Working on It…

Ah, my head is filled with things. I have to admit to being a hermit when I’m head down, making a piece. I don’t watch the news, I rarely read it, I barely surface for meals, I don’t leave the house if I can help it. Sometimes bits and pieces of it surface when the people around me say something, and then I fall down a Google rabbit hole. I heard about Nia Wilson a few days ago, but didn’t follow up until this morning. Young woman of color, killed randomly (or not? probably not.). Shit. This world sucks for women in general, but add color to the mix and it explodes in their faces. Imagine as a mom…I worry about my kids all the time, but they’re white. It’s a million times safer to send them out into the world than if they were of color. It’s interesting (or telling, maybe) that so many times, we hear that the white murderer has mental issues…does this make it OK? Sure, the US does not manage psych issues well…there are very few ways to get some people help, but still…WHY did he murder a young black girl and try to kill her sister? Sigh. There is so much violence. None of it is OK, but it’s hard to believe racism wasn’t part of this death. If you raise your children to be blind to racism (and perhaps I didn’t do enough there…I constantly check myself in the classroom, with race, culture, religion, and gender…did I do enough?), then you are part of the problem. It isn’t enough to treat all races, cultures, religions, and genders the same (is equality enough? No, equity is the aim…make up for the privilege)…you have to acknowledge that there are stereotypes and incorrect beliefs in play. Constantly. I know this is something I try to do All the Time in my classroom. Do I do it everywhere else? Nope. I’m sure I don’t. Working on it.

So that’s in my head as I’m starting to pick out fabrics for this new quilt, which is hard to explain in terms of theme, but has more distinct human figures in it than any quilt I’ve ever made (they’re all female…which is another issue I keep going over in my head…the thought of gender and how it determines what we are, or not, and how to portray alternate gender issues from my perspective, which seems woefully incomplete). In my last multiple-women quilt, I had a long moment where I was troubled by my own whitewashing of experience. So much of my work is interior, based on my experience, not quite autobiographical, but mostly…yeah…me. So self-centered, white, but we do what we know? I can’t speak for others. But this quilt is about a wider experience of female, about viewpoints and issues and saving the Earth…really, it’s my brain on the news, a small portion of the news. Not all the women in the quilt are meant to be white. More of a universal womanscape…so my brain is percolating over whether it’s even OK for me to talk about immigration when it doesn’t affect me directly, unless you consider my students who are affected by it. But I won’t be deported. I won’t be torn away from my children (this pains me so greatly, those parents who were sent back without their children…WTF are the people in charge thinking, and if you say to me that those parents DESERVE that because they brought their kids up here, I will let loose in a rant about safety and asylum so verbose that the words might bury you). But there is immigration in the quilt. And pollution. And birth. And loss. And abortion. And breastfeeding in public. And the male gaze. Dick pics. Geez. And how to portray women of color in a way that doesn’t perpetuate racism or stereotypes or assumptions. I’m working on it.

It’s not pretty. It probably won’t get into the show for which I’m making it. That’s OK. I think sometimes I have to make these just to get some of this shit out of my head. Although getting this…Nia?…out of my head? Not happening. Love to her family. May she receive justice, although I don’t think that ever makes up for a death. If John Cowell is really mentally ill, maybe he will get the help he needs, but that will never make up for killing an 18-year-old woman.

We have to speak up. Us white folks, we have to hold the world accountable, best we can. Better than we can.

With all that in my head, here’s a rattlesnake skin picked up on the last hike…

Yeah, I just left it on the hat rack. Like you do.

I started ironing yesterday with the oil slicks. I got fabric for that.

Hell, I’ve got fabric for everything. Who am I kidding?

Then all the water…this took a while, both to pick and to iron.

I took a break. Satchemo enjoying the breeze with the second tower of Wonder Under pieces. Hopefully he won’t knock that over.

Boychild made dinner. This incorporation of three people into meal choices can be difficult.

‘Twas tasty.

Then I saw this message in multiple places explaining the Original Sewing and Quilting Expo’s official reason for removing the Threads of Resistance exhibit from their last two shows…

Um. Yeah. Right. (cough…bullshit). Hey, I don’t have a problem with your pulling it because your sponsors and vendors objected and threatened to pull out…but be honest about it, please? Sure, your vendors and sponsors don’t want to be called out, but hell, this world would be a better place with some sincere honesty. Then I can look at the sponsors and decide if that’s where I need to focus my efforts next (there are three sponsors listed whose products I use all the time…). I find that often the negative comments are so loud that vendors and organizers can’t hear the positive comments. Maybe they need to hear those. Louder. Like, I made my Threads of Resistance quilts USING YOUR PRODUCTS. I have a Viking sewing machine. I use Sulky threads. I use Wonder Under. I buy fabric from just about ALL the companies. My batting is Warm and Natural. There. Those guys. (By the way, none of them have given me anything for free…)

I’m back to this, although having a wool quilt on your lap in summer is still an issue. I haven’t been working on it at all.

Time to get the balls done. Seriously.

Then back to ironing. I set a goal for yesterday of 6-8 hours of ironing…I made 6. Every time I took a rest (from standing and the heat in here of ironing under bright lights with little air flow), I would let myself sit for a bit and then I would say, I need to go back to ironing. It worked.

Here’s the mermaid earth mother…all in greens and purples.

I still need to do her internal organs and her hair. I quit just after midnight. I was tired.

So I’m in the 400s, but there are some of the 300s that aren’t ironed yet. The pile of stuff to be cut out and the pile of fabrics used so far.

Based on yesterday, it’s going to take more than 25 hours, but not much more. Today’s goal? Another 6-8 hours…hopefully on the longer end of it, because I’m starting earlier. Although I might need to leave the house. I can’t handle anything else when I’m in this space, in this head space. Careful introspection of how to depict women of color in this quilt. Sometimes I just want to make them all rainbows, but that’s a cop out too. Working on it.

Kept Alive by the Pouring of the Moonlight*

I’ve been listening this morning to Sue Bleiweiss, one of the organizers of Threads of Resistance, talk on the Just Wanna Quilt podcast run by Dr. Elizabeth Townsend Gard about the Threads of Resistance exhibit and the reactions at the Texas and North Carolina shows…very interesting to hear. Sue says something during the podcast about why we (sometimes controversial) art quilters do what we do…basically, we have something to say and we want people to hear/see it…to have those of a like mind have a place to feel validated and maybe motivated to make change or art in response, but also to have those who disagree see other viewpoints. I know I surround myself with people who think a lot like I do about politics, and it’s not a bad thing to hear other viewpoints. Hearing them doesn’t make me necessarily believe in them, but I think the conversation is important. To have a group like the Artist Circle Alliance put this show together and find venues and create and print a beautiful catalog is an amazing thing. I’m one person who mostly sits in her house and doesn’t talk to humans in person and makes art for hours on end…and I fully appreciate all the work they’ve done to make this show happen so my voice and others can be heard.

So when people demand that the show be canceled or they boycott an event where many other things are hung and vendors are selling stuff, solely because of one piece of the show that they object to, it is a way to silence those voices…to shut down parts of the country that have valid opinions and beliefs. I understand, for example, not wanting to be part of the Women’s March because you don’t agree with what it stands for…I don’t understand trying to shut the march down so no one can voice their thoughts. The United States has a history of shutting down certain groups, of not listening, and I had hoped we were moving into more open communication in the last 10 years, but it seems all those thoughts and feelings will not be allowed. That is unfortunate. It’s not what’s best for the country. As a teacher, I always have to consider the child, each one of them, and decide what is best for my students…as a whole and as 150 or so individuals. It’s difficult. No, sometimes it’s a rancid pain in the ass. I do it anyway, because it’s right. Same here. We need to allow discussion, expose misconceptions, shine light on some of these thoughts in order to come together. It doesn’t mean we have to agree…although agreeing on some basic human rights would be nice. If you just shut down discussion, though, no change can happen.

Anyway…it’s hot here in Southern California…not as hot as it will be tomorrow, but hot nonetheless. Heat waves in July…no climate change, yeah? Right. This was me and Kitten for a good chunk of yesterday…resizing pictures (Kitten is useless at this)…

Watching videos about installing portable air conditioners (still useless, Kitten)…

I’m debating this thing…it’s huge in here, but it does cool the room off. But it’s gigantic and loud and this isn’t a big room and I have to have the door closed and then the animals can’t come in and I’m not sure if I like it or not and I don’t know whether to keep it.

Sigh. The air conditioner is causing me stress.

Last night, I cut stuff out for over 4 hours…Puppy came and went. There’s a fan to the left of him, so I have to place the box appropriately so all my bits of Wonder Under trash don’t fly all over the room.

I changed to a bigger box. I knew I had to be up early to deal with tree guys, so I went to bed…well…not really very early, honestly. Oh well. If I’d stayed up another 30 minutes, I would have finished the Wonder Under cutting extravaganza.

‘Twas not to be. Many people (OK, only two) thought my scissors were onion rings. Now I’m hungry for onion rings. I’ve never made onion rings before.

Nope. Just my beat-up old scissors. Seriously, they are puppy-chewed. But they are the best for this. No drag, comfortable for hours of cutting. Strange, I know, considering their non-paddedness.

This is all I had left…about half a yard.

I finished this morning before 8 AM. Ugh. I don’t like before 8 AM. That was 12 hours and 20 minutes total of cutting…on Thursday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Well and 23 minutes on Tuesday morning. Not bad.

Here are the trees in question. Not the best picture. I have two giant ficus trees right next to the house, and as they have grown and grown and grown, they now pose some branchy issues for the next storm. Yes, I am dreaming of storms.

A view from the backyard…over the house. They are a bit rampant. And the bougainvillea has grown into them. I have lots of trees. I love trees. I’m hoping this guy is good and not a lollipoper. I hate when they lollipop trees.

Because I’ll use his business again if he’s good.

Anyway, now I’m ready to sort Wonder Under into 19 bins by number. But that’s the eastern side of the house and it is currently in full sun. So maybe I’m in here typing and then cleaning up and trying to decide about this damn beast of a cooling machine. I think an in-wall unit makes more sense, but that isn’t happening any time soon, is it? Nope. It’s not. Aargh. Heat makes me a little crazy, I have to admit.

There’s the bins, waiting for the sun to hit its zenith. Plus I have to take Calli to the vet this morning. It’s gonna take a good 2 hours to sort those.

So sometime this afternoon for that, ironing by the evening, I’m hoping. I need a background (hoping I already have that too). Cleaning for now. Oh. And I have a copyediting job that just popped up. Ah timing.

*IAMDYNAMITE, Stereo

Open-Minded Snowflake

You’ve probably heard (if you care) that the Threads of Resistance exhibit got pulled from two shows, one in Virginia and one in Michigan (wow, I don’t know anything about dealing with censorship in those two states…excuse the irony). The problems started in Texas, though, and continued in North Carolina. There’s no definitive answer as to why, but one assumes it has something to do with complaints and vendors and how the organizers make their money.

I’m back to that belief that we should allow differing opinions without demanding that organizers shut down exhibits because they are that offensive to someone. I would say that there’s something about our current political climate that makes people think they can demand that their viewpoint is more important than anyone else’s, but realistically, that’s not true. Censorship has been around longer than that. It’s disappointing that (a) the organizers did not stand by their commitment to the exhibit and (b) that people have to be so narrow-minded as to not allow other viewpoints to be around them. If I were in an exhibit of work by say Trump supporters or of anti-feminist work or anti-immigration pieces, I would view them and maybe converse with organizers or artists if they were available. I wouldn’t get angry. I would ask them why they feel that way or dig a little deeper (if allowed), and then what I wouldn’t do is go demand the organizers remove that exhibit or piece from the show. I am an open-minded snowflake, you see. Maybe more people should try that. But you know those people aren’t reading this blog.

Note to self: Don’t talk to people on Facebook unless you know them in person, and even then, it’s questionable. I just hate it when people make shit up, though. I often start typing something and just delete it. It’s better that way. So conversations have to be in person? Maybe. Maybe when they’re looking you in the face, they can’t call you ignorant 17 times. Sigh. Seriously. This is like my day job.

I can’t walk away from Facebook, unfortunately…I have at least one group where I manage their postings. So I’m on there. I just need to moderate my own responses even more than I already do. Or maybe not.

Threads of Resistance will continue to the shows in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New York…no worries there. And both of my pieces have body parts (they both have penises! And uteri! And boobs!), so they are in what one woman called the “vulgar” room. You know, the old definition of “vulgar” was characteristic of or belonging to the masses…so I’m OK with that. Here’s the two pieces (weird that they both have trees in them, eh?)…Work in Progress and Absolutely Nothing…

Meanwhile, I’ve gotten almost nothing done today except researching portable air conditioners and trying to get the tree guy to call me back. Yesterday was better…although I need to get used to having that quarterly meeting in the middle of the day instead of in the afternoon. I can’t get anything done before it, and it was a stretch to get stuff done afterwards. During the school year might be more difficult.

Oh yeah, we had a peregrine falcon by the pool on Saturday. Very cool…not sure I’ve seen one of them locally, although they are native. Apparently. Great picture, right? We tried to get closer and of course, he flew off.

We went to the opening at Visions Art Museum down in Liberty Station…Kathy Weaver’s works were amazing. I have liked her work for many years and it was nice to see it up close. Then on to dinner at Soda & Swine, one of our favorites, even if we can’t ever remember which is spicier, the Hog or the Swine.

Then home, where I finished weaving this for the meeting the next day, although the woman I was supposed to be handing it over to wasn’t there, ironically. Strangely, I thought this and the two small quilts had to be done by yesterday, so I worked to get them done, and both of them are still sitting around my house. Oh well, I’ll mail this off…

I finished tracing Wonder Under Saturday night at around 9:30 PM, with a total of 22 hours (just under the 23 I finally estimated, but over the 20 hours I originally guessed). I had already started cutting out on Thursday. I think there were about 10 yards of Wonder Under total (some really big pieces)…

Saturday night, I finished the half yard from before and cut out another yard…so that was 4. I guess that means there were 11 yards, although one’s not full. Because there were 7 yards left on Saturday night…

Yesterday, puppy was really tired. He was so happy here…tummy scritches and a fan blowing his fur around. Bliss.

After dinner last night, I watched Harlots (for the costumes, of course) and cut more Wonder Under out.

OK, so shows like Harlot are entertaining, but then the feminist in me gets upset about the stereotypes and the portrayal of women and the lack of realism in general, and then I wonder what I can actually watch any more that is just kinda fun and interesting and not causing me to question my entire existence. I can’t watch movies any more without wondering why the women always need help, get kidnapped, wear totally inappropriate clothing for the task at hand, or just outright get killed. Something about being old and female, I guess. By the way, if you ever watch The Rover, the whole movie is pointless until the last 5 minutes, and you don’t know it’s pointless until the last 5 minutes.

I kept watching Harlots (with the great costumes) with the hot and furry boy curled up next to me.

I only have 4 yards left to cut out…so at some point on Sunday, I must have gotten 3 or 4 yards cut out. The box is full…I’ll have to upgrade to a larger one.

So I started writing this post in the morning, a good 5 or 6 hours ago, and then got heavily side-tracked by a need for cooler air. We researched air conditioners, we’re currently testing a portable unit in my office (it’s a bit large), we looked at a wall unit that was heavily ensconced in years of dust in my parents’ barn. We bought another fan. We might take back the portable unit if it doesn’t do what I need it to do. Sigh. And maybe plan for sometime in the next year or so to put a wall unit in here. Part of the remodel? The remodel I can’t afford? Yeah.

Well the tree guys are coming tomorrow morning really early, to beat the heat, so that’s a whole ‘nother issue. I can’t leave the house while they’re here…the dogs are gonna be frantic. I have to be up early. I want to be working on something. If I finish cutting out all the Wonder Under tonight (possible), then I don’t have a background fabric yet…unless something lying around here would work. Maybe. But I can sort Wonder Under and maybe get started on fabric…but only if I decide permanently what to do about this giant beast of an A/C unit in my office. Double sigh. Because I had to move a bunch of stuff around so I could get the window vent in, and I need to decide if that’s a permanent thing, or if we’re gonna leave it jimmy-rigged like this for the next two months and then take it out when it cools off again. Aargh. Decisions. It’s too hot to make them. I can decide to publish this thing though. That I can do.

Just Chill…

Interesting virus I have. I was spacey and not feeling well on Wednesday, but yesterday I felt mostly OK. Today? Nope. Not. And I’m almost out of meds. Stupid. Because I thought I was getting better. How? It’s the end of the school year. No one gets better at the end of the year…we just get worse and worse and more and more miserable until someone releases us from the hell that is the last week of school with kids.

So let’s think positively. In one week’s time, there will be no students in my classroom. I will be cleaning my classroom out so I can leave early (well, after a team meeting). Then I will have the REST of the day off. On a Friday. While other people are at work. I will be able to pee WHENEVER I WANT. Oh man. That was lovely to type. I could even NAP if I wanted to. At the end of the day, I will not have to work another 2-3 hours to try to get caught up on grading and planning because I don’t have enough time to do that at work. I will not have any extra meetings after school to take up my time and energy. I can just hang out, finish my book, sit in the sun, whatever. In fact, if I needed to run an errand, I could do that, instead of trying to fit all of them in over the weekend. Yeah. I might have the brainspace to actually draw something (it’s been a while guys…very frustrating).

I’m trying very hard not to think about the jury duty part. Because thinking about it stresses me out. And the 3, possibly 4 days of school-related meetings before the end of June. Not thinking about those either, although I should at some point remember to print out all the crap I need for those.

Yup. I keep talking myself out of the crazy. (or do I?) Kitten is not sure.

She’s been hiding since Katie arrived.

So I had a stitching meeting last night and I actually did some embroidery, but I forgot to take a picture of it. I’ll be doing more tonight, so hopefully I’ll get a photo at some point of two-nights-worth of stitchy wondrousnous.

Then I ironed for a bit. A short bit. I was tired. Still am, who am I kidding? I got the big cat ironed together and a cloud and some raindrops and honestly that might have been it.

I don’t remember being particularly amazing last night. Although it might be amazing that I got anything done at all, honestly.

It’s coming.

Meanwhile, two of my quilts are in Texas this weekend with the Threads of Resistance exhibit, and apparently those behind this curtain (including mine, of course, due to the penises included plus boobs and uteri, dontcha know) have caused a minor kerfuffle…

Some part of me wishes we never had to have this sign, but at least they’re not pulling my work from the show or calling Fox News (been there, done that). You can check out the whole very amazing exhibit in Arlington, Texas, at the Original Sewing & Quilt Expo…plus check out the people who are shocked by our work. Smile at them and nod. Say “Bless their heart” if you need to .

OK, early meeting…last one of the year, I hope. Then teaching HIV and AIDS. Then gaming (long day…). Then this weekend, I finish grades and hopefully get some free time to just chill. Hopefully.

All the Roads We Have to Walk Are Winding*

Well. So. I can finally quilt this thing. I have not been as efficient as I sometimes can be. Not sure why. Lack of rice krispy treats I think. That’s probably a good thing now that I think about it.

I’m finding school frustrating; you may have noticed. I think we work hard at giving kids the supports they need to think without giving them the answers. I’m frustrated at the moment with the lack of try I see. I know, I know, they’re 12. Try is hard. It’s hard for grown adults to get up off the couch and do something every night. It’s not hard for me, really, because I like it. I like it better than the couch. I guess I’m wired slightly differently. I’m OK with that.

So I did tutoring and talked to kids who just didn’t get it. There’s one girl who goes to tutoring every day and does hardly any work. It’s just social. Better than home? Yes, for some kids, school is safer and better than home. OK. Well. I will bury my frustration and keep trying. I’m the adult in there, so I should be able to do that.

Meanwhile, I came home, cooked dinner, ate, and watched some X-Files…sewed some more balls on…see! Progress! I’m doing one color at a time. It’s relaxing.

No, that’s not parmesan. It’s all my pins. Although it’s cracked. I need a new one…pin container that is.

So I cleaned all the tile floors after dinner and then pinbasted the quilt. I only clean floors when I need to pinbaste or trim quilts…

Lying around on the ground pinning at 10 PM is the best way to end your day.

I had a hard enough time getting up off the ground.

Wow…that’s some foreshortening. No way is that boob that big…

My work made it into Textile Fibre Forum…part of the Threads of Resistance exhibit…

It’s always interesting to hear someone else write about your work. I didn’t make that piece with the thought of Adam and Eve, but I do see how everyone sees that.

This quilt, Rooted in America, made it into Fantastic Fibers, hallelujah. I’m so glad this piece is going out in the world.

Especially right now…

From last night’s episode of Electric Dreams…

Great version of that song.

*Cat Power (and Oasis), Wonderwall

I Can’t Control What I’m Going Through Now*

OK. Well the girlchild is on the first of three planes over the next 36 hours or so. She comes back in 104 days (she actually goes back to Boston, not San Diego, but that’s way closer than Madagascar). Hopefully she has what she needs. Certainly we tried to make sure she did.

She was in here, the office/studio, last night while I was sewing, practicing her French. She can introduce her husband and her sister (she has neither) and ask where the bathroom is. She should be fine.

Me? I’ve been up since 4 AM and have work with 150 7th graders today. I will be fine. I went a whole year and a half where I only slept like 4-5 hours a night (that is actually more than I got last night, honestly though).

Her bag is only 51 pounds. There’s a backpack in there, a tent, a sleeping bag, and a ton of useful crap. I think.

Sending her off. She does not want me to take her photo this early in the morning. I don’t blame her…but there’s proof I got her in the TSA line.

Last night, I guess my brain finally stopped stalling and let me finish the stitch down.

It did not take long…only about an hour over what I’d already spent on it.

Two hours and 13 minutes total…so short on a little quilt!

So then I found some backing fabric…I was going to use something extra and ugly, but I used the full width of a batik for the front, so honestly, batiks are usually the widest…I couldn’t find anything non-batik in the stash that was wide enough. It’s OK…this was a background for some other quilt.

I don’t usually lay them out on the studio floor. I used to iron on it…hence the holes here and there. But this was small enough.

Pinned down…ready for quilting. Maybe tonight? We’ll see. I should have graded something yesterday and I didn’t. Too wired.

Someone posted pictures of the Threads of Resistance show at the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, Massachusetts. The show is there until February 18. I think we’re behind a curtain again…Tanya Brown’s piece hanging with mine (presumably pooping is an issue for little kids to view? Not sure.).

Mine always hang together. I’m not even sure they like each other. They’re all feminists though, so that’s OK.

OK, I’m going to make myself go to school and make sense, or get some shit done, or something. Certainly with both kids gone again, I have fewer excuses. Just those in my head. The commission piece will come back in a bit…so I should be efficient and get the other binding on that other quilt…and get this small one quilted and bound, so I have something done in January. That would be a good plan. Do some of the drawing that’s kicking around in my head. A Frida Kahlo-esque piece of the girlchild is in there…the boychild as well (they love it LOVE IT when I put them in my stuff. Absolutely. Sarcasm there. Lots of it.).

*The Alarm, Strength

You Put the Load Right on Me*

‘Twas a productive weekend…I finished grading 2 or 3 assignments, didn’t finish a bunch of other stuff, hiked a mountain, cut out a ton of Wonder Under, and replaced the headlight in my car (with help). That was an achievement.

We started late…the goal? Clevenger Canyon South, apparently 4.3 miles (a fact we questioned multiple times), on a day that was supposed to be cooler than it felt. The wonder of San Diego is the temperature can be quite warm in the mountains, even in November.

We climbed a lot in the first mile…and if you’d told me I was hiking to that rock (and beyond) that you can see on the ridge, I might have given up. But no. We kept going…

Looking back here on the trail we’d been on before going down into the canyon, where it was obvious one of the fires had gone through here (2007)…

So this little guy…I just about stepped on him. He never rattled…he never even moved. I noticed him, yelled snake, moved my foot further along than I had been planning, all in a matter of seconds. Yes, I realize we’re lucky he didn’t strike…because that’s a baby rattler and he wouldn’t have known to only dump some of his venom in my calf. It would have been an interesting hike, I guess…

From further up, the canyon is down where the green is, although there was still no water.

Evidence of burn even on the rocks…

Looking to the north…

And to the south…actually, my car is way way down there…

This was our goal: two metal chairs bolted to a boulder.

And a view to die for. Well. Not die. But we were glad to get there…

It ended up being 4.65 miles, mostly up for the first 1.7 miles.

And the way down was super fast. Yes…we were to the left of that rock most of the way to the far left peak. We didn’t do the last 0.2 miles to that peak. We had the view already.

Poles were helpful on the way down. The snake was gone on the way down.

More evidence of burn…

And then this was delightful…just remember that what looks like a scary dive bar on the outside houses a lovely bar with cool refreshing drinks and snacks on the inside…

Then last night, I did some feather stitching on this, above the righthand eye.

And I cut out a bunch of this…while watching a show in Icelandic. I think I’m semi-fluent now…

I think this was actually the night before…

There’s more of that in a bit, but these photos are from the Threads of Resistance exhibit, which made it to the Original Sewing & Quilt Expo in Minneapolis, Minnesota over the weekend. As always, I’m behind the sign…

And the curtain…

I kinda wish they wouldn’t hang the signs on the quilts…

But I’m in good company back there…

So I’m a woman of a certain age…who knows if and when I will ever have another period (NOT complaining), but the app updated and now it ignores perimenopause completely. I find this highly amusing.

And kind of a metaphor for women of my age (ignored). Whatever.

I graded more videos yesterday…at 3 minutes per kid, it takes a while, so I poured a hot cup of tea and grabbed my stitching, so I could listen better. It worked.

I got the hippo done and part of the sun…

For some reason, this month’s stuff is taking forever to stitch down.

Puppy was tired…but he wanted to be near me and my Wonder Under…

Sometimes more near than others.

I did about 5 hours of cutting out yesterday and 2 the night before, so I have a hefty chunk done…ahead of schedule.

Speaking of schedules, I need to get my butt outta here and to work. More progress tonight, I’m sure.

*The Band, The Weight

I Was Feeling Part of the Scenery*

I totally forgot that I have two quilts at PIQF this weekend…so go check them out. They are part of the Threads of Resistance exhibit…

Thanks to Ellen November for the photo…she confirmed that they are not hidden away as well. The Mancusos are kind of used to me I guess. I wanted to go up for this show, but this month is a crazy asshole and that’s not happening.

Speaking of crazy assholes…

So last night, I was ready to sew the binding on, and I realized I had an issue on the back. I should have cut the backing bigger than I did…oh well. So I thought about how to deal with this…because honestly, it’s on the back, so who’s gonna care.

The quilt police and I are not on speaking terms.

I put the miles of binding on…

And then the sleeves…and added a little piece of the background fabric under the sleeve, into the binding seam, so it would cover the small piece that would show.

No one is gonna know…I’ll hand stitch it down while I’m sewing the binding and sleeves down. Problem solved!

Then I went to watch that band I always watch. Crashed their event, bought a glass of wine, then mooched the second one (the table I was sitting at was totally empty). And started drawing. Damn, I miss drawing. Need to shove that into my schedule. I keep saying it and it doesn’t happen.

The wildfires in Northern California are on my mind…

I try to stay out of the newsfeeds, but stories about animals being rescued or still being there after everything burned, or old couples holding onto each other in swimming pools all night. Aargh. The fires aren’t fully contained, evacuations are still happening, the death toll will surely rise. So freakin’ sad.

And I have 17 errands to run, 3 hours (at least) of hand sewing, and at least 5 hours of grading to do. There we are.

*Peter Gabriel, Solsbury Hill

I Hope They Didn’t Get Your Mind*

Kitten! It’s really hard for me to type when your head is on the keyboard!

Apparently I didn’t pay enough attention to her yesterday, because she is very very close to me. Honestly, a little TOO close if you ask me. I have very demanding animals. Simba just wandered in here looking for girlchild, but she’s not here right now. He did his soft demand bark, which usually means he needs to go out…but no…what he wants is for me to locate girlchild and bring her back to him.

So today is a big day for my art…two pieces opened today in Threads of Resistance at the New England Quilt Museum. Both of mine are behind the beige curtain…

Here are Work in Progress and Absolutely Nothing hanging with My Body, My Rules by Sue Bleiweiss.

The show is traveling through the end of 2018…you should check it out.

The next cool thing is my Nida Powers opening tonight and artist talk tomorrow, all a little nerve-wracking for the introvert in me, but I will survive.

Meanwhile, the garage…here’s the before picture. You can’t tell from here, but the pile of crap in the middle is as big as a large SUV. Chaos reigned here…

We’re still not done (you can’t see the driveway here), but the pile in the middle is gone…most of what’s there is school stuff that needs review or delivery to school, a bed that will be sold or junked, and some art I’m trying to decide how to store.

We took over 10 bags to the thrift shop yesterday, the haz waste appointment is set up for next weekend, and the e-waste that’s on the right side is going today. Then CraigsList for the rest (or a junk pickup if we have to). I could screenprint in here again if I wanted to. I could probably get a car in here if I needed to (not right this second, but when I get done). Boychild has been an incredible help. It’s a real relief to have this done.

Now I need to do a similar task in my bedroom.

Girlchild just pets dogs. She’s not home for long, so we’re OK with that.

She did go to Ikea with me yesterday to find fabric for my new classroom bulletin boards. I needed one piece of fabric for each unit…so I picked the cheapest stuff…

Except for one I really really liked. Should be fun…very graphic stuff.

We did dinner and ice cream out (I never get ice cream)…and then came home and I cut stuff out for three hours…Simba was overjoyed!

Not really. Eventually Kitten came and sat with me (she really needs attention some days)…

At close to 12:30, I had this much left to cut out. That’s another hour at least, so I quit.

Too bad. I really wanted it all done yesterday. Didn’t happen. It might today.

I need to shower, do the e-waste…debate another opening that is in the middle of the day (ugh), make sure I make it to my own opening…but otherwise, I might have time to sit and cut some stuff out. And then sort it. So when I do get back from the mountains, I’ll have fabric and stuff ready to go. Crap. That probably means I need to clean the studio too. Aack. Sigh. OK. List done.

This has been the last two weeks…I clean the garage and I make art and I try to fit all the other crap in around it. It’s not ideal, but I am getting shit done, and that’s always my goal in the summer.

*Milky Chance, Stolen Dance

I Feel Summer Creepin’ in*

I do have to be at school today…my room is a disaster and my co-teacher’s room is even worse, because we piled up all the new equipment and materials in there by unit, so we could try to organize it today. And plan a bit. We’ll see how that goes. My left eye is still twitching like a bitch (not enough sleep yet) and I have no voice again. But that school year is done. Out. On the ground. It wasn’t an easy one. With no state curriculum, we planned from scratch…and now we have to go back and fix it all.

I got home yesterday and the bank had shut down all my accounts again. It took a short while this time to get it all worked out, but I think the problem was Western Union, which we used to get money to the girlchild, because she needed cash for a car and her bank has no branch locally. But the bank has been remarkably unforthcoming and unhelpful. I finally got access to all the old statements (not sure what the issue was really) by filling out a Gallup poll about my experience that the bank sent me. Hello businesses…just saying sorry goes a long way, but it doesn’t fix stupid practices.

Usually after school is out, it takes me at least a week to be really efficient. We only get 8 weeks, which I realize sounds amazing to y’all, but I just got an email about the professional development I have to do…so if I do that before the year starts, that’s 7 weeks. Plus I’m working for the next two weeks, so that’s 5 weeks. I use this time to catch up on all the stuff I can’t do during the school year, because school sucks up holidays and weekends like a dehydrated puppy. Technically, including weekends, I have 55 days before I have to be back. It does not sound like enough. I know people with other jobs are completely jealous, but just come do my job for a couple of weeks and tell me how you feel about it then. Because it is different. I know that because I did your type of job for the first 13 years…and then I freelanced for a while…and now I’m a teacher AND a freelancer. Ugh.

There are days I wake up or go to bed wishing I could just be an artist full time. I know I can’t…I can’t afford it, obviously. But it would be sooo nice to be able to make art every day without all the other stuff. So the three breaks I get each year? I really try to carve out huge swathes of art time in them so I don’t go crazy. I figure if I’m going to work a job that beats you up so badly, I should be able to have the rest of the time for me.

Yeah. Mostly the first week I’m braindead though.

So I got home and the Threads of Resistance catalog was here with my two quilts and statements…really nicely done.

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These two quilts were made right after one another…I think that’s how the tree ended up in both.

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For those keeping track, I think there are 8 or 9 penises (penii?) between the two quilts. I will not be at the opening for this, because it’s the same day as my Visions opening…

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But maybe I’ll get to see it somewhere. Who knows?

So my mom has been amazing and has booked an Airbnb space for the boychild’s college graduation, which yes, is almost a year away.

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Ithaca is tiny…there’s not a lot of options. It will be my parents, the girlchild, me, and my ex, so it had to be big enough to sleep all of us. Now he has to graduate. (He will.)

It was my quilt class night, so I took all the blocks for the Don’t Shut Up community quilt I’m working on…so I could use Susan’s skills and ingenuity to deal with some of these crazy blocks. The wonders of dealing with quilt blocks from non-quilters…

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We tore some apart, sewed some together, and tried to trim others. Fun stuff. You’ll be seeing more of this over the next two weeks. I have a seam ripper injury from last night though…

I finally pulled this out…did two lengths of thread for the last two nights…on the left side again. A yellowish thread with French knots and lazy daisies in the cretan stitch, and then a pinky-purple thread that turned into green…I did lazy daisies and then some French knots around the other yellow stitches.

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Then I sat there on the couch for a long time, trying to be motivated to do anything. I finally got up and traced.

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I’m almost done. Another hour? At most. Lots of big sweeping sky pieces that use up large pieces of Wonder Under. Seriously, I think there are only 40 pieces left to trace. I’m glad I had this prepped and ready to go, because even though I should really be working on other stuff, I can’t get my head around any of it right now. I will HAVE to pretty damn soon, but I’m OK with yesterday and today being lost days for art and copyediting. Saturday though? Saturday I gotta get my act together and be a freelancer.

Midnight expresses her feelings about that. And being hot.

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Sweet fat kitty. OK. Going to school…but no kids makes that easier. I’m wearing my Ms. Marvel t-shirt on the off chance superpowers might help me today.

*Tom Petty, Mary Jane’s Last Dance