A Place For Everything

 Like most self proclaimed OCD sufferers I am a subscriber to the "a place for everything" philosophy. But every now and then you have to reevaluate a place and find a new one. Recently I have been spending lots of time at the quilt frame and sewing machine. As I age and become more forgetful it becomes even more important that things be organized. If I have a designated place for things I find that I am much less likely to misplace items.

I remember so well my late mother in law. In the later years of her life she became almost blind. She managed really very well until someone reorganized her things. Then she was lost. She memorized where everything was and as long as it was in it's place she could find it without her sight. 

This is especially important with a skill such as sewing. There are so many small but useful items that are easily looked over or lost. Needles, pins, thimbles and other small objects easily fall behind tables and under chairs to be lost forever or end up in the vacuum cleaner or even worse someones' foot. Since I quilt and sew in a carpeted room I have to be especially careful with this.  For years I have had pin cushions full of needles around my sewing areas. I dislike needles in pin cushions because they get pushed down into the pin cushions interior because there is no head to stop them. There they become embedded and lost forever.  

So I took the time to make myself some needle books. Just scraps of fabric sewn into books with scrap felt pages. Odds and ends of rick rack and lace to decorate them and buttons from the spare button jar and bits of elastic for closures. 

Now I have small books for different needles. Quilting needles, embroidery needles, basting needles, upholstery needles, and any other needle you can think of. 

All neatly tucked away in their own little books. These can go into a drawer or sewing basket and I don't have to worry about them falling out or becoming lost.  

Wouldn't these make a great stocking stuffer for daughters that sew or even MOMS. Or maybe small sewing kits for the purse or glove compartment. A small pair of scissors, needles, a needle threader and a couple of cardboard skeins of thread. 

There are lots of patterns floating around out there online. Just let your imagination run wild. 

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter