The last two years feels like we have been living in the movie Groundhog Day, doesn’t it? A few months ago I said to someone, “You are probably younger than me.” She asked, “How old are you?” Without hesitation, I said 62.

She thought we were the same age. “What year were you born?”

“Nineteen fifty-seven.”

“You’re not 62,” she said, “you are 64!”

I quick did the math, and she was right… I’m 64. It’s like time and life stopped in 2020.

And I seem to have lost a lot of my creative energy as a result of this Covid Groundhog Day that we are living in. But this past summer and fall, after being vaccinated and boosted, I was once again feeling sort of “normal.” I re-opened my studio for First Fridays and Second Saturdays. I was doing things again outdoors, but also indoors, when masked. I even added a special extra Get-Away weekend in October, where we made holiday gifts. I required vaccination to attend and it felt very safe, “normal,” and we all had a wonderful time.

Things were feeling pretty positive until the holidays, when Omicron hit. To be safe, I closed my studio for the January FIrst Friday and Second Saturday. But I believe this variant will be short lived, if things go as they have elsewhere around the world. If we all are careful and wear masks when indoors, we will get past this. Hopefully within a month things will be looking up again.

Meanwhile, I have been trying to get my creative energy back. One thing I did to try to accomplish this was to enter Nancy Valle’s Annual Self-Portrait Show for the fourth consecutive year. This year, instead of creating a more literal quilted self-portrait, as I have done in the past, I made a quilted wall-hanging without my image. The show runs January 7 through February 12 at Studio 402 in the Anderson Arts Building.

Several years ago, in the winter of 2018, I attended a workshop led by Maria Shell to learn more about piecing freeform circles. It was so creatively inspiring that I was very energized to quilt more freeform circles and explore her technique. At home that evening, right in front of me, my mom had a massive stroke. It was very scary and dramatically changed my life for the next six months. At 92, she made a miraculous recovery after surgery, but only lived for another six months.

It’s amazing how life events can zap your creativity. I never picked up those blocks from the Maria Shell workshop again until this fall. After looking at them for some time, I decided to cut them apart and try sewing them back again in another design all together. The result is my entry for the 2022 Self-Portrait show, “Circle of Life.”

Due to the Omicron surge, the Opening Night for the show has been postponed until First Friday in February. If the surge flattens and starts to decline later this month, you will be able to schedule a visit to see the exhibit at Studio 402. The exhibit includes over 60 artists from all mediums who did self-portraits with the theme this year of “Lost & Found.” Meanwhile, Nancy has put together a series of photographs of the show which you can see on her Facebook page.

Also in 2021, I got a mention on a national blog at Redfin.com. The blog was about unique ways to uplift your interior with one-of-a-kind decor, like my quilted pinup oven mitts and potholders. You can see the blog here. Even though my studio is currently closed, you can shop for these items and others on the shop page of my website.

So I guess I haven’t been totally stagnant throughout 2021. Here’s to a more productive and creative 2022!