I think my brain just slipped into over-overdrive. It’s always sort of in overdrive anyway. Sometimes I wish I were sitting on a remote island beach somewhere or the deck of a cabin deep in the mountains, away from everyone, so that all I could do is just stare out, read my book, draw a little, maybe talk to one or two people (MAYBE) for a short time. But away from all the emails and computers and the house (which demands attention) and work and deadlines. Hmmm. I bet this is what some people do on vacation. I guess we do too…I just don’t get enough vacations. And not by myself! I really would like to do an artist’s residency somewhere remote some day. My own space where I can work and then in the evenings, maybe come together with other artists to eat dinner, but mostly just be in my space, go for walks, sit outside and stare at nature. Talk to myself more than I already do. Someday I will figure out how to do that and the rest of it too. Something has to give. Maybe this summer? Thinking about it.
I was alone in the house last night for a while, but it was after a long LOUD day (sometimes it’s just too loud at a middle school, you know? Mostly I can ignore it), so I just read. And then cooked. And then read some more. And tried to solve all these problems for my art groups, and wondered why some people are so argumentative (I’m probably one of those people). Or uncommunicative. Sigh. I have too much to do these days.
Yesterday’s sunset from the pet food store…
This was after I went to the warehouse store and the guy in line ahead of me asked why I was buying so much cornstarch. This is often a question I ask myself.
Anyway, eventually, after connecting with the one human who finally showed up here, I finally went and sewed. I should have gone earlier, in terms of completing art, but that’s OK.
I worked on stitching down the whole torso and all the arms (OK, there are only two) on Figure 5…
And I got about halfway through her head. That was after midnight…so only an hour in. Geez. Well. I should start earlier. I did grade things too…earlier. Forgot about that. So it’s not that I didn’t get a lot done…it’s that I didn’t get to do art a lot. Working on it. Working on everything. Honestly, that might be my mantra. After tonight, I want to feel like I have completed a significant amount of the stitchdown on this piece. There. It’s a goal.
So I was entering a show last night, deciding what to submit, resizing photos, and picking details, and I realized how political or in-your-face some of my more recent quilts have been. Usually when I enter a show, I’ll put one or two of those pieces in, but then have a “safe” piece for the juror(s) to pick, just in case. They don’t always pick that one, which is nice…it’s how Rooted in America got into at least one show, for sure. I appreciate jurors willing to ignore possible controversies in honor of the message or the art. I didn’t do that for this show, though, and that’s OK. I really am OK with not getting in…even though I get cranky about it in the moment. I want my work to go where it’s appreciated. I don’t enjoy making the news cycle and/or twenty thousand people messaging me about why my work should or shouldn’t have been pulled from an exhibit. It irritates me that people are that narrow-minded, of course.
So this quilt is not political. It’s mental. OK, it’s about what goes on in our brains when we’re dealing with the world. In my world, I deal with about 140 OTHER people’s kids and all their stuff before I can deal with my own. Or sometimes at the same time as I deal with my own. Certainly some days it is easier than others…apparently my whole team was losing their shit on Friday, and I had a totally chill, mellow day. Might have been what I gave them to do that day, which was its own version of self care. Today though we are still doing a lab, which is usually pretty good, because they are engaged, although this one uses fire (controlled by me), and one of my guys might lose his mind today over that. We’ll see.
Anyway, it was a long day yesterday. Two-hour staff meetings suck. My brain turns off about halfway through, and sometimes earlier. It was also a difficult topic, although we skated over the worst of it and focused on what they did afterwards. Honestly, the most difficulty I had was when I realized I was that much older than everyone at the table…I actually was a working adult when Waco happened…no one else was. Sigh. But I find it’s easier if I draw through the long meetings, no matter what the topic is…so I did this.
Interesting. Keeps me from falling asleep anyway.
So I just had to get up and take a paper pattern away from the dog. She gets anxious in the morning for no apparent reason and wants to eat paper. It could be a book, a pattern, a napkin, piano music, or whatever (her favorite is pads of post-it notes). She’s annoying. She has a bone right in front of her. I fed her and petted her and discussed her life choices. Sigh.
So after the meeting, I came home and cooked…gonna have to rethink that meal in terms of blood sugar. So complicated some times. But I tried this, romesco. It was like a mellow broccoli.
Runs a bit toward cauliflower. Honestly, it looks cooler than it tastes. But it looks fascinating.
Then I entered the show, did some other stuff I needed to get done, and started stitch down…
I can’t really tell you how much I’ve gotten done in fractions or percentages. I have everything under the arm with the fishes done, on the right side…so the bottom half of Figure 1, Figure 2 mid-chest, and then one arm and wing of Figure 5. That doesn’t sound like much, does it? Well it’s not. That’s why. I didn’t have any issues with the machine last night…I just started late.
Tonight I’m going to need to work a little bit on school stuff, plus more errands. Last night, I had to go to the bank with a bag full of pennies, plus some cash for a down payment on a quilt, and final payment on another quilt. So I’m depositing this weird concoction of stuff, and one of my former students is training to work at my bank. So weird. I didn’t recognize her face (well, it once had hijab around it and now it doesn’t), but I did recognize the name. She remembered a detention for gum, but also remembered that I always give kids a chance to spit it out…they only get detention if they blow off my request. She laughed. So that’s OK. Anyway, that’s what I get for teaching where I live…these little moments of connection with kids now that they’re grownups and trying to figure out the adult world.
So there’s hope for them! OK, off to school and a long day, with stitching at the end of it though, so that’s cool.
Really, brain? Once again, the night before I have to be up early for school, you decide that being completely wired and overthinky is the way to go, that sleep is just something for the weak. Rough for me, because Friday night wasn’t the best sleep night either. So I went to bed early Saturday to try to help, because I had to be up and out relatively early Sunday…but then the dogs got me up even earlier. UGH. Sleep. I wish it were easier. I really suck at it.
It’s interesting, because one of the things we’re supposed to talk about at our two-hour staff meeting today is teacher self care…but it’s my job that kept me up last night and Friday night. So. There’s that. Meditation. More of it.
That said, I got a lot done this weekend, all this pissy shit that needed doing: I graded two weeks of makeup work, I cleaned the bathroom, except for the floor, I ordered meds for me and the dog, I went to two art meetings (which just means more work I gotta do, but that’s OK), I checked a bunch of stuff off the to-do list. That’s what I do on weekends. Gotta get done. There’s so little time after school some days. Certainly being at school until 6 PM on Friday didn’t help.
And I did a little art stuff. So that’s nice too.
Oh yeah! We walked the dogs…I don’t usually have them Saturday, but the ex was out of town for soccer, so we ventured out into Spring-like weather.
They were happy.
The pup and cat were sharing one of the few Winter sunshine locations in the house Saturday morning too…
Big enough for two small ones.
Then after the first art meeting on Saturday, we headed out to an opening at Art Produce…this is Back Pocket by Max Lofano.
Obviously the weirdest little things he had picked up while walking around. Very purposeful and organized.
And then work by Lynn Susholtz, who runs Art Produce…
These were fascinating. They wanted to be wood, but I’m not sure they were…but there were drawings on and things inserted into them.
I really wanted to touch them. But art. Need permission. Anyway, always an interesting installation there.
Saturday night after that was a lot of this…
And eventually I fell asleep there and then went to bed, because I was really tired from not sleeping Friday night.
Sunday was a little better, although I spent a chunk of it in a car and at another meeting. Funny how they all hit at once and they all want the same thing. OK. Trying to get all that done. But meanwhile, after eating dinner and while still watching Watership Down (man, that book was weird, somewhat creepy…definitely makes me look at the bunnies in my yard differently), I drew.
So many things wrong with perspective on this. Oh well. It’s pen on paper.
And then the catch-up project for Sundays is using the dyed moons I got from Jude Hill…I had freezer paper cut for these shapes, so I found fabrics for them.
Of course, this is only 4 out of the 12. But I want to finish these and then decide what to do with the next batch. It might be more figures…
It might not. We’ll see.
I’m starting with some real basic applique and then plan to add embroidery.
With the moons part of the block…
The moon is going in the hole in the middle…that will be easier once the rest is sort of stitched down.
Even here, I don’t necessarily do what’s easy.
So we’ll see where those go. They’re ready for applique next Sunday.
Then I finally started the stitchdown on the swallowing heads piece.
I gave up when the machine started pitching a fit. I think there’s thread stuck somewhere, because I rethreaded everything. But I got some stitching into it…more on that all week, I suspect. Grading, stitching, hopefully more solid sleeping. That’s my goal for the week. Exercise too. But first, school. I was smart and prepped mostly on Friday. Two days of labs…it’ll be good.
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.
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.
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…
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…
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…
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.
Adult brain won last night and got me in bed earlier. Not much earlier. Really not even a win, if you talk to anyone about how much sleep I SHOULD get, but better than the night before. So there’s that. Plus I finished grades before we even went to the airport to drop off the girlchild…here’s what the end of doing grades looks like…
Pretty dang happy. Girlchild will hate this photo, but Simba is kissing her. Last time he’ll be able to do that for a while. Next up? Graduation, a trip to Portugal (for her, not me…I won’t make it out of the country this year), and then work like an adult. Who knows when we’ll see her again on that couch. I try not to think too hard about that shit.
So finally, on January 14, I managed to implement my Finishing All the Shit plan for the new year. I assigned one project per day, and I’m supposed to put in about 30 minutes on it a night, after I eat dinner, while I’m still watching whatever show we’re watching, assuming I don’t have an art quilt that’s in a couch stage (cutting things out or sewing bindings) or grading I can do. Or want to do, because I had more grading last night…I just chose not to do it. It will get done. Eventually. But I haven’t been doing a good job of following any of it, mostly because the projects themselves are very disorganized at the moment. So I’ve spent the last few weeks trying to find all the bits that would allow me to just pick one up and work on it.
So I worked on this, Monday’s project…
Which included a puppy face…a puppy who is confused about where his benefactor went.
I don’t know how many years ago I started this, but it was a lot. It’s from a book called Home Sweet Home except I blew off their calm quiet colors. I have I think 6 blocks done? Or this is the 6th one? And there are only 9. Most of the pieces are pretty damn big, so it won’t take long. Here it is so far…
The windows are all done…they just need to go on. This is about 1/2 way done. So there we are. Moving on.
After all that and the dishes and trying to figure shit out and get my brain on task (a difficult thing sometimes), I moved into the room with the iron…
And I did things with it. So this is the bottom section of Figure 2…and I put the hand in that overlapped it. I’m pretty sure that pink hand is from Figure 5, because I pulled it from the box with the 1300s…but it’s missing the finger creases. I don’t know where they are…hopefully in the box with the other fingers (not the 1300s box. Trust me. I looked there more than once.). I just didn’t go looking for them.
Then I pulled that off the teflon sheet and started on the section of Figure 2 above the arm that crosses over it…
Skinny piece…with another arm above it. For now, I just kept going above that arm…
I don’t think I’ll try to iron that arm over the body now. Too complicated. No logical break like with the other hand.
I didn’t finish the face, because however much I WANTED to, that’s when adult brain looked at the clock and said no, go to bed.
Which is good, because it takes me a while to get everything cleaned up and settled and brush my teeth, find the dogs, settle them, take insulin, etc. But there’s Figure 1 getting swallowed by Figure 2, which is almost finished. Although she has a tree, a nest, a bird, and an ivy vine that go with her, so not quite THAT close to done. I’m in the 400s, so I only got about 150 pieces in last night. Not bad. I started around 10 PM. Only 1100 pieces to go! Yeah. Uh huh.
I got rejected from another show last night. OK. Well. There we are. Now I need to figure out what’s available to enter in the next one. Which reminds me that I still have one out there that should be returned this week…haven’t seen it yet. Sigh. Six made it home…no, seven made it home. Sheesh. That’s a lot. Need to deal with putting those away. I emailed about the eighth one. Usually they send tracking info. Well. Sometimes they send tracking info. No guarantees.
OK, more ironing tonight, but also tutoring and the gym…which bites into that time. All good and useful things…but time is a limited resource.
Kathy Nida 