Diversions and Distractions

Summer always seems like it will be a good time to get a lot done in my studio. I can picture myself with a tall glass of iced-tea, sewing away in my cool, shady studio, surrounded by green and flowers in bloom and birds chirping merrily in the trees. And sometimes it is just that, but I forget how many other diversions and distractions summer brings. Good and bad.

One big distraction this summer has been this.

It is a large subdivision being built directly across the road from our house and studio. Here's the view from my studio window.

There will be 39 houses built here, but before the houses, the land was cleared of all but a patch of thick woods. The corner where two roads meet in a dangerous intersection will be realigned. There will be a huge new culvert placed under the road for "our" creek to run through before it reaches our front yard. Try to imagine the armada of machines, diggers and earth-movers that has invaded our sylvan little corner of the world.

And these are just a few of the ones left onsite over the weekend. During the week, the "beep, beep, beep, beep" of those backup warnings is incessant and could drive a person a little crazy. Just to give you an idea of the proximity, this morning we walked up through the site. Below, Ray is walking toward our house. See the blue porta-potty near the road? My studio is directly across the road, barely visible in the trees. That road, in front of our house is closed for the next month.

Oh, and I nearly forgot to mention that last Tuesday the diggers hit a natural gas line, sending gas whooshing (the sound was thunderous) into the neighborhood. Rotten egg smell had us all gagging as firemen arrived and told us to leave as quickly as we could. They stopped the leak and repaired the line, allowing us to return to our houses that evening.

Life has not been all noise and destruction. We have been enjoying our grandchildren a lot. We managed to get a fun T-shirt decorating project done before all hell broke loose, the day of the gas leak.

Last week one of the "twelves", Helen Conway, came to Portland and we had a wonderful get together, with Gerrie, Kristin and me, the 3 Portland members and Deborah, who came up from Texas just for Helen's visit. It was the first time I have met Helen in person and it was so lovely! It has been 9 years since we all met online and began our creative collaboration and that experience continues to enrich my life in so many ways.

Helen, Kristin, Deborah, Gerrie and me

I've spent quite a few hours this summer cleaning and organizing my studio. Soon I will post some interesting fabrics I decided I will never use and will be offering for sale. One day I felt I just had to do some sewing on my beautiful new sewing machine, and made this piece. It is small–about 6" wide.

Finally this week I felt ready to start something new. I've been going through travel photos and thinking about favorite places. Somehow a memory of Mexico feels like it might be right for a new themed piece for an upcoming show. And so it begins.

Just this week I got notice that two of my pieces were accepted for this fall's Beaverton Art Mix. My painter son-in-law will also have two paintings in the show—we are pleased!

 

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