What a year! Can you believe we made it through?
January 2021, there were no vaccines, we were all doing our best to keep 6 feet apart, even outdoors, even in cold January.
Portland headed into the New Year with an ice storm, knocking out power. No electricity or heat!
I bundled up and focused on long projects with zero concern for how long they would take.
The secret, one stitch at a time, hours pass and eventually, you come to the end.
I kept at it.
Even a quilt! Something I hadn’t made in years.
When Mary Douglas Drysdale, celebrated architectural designer, asked if I would make a quilt for her Aspire House project, I jumped at the chance, Yes!
Maybe being forced to spend time outdoors wasn’t so bad. I spent more time exploring Portland’s parks than ever before.
Then finally, the vaccine came! What a relief. We all scrambled for our shots. The lines were long as we waited our turn, received our jabs and sat patiently, our green stickers showing when we had waited our 15 minutes and could leave.
More Oregon trips followed, to the sweet cabin on Mt Hood,
the beach,
and the Fish Cleaning Table from Maya Lin’s Confluence Project on the Columbia River.
Back in my studio, I found a new pathway for my work, my online webshops and craft shows.
The American Craft Council had several online shows that I was honored to be part of.
Before, my online web-shop was something of an after-thought. Up until covid, I was all about in person shows. But with zero shows happening, I pivoted to the internet. I missed seeing, visiting and helping actual people and friends, but as a second best, it felt good to be able to send my clothes and scarves off to new homes.
I added more to my web-shop with new pieces and spent time arranging and rearranging to make everything look its best.
Lots of scarves were sent off. They are perfect for an online shop! A one size fits all item.
Another gift from the internet this last year, videos! We made three.
So Much Fun!!! The first was a retrospective, showing many years of my work, about 90 seconds long.
The next two were shorter, 30 seconds each, each focusing on one piece.
All three are on my website under videos.
So all in all, not such a bad year. New challenges yes, but it’s not always bad when you are forced to move in a new direction.
My fingers are crossed that we’ll get back to in person shows, I did miss them. The ones I’ve signed up for are asking that everyone be fully vaxed and masked.
We’ll all do our very best to be as safe as possible as we head into 2022.
Good by 2021. Hello 2022.
