Separated Pieces…

S I G H. OK, the new school year isn’t too bad (knock on wood). There’s a few hillocks in there that I’m trying to solve (I sorta went off yesterday)…and I’m not into my routine yet (go take your damn insulin, woman). Two mornings since school started, I forgot to take my insulin. Once, I was halfway to school. The second time, I was at school, in a meeting. So yeah, I drove home. I’ll be in the bedroom, getting socks, and I’ll say, “don’t forget your insulin”, and then somehow, I’m out the door and forgetting it. Yes, I have alarms on my phone. Yes, I ignore them (actually, yesterday, I started early, so I wouldn’t have seen the alarm before I left). Anyway. I need to get that routine going.

This is the first full week of school with kids, so yes, it has been exhausting. I know I’ll get used to it, but I’m not there yet. I was convinced yesterday was Friday, but no. I need to move one kid’s schedule still and contact parents. I didn’t have time to deal with it yesterday. My co-teacher and I were all excited about an app that we thought would help kids; turns out AI can be really lame sometimes. This is one of those times. Which sucks, because they market to schools. They even admit that part sucks. Good times.

Speaking of AI, I use an app that sends me new clothing to possibly purchase about 4 times a year. I hate shopping for clothes, so this keeps me in stuff that’s not full of holes. It’s now using AI to help me write a note to my person who picks my stuff, and it was scary good. It looked at what I had bought before, analyzed it, asked me a few questions, gave me some samples to yay or nay, and then wrote the note from that. Accurate as shit. So. There’s that. We’ll see what shows up…if it’s all ruffles and polyester, we’ll know it fucked up.

OK. So the art stuff. I finished cutting out all the pieces for the current quilt…just over 15 hours of that.

Last night, after an artists’ talk, I sorted them all (went to bed late)…

It took an hour and a half. One box has all the pieces that separated…fabric from paper backing…a lot this time. Hopefully I’ll figure out where they all go. Ugh. Hate that part. They’re all like tiny. So ideally, I should be able to start ironing together tonight. I’ll be ironing for a while.

The artist talk was very small, but they were nice. We listed to one artist talk about the series of photographs she’d done, which was nice. Then two of us from the show also talked. So maybe 5 minutes? I only took a few photos…but this is the show that opened back in July and I had photos back then.

There are fewer people in the way here though than at the opening. This is Infinite Rivers at the Front Arte Cultura Gallery in San Ysidro.

There’s some interesting artifacts borrowed for the exhibit that work well with the newer pieces.

I have two pieces in the show; it’s up until September 13. It is a really nice show.

That’s all I’ve got. I’m exhausted this week. I have started grading stuff, so it’s downhill from here. Not really; it just feels that way. I am going to the Oceanside Museum of Art tomorrow for their opening; I finally just got a membership so I don’t have to think as hard about whether I want to go…now I have to go to make sure the membership isn’t wasted. So I’m looking forward to that. And hopefully ceramics at some point. And ironing (it’s hot…why do I iron when it’s hot? No one knows.). and I remembered my insulin today, so that’s a plus. Four out of five school days…could be worse.

Nothing Day

I woke up today, after the dog had been boofing on and off for an hour (dude does not know how to sleep in), thinking cool, I have a day with nothing on it. Nothing that has to be done. No place I have to be…what a wondrous thing. What an amazing occasion. I fed the cat and the dog, talked to the boychild who just got home from work and will probably disappear for most of the summer into wildfires. I missed a phone call while I was peeing the dog. Came back in, took a sip of my tea, and there it was…radiology scheduling calling me. WTF. So yeah, another biopsy. Not thrilled. I have a call into the doctor to see if they’re just staring at scar tissue from last year’s surgery or something new. Anxiety level increased…from mostly nothing (except for like government/war/end of planet anxiety) to not nothing…mostly the opposite of that. Not appreciated. So now I’m waiting on the doctor to call, waiting three weeks for the biopsy (guess it’s not an emergency, which is fine, good, except for the anxious part of my brain). I was trying to look back at my medical info from last year, as to what kind of biopsy it was, if it’s the same kind (I think it is)…but the damn app updated in March and the biopsy was in February, so I can’t see any of the records for the appointment. Aargh. Whatever. Distract myself with other stuff, with getting ready for my residency. Making sure I have the materials collected (or honestly, FOUND in this house) to try the things I want to try.

I did manage to finish quilting the Spargo Chirp quilt…

Finished all the birds and then found a green thread in my stash that worked for the borders.

Nice to use up stuff I already have…

So it’s ready to be trimmed and bound. Maybe today. We’ll see. Because I also started drawing the next art quilt.

I did a pen drawing the other day that absolutely sucked. I started in pencil, full size, last night. Still not ready to ink. Still processing. Still trying to decide what parts of what is going on in the world I want to focus on, or will I even be able to focus, because honestly, sometimes my brain goes into overdrive here. I might ink some tonight. Maybe. If I feel ready for it. It’s got a lot of human rights rolling around, but I’m not entirely sure what it looks like yet. Much like my summer. Does it look like art art art? Hopefully.

Here’s three out of four cats on the bed.

I disturbed the boy and he left, but the aunties stayed and napped. My old lady won’t leave the office at this point, mostly because the boy harasses her. Not ideal. She fights back…loudly.

OK. Today is apparently Friday. Tomorrow is a bit chaotic. I want to take a shower, but figure, the second I get in is when the doc calls. Frustrating that they don’t call BEFORE radiology calls. This is not the first time. My last doc had the same issue, but made the point of calling last January, because she heard me complain about a previous time, when I was walking into a staff meeting and they called to set up a redo mammogram with no warning. Meanwhile, doc wants me to reduce stress so blood sugar will behave. WEEELLLLL. OK. I’m trying, but maybe you and my left boob should have a conversation about how to help me with that.

Anyway. I need to pack two quilts to be delivered next week to this show…

Casa Familiar is proud to announce the opening of a new exhibition at The Front Arte y Cultura – “Infinite Rivers”, one that explores artisanal practices, traditions, and crafts that have been passed down through generations.

Join us for an opening reception on July 12th, 5pm-7pm at The FRONT Gallery (147 W San Ysidro Blvd, San Ysidro Ca 92154)

Infinite Rivers will run through September 13, 2025.

Featuring works from indigenous artists from the Kumeyaay community, Chemehuevi, Zapotec, Huichol, Taraumara communities, as well as artists from San Diego-Tijuana, Lebanon, and Colombia. The pieces exhibited share dialogue between the traditional and the contemporary – showing that while some are kept intact, some are constantly evolving.

“Infinite Rivers invites us to appreciate these practices from a caring and culturally conscious approach.” – Francisco Eme, Gallery Director and curator.

Featured artists:

Anabel Alarcón @anniepock
Andrea Echeverri @andrea_chevere
Cara Romero @cararomerophotography
Daria Mariscal
Diana Benavidez @pinata.jpg
Doris Bittar @doris.bittar
Eva Salazar
Francisco Eme @franciscoeme
Kathy Nida @knida
Laura Estela Huerta @stellamohr
Luvia Lazo @luvialazo
Natalia Toledo @natalia.toledo1
Raymundo de la Rosa
Taller Fango: arte de Barro Negro @fango_artedebarronegro

There’s all the info for you. It was nice to be asked to participate in this exhibit. Hell, it’s always nice to be asked. I entered another exhibition opportunity earlier this week, and have another one coming up. I really just need to make new work, so it makes sense that I’m planning a huge complicated piece instead of a series of smaller pieces. Ah well. It is how my brain works. And maybe some of the stuff that comes out of the week I’m in a residency will turn into some smaller pieces. We’ll see.

Here’s the owl cam capturing another SpaceX launch, one that didn’t blow up or crash.

Kind of cool. Even if the guy in charge is a dick.

So trim a quilt, work on a drawing, do some yard work. Try not to think about the boobage. All good.

The Stars Look Very Different Today*

It’s International Women’s Day. Tell a woman how awesome she is. Better yet, tell some people how awesome they are. It doesn’t really matter if they were born a woman or identify as a woman. Don’t tell them how pretty they are. Don’t ask them to smile. Don’t tell them to calm down. Don’t make it about you today. That goes for all you other women and female-identifiers too. We are our strongest supporters. Be one today. A supporter.

Me? I’m going to school and giving a test. This is apparently a surprise to some, like the kid who was emailing me yesterday afternoon, and then again an hour later to tell me I hadn’t answered yet (I didn’t see either email until I was at an art opening). He’s a nice kid in general though, so I took a breath and answered him. Three hours later. (like just look at your planner, kid. You wrote it down.)

I spent time at the doctor yesterday, still trying to figure out my Intercostal Alien. Seriously. That’s the new name of this random intermittent pain that I’ve had for 5+ months now. At least we have a plan to move forward at this point. We still don’t know what it is, and I’m annoying the gastro doctor (no, she’s been very nice), but whatever. Moving on. Trying to be healthy, exercise lots, and not freak out too much. As usual.

WordPress has apparently changed the damn app again, so I’m typing along, trying to figure out how to add pictures.

Oh there they are. Sigh. So I went to the opening last night of #rrrr Reduced, Restricted, Reserved but Resilient, where my piece Portrait of the Artist as a Young Woman is hanging.

I get my own movable wall. I’m excited about that. I’ll post more about the show tomorrow, because I have a parent meeting this morning and I barely made it to work yesterday on time, so I have to do better today. Plus I have duty and I’m giving that test, so it would be nice to be ready for that. Which I’m not.

You’ll be glad to know that my last period of the day got enough sunshine to do their sunprints yesterday. They were glad. I was glad. It was a little crazy.

Closeup of my piece. There’s always interesting work in this show, based around El Dia de La Mujer. I had a guy introduce himself and say he liked my work, and I was so tired, I didn’t really have a conversation. Whoops. Sorry if that was you. I hadn’t eaten dinner and I’d been ON for like way too many hours by then. Try me again. I’ll be more forthcoming. (Maybe. Wait. I should admit that I’m not socially ept.)

I came home, ate, and then even though I brought work home, I didn’t do it. It was almost 11 when I started tracing again.

I see progress though. I’m up in her hair…so just her hair and face are left to do, I think. And the sun. There’s a lot of details in there, but I’m more than halfway done. I am incredibly behind on grades again though. Sigh. I refuse to grade tomorrow. Seriously.

Details. I traced the cat. Last thing I did, just after midnight. OK. So off to school, successful day, meeting with friends tonight (always look forward to that), some stitching, some tracing, some SLEEP. Yeah baby. Sleep.

*Peter Schilling, Major Tom

And in Return You Gave Them Hell*

Definitely sick. Named this cold after the snuffly kid who’s been sitting in front of me really snottily for over a week. Stole the Kleenex box multiple times. It’s officially my one cold per school year. It’s never good timing, is it? I mean, no one wants a cold. So a field trip day could be worse…it could be a day when I have to talk the whole day in the classroom. So today, I will be watching a musical with a bunch of 7th graders. I think I can do that. Except I wonder when I will get to pee. I always wonder that. People who have jobs where they can pee whenever they need to…sigh.

We hiked again after school yesterday…I got home early enough and needed the exercise.

So apparently did the dogs…

Random pretty shit you see by the side of the road…

Makes up for any trash we saw before that, eh? The rains mean the weeds are plentiful and sometimes beautiful.

Similar view after…post-dinner grading…with furry beasts.

“I’m trying to keep my eyes open but I just can’t.” So I graded another assignment. Unfortunately, that goes pretty late some nights. Needs to be done though. Then I had to find, iron, dehair, and pack up a quilt to be delivered today after school for this show…

I like the space this annual exhibit is in…

It’s local and there’s interesting artists I don’t usually see in there. Looking forward to the opening.

Then it was 11 PM. I was smart and cleaned the entryway floor while someone else cooked dinner, so it was dry and ready to go. Because no way am I mopping at 11 PM. OK. Well. I have. But not last night.

It’s a challenge to start this that late, especially since I was definitely feeling this cold last night. But I did…laid it out.

And then trimmed it straight and mostly even…

She’s 76″ wide and a little over 66″ high. Big one. And now she’s ready for the binding. Hopefully tonight, I’ll get that attached so I can hand sew for a few days (and holes in my fingers). But first a field trip and driving to San Ysidro to drop off a quilt and the gym is on my list, but IDK if that’s gonna be in the cards. I hope so. I want to read and exercise. I want to feel WELL ENOUGH to do those things. Right now it’s a little questionable.

*Tears for Fears, Shout

We’re in for Nasty Weather*

I’m debating taking light bulbs to school. For one thing, I think I bought a bunch last year and they are in the prep room somewhere…I just can’t remember where. Second, right now, the skies are clear and blue…which is what I need for today’s lab. But I know a storm is coming in and that clear blue isn’t going to last. But will it last until 3:15 or so? Because that’s all I need. These are the weatherperson skills I need…predicting when the clouds will roll in. My weather app shows partly cloudy until 7 pm. The other app I look at is showing clouds at 11 AM and possible rain starting at 1 pm. Huh. Well. Better go find the lightbulbs.

OK. I’m back. Lightbulbs in a bag, just in case. My job is weird. Today I will get in about 15,000 steps before I ever leave school…just because of a lab. Plus I’m watching for rain. Because photosynthesis and rain aren’t really friends. Especially with 7th graders.

Anyway, so yesterday…I made it to the gym, even finished my book. I’m making it through the assignments that need to be done in the next week or so, slowly though. I finally got to draw at 11:25 PM. Maybe I should’ve gone to sleep, but since it took me a good long time to fall asleep, I think I made a good choice. I was tired…but the brain won’t shut up. I couldn’t get comfortable…too hot, too cold, too flat, head up too high, cat down by feet in just the wrong spot. Someone snoring…well, eventually that stopped, so that helped. I love all the beasts in my bed…they just don’t help me fall asleep.

Anyway, progress on anything is slow…no quilting last night, just the drawing. It was easier to focus on…

I was looking at one of the other drawing fails last night for hair ideas, but I didn’t focus on the hair in the long run. I’m not sure what I want to do with the hair yet. One drawing has what looks like lightning; the other has kelp. So I focused on finishing the dirt, because I was going off the original on that…mostly.

So that part is done anyway…oh yeah, and I added a tree to her arm…

And she’s fully rooted now.

First appearance of a pillbug in a Nida quilt. Exciting stuff. Anyway, I realized that I didn’t have to finish quilting the big quilt before I start working on this quilt. There’s no imminent deadline for finishing the other one. It’s just that I usually do. Otherwise things go unfinished, and apparently, as I age, that irritates my Art Brain more and more. Finish ALL THE THINGS. Which is not a bad philosophy, if it makes sense. I have two art quilts that are decidedly not finished and may never be. So there’s that. One only needs the binding done…the other needs paint. And lots of it. Even that might not save it.

So I could finish this tonight…but here’s today’s schedule: parent meeting at 8, prep the lab (mostly done) before school starts at 9. Teach all day at a crazy running pace, hoping for sun and no rain, then a 2-hour meeting at the district office about curriculum, and book club an hour later. That one might very well fall by the wayside…which is too bad. I like book club, I like talking about the books we’re reading, and I’m on the third book in that series because it’s good. And I need the socialization outside of my job. But exhaustion will probably win out. We’ll see. Then after all that? Am I making art? I hope so. But I’m already running on less than 6 hours of sleep. Ugh. I think that’s the top thing my doc wishes I would do: sleep more. Why? I’m really bad at it. I lie around wide awake a lot as it is. Then she’d like me to exercise more. So would I, but life gets in the way. OK, though, it’s time to get out of here for Task 1. Then art at the end. Goals.

Oh yeah, I got into a local show…#rrrr Reduced, Restricted, Reserved but Resilient, showing at The Front in San Ysidro. It’s the 12th Annual Dia de la Mujer Art Exhibition. It’s a really nice space. The opening is March 7…more to follow.

*Talking Heads, Burning Down the House

The Pleasure, the Privilege Is Mine*

Some much-needed rain today…we’re at less than 3 inches for the year, so far, and this is the rainy season. The dogs aren’t happy though. Sometimes I think the puppy will hold his pee for days just to avoid wet feet.

I’m at the point in this quilt where I’m dealing with a lot of little tiny pieces, instead of the big sweeping bits of earth and sky, so it looks like I haven’t done much, when I’ve ironed 100 pieces together. Last night, I cut out all the little holes in the second line of the text and laid them out…

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I haven’t ironed them down yet…I want to wait until I get the figures ironed down, so I can get the curve right near the arm.

So then I started on the left figure…

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Again, this is about 80 pieces (lots of finger bits)…the back is another 100 pieces, I think.

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So it’s gonna take me a couple days to get through that I think. I’m hoping to finish this figure tonight. But I’m also trying to get through grades and do things like cook dinner etc. And maybe get enough sleep (ha! Never gonna happen…).

I did sew a few more circles on after dinner last night…on this from a million years ago. It’s just filler stitching…for when I’m not quite ready to get up and iron.

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More ironing tonight. I have a goal…makes it easier.

I have a quilt in this exhibit coming up. I’m looking forward to being at the opening…

I have a lot of openings coming up…this is one of the ones I can go to, luckily. Tonight I do need to pack up another quilt for shipping for another LA show. I forgot to do that last night…oh well. So many things on my calendar shift days as needed.

OK, off to school. The unit is ending, so today is test day and tomorrow they turn in the last month-plus of work. Always a bit stressful…and then I have like 5 days to grade them all. Crazy really on my part. Oh well. Job of a teacher.

*The Smiths, There Is a Light That Never Goes Out