A different kind of YOP post...

This isn't a typical YOP update in that I don't have anything to show in terms of interesting progress on any projects.   I ended up restarting my Leaps and Stripes Blanket because it was just too wide and I would have run out of one of the yarns if I kept going at the size it was.  Painful as it was, I ripped the whole thing out and started over.  All's good, but I have nothing to show than what I've shown before.

So what have I been up to for the last couple of weeks?

We (hub's siblings and me) have been filling spare time continuing to work at Mother-In-Law's house to remove things so that her house can be gotten ready for selling.  Mostly, I've been sorting through items that are fairly inconsequential to the sibs and, happily for me, those items have included crafty stuff (in this case, sewing stuff). 

I've mentioned before that my mother-in-law was a quilter and a mighty fine seamstress.  As you can imagine, she had quite a collection of cotton fabrics and the paraphernalia that goes along with those hobbies.

The first task in getting through this huge job was to consolidate everything into categories.  I decided to start with the fabric.  After collecting it all together, sorting it all by color, choosing some fabrics I might enjoy using, and asking a niece to take whatever she wanted - there was still probably a third of all the fabric left.  Determined that I wasn't bringing it home, the remainder of the fabric went to a "Little Dresses" ministry and what they couldn't use made its way to a local quilting group where it can be put to use.   

At home, I further sorted and figured out how to temporarily store what I am keeping, and I am both delighted and a little shocked at how instantly I came to own a little hoard of fabric. 

With the fabric neatly sorted and stored, I then set to the task of consolidating and sorting through all the rest of the items.  That would include seam bindings, spools of thread, needles, scissors, rulers, rotary cutters, buttons, unfinished projects, books, safety pins, straight pins, elastic, trims...   I'm sure I'm forgetting something. 

I'm pretty sure I missed a calling.   As exhausting as all that was, I do consider it fun (or maybe it's actually kind of relaxing, even meditative), to do this kind of work - especially when it involves things I'm more than a little fascinated with.  

Fascination did eventually wane, though (thankfully), and that helped me see clearly what to keep (which was relatively little) and what to pass along.   The items that landed in the later category are now neatly boxed up and back at MIL's so that others can look through it and take what they want before the remainder of that (likely) gets donated.

I kept some thread, and trims (above is just a sample).  A couple of small sharp scissors, a few of books, and for now some unfinished projects that I might enjoy showing here someday if I actually manage to finish them.   But today I thought it would be fun to show some differerent-to-me items I came across.

What I thought interesting above is that these little pins were originally 10 cents.  But there's a price tag marked 8 cents.  There was a time when 2 cents made a difference, I suppose. 

And there was this oldie, but goodie:

I'm struck that on the packaging above there is no mention of what is inside, but rather the outside of the folder of these needles was evidently prime real estate for advertising.  

MIL had dozens of little cards with snaps and eyelets on them like the ones above, and they are sweet to me not only for the nostalgia factor - in that they represent the time when I was a child - but given that there were a lot of cards with snaps and eyelets missing, I imagine she used products like these to sew clothing for her children and herself.

Now, the little scissors above are a mystery to me.  I'm sure at least one of you out there can tell me why there is a screw on them.   I've seen pictures of scissors like this before, but until I had some in my hand and played with them and still couldn't figure out what the purpose of that screw is, I wasn't motivated to even ask.  So now I ask. "Why the screw?"  I'll wait to read the comments before I google it.  Please don't spoil the fun and google it for me.  😉

The above is a sewing course in 6 little envelopes.  There are no instructions with this, but all the packets have a good amount of sewing done so I'm pretty confident my MIL used this.  It makes me wonder if she is completely self-taught using this type of thing.  Or if these, were perhaps materials for an in-person class.  I just don't know...

And there was this:

I found this manual (pictured above) called The Lutterloh System - and measuring tools MIL had purchased to go along with it (according to a receipt tucked inside).  The instructions look a bit sparse to me, but it appears that it's something of a beginning clothing design course, or just instructions for either perfecting already printed patterns, or perhaps drawing your own. 

I have no idea if MIL did much with this, but I certainly see the evidences of some beginnings at least - by her hand-written notes that were tucked inside.

~~~~~

All of this and more (that I hope to find opportunities to share in future posts) have really given me an appreciation for the creative soul my mother-in-law was.  It's one thing to see the finished creations and marvel over them, but it's another thing altogether to look through the minutia of what went into her creations, seeing little drawings and notes scribbled and imagining the time she dreamt of things she would make. My goodness...  as many times as I've gone to sleep thinking of color schemes for my next crochet project, I'm thinking she must have done the same thing when it came to quilts and sewing garments.  

It's one thing to know a person is skilled in an area, but it's quite another to connect to that inner, private part of a person that the world doesn't necessarily see when they only view the polished final products that result from hours of thinking, planning, and making.  

These things and thoughts feel bittersweet to me.  To discover them now.  But then I wonder if that's just the way it often is.  The private self is usually that - private.

All I know for sure is there's more contemplating going on here...

I hope you've enjoyed a tiny glimpse (and believe me, if you could see what all I've sorted through, you'd know just how tiny this glimpse is) of my mother-in-law's creative world.

More to come in the future, no doubt.  😊