PROJECT CLOSET

This country woman has a project closet and I feel blessed to have a place where I can keep and organize things.  I don't have a sewing room anymore, but this closet is a great substitute.  I generally take my machine and sew on the dining room table and like the view to the back yard and gardens and orchard while sewing.  Or on a winter day, I like the cedar grove covered with soft snow and the little drifts formed around the trees as the wind lightly blows. 

It is one thing to have a place for everything in that closet, but that does not mean that this person always puts everything where it should be.  I also take many projects with me when I go off "glamping" (glamour camping) with my Daisy Mae, foxhound.  But when I come home, I often just place the pile back in the closet. Also when I have gone shopping and am worn out from the drive and day out, I put the bags of material on top of whatever is there in the closet.  So, when the closet get messed up.....to my surprise...I have to straighten it.  It really needed a major straightening and I had help.

Alorah, my 12 year old granddaughter likes to sort and fuss with craft and project things and I am blessed she also likes to spend time with her grandmother.  So yesterday she came over for the afternoon to swim and help with my project closet.  We did swim and it was relaxing and fun to play and talk and talk and play.  Alorah is very interested in life and she is a good conversationalist. 

The closet was interesting as the first thing she said is, "oh, it does need help!".  So we took all out of the closet, not the top shelf as it mostly had my paints and frames on.  I have part of that stuff in the camper all season, so we just went to the rest of the shelves.  She had great ideas to organize.  She also was so interested in each and every project, my fabrics and yarns for future projects, and books and crocheting.  So in the process of cleaning a closet, I was able to share with Alorah, three quilts I am working on, two pairs of knit socks, some crocheting and new patterns given to me by a new craft/quilting friend, and also fabrics for future projects.  We put things in baskets (which I have plenty of) and moved all the frames from the top shelf to the basement.  Now I really have room for the things I will bring in from the camper...and my closet won't have to be so disorganized. 

The work was done, the sharing was fun, and I even sent her home with some wire to make jewelry and some fun beads and buttons.  But most of all, I sent her home with memories of spending the afternoon with her grandma, a country woman who likes to do things and enjoy life.  She actually said, "Grandma, you are pretty interesting."  Now think about that, I am not even a computer or ipad, or television or in Alorah's case, a book (which this girl loves as much as her grandma), but I am just her grandma and she likes that.  Well, I think she is pretty interesting also. 

Making those memories with our children and grandchildren and even our friends, is very important.  Doing in while working, doing it while playing and even doing it while sitting at the table as a group, eating simple food or a meal that you prepared together.  All great memory makers.