Fresh Air Can’t Hurt
Dennis has gone to see his friend recovering from a bad fall on the ice. I have taken the opportunity to open up both ends of the house for some fresh air. Fresh air can’t hurt after a spell of cold temps, and it sure can’t hurt keeping me on the straight and narrow with my scrappy projects in my sewing studio.
I have been in the habit of making gifts for people for decades. I find it relaxing and allowing myself to think about each person who will be on the receiving end of the gift. That is how I had so many scraps that ended up being finished one inch squares to put together in various patterns.
Having a sewing studio is not foreign to me. When Carrie was just a year old, my Dad and my Mom staked Orlin and me to a 160 acre farm not far from where my parents lived. I was very familiar with the farm and the home, as I had spent many hours in that home and on the dooryard playing with my District 34 classmate, Marith Kurth, whose parents owned the farm. It was a lovely story and a quarter, three bedroom home with a dry, usable basement.
We did enjoy and make use of every square inch of that home. It is the first home that Kevin ever knew. It didn’t take much prodding from Carrie to teach Kevin how to navigate the steps either going up or down or out. Without the basement, that we did finish out for a playroom and a television room, some would have said it was a small home. Marith and her brother’s family found it suitable long past the time that grandchildren visited.
One of the basement storage areas, Orlin converted into a sewing room. There was a handy closet on the west end that was partitioned off for a canning cellar on the south end and a sewing storage area on north end. It was handy as all get-out. The kids were close by, the laundry was close by and the half bathroom didn’t hurt either. In time, the sewing room had enough room in it for a 4-harness rug loom to be added. Sewing studios have been a part of me for over fifty years.
Back to the one inch squares. In today’s world, I would not have made anything from which these scraps evolved. I am
onto larger pieces of fabric. Fifteen or sixteen years ago, I did make gifts for the gals who worked for me in the courthouse. Once I got into the swing of all things being an inch, my sister-in-laws each received one, as well as my mom, my daughter, and a niece, Erin. Wouldn’t you know it? I had scraps left.
Today, with the fresh air wafting through the home, it was time to get serious and put scraps to use once and for all. I never throw very much away if I can envision something coming out of the depths of a storage box. Several years ago, when granddaughter Megan was going to receive her first American Girl Doll, daddy Jeremy emailed me. He was handcrafting a doll bed and wanted to know if I could make the bedding, complete with a quilt for it. No problem. At that time, out came the one inch square happy scraps. Now today, the batting and backing has been determined as well as the bindings being cut. Dennis already had marveled over the potholders that were whipped out earlier from quilt squares that had not made the cut. He knew I would not back down until this group of projects would be finished. It is fun to have an item here or there for an unsuspecting visitor to our home. Happy scrapper quilter sucking in fresh air: happy home.