I am cleaning, HONEST!

Let me explain this photo.

Yesterday, I took two sewing machines to a friend to have them cleaned and serviced. One machine was my mother's Elnita which has not been used since she passed away over six years ago. It has been hanging out on the shelf in the closet in my sewing room. The other machine was my Pfaff machine that I purchased over five years ago from a quilt shop that was going out of business. It has been sitting in the boy's room (aka my alternate sewing storage room and computer room) unused since its purchase. I also took in another Singer Featherweight machine that was under (and I mean way under) my sewing table.

It was necessary to move lots of stuff away from the closet door in my sewing room so that I could open the door to retrieve the Elnita machine on the shelf. That was accomplished without too much fuss. In order to retrieve the Featherweight under the sewing table, I needed to move all the boxes and bags under the table in front of the machine. I actually had to get down on my hands and knees and crawl under the table to get to the sewing machine cabinet table that extends at the back of the sewing cabinet. I was not able to get totally under the second table. I asked DH if he thought he could get under there and pull out my machine. To my surprise he was able to get down on the floor and reach back into the dark regions of my sewing space and pull out the machine. Of course there was much moaning and groaning on both our parts for this endeavor to be accomplished! He has bad knees and I have a bad hip and back. We are a pair the two of us!

Since the closet door was open and the closet was accessible, I decided to clean it out. I am disposing of much of the contents. Many of the things have not been used in years. I counted four bags of bits and pieces of quilt batting, old Christmas and Halloween decorations and photo albums that have not been filled. There were bags of little baskets that I was going to decorate and gift for Christmas (can't remember which Christmas), Girl Scout clothes, rolls of iron-on interfacing from my Stretch 'n Sew days, and other odds and ends that evidently did not find a home in any other closet!

Also in that closet I found two BOM kits that I forgot I had purchased. One is a darling embroidery BOM that I have decided needs to be made, and two other BOMs with all the fabric included in each month's block kit. Of course, there were many patterns that I will keep, cloth doll and quilt patterns. One thing I did not find was money. Why is it that when I unearth wonderful finds, none of it is ever monetary? Why can't I find some forgotten gold coins or Treasury notes? Although I did find some more Madame Alexander dolls that I did not remember I owned.

In addition to all the things that I dragged out of the closet, then there were all the boxes and bags that I dragged out from under my sewing table. I have already cleaned out one box, and tossed some old fabric. Don't panic, ladies. The fabric was camouflage parachute fabric. I guess I was going to make my son some camo pants some years back. Who knows?

My intention now is to take my time in getting things placed back in the closet and under the table. I want to use this opportunity to evaluate what is there and what I want to keep that I can/will use, and what I can pass on to someone else to use. We have a CARH pickup in a couple of weeks. I am boxing/bagging up things that can go to charity, and other things that I can take to our silent auction at Camp Stitches in September.

It has been two years since I retired, and I am finally getting around to doing things that I had planned on accomplishing that first summer of my retirement. I know I am a bit slow at some things, but I am steady! Steady on and cleaning out! Whoohoo!

Happy cleaning.

P.S. Last week I did manage to finish a baby quilt, block #11 of my Periwinkle Lane series, and some more crumb blocks before my sewing room became Chaos Central.

"Manly" quilt and First Birthday

This quilt was finished a couple of weeks ago, but I had not taken time to get a picture. The wind has been blowing here (as I stated before) since November. At least the sun was shining that day and it was not raining, but still a little windy. DH held up the quilt outside in the back yard. I cropped out the barrel of smashed soda cans, and the weeds. Since there was still a breeze, some of the corners blew backwards. Maybe after it is quilted I can get a better picture. It was very fast and easy to put together. Sometimes I just want something to sew, I want to hear my machine hum, and I don't want to think too much about what I am sewing. This quilt filled that requirement quite nicely.

Also I have included a picture of our grandbaby at her first birthday party eating her first birthday cake. When it was set on the tray in front of her, she looked at it for a while. She looked at all of us watching her looking at the cake. Finally she took one little finger and slowly reached out for the frosting. First she went for the black wings on the little bees. She kept looking at all of us looking at her. I think she was afraid at any moment that someone would shout, "NO". Finally she reached out and swipped a bit of frosting and slowly put it in her mouth. She didn't change expressions, but reached out with her other hand and swipped another bit of frosting and put it in her mouth. She then put both hands on the frosting. We thought she would pick it all up and try to push it in her mouth all at once. Instead, she smeared the frosting a little here, and a little there. At the end, she actually dived into the cake getting frosting everywhere. At that time Mommy took away the cake. Lizzy did not fuss, but just kept eating what she had in her hands. I am sure next birthday she will have the idea of eating cake down to a science!

Happy Quilting and Cake Eating