I Always Need It…

Twenty-four-hour break from most of the world. I did check email. I rolled on social media. But I wasn’t home, where the quilt and the copyediting are currently making me breathe fast and panic. It’ll be OK! Seriously, brain. You can do this.

Hey, Simba is OK. He was attacked by a coyote and suffered a little bruising and one puncture wound…

In his side, not the neck, which means he was doing that roll-away-from-you thing he does when we try to catch his fast roly-poly ass. Good choice, pup.

I suspect they will keep a closer eye on him at the other house now. He was barking before he was attacked, so knowing his tendency to bark at everything that is bigger and scarier than him, he was probably barking at the coyote. He hasn’t stopped doing that, as my one night in Arrowhead proved.

Anyway, so we left a little late on Wednesday to get to the mountains, but we got there…a quiet night…

Some embroidery…

Oh yeah, one more thing that needs to be done by the end of this month. I’m taking it with me today to the first day back to school…it’s all sitting and listening, things I’m not particularly good at on a splendid day, and today is not a splendid day. My high-school history teacher will tell you that this will not be the first time I’ve brought some sort of hand craft to keep me awake during the droning of professional learning, and it certainly won’t be the last.

We got up, I went in to get my boating license (I was the only expired boater), and then down to the dock…where Calli got what she really wanted…water time.

She’s on the leash because her back leg is still gimpy, and she doesn’t swim very well any more. You can’t tell HER that though. Girlchild helped…

We spent the morning there, alternating on the kayak and just sitting around reading…

The parentals will probably be selling the cabin and dock in the next year…so we should enjoy it while we can…not sure what will happen to the canoe and the kayak.

We took advantage of both…

Girlchild probably has a million picture of the dogs…

Our attempt to keep Simba’s wound clean was not so successful. Warm compresses helped though.

Boychild takes off on the kayak as the girlchild and Simba watch.

I love the kayak…

I also love to draw…

I should have been stitching, but couldn’t focus…girlchild in the kayak…

We came back and ate lunch, went to the village briefly, and then went back to the dock. Why not enjoy the water and the breeze?

Cute kids…

Calli was hurting by the end of all of it, mostly because of the climb down to the lake and back out, a few steps (more than a few!)…we all got some reading time in.

My dad was up there with us…manning the dock box and making sure everyone had wine…

I think he’ll miss this place.

I finished the drawing…I think. Working on awkward limb placement is always a challenge, especially when you run out of paper at the bottom…

In other news, here’s my piece Not Less Than at the 22nd International Open at Woman Made Gallery in Chicago, IL…

Through the end of the month. Glad she made it there.

With that, I need to make it to school to start the 2019-2020 school year. Wish me luck. I always need it.

There’s an Army on the Dance Floor*

Ah, the morning started out with everyone doing their thing and taking their meds and all was good until I checked email. Sigh. Some people. Frustrate the crap out of me. And I need to not get angry at or irritated with them, and just think, hey, do I ever pull that negative crap? So knock it off. To me. I can’t control them. I can just thank them over and over again for something that should have been relatively simple to manage. In fact, I’ve managed most of it. I’ve done the thing I’m asking them to do, and it’s not as big of a deal as they’re making it out to be. But that’s them. (I think I’m going to have to go meditate this one out.).

Speaking of meditation, I’m always trying to get back to the daily practice. Hell, I’m trying to get back to the daily practice of a lot of things, and failing miserably this summer…but I got this the other night…

Totally why I meditate, sure, but look at the minutes I’ve meditated…and that’s just with this app. That doesn’t count the shit I do in my head on a regular basis. That’s almost 106 hours…that doesn’t sound as impressive. Neither does 4 1/2 days. I’ve spent 4 1/2 days of my life meditating. Well. Anyway. ‘Tis the summer of meditation apparently. When I remember.

In good news, this quilt, Not Less Than, is going to Woman Made Gallery in Chicago, IL, for the 22nd International Open, from August 9-31.

And I finally washed and photographed this piece, the last of the first 6 Earth Mothers…

You can find a pattern or kit for her on the Global Artisans page. I’m currently working on Earth Mother number 7. I need to draw 5 more.

See the hawk? He was loud.

That’s actually my neighbors tree. But he was loud. Did I mention loud?

So I started ironing the current quilt together on Sunday night. Night time seems made for ironing when it’s warm out.

I am recording some of this for my Patreon in July. If you think you’d like to watch me work, then sign up for the Patreon. For only $2 a month, you could see me twice a month.

I actually drew this a few years ago, so even though I recently traveled to all these rock monuments, this had already been done. And I made up those rocks in the drawing. I didn’t make up the plants. That’s a Joshua tree on her arm.

And those cacti on her breast are gonna need some embroidered spikes. Lots of them.

Kitten is continuing in the tradition of all cats in here by depositing her fur in this, the most hairy of all the drawers, the big green drawer. It’s not the only green drawer, but it is the biggest.

I’m constantly having to dehair fabric.

This is how far I got Sunday night, staying up way too late. There’s a rattlesnake and more cactus. Some of it will look much better with outlining.

I have Wonder Under release paper tucked under the body in three different locations because stuff needs to go behind the body. It only took me 25 years to realize that was an effective option. Duh.

Yesterday morning…this is not really love. It is a pushy cat and a fairly tolerant dog.

He looks nervous.

He should be. We took both dogs to the vet yesterday. The little one needed a tooth cleaning, and apparently two extractions. No one told me the little asshole’s breed was prone to teeth issues. And the big one is lumpy. She had two lumps removed.

And another biopsied last week. It’s benign. She’s just lumpy. All of us old folks get lumpy. With her cone on, she can’t reach her food bowl. So we improvised…

After dropping the dogs at the vet, my co-teacher and I covered this table with crap and worked for 6 1/2 hours on curriculum planning…

Six of them were paid. We’re going back for three more today, unpaid. Because it needs to be done. Welcome to the world of a teacher. After picking up the dogs, I ironed some more…this is pretty…

It will look better with outlining…

That cactus doesn’t really belong on her face…I just needed to iron it separately before putting it on the piece. There’s also a scorpion. All better with outlining.

I kind of like the cactus in her face actually.

Ah no, it belongs on her shoulder. I also did the clouds, rain, and lightning, although the clouds are hard to see without the dark background. All that’s left is the face.

I stayed up too late again, and I need to leave in 6 minutes. I think. I should brush my teeth and find my copy of The Martian. And City of Ember. Plus find my computer. And get out of here.

Hopefully I’ll finish ironing tonight, then stitch down tomorrow, pinbaste? Quilting? Almost done. Shit. I haven’t drawn the next one yet. Aargh. Don’t even ask me about my to-do list.

*The Psychedelic Furs, Love My Way

Worth It…

I’m pretty sure these pictures are all gonna be backwards, but I can’t deal with that right now. I’ll see what I can do. Going from phone to computer and back is problematic. I’m posting from Boston. It’s 11 PM and one college kid is in bed while the other 4 are presumably at the same party, or maybe another one is on her way to a party? I don’t know. I opted out. My introvert self needed some quiet time and some mental space to catch up with some grading and then this and maybe some drawing, if I feel up to it. Or maybe I’ll just READ. I finished a whole book yesterday. It was exciting.

So first of all, this is Quilt+Resist at Woman Made Gallery in Chicago, Illinois, which opened last night. You can see my anti-gun quilt Rooted in America in the far back.

Looks like an interesting show.

So yesterday, I flew across the country to visit the girlchild in her senior year at college in Boston. I haven’t been here since she moved in Freshman weekend, so it seemed time. Plus it was my Christmas gift from last year. I read a lot on the plane, but also watched a video or two and stitched for a while. It was a trouble-free flight, which was nice. She picked me up from the airport and I’m sleeping in her bed, which is comfortable, although she is still messy. I can’t really judge. I am too…messy, that is. This is the view from the bed…with the quilt my mom made her (and a few more, because shee-it, it’s cold here, and that radiator doesn’t come on).

Then this morning, I had persuaded her that it was OK to go to a job networking conference on conservation employment, which was at Harvard. I sat in Tatte, a cafe that is anathema to diabetics (holy crap, I forgot to post the food picture…damn…), but makes a decent cup of tea…or in my case, 4 cups of tea. Yeah. Well. I needed it, because 3-hour time difference not in my favor. I graded National Park assignments for a good three hours. Ugh. But it’s progress. And it was an interesting place in which to do it.

Floor. Feet.

Then I wandered all over Harvard looking for a bathroom, because 4 cups of tea and line at Tatte was horrific if you don’t have a penis (I don’t), and Harvard doesn’t seem to want the masses to pee. I don’t blame them, but eventually found the science center and a bathroom. Partay! Seriously. These things are important. Harvard, as always, is beautiful and old school America, plus it’s Fall and it stopped raining (did I mention last night’s rain? More than Southern California has had since last Winter, basically, in one night)…so it was really cold and beautiful, once the sun came out.

Then I tracked down girlchild’s friend in the Student Center (I just happened to be there eating my second bagel of the MONTH in the last two days, because Boston easy food is bagels and cream cheese…everything else was sugar)…and we went to the Museum of Fine Art, oh so fine, yes. I absolutely sucked at signs and figuring out who made what art, but this was cool…

And the one on the left is styrofoam cups.

Plus is that a Bernoulli? I know it’s a Van Gogh on the right…

And an exhibit in the contemporary section had this beautiful old weaving…

Here’s the contemporary part, although the video kept moving across these giant batting knots and it was making me ill. This piece is by Cecilia Vicuña; I know that. These knots hang from the ceiling. They are not small.

Girlchild twirling like a Fall leaf.

We were at a fundraiser after that, and then hanging out. I graded for a while. Two full assignments down so far. I know we have stuff planned for tomorrow, so I’m not planning on getting much done…although I need to send the parent email. Maybe I’ll do that tonight. I did get some pieces cut out for the new quilt last night…while we were watching (deep breaths) a Christmas movie. In November. And not even after Thanksgiving. OK. I can hang. There was wine. I’m going to attempt to stay up for another 30 minutes, maybe reading my book, maybe drawing, and then to sleep. Sleep is a good thing. My brain is confused by the times I eat and sleep right now, but I can handle that. It’s nice to be with her. Totally worth the chaos I will return to at school. I say that now! No, really. Worth it.