It’s the middle of the week. The middle of the week is different than other days, because I have a bunch of meetings in the afternoon, so it just FEELS different. I only see kids in the morning. I passed my math assignment. I know you’re glad. It’s always good when I can do 7th-grade math. (I was teaching the math with the website and the math teacher could see my scores, so I guess that’s a good thing.)
It’s now 4+ hours after I started writing this…I’ve graded a science assignment (well, the 25 that were turned in) and filled a greenery trashcan (my goal is 2 a week…but 1 will do), posted a blog post for one of my art groups, tried to avoid crying during an online staff meeting about the future of teaching in my district…didn’t finish my book, did a drawing, but I don’t know if it’s any good, and ate lunch. I think. Did I eat lunch? Right now, I want cookies.
What fucking day is it? Oh yeah. Wednesday. Moving on. This is school in a pandemic.
Mood? fucked. Thanks to all the humans who still talk to me.
I ironed for way too long last night, way too late. Whatever.
I got all of Figure 3 ironed down…except for some of the inner parts. I did do the hair, the lungs, the heart, and the eyes. I’m not sure what’s left…it’s a big pile here.
This is what’s left of 700-999? I think? Ah yes, a few body parts in there, but mostly Figure 3 is done.
There’s some stuff that needs to go into the coffin with her. So those need doing. Then I’m into the 1000s. I’ve already ironed a few of those that were body parts. But otherwise, I’m heading onto the hillside and the skeleton, and then the angels, and then I’m done. OK, that’s like 500 pieces, so don’t get excited. But 2/3s of the way done.
I walked yesterday and took a slightly different route. I get tired of the same shit.
It wasn’t long enough or interesting enough, but it happened. A few different flowers…
They were taller than me. Not that it’s hard to be taller than me.
This flower was freakin’ huge.
So there’s that. Fuck that sign. I trespass here all the time. The owners here are just jerks for that sign.
There’s nothing built there.
Nice view though, despite that huge monstrosity in the bottom left under the hill.
I missed a walk today. I did yardwork instead. I might go on the bike and try to finish my book.
I listened to a webinar today about modern quilting vs art quilting. Yeah, I’m no modern quilter. I don’t fit, but they are OK with that at the moment. This one? Um…the tree under the green spool.
It was pretty fun…
I think it’s a cherry tree.
And I finished the second Patreon reward embroidery.
OK. Well. It’s late already…well, 6 PM. I need to do more score-checking for tomorrow, I need to maybe draw another embroidery, cut some shit out, iron some more shit, exercise? I did say that already. And get my brain out of the hole it’s in. That might be harder.
It’s a little chilly this morning. I start the mornings with slippers on because my feet are cold every morning, no matter how warm it is outside. And eventually they come off and I am barefoot for most of the day. Pandemic clothing is pretty simple…looks a lot like my summer wear, except there are some t-shirts I can’t wear on Zoom when I’m teaching. I also have to think about what tea mug I’m drinking out of, because some have naked people on them. Plus the drawing that’s hanging up. I pin it up just in case. I’m pretty sure it’s too far away for the kids to see, but why take that risk?
I’m not sleeping well…not falling asleep quickly enough, try to go to bed earlier so the mornings aren’t so bad, but that doesn’t help. Just more lying around trying to fall asleep happens then. And then when the man gets up early, some mornings, I’m so exhausted I zonk out again, but some, I just lie there and ruminate. Damn rumination. It just messes me up. Weird dreams too. Last night, we were on vacation (VACATION!) and in a hotel, and this woman came into our room and started unpacking her stuff, because the hotel/Airbnb/whatever it was allowed people to double book or something? But she was someone I sorta knew? But it was SO UNCOMFORTABLE having someone else in the room, and that’s how I feel about going ANYWHERE right now. It’s just uncomfortable.
I finally FINALLY got to iron stuff on the big quilt last night. It’s not anybody’s fault…just gets too late, or the girlchild wants me to hang out, so I stitch instead. I’m still doing stuff I need to do…it’s just not this big quilt. I picked the fabrics for the third figure, darker…
This disease doesn’t care about you personally, but certain communities are harder hit…relative to health care options and poverty. If you have money, you’re better off? Or insurance? Or access to good healthcare? It all sucks. We should be taking care of everyone. All the time. Not just during a pandemic.
I didn’t finish ironing those down. It was 12:20 AM and I really need to go to bed earlier…but also sleep earlier. I can totally feel it today. I’m braindead and cranky as shit.
I also ironed the fabrics for the two mini-quilts I’m making for Patreon rewards…
That’s the bird laid out.
The heart in hands is on the right. I’ll cut those out later tonight probably. These go pretty quickly…just need to fit them in around everything else. This morning is two meetings, one of which is done (and was a clusterfuck, just so you know…makes me question my ability as a teacher in this situation). SIGH. Big Fucking Sigh.
Anyway. I also did dots. Strawberry, bottom right. Or some other berry? Don’t know.
It looks like a strawberry.
Then last night was this foxy dot…to the right of the white spool…
Ah yes…turned out pretty good, I think.
I also worked on the next Patreon reward embroidery…those are Luna’s legs under the coffee table…
And Kitten keeping me company on the couch…
I’m not sure how offended she is that I am stitching birds, not cats.
Hard to say.
What else is going on? Walks with dogs…
Someone weed-whacked. Hopefully that means fewer ticks.
Because despite that face, Simba hates combing.
Boychild made bagels…
I didn’t even know how bagels were made…
It’s a very strange process. Like how did we decide to boil FOOD in lye?
I feel like more of us should have died in the past just for our weird food practices.
Cats are always asleep…
She sits with me every day as I work…although this was last night…
It looks like the beginning of a horror movie. CATS!
There’s been some food-sharing issues amongst the cats. They are figuring it out. Certainly no one is starving.
And more of the conversations…although this is one I have often (minus my bro…usually it’s just the SIL and occasionally a kid)…
Everyone is going a little stir crazy.
Today? Today I make some decisions about my Advisory class, how I’m going to run it. I hate it, so it needs to change. Today I get some exercise, do some ironing, maybe some cutting stuff out and embroidery. Today I…sigh. I need more sleep. Maybe today I nap. Or draw. Or finish my book (I’ve been trying to do that for four days). Whatever. Today feels sucky. I will fix that. Somehow.
I meant to write this yesterday. There are a lot of things I meant to do yesterday. I really should just remember that I am unfocused at least one day a week and that day is often Saturday. At least at the moment. Realize. It’s a word I should pay more attention to. Realize reality? As the county starts to open more things up, it’s harder to get away from crowds of people? Is it OK to go to Target to get pool noodles for shipping? Will I be shipping anything anywhere? Eventually. How do I feel about Target? I don’t know. I don’t know about anything. It all feels uncomfortable at the moment. Realize nothing.
I ironed nothing down on the Covid quilt in the last two days. Three days? Nothing since Thursday night. Let’s put it that way. That sucks. I was really tired on Friday and we had gaming…
I didn’t do anything after that except be tired. I did stitch on some dots…this was Friday night’s…the one under the green spool.
Simple flower shape…
And then Saturday night’s…just under the magenta spool.
I had another late finish and then mental exhaustion.
Pretty rose stitch though.
I also finished the first of the Patreon rewards…
And traced the second one on fabric, although I need to choose threads. And then I traced the Wonder Under and cut it out for the two small quilts.
I was hoping to finish picking fabrics for these yesterday, but brain fog won out.
I have a shit-ton of work to do for school this afternoon, so we’ll see what I get done. When I had finished the other embroidery, I didn’t have the next one ready to go, so I pulled this out of the pile and started on it while gaming.
It’s a Cozy Blue Handmade pattern. I suck at ironing stuff on. I bought this in Boston when I visited the girlchild a year and a half ago. Long time.
What else? The requisite dog and cat pictures…the deck is an appropriate temperature for us to live on some days, super buggy other days, way too hot at times. Simba likes it.
As long as someone is out with him.
Kitten has found another chair to sit on…although right now, she’s in her normal place…
Right behind me.
Simba loves the girlchild. She does not love his ticks.
There are a lot of ticks right now.
Yesterday was warm and tiring.
I agree, Luna…wholeheartedly.
I have a few new babies…I didn’t even do this right, and it made a baby. I’m so happy.
Succulents are amazing.
I think this one is my first…no second grandchild. I think the first one died. Or maybe it was incorporated into this one. But we do spend a lot of time thinking about them…
Yep, that’s our sourdough starter, version 2.0.
We did a short walk with the dogs on Friday, and then Saturday, I did a longer one, later, close to sunset, by myself. Everyone else was gone anyway.
It was relatively cool out, nice day, nice breeze, hazy skies.
Dumbasses on motorcycles zooming around in the valley, polluting the world with their tiny-penis noise. Seriously. Stop.
I like to just listen to the birds…not my neighbor’s lawnmower. He mows so many days. I realize it’s a ride-on and he likes his toys, but ffs, just stop. Let the lawn grow an eighth of an inch before you mow it again dude.
Most people out there have masks, although fewer on the walks in the neighborhood. One in the grocery store with no mask, though. WTF?
Apparently someone is painting these and leaving them around the neighborhood I walk in.
That’s so cool. I love that. More of that shit. More ravens just hanging out on wires.
Less noise pollution.
OK. Well. It’s 3 PM and I probably have at least 2-3 hours of school shit to do, another dot to sew, and then I’d really like to do some ironing. If I can. A good night’s sleep would be good too. One where I woke up the next morning and didn’t feel tired? That would be good. That’s a rare thing though. New week. Get it on.
Hey Friday. You make me tired. And overwhelmed. Nothing new there. Looking forward to some free time tomorrow, but who knows if I’ll be panicking about school and desperately planning stuff instead of ironing and stitching. It could go either way. I’m feeling a little constrained these days by the existence…no talking to anyone in person, like one-on-one, or lunches at work. I don’t know what’s going on with anyone except for the basics, because Zoom is always a bunch of people and mostly work-related, except for the desperate late-night texts about this program or that website, and occasionally on Insta or FB, I see what they ate or read or something like that. No deep conversations. No complaining about stupid shit. No venting about the job or the SO or sharing some awesome book or movie we’d love. Well, there’s a little of that in text and email, but not the same. I know, it’s because we’re trying to take care of everyone. I get that, but I dreamed I was sitting in a restaurant last night, at the bar, and I’m thinking it will be a year or two before that’s a thing. I love that so many states are ignoring science. 84,000 dead. And it’s only May 15. San Diego is still ticking up, but reopening some things. Malls opened this week, but not the stores in them. Curbside pickup only. I’m wondering what I really need the mall for anyway. Not much.
I’ve been ironing a little bit every day. I was hoping to be further than this, but work has been long and hard. So I’m about halfway, I think.
I think Wednesday night, after 5 hours of Zooming in the afternoon, only gave me a little ironing. I think I did the bat. He was semi-complicated. And some eyeballs. Pills. Oh yeah. Some Covid-19.
They’re all over the place. OK. There are only four of them. There’s a lot of fabric colors in this thing.
Still have three figures left to iron.
My Wednesday night companion…I get to step over her every time I go choose fabric from over there. I’m OK with that.
Last night, I think I got 30 minutes in…Kitten assistance…
But I also ironed in the afternoon with my quilt group. I’m at 17 1/2 hours. And halfway. It’s not been the most effective time, with only an hour here and an hour there. The work I’m doing during the day sucks up brainwaves and turns them into mush, so that doesn’t help. I’m staring at two browns and trying to decide whether to go darker or lighter, for a really long time.
The coffin is ironed.
Tonight? Tonight I’m hoping to start Figure 3. It might not happen until tomorrow. We’ll see. I kind of want to reorganize all the fabric in color order too…it’s looking really chaotic.
I also started stitching one of the Patreon pieces…they’re not big, but they’re not supposed to be.
I worked on this one during a staff meeting. My boss called it knitting. Whatever.
I’m still caught up on dots…the mushroom to the left of the red ball…
Kinda cute.
And then last night’s…to the left of the brown spool…is a dandelion.
I added a few wandering dandelion seeds…
More than halfway on that.
I wanted to draw the other night, but I was too damn tired. So I just sat on the deck and read while drinking tea.
Speaking of drinking, a Wednesday-night incident drove me to a margarita…I think I mentioned that. Well here it is…
Tasty. Created by girlchild, who also created an amazing dinner…
I feel like if she weren’t here, we’d be living on PopTarts and toast. She takes the artsy photo…
‘Twas good. Homemade pita on my shitty-looking cookie pan from my long-defunct wedding in 1989.
We do know how to cook. She’s just way better at it.
We pretty much cook the same stuff over and over again. This is tastier. I admit to not having the brain power for this.
However, these keep popping into my tiny little brain.
Seriously, she’s making me throw away potential penicillin. It’s OK. Also, I’ve been unfriending people on FB like crazy, all the conspiracy and liberal snowflake haters. I can’t deal with your dumbassery any more. I don’t understand how you like my work if you can’t think. So there. Go the fuck away. Most of you just want me to like your shop and buy stuff anyway. You’re freaking out because the quilt shows and vending opportunities are being canceled. I barely buy anything quilt-related online, y’all. I don’t need your long-arm services and I don’t want your cute fabric bundles and patterns. Friend me if you like my work AND understand my politics. I don’t want to read your crazy. You probably don’t want to read mine either.
Old lady dog asleep on the deck…
During one of my move-it-outside meetings. I wish I lived closer to the beach. Or had the energy to drive there after dinner one night. Not tonight. Don’t want to fight crowds on the weekend either. Maybe that’s a goal for next week.
Kitten playing time. Kitten playing with a kitten.
They’re funny.
Followed by the little boy, snuggling with his favorite tick-removing human…
I’m betting she’s on Pinterest or a recipe site.
OK. It’s 1 PM on a Friday. I have one more class. I need to plan for next week, set up posts, create some shit, make some decisions. I need to stitch on a dot. I need to iron. Gaming is happening tonight, and I want to walk the dogs, but I’ll need help with that. Also, weed-whacking needs to happen, but I don’t think I can fit that into all the shit I just listed. Also I want a long hike, but that’s not happening either. OK. Welcome to my online learning world.
Well I’ve been trying to get this written all day, but 17 hours of Zoom meetings and notetaking and adjusting shit and grading crap and dealing with my crashing blood sugar and only getting 3000 fucking steps today has gotten in my way. I did 32 minutes of Pilates though dammit and that’s it, I’m calling it, fuck this day, man. While eating Spoonsize Shredded Wheat before dinner because I need to eat and IDK what I did wrong. Except stop moving enough and stare at a computer (TWO computers and a phone at the moment) for way too long.
Pros: I finished things.
Cons: I didn’t finish other things.
Really I’m much more positive when I write this first thing in the morning. Right now, I just want to build a pillow fort and climb in there with an adult beverage. (I should admit that I didn’t finish this by 4 PM like I wanted to, and it is now 10:06 PM and I’ve had a margarita. I don’t drink margaritas except like once every two years. So that might tell you a little bit more about today.)
So ironing has happened. Here’s what that might look like. This is actually ironing the heart. Not really red.
A little red. This heart has flowers.
MMMM. Strawberry shortcake delivery.
Leftovers from my Mother’s Day thing. This was Monday night. I got the snake ironed and the lungs.
Big addition in colors. I’m still dealing with all the bits and pieces up into the 700s that are part of the larger figure; not done. Nope.
This is slow. Especially when I’m not starting until 11 at night.
Here’s some tattoos I made. Well. On her arm.
I guess I wanted it to use all the blacks and whites I could. I ironed some scissors, a scar, a uterus, a tree and leaves, or maybe that was the night before.
This is 12 hours and 41 minutes of ironing shit down and I’m still not halfway. Laughing hysterically here.
I’ve been trying to catch up on dots since last week sometime. I even started in the afternoon.
And kept working…this is the coneflower…just under the yellow spool.
Which makes me think I need a different yellow. There’s the coneflower…it was nice and pretty easy to do.
I did not use that extra time to get caught up, unfortunately.
Here’s a closeup of the chrysanthemum from last week. Lots of cat hair in this thing.
It will take me a while to get that all out.
Then Monday night was the cup to the left of the white spool.
Although I did it last night, not Monday. Last night I caught up on the last two. It’s a nice cup.
And then yesterday’s was this abstract flower…just to the right of the orange spool.
That’s 44 done.
Halfway after tonight.
I also cut out fabric napkins for the household…8 sets of two from fabrics that are often a million years old.
Now I just need to hem them all. IDK when the fuck that will happen. But it will. Before we run out of paper napkins, which will be soon.
Other artsy shit I’m working on includes doing some drawings for my Patreon patrons…some of them are coming up to their one-year anniversary of their tier, which means I make them a square, either embroidered or quilted. I’ve done two drawings, and will probably do the bird with something besides WTF in there as well. I did each one in embroidery format and quilt format.
I’ll give my patrons a choice on their anniversary as to which one they want. I haven’t thought about mailing these yet. I should be able to do it from the house. They’re small enough.
I went on two walks on Monday and Tuesday, but none today. Interesting things going on…
I can’t explain all of them. The kids were working on Monday and Tuesday, and the old lady was really tired (the dog, not me), so I just took the little energetic one on Monday.
He is a pain in the ass. Wants to walk in the middle of the road.
I’m still in flower discovery mode, as always.
Love flowers.
Don’t know what most of them are. No worries. Though I want to draw that one.
I’ve been watching this one for weeks. It’s near the end of the walk and I photograph less at the end. Plus you can’t see the big-ass boy dog woofing it up at me on the other side.
He’s wagging his tail too, but I worry about this one neighbor (not the dog owner) who has yelled at me before. So I go quickly through that area.
I think these are from Tuesday, when the dogs were at my ex’s with the kids. Views of El Cap.
Or is that El Cajon Mountain? Not hiking it either way, I think. Will just admire it from here.
Dead flowers among the living. Flowers are just amazing in all their forms. Another view of the valley.
I walk the same space on a regular basis, see something new every time. The cudweed is now drying out.
Makes your dog smell like maple syrup. Freakin’ amazing lavender? I think.
Fascinating things, flowers.
Today’s exercise was Pilates with two pillows, a matt, and these.
I need some in-between weights. I thought I had some but I can’t find them. I forget regularly how good Pilates makes me feel. Do more. While I have soup cans.
Somebody (the boychild) put Simba on the chair. He thinks he can’t get down. He can.
Cats asleep…well mostly.
They sleep a lot during the day. Until you poke at them.
They are definitely getting bigger.
And the old lady, relaxing on the deck with me.
Girlchild bribed her with the pool on Monday so she didn’t know I took the little boy on a walk without her.
Anyway. Wednesday. Thank you for all that. That is sarcasm. Straight up. I have a dot to sew, I might get to iron around 11, I didn’t finish all the grade inputting because the district was fucking with my access (straight up, they were), I had so many tech things go wrong and so many questions and conversations were happening at the same time via Zoom, email, text, and Google Classroom that my brain is quietly spinning in another room, waiting for me to go to bed so it can ruminate about how unsuccessful that all was. I have my finger on a LOT of buttons right now, and one might be the Explode It All button, and none of them is the Easy button. Tomorrow will be better. I might be better too.
It’s the ‘Rona Fog! You know, you haven’t even had coronavirus, but the stay-at-home, don’t-go-anywhere, don’t-hang-out-with-people has got your brain in a fog, a ‘Rona Fog. You don’t know what day it is, entire days disappear without your noticing, you know you haven’t exercised today, but maybe you also didn’t exercise yesterday. I go days and days without leaving the house, and then I leave the house three times in one day and it feels like sacrilege, I will be burned to the ground by a lightning bolt from the sky for daring to do such a thing. It’s OK. I had to go to the grocery store, plus dropped mom’s day gifts at my parents’ house (appropriately distanced and masked), and then to pick up food, which was kind of a clusterfuck, but it turned out OK. Today I went to school to pick up some stuff I needed, including the motherlode of Clorox wipes I bought from Costco about three months ago. And a smaller whiteboard. A clipboard for my papers that I use every day. Rubberbands! I need some here and I barely use them there. They had moved all our furniture out like they do for summer break, so they can clean. I sort of had a chance to put stuff away before all that…I think I took the time on March 13. That date was still on the board. I still owe 4th period donuts. I erased all that…and cried a little bit.
Saturday was a serious fog day. My brain just didn’t do any of the things it wanted to do. I couldn’t get anything done, except the book I was reading. Sunday was better for getting things done, but all of a sudden, it was 3:30 in the afternoon and so many things were still on the list. Today I will be better. I will be more focused. At least I will try.
I did get some ironing in on Saturday at least…this is fabric #1…you can see how little was left after I ironed those pieces down.
But there was enough! I have tons of fabric #2…it’ll be showing up in quilts for years to come.
It’s been in a bunch of pieces so far. I like that weird hint of turquoise in the pinky flesh color. Saturday night, up late, a pile of stuff done…just the rest of the flesh on Figure 2 and her hair, I think.
There’s still a ton to do for Figure 2. I just couldn’t deal with it yesterday. I pile all the stuff up on top of the laid-out Wonder Under so that little psycho kitten can’t get in there.
Tonight. Tonight I will iron. I hope. I have an extra Zoom today, I still need to eat lunch, and I’m walking between Zoom 2 and 3. Because I need to and it makes me feel better. This is my view on so many days…it’s usually the coolest room and I have access to two computers at a time.
It’s a little squishy with the ironing board in there too for ironing, but that’s OK. I also sort of let the drawing fold over during those school meetings. I don’t think they can see what’s on it, but it is a naked lady, so it’s better to hide it, just in case.
Such a pain. I live here, I work here, I rarely leave here.
And then there’s this…
Hi Luna. Hiding under the coffee table.
We did visit my mom yesterday, masked and socially distant.
We were there to deliver gifts of food and plants, but really, I guess we were there to pet their dog, Katie. Or Katy. I can never remember the spelling. It might even be Katey.
Oh yeah, she’s happy.
I’m still a dog behind. I mean a dot. I could have caught up Sunday night if Saturday’s dot hadn’t been fucking insane. Here’s Friday’s dot, which I did Saturday…just below the blue ball.
I actually did it totally wrong, because the original instructions said a double cast-on, and then they changed that to a cast-on bullion, which is a totally different thing. I was not willing to pull it out or cut it off, though, so I just improvised.
I might do it again. But probably not.
Last night, I worked for almost two hours on Saturday’s dot…a chrysanthemum.
I put a pillow on my lap, so I could stop stabbing the needle into my leg for the drizzle stitches…all 70 million of them. Top left…
My closeup photo sucks. I’ll take another one. Later. I’m still trying to catch up…maybe today. I just don’t know.
OK, I need to eat, teach my next class of Office Hours, then walk, be back in time for the next Zoom meeting for school, plus finish some other stuff on the to-do list, get two dots done, eat dinner, and hopefully iron some shit down. It’s a busy day. I’m not a fan. But it’s pretty normal.
Here come all the comments about that’s not what I’m supposed to do with the grass. Whatever. Coming to the conclusion that some days are easier for writing the blog in the current times than others. Thursdays are a clusterfuck. I resized photos and then worked and worked and had two stitching meetings but did schoolwork for the first hour plus of one of them, and the time to write never came. So next week, I will schedule more carefully…instead of every other day, there are days when this is easier and those are the days on which I will write. I used to do three days a week…I think I’ll up it to four, but it will be the same four…because I can’t deal with Thursday. This next week, Wednesday and Monday will also be messy, but whatever. So many meetings.
I’m tired this week again…still? I have been ironing until the really late hours and then falling asleep just fine, but between the early morning risings of the man for work (not his fault) and the cats afterward and that thing called daylight and noise, I can’t get sleep when I need it. Nothing new there. I should go to bed earlier, I’m sure. That’s always the case.
So. Progress on the quilt! First of all, I sorted all that Wonder Under…I need one bin for every 100 pieces, so 16 bins…
I label each one with a number, so 0 has pieces 0-99 in it. It takes about an hour to sort a quilt with this many pieces…
Luckily, no kittens were involved. Sorted!
This makes it easier for me to deal with the number of pieces in this thing. Next is the ironing to fabric. I got the fabric put away from before, then hung up the giant drawing so I can see where all the pieces go.
Then I deal with 100 pieces at a time, usually in order.
I bought a new iron. Again. Because I think the nonstick coating on the other one was not working properly. I couldn’t clean it. So hopefully this one will work.
I’ve fused stuff for years and always been able to clean them using Iron Off or just a rag…the old one just kept getting dirtier and dirtier and leaving that residue on the fabric.
This is what it looks like when I pick fabrics…I pick one section of the drawing and pull fabrics for that section, and then lay out the pieces on the fabrics…
And then iron them all down.
A half yard of fabric lasts a long time for me, because even with these relatively good-sized pieces, it’s barely using any of it. So I got some grass and dirt ironed Wednesday night…a good start, most of the background.
Thursday, I did some work during the day with my quilting Zoom.
Mostly I just work and don’t talk too much. I explain that I talk a lot for school, more than I used to maybe. Well. I guess I don’t have five classes a day, so maybe not. It just feels like a lot.
For this section, I actually had to pull pieces from the 1000 box because I have these two death arms, I guess I’ll call them, and they’re the same. Rather than try to remember 10 hours from now which fabrics I used for the first arm, I just did both of them together.
It takes about an hour per 100 pieces to iron…depending on the complexity. So for the first figure, I pulled a run of 6 fabrics, light to dark, and then I lay all the pieces out for that figure. This is the smallest figure on the quilt, so there aren’t a lot of pieces compared to the larger figure that comes next.
Then I iron them all down at once for that figure. While staring at the drawing.
It gets complicated sometimes.
This is part of why I’m up too late. I can’t stop in the middle. Between my brain losing its focus and the kittens fucking with the piles, it’s a pain. So I just iron until I’m done.
Here’s what’s done so far…and the fabrics I’ve used. Not a lot of color yet.
We’ll get there. Figure 1 isn’t completely done…just the flesh parts. She still needs a cytokine storm. And eyebrows and hair. Like you do. I’m in the 200s…but barely.
On to the embroidery…this is Tuesday night…the dot on the far right…
It was fairly simple…
Then Wednesday night, which looked fairly straightforward and then took two hours…and a ton of threads…it’s the one to the right of the sunflower near the threads.
It’s supposed to be a window box of flowers…
Then yesterday’s…I did it during my second Zoom stitching meeting of the day. Two others in the group are doing dots, although one is only doing the ones she likes. It’s the one to the right of the cactus…
It was pretty easy.
So I think today is Dot number 40. Still less than halfway.
When I finished the dot, I went back to the million pieces of grass on Folk Tails.
I’m just going to add grass all over the place until I run out of the two grass thread colors. Maybe. I might buy more. Hard to say. Sewing grass is pretty relaxing.
I might do it forever.
Other things that have been happening, mostly animal related. We had a plank challenge for PE, but Calli really wanted to lie in front of the computer.
I thought about moving her, but then didn’t.
Kitten just sleeps wherever I am.
That’s a lot of cat hair on that chair. This is better than when she tries to whack me with her tail because she wants to sit on the keyboard and mouse while I’m using them. She was playing with Luna for a bit.
Although the heat has slowed the kittens down during the day.
Well that doesn’t look friendly.
We did some hanging out by the pool on Wednesday, which was supposed to be the hottest day.
We put the big girl in the water…
The dog. Not the girlchild. It’s her favorite place to be. She’s kind of a pain about it. I graded while I watched her. Please throw the pinecone.
She likes to fetch them out of the water and then chew them to bits. Hence all the crap you can see on the concrete.
Nova stealing the dog bed from Calli.
Calli always lets the cats win. They have sharp bits.
Even when they’re asleep.
Seriously, she just follows me everywhere and sleeps there. Even on the browns.
Well. It’s already Friday afternoon. I’m so glad it’s Friday, y’all. I need a break from checking all these programs for scores and emailing kids and their parents to get them to show up and do shit. It’s exhausting. Hopefully we’ll go for a walk later…it’s cooler today than it has been. I’m also hoping to do some more ironing and get some schoolwork ready for next week, so I can ignore it tomorrow. I need to water everything and I don’t remember what else. I have office hours in 24 minutes, so I need to pee, get more tea, find my bra and put it back on (sigh), and consider the article I read this morning that said school districts may have to put all the older teachers who are immunocompromised in jobs that keep them away from kids. Ah shit. OK. Well. I have no idea where they’ll draw that line, so I’m going to take my old, diabetic self out of that mindset and into one of getting shit done today. Plus maybe just sitting on the deck for a while with my book. I worked hard this week. As always. I should relax a bit.
It’s Friday. And I sold a quilt! Woo hoo! Someone from Arizona saw Desert Daughter at the Front Porch Gallery back in January some time, and recently contacted the gallery and it sold! I’m very excited…here it is with Arline Fisch’s wired art.
It’s nice to have people buying work right now…although I will turn around and pay off part of the girlchild’s college loan with it…getting close to done with that, and then all the income from these sales will go into the fund to remodel the bathrooms and kitchen, which really really really need it.
I need to make another Daughter quilt when I finish this big one, which is nicknamed Rona at the moment. I laid out all the Wonder Under I’d traced…
So that’s about 11 yards…one of them isn’t full, but the rest are. That’s a goodly amount.
I started cutting them apart Wednesday night…and luckily, the kittens weren’t interested.
Somewhere in the middle of cutting these out…well, at 1 AM that night, while I was trying to sleep, my brain started to fixate on how freakin’ big this quilt is and that there’s no way in hell I have a background big enough for this, and I don’t really want to piece it, because the quilt has so much detail on it that making the background busy is not a good plan. I hate buying fabric online in this situation because I can’t see the color properly. But one of my local quilt shops is doing one-on-one appointments. I can do that. I texted the owner and I have an appointment (with a mask and maybe gloves?) next Saturday. I need 5 yards for the background and if I’m smart, I’m going to find a couple of possible bindings and buy them too, because I’ll need a yard and a half for that. Fewer trips, better…much as I love fabric, it’s not necessary to be shopping regularly for it.
Thursday afternoon was my weekly stitch-in via Zoom. I actually did schoolwork for the first 45 minutes, but then sat there and cut out a yard of Wonder Under, yard number 2…
Not the most comfortable cutting space, but whatever…does two yards look different than one?
Hard to say…nighttime put me on the couch for yard number 3…
My hand hurts after switching to cutting, but it’s OK…only 8 yards to go…
Three yards seems to fill up the box a bit. I’ll probably get done with these sometime early next week, then sort them, clean my office, and start picking fabrics by next weekend. I’m hoping.
There’s been a ton of overwhelming work stuff going on this week, the second official week of teaching online. Wednesday and Thursday were crazy busy with work and meetings and to-do lists and texts. At some point, overwhelmed was all I felt. Today is better, but now I have to prep a ton of stuff and forms and shit for next week. I’m trying to keep Saturdays free of work, but that’s getting harder.
This was Thursday’s (? or was it Wednesday’s?) attempt to collect data from all the science assignments for all 160 kids…
There are pros to this…I remember how to be outside…although when the high 90-degree temps hit next week, I will NOT be out here.
Another pro…seeing kids in video! I totally miss this kid.
I was so happy to see her. And her happy brother.
I finished stitching the Nasty Woman cross stitch in staff meeting number 1 on Wednesday…
It’s been washed and needs to be ironed and finished into the hoop provided. Then it can go on the wall in my office under my Feminist AF hoop. Where the kids can’t see them.
I worked on this drawing a little bit during that meeting as well.
She has a head now…still not done. This is relaxing too. Seems like Calli is more relaxed than I am…
I had to go get her arthritis meds from the vet, who have a very good setup.
No interaction with other dog/cat parents. Super easy.
There’s not much on my destinations or events at the moment…
Although my phone knows when Summer Break is…it will feel much different this year.
Still sewing dots…Wednesday night was a butterfly…with the metallic thread being a pain in the ass…
Mine got all twisty and had to be stitched down.
And then last night’s…the dot wasn’t quite round, which became very apparent in the stitching…
I ripped the Palestrina knots out once, because I couldn’t get them to go down the middle…finally just left it the second time…
It’s the one on the far right…not round. Oh yeah. Oh well. Butterfly is wonky too.
OK. So what else? Girlchild is socializing with the puppy, who is kinda bitey.
All of us need a chiropractor and/or masseuse. I found an old electric massager (circa 1960-something…came with my house), but everyone is scared of it. I’m not. We also have an amazing stash of heat pads and creams for such types of pain.
This plant is in my yard. I don’t know what it is.
But it probably needs to be planted for real and not just half-assed shoved in a pot.
Speaking of that, I’ve walked three days this week, with the goal each time of noticing something new, a plant I haven’t seen or hasn’t been blooming…this was a great find…
We have agave, but not this type, so I shoved that babe in my pack.
Man that’s bright…
And this is sweet…
Gotta keep those eyeballs open…
Plus it’s good for me to get outside and moving after spending hours sitting in front of a computer.
These guys are either napping intensely or rampaging intensely.
It’s difficult to keep up.
So my goals today include trying to get all the schoolwork I can get done…done. Filling out forms, fixing typos, setting up online posts, attempting a new form of organization to support the kids (and me!). Also I need exercise today. Pilates would be a good choice. I’m also gaming tonight, but will be cutting out Wonder Under as well. Maybe I’ll draw. Maybe I’ll nap (that sounds really good at the moment…REALLY GOOD). Stay safe, stay well, buy some art, make some art, get outside if you can and just soak up some of that Vitamin D. With sunscreen. Seriously.
It’s Saturday. I have declared it a Zoom-free day. Seriously Zoomed out. I do have school stuff to do, but I shifted it until tomorrow. Tomorrow has a Zoom meeting and grocery shopping, so it’s already messy. Today should just be clean and quiet and peaceful. I wish it were cooler so I could walk…maybe I will pull that off later, but it might interfere with dinner. Sigh. I haven’t walked since Tuesday, I think, because of the heat and circumstances of over-Zooming.
I’ve decided that no one can say “I think I had COVID-19 already”. No more. Stop saying it like it’s a good reason to go out and infect people or not. Unless you’ve been tested and you know. Two of the teachers at my school did a small parade for students, which is cool, but they did it IN THE SAME CAR. With no masks. Idiotas. Seriously. What are you thinking? Masks will be mandatory in public starting next Friday here…they’ve been mandatory for essential workers so far and suggested for the public. I’m glad…maybe my grocery store will enforce the sign about masks being required that is in the window now. I’m scared of this thing…scared for me and my friends and family. I hope we all get the super-easy version or even the not-so-super-easy version, where we just feel like shit for a month and then recover. That’s easier than the hospitalized version or the ventilator version or the dead version. But just because you’re healthy and only 30-something doesn’t mean you can’t get it. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
So yes, I remain paranoid. No news there.
I’m currently waiting for the kittens to nap. Yesterday they napped most of the day, and I managed tracing between Advisory and Office Hours for about an hour or so, and then a little bit in the afternoon before they woke up again. Bastards. Nah. They’re cute. Just annoying around big pieces of paper. This was Thursday afternoon’s Zoom, where I didn’t talk much but traced for about two hours. Luna was awake but that was at the end, so I put it all away again.
Calli hangs out with me when she’s here.
It’s gotten really warm in the last few days…this corner of the house gets hit by morning sun, so it can be really warm there.
I’m glad I put LED lights in, because they give off no heat.
I’m in the low 700s, so still not even halfway. It’s not a quick process. I am done with tracing Figure number 2 now, so it’s on to Figure 3.
Last night, I didn’t trace because nobody would chillax and nap. Kitten isn’t the issue. She won’t attack the paper and she moves when I tell her to. Luna? Not so much.
So there’s progress, but it’s slow.
I’ve moved school all over the house this week. Mostly I’m at the desk near the light table, but it was too hot on Friday for that…so I moved into the office. Two computers, only one with a webcam. Plus cat.
It’s crowded in here, not ideal.
I spent a good two hours dealing with video classrooms, then another couple hours putting together the parent email and organizing stuff for next week, making posts and fixing the playlist. So it’s notionally less time than with normal school, but it feels hard right now. I need a better routine. Trying to find everyone’s scores in four different programs, soon to be six? It’s a pain in the butt. Chasing kids down via text and email and phone calls? Also a pain. Explaining the same thing 42 times? No different than in the classroom. I just can’t point to it or show them how as easily. Plus sitting and not moving around is hard for me.
So there’s all the whining out. Again, glad to have a paycheck. Glad to see kids showing up and trying. Love hearing parents say stuff about us in Spanish. I feel for the kids who are dealing with baby brothers and sisters while trying to concentrate on probability and context clues. It’s hard.
Still doing dots…here’s Thursday night’s…
It was a lot of thread colors…just to the right of the cat head.
It took me about an hour and a half while on a stitching Zoom.
Then Friday’s, while on a teacher Zoom…social…apparently…sort of…
It was a simple one, hallelujah…the one right above the blue thread.
It’s a little blurry. Nighttime photography. Ugh. When I finished that, I worked on this some more. It’s not hard…
I’ve got to put some leaves in and I’m done.
On Thursday night, because the kittens weren’t chilling out, I started drawing my April Patreon drawing.
And finished it last night. Today I’ll scan it and clean it up, and post it soon.
I still need to figure out the video for this month and that Space Cat video. Haven’t had the time or mental energy for that.
We need to use the pool more…Simba doesn’t like it, but he does a good doggie paddle.
Calli loves it and would go in every day if she were allowed…
She doesn’t like hot.
I don’t either. I need a better bathing suit though. I don’t like mine.
Kitten enjoys mommy time every evening when I’m stitching or tracing.
These are growing in my yard…fascinating flowers. The leaves poke your eyes out though.
Last photo is the pile of Jane Sassaman fabrics I got in a box from her, mostly discontinued I think. She was cleaning out her studio/stash and offered these up (for money…she’s not crazy)…and I went, hells yeah. I tend not to buy a lot of this type of stuff, because it’s harder to use in the quilts I make, but I’m going to make an attempt.
Why not? Change it up.
So today…some exercise, some tracing, sew a dot, get a dinner from somewhere, and probably watch a movie. Don’t Zoom. Don’t think about school. Don’t think about stupid people who aren’t considering getting sick. Go look at some flowers. Maybe do some yardwork…at least pick up the stuff I cut last night while trying to get the sprinklers to work better. In the dark. Very effective. Stay well, y’all, and stay the fuck home.
Have you noticed some of the weird stuff you’re buying? Or thinking about buying and then not buying because money is kind of an unknown for the future? These are things I would never think about or never buy online, because it’s so much easier to go to the store…some of these things I would never see in my normal day, or it would float past me and be gone before I could act on it, because life, work, etc, the way they were before. This is why a 7-pound box of fabric is showing up on my doorstep today. And why I bought a paper-piecing quilt pattern…hell, noez, I’m not paper piecing. I’m going to redraw it as a fusible or hand applique. I’m not crazy. I just like the imagery. And I’m NOT buying all the weird shit my Pilates teacher keeps recommending. I will just make do with the pillow and plastic bag I’ve been using so far.
Here’s the quilt, the Tattoo Quilt by Berene Campbell. You can see all her stuff on her website and Etsy.
The quilt rightfully won awards. I love the imagery and the ideas behind this quilt (although you know me…I will never do an all-white background on anything). So I got it. And if you buy 10 border blocks, she’s currently offering the center block for free, which is freakin’ awesome. We’ll see what I do with it…and if I don’t do it, then at least I’m supporting an artist who actually does some cool things for her community as well as making quilt stuff for us to do. No. I won’t be paper-piecing it. I just can’t get my head around that shit (and I don’t want to…I know I could).
The big-ass box of fabric was a late-night purchase…but a good one. I do worry about money at the moment…because nothing is guaranteed and there’s some expenses coming up that I wasn’t expecting. But it’s coming today and I’m looking forward to it. Merry Quarantine! Happy COVID-19 Celebration! Blessed Sheltering in Place!
So how’s the rest of it going? Five Zoom meetings yesterday, only one social, another four today, but two are social. I’m not sure I need this much connection at the moment, but at least I will be able to work on art or stitching stuff during the two social ones today. I’m tired…I’m not falling asleep particularly easily (shut the fuck up, Brain), and I have to be up earlier at the moment than my body really wants…plus we’re in that three-day stretch when the man gets up at 4:45 AM and then I have to try to go back to sleep after that. My brain doesn’t like it at all. Oh well. We have jobs. And paychecks.
Teaching this way sucks. Maybe some people like it but I hate it. I just want to do science with my science co-teacher and not do all this other stuff where I’m checking four different programs with 70 million clicks to get the info I need, just to see if kids are working on subjects I don’t like teaching. I hate it. But it’s better than nothing. Please don’t tell me we might be doing this for months. I can handle the 9 weeks we’re doing now. After that, I don’t want to think about that right now. I’ll think about that later.
This was yesterday’s meeting number 3…
I did meetings 3 and 4 outside…it was warm, but not too warm. I drew during the staff meeting because it was pretty repetitive. I stopped during the village meeting, because it was not repetitive and I had to do the things. On the screen. With the stuff. I wasn’t really trying for a message in this drawing…just drawing. I need to do a Patreon drawing by the weekend, but it should be smaller than this. Maybe later today. Girlchild is studying and listening to the official crap from my computer, dogs on the deck beside us. Not bad. Could be worse.
So Tuesday, I was tired of the same old walks. They’ve ‘opened’ the parks and hiking areas (sort of), but you’re not allowed to drive to them, so that still doesn’t help. I live in a hilly area, but there are lots of dead ends, so I checked the map and mapped a new hike, streets I don’t usually go on.
I had no idea how long it would be, but I’m fairly physically healthy and figured if it was really bad, I’d call a kid to come get me…but I wasn’t expecting it to be too bad. There was a new hill or two to climb (not that one)…but the best part was just new stuff to look at…
New houses, new dogs, new plants…this one was fascinating.
And the ever-present weeds…
aka wildflowers. It’s definitely Spring. I did 3.9 miles, so longer than the usual hike, but doable. Next time, I should do a Dead-End Hike and just go in and out of all the dead-end streets. It’s in the 80s today, 90s tomorrow. Makes it hard to just sit inside. Hence the outdoor meetings yesterday. I got no exercise yesterday, nowhere near enough steps in. Lame. Today I did a 27-minute Pilates class just to stretch out my neck and back, because they’ve been bugging me. I don’t really have time to walk today, unfortunately. I guess I could go on the stationary bike. That’s a good idea. Because I can read my book at the same time. I’m not getting enough reading in.
So Tuesday, the kids and dogs left early and the cats rampaged for hours. At some point, Kitten gave up, but the kittens continued.
This was her face while she was watching them race around the house, attacking shit. I kept waiting for a time I could trace stuff, but it took their dad coming home and going to bed for them to leave my shit alone enough for me to be able to work. They slept ALL FREAKIN’ MORNING of course, while I was teaching. Yes, this is just like having small children.
Last night was a late start for tracing as well, but mostly because I had book club and then did the dishes and then stitched the Sue Spargo dot for the day (I don’t want to get behind), and didn’t start tracing until 11: 15 PM.
I’ve done about 2 hours in the last two days, which is funny considering the amount of time I SHOULD have to work on quilts. Sigh. I’m in the 400s somewhere…slow slow slow. Hopefully the kittens will chillax this afternoon while I am in my quilting Zoom so I can do some more tracing. We’ll see.
Tuesday’s dot…is the top one on the far left…fourth from the bottom.
It used lots of colors…
The flower-like one on that top row under the thread. It’s pretty, but it was time consuming. They all are. I’m actually OK with that.
Last night’s was the cactus…which is really cute.
Here’s the closeup…yes, all the photos are taken at night and they aren’t great, but I can’t be bothered to leave the thread out (and forget where it came from, because I’m still borrowing from kits, plus the cats like to play with the balls and spools) and photograph in the morning.
There. The cactus one. I’ve seen today’s. It looks simple, but that probably means it’s not. It’s OK. I chose to do this. It’s fun. It’s a challenge. It’s cool.
Kitten has started bringing me my slippers…and then sitting on them.
Well. OK then. My feet ARE cold. But you should keep it. Obviously.
OK, rest of the day? Eat on time. Do Office Hours with kids. Hopefully someone besides that one lonely kid will show up. Hang out on Zoom with quilting friends and trace Wonder Under. Hang out on Zoom with stitching friends and stitch things. Maybe do more exercise. Maybe read my book. Tomorrow is Friday, hallelujah, because I need a couple of days without Zoom and school…although I have a fiber group meeting on Sunday. On Zoom. Sigh. It’s fine. IT’S FINE. I love seeing you all. I’m just tired of sitting so much and staring at tiny pictures on screens. I need like Google Glasses with Zoom so I can go on a hike while I’m talking to y’all. Not gonna go shopping for that. Nope.
Kathy Nida 