I spent an hour reading the other one. I’m going along with it for now.
I have work in this show, opening August 11 at the downtown library in San Diego.
I’ve never had work in the library gallery, so that’s cool.
I don’t want to be tolerated. True that. I also like my tea really strong.
This guy has been licking his leg where they shaved all the hair off for his dental visit. So it is time for the floatie around his neck.
It’s hot and uncomfortable and he keeps looking at me like this, please take it off, but sir, you have licked a sore onto your leg and we will not be dealing with infected leg sores. It is not on the Bingo card for summer. So there.
OK. Today. Sorting through clothes, found a white school shirt that I will never wear because it is white, so I’m going to tie dye it…it’s a good size and fit, so that’s why I don’t just toss it or donate it or whatever. Copyediting…hopefully going to get all these silly Lesson boxes done that all have to be formatted the same but aren’t. I know I’m a copyeditor because I pay attention to this stuff; I’m just amazed at the people who don’t pay attention. I shouldn’t be. I need to pack up a quilt for delivery to a show…I probably need to pack up two quilts, but the other one isn’t due until next week, so maybe I’ll delay on that. I have yardwork…ALWAYS have yardwork. And tracing Wonder Under later. A book to go back to the physical library. Strange that these days…almost everything I read is digital unless I own it. And reading those two books…crucial part of the day. Oh wait, I have pilates too. That’s nice. I should remember to go to that. Days disappear if you aren’t watching. That’s not entirely a bad thing unless you’re like me and you like to check off the boxes of what you’ve done.
Mmmm. No class today. Well. I say that and I signed up for a different kind of pilates class, just because I wanted to try it out and that shit’s harder to do during the school year. But I like pilates and it’s actually an exercise class, which is good for me. No more literacy class this week…I did learn some things, but more remembered that we need to do more to boost reading, and that takes time, and time is something we may not have a lot of, so there’s that. But with two+ teams doing it all together, hopefully we can make some progress with the kids. Here was my setup on the last day, with everything back in the purple bag, which will go to school, plus the stitching I did to help me focus.
I put away all the highlighters and pens and post-its. Now I officially don’t have to think about school until…the next crazy email comes from that one teacher who apparently has nothing to do over break, no books to read, no relaxing beaches to lie on (I don’t really do that anyway), no giant-ass drawings to finish. Oh wait, that one’s me. I’m hoping to finish the drawing today. In between pilates, laundry, cleaning, moving gravel (got a whole ‘nother pile of it that needs moving), keeping the pup from licking his shaved foot (he had a dental cleaning on Friday and is notoriously bad about licking a sore into shaved areas)…all the things. It’s supposed to be hot all week, so that will be (not) fun. Not sure what my plan is for that. The boychild is home but going to training all day and then leaves again on Friday for his regular shift. Exhausting. I guess I work all week, but not like that. Gotta take days off…he had yesterday off. At least he has the pup in bed at night, so I have some chance of a decent night’s sleep.
No one seems inclined to dust or vacuum or mop…even me, it seems. Oh! I also need to copyedit. I put my editing service back into vacation mode, declined all the other offers I’d gotten, so I’m down to the one. That’s the one I can handle. I have two weeks to do it, and it’s not very big, but I should actually start. Yeah. This afternoon. I will.
So the drawing. The drawing has progressed. My Art Brain has been engaged, now that it doesn’t have to think about Latin roots and spelling rules. And pretend teaching those. So Friday night, I drew the swamp. It was in my notes…and I’m realizing, I need to write a post that just documents all the stuff I took notes about and was thinking while I was drawing, because it may not be so so obvious from just looking at it. But here’s the swamp…
I hid a Swamp Thing in it.
Then what did I do next? Oh yeah, started working on the pedestals under the swamp justices.
Finished those last night…
So Gorsuch is all corporation instead of individual, so he is standing on individual people, who are sort of compressed by him. Alito has had some issues with a fishing trip and possibly some other money-related things, so he has the fish and the money. Roberts is a mess, with money clouding any decision he makes. He also seems to make decisions completely against his own race…he seems race-blind to me, or maybe if he does that, that’s how he gets the money. So I added a few chained slaves to his pedestal, because I’m not sure he remembers…I would like the Court to have more people of color, all colors, to make the decisions more diverse, more pro those groups who need support. I don’t think he does that. Kavanaugh likes beer. He also has some sexual issues of harassment in the past that popped up (ha!) before his confirmation, but it’s OK, because boys will be boys, right? Sigh. Let’s not use that as an excuse for bad behavior. Please. Amy. Oh Amy. Coney Barrett has People of Praise behind her. She claims she speaks for all people, that her religion doesn’t shape her decisions, but like the other swamp judges, I don’t find her trustworthy. Religion is fine unless it’s making decisions for a bunch of people who don’t subscribe to that religion…and reproductive freedom is something all five of these judges have voted against. Four of them have penises, so they have no right dealing with a uterus…and the other one thinks LGTBQ marriages are a sin. So should she be in the Court? Nah. I don’t think so…not representing the people and not interpreting the law appropriately for ALL the people.
So why is Roberts on the other side? Well, it was getting crowded on that side and occasionally he votes like a sane person. OCCASIONALLY. He’s also skating on a slippery slope. He has the key to the Court (being the Big Guy, the one in charge). I still think he’s pretty swampy, but…so I’m probably going to have to copy some of this into a Court post. I’ll do that. And go back and explain some of the other decisions I made. You may not agree. I’m OK with that. Unless you think we shouldn’t have rights, like all of us, then I’m not OK with it. Feel free to limit your own rights. Then get out of my face.
I’m still working on the left side. Literally and figuratively. But I need to go to class, so I’ll be back. You won’t even notice.
So the other thing we did on Saturday, which was a little nuts, was drive up to Los Angeles. I had an opening in Torrance (which wouldn’t have been as bad), but there was a show in LA that I wanted to see that closes in a couple of weeks, Faith Ringgold: A Survey, at the Jeffrey Deitch gallery in LA.
I know I have Faith’s Tar Beach book somewhere in the house. I loved her people flying in the sky at night. In looking at her website, I might need to buy more books.
I also love her mix of paintings with quilts. Although here is one of her prints, also very cool.
The handwritten words on this one…
Very powerful seeing her work in person.
Strangely, the same gallery had some work by one of my university painting instructors, Judy Baca. She has created some fairly awesome murals in Los Angeles over the years.
Honestly, although her art and achievements are impressive, she was (for me) not the most present professor. The rumor was that she was working on a mural in Los Angeles the semester I had her, so the teacher’s aide ran (ha! he did nothing) the class, and then she would show up maybe once a month and berate many of us. I have some serious painting PTSD from her class. Maybe not all artists should teach art? I don’t know…your mileage may vary. Maybe it was a bad year for her. I just didn’t really paint after that class. I still don’t think I CAN paint. That said, a lot of the art classes at UCIrvine were just show up, get an assignment, and go make something that meets it. There was very little technical instruction. We were often just left to our own devices…so there’s pros and cons to that. I do appreciate the time to mess around and fuck with stuff, but sometimes, a little more technical know-how might have been useful (exploded my ceramics final in the kiln, which I don’t actually think was MY fault, but I made do…glued all the parts to a plywood board…most were whole and the ones that weren’t, I glued the pieces and then the shards and quickly rewrote my statement). Sometimes I think I’d really like to go back to art school now just with a stronger, more confident state of mind, but then my adult brain slaps my face and says NO NO NO, we are NOT getting another degree. But maybe more art classes would be fun.
Also in the Deitch gallery was Karon Davis: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished, which was very powerful. I didn’t photograph the whole thing, because I couldn’t figure out an angle that showed how large and dominating the judge and flag were in the face of this figure of Bobby Seale during the Chicago 8 trial.
I had been scrolling through Instagram the day before we left (like you do when you are supposed to be listening to someone talk about teaching vocabulary) and saw an artist whose work I love post that her stuff was in a show in LA…hey, I’m going to LA…I could stop by if it’s close. It was close to the other gallery, and on the way back to the museum in Torrance, so we headed for a small gallery, the Seis Gallery. The show was called The Horror…
I took a tufting class from her before COVID, and it was fun, but crazy lots of work. I say that knowing full well my stuff is also a crazy lot of work…it’s just what do we want to do more of. Anyway, it was cool to have a chance to see more of her stuff in person.
Straight up, traffic going to LA was horrible. It was a long day. We saw good art, but were exhausted by the end of it.
I have another LA opening coming up in September. Makes you think about driving to these things. We spent over 10 hours going up, going to three shows, eating dinner, and coming back. And we were exhausted the next day too.
So the Torrance Art Museum had two shows, one of which I was in (hence the original reason for all this). Art and Med, curated by Ted Meyer…
Here’s a video of the whole thing…
I did take a few photos, but was mostly (as always) overwhelmed. Plus I forgot how to smile, so a lot of the photos of me look psychotic. A good look for the summer. But here’s my piece, Here Comes Life…
And here’s Bhavna Mehta’s beautiful piece, I Found a River in My Body #3…
With a detail of her embroidery…
The other show in the museum is Body Politics…
Which also had some beautiful work…Liz Young’s Skinning Spilling Soiling Swelling Stuffing Balls.
I did Google this one because I wanted to know more about the thoughts behind the piece. I really liked that the Art and Med show had explanations with the art, and I can see the point of having the art stand alone, but…I don’t know. There must be a fine line there.
Sherwood makes a lot of work highlighting disabilities, having had a cerebral hemorrhage and having to relearn the process of making art with her other hand. Her work was wonderful, incorporating brain scans into the paintings.
I’ll try to post more art from these two shows later this week. I know this post is already LOOOONG…all in all, though, a good art day. Though tiring. Says Nova.
Also here is my brain at the moment.
Or always. Not sure.
Friday night, we also found this in the yard.
It has flashing red lights, presumably so it can be found easily, but it made me think it might be a drone, so I left it there. Like I’m not bringing that crazy shit in the house. The Man stomped out there and then left it on the deck after talking to it, also thinking it might be a drone. But it doesn’t seem to have a motor. Just flashing lights, which can be turned off. You might think, just throw it back into the yard it came from. Well, we have kids on all three sides, so it could be any of those houses. So IDK what to do with it. I might text the houses above and below me, and if they don’t claim it, toss it over the back fence. Seems like a lot of work.
Oh yeah, forgot this psycho. Annie. Sweet pup. Has scratched the hell out of my arms. Still love her.
OK. Laundry is going (fixed dryer yay!). I need to eat lunch. I need to fold all the laundry I didn’t fold. I need a long-term solution to my clothing during the school year…not sure what that looks like, but the piles I currently have are not working. I need to finish that drawing and do some copyediting. It’s supposed to be hot all week, so honestly, the drawing part of the house is hot as hell for a goodly chunk of the day, although better after noon. The office part is cooler in the morning, as long as there’s a breeze. And honestly, I’m still on break. So there should be some reading and maybe a nap. I took a timed nap yesterday and Friday and I am pro. It’s still July. I’m still on summer time.
Hey guys, I just won a power tool set! As long as I send all my bank information to this janky email address! On it!
Summary of week so far: It’s hot, but it could be hotter. This drawing is slow, but it could be slower. This training has some things that are potentially helpful, but also a lot of it needs to happen in English class or Advisory. The science part can be beefed up to support the program. But it’s nothing new…we just haven’t focused explicitly on it before. We’ve tried many ways of teaching vocabulary, but we’ve never been particularly successful. Probably because our kids are such low readers…so we need to do something about that. Training though? In the summer? Always hard. We’re not even halfway through. Pros: Dad was sick and is better now, and boychild is back from wherever for about 36 hours, so Simba can get his boyfix. And I don’t have to sleep with Simba for two nights. A plus.
I’m not finishing this post before class starts. I’ll be back. You won’t even notice…well except that the post is late, for me.
Or if I totally forget that I haven’t finished this…which is what happened.
So I’ve been drawing all week. An hour here or there, mostly at night after dinner, when it’s cooler. I’m in class from 7-2:30 and then it’s hot and I’m tired, plus I’ve had an hour of reading to do each day after that. But it’s coming along. Although I didn’t start inking until Monday night…
I lied. I started Sunday night, and then as I was falling asleep, figured Ruth Bader Ginsburg needed wings, so I added the post-it for that. Some people are suggesting a halo…I’ll think about it. Not sure how I feel about haloes. There are issues with angels, angelic behavior meaning one thing vs when you look at actual stories of angels in literature…a troubling thing to think about.
Monday night, I added the wings and two of the justices…
It was slow. I also did some more pencil work, trying to figure out what might happen where. I’m adding things as I ink, so there’s some staring into space happening.
I did better last night…
I went to the gym in the afternoon, exercised, read a lot, got my head in a better place, and the things came easier. How to picture this or that. There’s a lot of this drawing that doesn’t exist in my head yet. Tonight will probably be the justices on the other side. We’ll see. There’s some confusion over there too. This is 8 hours of drawing so far. Not done yet.
Monday, I drew a little during class and then found that stitching stuff down lent itself to being able to listen and think and even take notes but not fall asleep.
Here’s the drawing…
Nova took over the space at night on Gecko Watch…
(There is no gecko in that picture)
Right now, I’m trying to type this with Kitten’s butt in the way. Annoying furry beasts.
Mr. Sad before the boy came home and cuddled him.
And then Kitten decided she needed to bring me red fabric…
She makes this strange yowling sound when she brings me fabric. I do then have to put it all away later.
I’m reading two books at a time. Because I can. This one is Margaret Atwood’s collection of short stories, Babes in the Wood. I liked how Orwell referred to us living folks.
I need that to be a quilt title at some point.
And this might be me at the moment, minus the getting drunk.
I can fight a raccoon any time.
I’m tired. I have 2 1/2 more hours of training today. I have a copyediting job, but they haven’t given me the files yet. I have another hourlong chapter to read. I might need a nap. Who knows. Oh yeah, pilates. And drawing. Still. Lots of drawing.
You know, as a teacher, I often put off repairs until I have a break from school, just because the time and effort (and sometimes need to wait around for a professional) isn’t something I can do during the school year. So I’m sitting here waiting on a dryer professional because we tried to fix it and the Amazon part failed almost immediately. It’s OK. I haven’t had a working dryer since June 25th or so. It’s hot and dry here, so we can put things out on the line. It sucks for towels, but works for everything else. At least this isn’t happening during the school year, right? Meanwhile, the house requires other fixes and improvements and I’m trying to get those taken care of. Broken and leaking hose faucets, need to replace some lattice pieces, plus putting in a pathway. At the moment, though, I’m dealing with a bee swarm issue. They gathered in the backyard composter while I was gone, but I managed to get one of the guys responsible for my stuff to pull the lid off and they left. They didn’t go far…to the composter in the front yard, and by the time I noticed (and was home, honestly), they were pretty well established. I waited until nighttime and pulled the lid off, hoping they’d leave…but it’s been over 36 hours and they are still there. Sigh.
That might be more money out of pocket for the summer. When I don’t get paid. Fun stuff. I do have a possible copyediting project coming up, but it will only pay for the dryer fix. Which is insane and annoying, but whatever. I’m also doing a professional development next week that will give me a chunk of money, but I don’t know when I’ll get paid for that. Probably the end of September. That’s the way it usually goes.
I needed to get this quilt done this week. So I got the quilting started on Sunday night and finished yesterday.
The outlining wasn’t too hard…
The background…well, I started with a super tiny filler background and then had to continue with that. It wasn’t too bad…
But it took longer than I thought it would…
It took a little over 4 hours for the stitchdown and a little over 8 hours to quilt it.
I finished around 6 PM last night, so I didn’t have time to buy binding. I don’t have enough of anything here to bind it with. So I need to go buy fabric today. As soon as I finish this and the retirement webinar I’m listening to. And then wash the fabric and hang it up to dry. It’ll dry fast today…supposed to be in the 90s.
But it also meant a minor moment of “holy shit what am I working on next!?”. Don’t panic. I already sort of know what I’m doing, but I need to copy and enlarge an existing drawing that needs major reworking, but it’s a start. Also gonna do that today. It’ll be a big one.
I’ve been doing some of this each evening…
These blocks are complicated, but I enjoy the stitching.
I also did some stitching on this…it’s been sitting around for YEARS…
All the things need to be stitched down. These are from Anna Maria Horner’s applique packages. I like the freedom of just randomly cutting bits out and putting them together. I have a ton of them and I am lame about getting them done. Limited time to make things…I have to make decisions about priorities. And the big art quilts get that priority.
It’s gecko season.
Nova loves this time of year.
Love this tree…
Don’t have room for another tree on this property.
Yeah this is me. I should rethink it. I’ve been living in shorts and just transitioned into no sleeves…I was holding out because of my laundry issues. Today, underwear is an issue. Sure, I could just buy more, but that would mean storing more. Trying not to do that. It’s fine. The boychild is here and can help me put the laundry dryer rack out. It’s heavy. For now, I’ve got another 30 minutes of this webinar (my brain is exploding, but I think I have my retirement date…even though I will need to continue to work after that), and then I get to commune with fabric and maybe my book…speaking of books, while I was quilting, I was listening to a book on Audible (I suck at this…have to rewind pretty continuously) AND reading a book on the iPad. I don’t usually do two books at a time because confusion happens between stories, but it seemed to work in this situation. This task is this book. Everything else is the other book. So yeah.
Read, bind, launder. Don’t think about work.
Amusingly, I walked away from this and forgot to post it…so most of the errands are done, but one that wouldn’t fit in my car…and I forgot the other one, so I’m gonna go do it now. It’s hot.
So I have about 27 minutes to write this. Not really true. I have 27 minutes (26) before I need to leave, and I like to finish things before leaving. We’ll see how that goes.
We got back Friday afternoon, the most trouble-free trip I’ve ever taken. Uber, then light rail, easy TSA, flight was not delayed, flight was easy, got off, picked up baggage right away, walked out front, and there were my parents, ready to pick us up. No problems on the way home, walked in the front door. Ahhh. It’s nice when it works out.
I managed to do some stitchdown on Friday night…
Kitten spoke to me clearly about how she felt about my being gone for so long…
Not pleased. Saturday I had a short meeting that I stitched through…
I feel like I will never finish this.
Then it was the Man’s birthday and he wanted a short hike/walk and dinner with a good burger, so we wandered through some trails I’d never been on at Balboa Park…
Had dinner at the Balboa (good burger, weird drunk guy)…
Selfies are not something we’re good at…
But this one wasn’t bad. Getting older and having birthdays is weird. This one was pretty quiet and chill. He says he was OK with that. I get it. Plus we’d been gone for a while and were just tired.
There was a confused bird…probably a fledgling or a mom trying to take us away from the nest…
I stitched more that night and got close to the end, but finished it up Sunday afternoon.
The last views of the back…
Before it gets shut up into the quilt…
A reminder of the line drawing…
Then I pieced a backing, found the batting, and had to clean a floor and wait for it to dry. So I cooked a complicated dinner that I never have time/energy to cook during the school year, but that I like to eat, then watched a show with that and finished one June Homegrown block…
And started another…
I finished about 1 1/2 blocks on the trip, compared to the 7 I brought with me (wishful thinking). I also brought 4 pairs of socks, 2 pairs of jeans, a pair of leggings, and a sweatshirt that I never wore. Plus a pair of shoes I only wore once. It is what it is. You never know.
After dinner, I laid it all out, sandwiched…
And pinbasted it.
It’s not a particularly big quilt, because I had a deadline.
And then I started quilting it last night.
My goal is to finish quilting today, bind it tomorrow, have it done Wednesday. We’ll see how that goes. Then turn those two Supreme Court drawings into something usable. Combined with what’s in my head.
Sleepy Kitten. But first, I have to pee a puppy and go to lunch with a friend, and maybe figure out a dog walk in the afternoon. We’ll see. Certainly the dog needs it. I probably do too.
Still in Seattle. Trying to be relaxed and all. Apparently I suck at that. If you know me, you know that already. I have been drawing…at first, just a little bit every day, just because there wasn’t time. But after everyone left, there was more time. And normally I would have written yesterday, but I’m off. No clue what day it is.
Wednesday was graduation chaos.
Wednesday night (?) I managed some more on that drawing…might have been in the afternoon, now that I think about it. I stitched a little on the Sue Spargo Homegrown block at graduation. I finished one the day before, and then started this one.
I worked on it yesterday too…I feel weird sitting in the house when the cleaner is here, so I sat outside and stitched.
I finished the bottom part of the house…still need to do the roof and the tree, plus I missed a flower. Whoops. Not sure how much of this will be happening over the next week. I don’t usually draw when there’s an audience…I can handle the Man, but not a lot of other people. So once they all left, I could draw. So here was what I added Wednesday afternoon.
Thursday, everyone left except me, so I planted myself on the couch and realized that’s where the dogs like to be too, and I drew some more.
I also went for a walk…
It’s so light here, late at night, at 4 in the morning. I’ve been sleeping with a pillow over my head.
This drawing isn’t done. There’s a blank space in the top right. But another one popped into my head, so I started drawing it yesterday.
Also not done. Summer break has had some issues so far that make me feel like I’m somewhat out of whack, maybe even incompetent or out of of it, so working through that? In drawing?
Saw some friends last night…and this place…
Dumplings of Fury. Perfect.
So today is my friend’s son’s graduation party (she’ll tell you it’s her party), so we’re going to that. My niece will be showing up at some point to pick stuff up. We’re planning hikes for the next two days before it gets super hot here. Not sure what happens after that. Hikes? Touristy stuff? We’ll see.
Made it to Seattle, where it’s a different level of chaos for a few days. Lots of family interactions, which is alternately nice and overwhelming. I stayed up late last night just to read for a while…I think this last school year, or at least since January, reading every day has allowed my brain to rest, to stabilize. This explains the number of books I’ve been able to bang through so far…this current one is 900+ pages long, though, and there are a lot of people here and very little down time, so I’m behind on my reading…hence spending time with my book last night at midnight. Like a weirdo.
I did some quilt planning at the airport while drinking awful chai tea.
I mostly read on the plane. It’s not a hugely long flight, so it’s not worth it to pull stitching out, although I did draw, just to be doing something different with my brain and eyes.
I feel like complicated drawings that fill all the space. So that’s what I did.
Yesterday was busy with people and errands and talking, so I managed some relaxing stitching. I can never just sit, y’all. I need something to do.
I finished one block of Sue Spargo’s Homegrown and started another. I’ll probably take one to graduation just because there’s so much sitting-around crap and see above: I don’t sit around well.
I drew last night after everyone went to bed, watching some Alaskan reality show. I just needed some down time.
It’s not done. It needs more stuff. I’m not sure what.
There’s dogs that need walking.
And lots of pets…
Anyway…..gonna go shower and walk the dogs, then read, draw, and/or stitch through graduation. It’s pretty chill here, except for some interrupting school stuff that has caused some stress storms here. Next year will be um different. I’m channeling positivity from somewhere. Tomorrow is a bunch of trips to the airport with Zoom science teacher interviews interspersed. Then hopefully a chill afternoon and evening with just me and the dogs, plus a retirement webinar…I’m not retiring yet, but the level of insanity school has become is why it’s so much on my mind. I’ll probably still have to work after I retire from school, but I’m hoping for something I don’t have to bring home every night, that doesn’t dominate my weekends, and that I can actually take a vacation. It’s a dream.
Kathy Nida 