This Big Beautiful Country

My husband and I just returned from a nearly 4,000-mile road trip, to spend our Anniversary at the Grand Canyon. We added stops and excursions along the way and while it was colder than I had hoped for, it was a wonderful week and a half of seeing this beautiful country. We dropped off my Handi-Quilter Fusion to get serviced at the factory in North Salt Lake, Utah. After 6 years and 48 million stitches, it needed a little more than the usual bi-annual oiling and cleaning we could give it. 

The scenery was spectacular and it was a much-needed getaway for us to recharge. We visited several national parks and hope to make it back to one or two, one day, to explore a little more.

Seeing the country up close like this has made me more adamant that I need to find ways to protect this earth, even if it seems like what I can do will be tiny and insignificant. 

I’m going to try to be even more aware of what I’m consuming and what comes into my home. I’ll try to step up my game of using what I already have and reducing how much I buy.

I wanted to join in with Natalya Khorover’s Earth Month Challenge to create one small piece of art per day for the month using single-use plastics. Part of taking this trip was to simply enjoy doing nothing, so I opted to collect the single-use plastics we used for our adventure and will create some 5 x 5 mini pieces using what would have ended up in the trash. Here’s the first piece, called Roadtrip!

Last month, I hopped on board for a class about creating with single-use Plastics, with Natalya. This is the finished piece I’ve titled, A 365,250 Day Lily because that’s how long it can take for some plastics to decompose. It was a fantastic class and I learned so much! It’s going to hang out in the Minneapolis St. Paul airport this summer and I’m excited for people to see it. I’ll post more info when I have it.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit. I hope you’ll come again!

Originally posted on April 22, 2022.