More Spring cleaning

I cleaned out the hall coat closet yesterday (see photo). It’s a small closet, and all of that was on one shelf.  I decided I would just dump it all on the floor and sort into piles.  Now there’s actually room in there. I moved the winter coats to the down stairs shower, which is our “extra out of season" storage, since we don’t shower down there. I found one umbrella and four umbrella sheaths—I got rid of all four, I don’t think they actually work after you remove the umbrella. I also found a large cat design umbrella I thought was lost.  I took a large sack of hats, scarves, and gloves to the church donation box, although they really prefer seasonal stuff. I have no place to put it until fall. I tackled my clothes closet in the afternoon, refolding everything and taking all the sweats and sweaters down to the laundry. Then I took a nap. When I woke up I learned Prince had died--the kids' favorite from their teen years. He really was a talented musician.

Now I'm down to the hard stuff.  Time to get rid of all the sewing scraps.  Some are large pieces with a straight skirt in mind maybe 30 years ago when I was working at the Vet Med library. Also large pieces of muslin (was I doing pillows, making dolls?) Not sure if I was expecting a burst of sewing desire to return. I had started to make quilt squares out of my daughter's clothing, but abandoned that idea maybe 40 years ago.  They sat there for years waiting for me to return.  Then mother's 1950s and 1960s table cloths. Sigh. Colors and designs no one would use today except to cut up for an apron or pillows. They don't fit any of our tables, not here or the lake.  I remember eating on them, and her wonderful meals. Home made pickles and fresh corn and wonderful pies.  But stored on the top shelf of the guest room closet certainly wasn't a good place.

The final pieces are the hardest.  My grandmother's sister Martha died in child birth with baby daughter Grace in 1888.  She was a quilter.  I did finally find a descendant of hers living in Dixon, Illinois to give the quilts to, but she also had a lot of "pieced squares" left over.  Everything is hand stitched.  I can tell by looking at them that these were not her best effort, so they weren't included in the quilts. But still, they are 150 years old and you can't just throw them out, especially since she probably pieced by kerosene light after the little boys were in bed. Show some respect!  So I'm cooking up a plan to have my sister help me out.