Making Lemonade

I'm looking on the bright side these days; if I didn't, the whole situation of living in a construction zone would drive me over the edge. I knew that I had to shift the focus to that which I could change for the better. As someone who craves order and tidiness I am faced daily with my biggest enemies: disorder, clutter, chaos and dust; piles and piles of it! My challenge is to deal with all of the above and make constructive use of this current state of our home! When the new drawers were installed, including the one that would house our silverware, Mr. G. had already outfitted that one with custom dividers, I no longer needed the cutlery insert that I'd had before! Hmmm... I thought... would it fit in the top drawer of my cutting island where I keep thread? Would it EVER!! Not only did it fit nicely but the sections were the perfect size for my small spools to be arranged by color. No more rolling around and getting mixed up with each other every time I opened and closed that drawer! SCORE! My next victory is with spices, extracts and baking supplies. Since all of the cabinets that contained those have been removed, I am now intimately acquainted with each and every bottle and tin that we have. Those that were old, dusty and of unknown origin have all been discarded, as have multiples of the same item! Now to separate those remaining into like categories and alphabetize them before they're restocked; this will be a HUGE (much needed) accomplishment! Likewise all of the no longer useful and questionable cleaning supplies that had been stored beneath where the kitchen sink used to be: gone, gone, and gone! Getting that future space under control in a neat and orderly way will be a breeze now!

We've gone from left photo to the right one this week, the backsplash has already been removed and the wall resurfaced; fingers crossed that all of the new cabinetry will be installed this weekend.

While Mr. G is working on the kitchen re-do and I've done as much as I can on that front, I've been escaping to the sewing room and a precious scrappy quilt loaded for clamshell quilting. A friend brought this to me, it has such a wonderful story: her mother had begun piecing this before she was diagnosed with a fast moving illness that ultimately took her life, it was out of the blue and completely unexpected. Following her death the unfinished quilt top sat for a long time until recently, her father picked it up and finished piecing it! It's huge: 96" X 102", entirely made up of three inch squares; yep, that's 1,088 scraps of love! My friend wanted double batting for a weightier, more substantial quilt. Sew it goes, this is destined to become a treasured family heirloom. 

Augie's been hanging out with me while I quilt lately, the sewing room is a peaceful place for him too. We're rising to the current challenges by squeezing lemonade out of the "lemons" that our construction zone has presented and making the best of it. Someone asked me the other day if this wasn't worse than moving; "no, not at all" I answered, emphatically, "I don't ever plan to move again, if I can help it! When this is over, and the dust settles, it will all be wonderful" (and tidy and better organized than it was before!). 

In the meantime, I'm enjoying the laundry room not only for doing up the dishes by hand 

but even for plugging in the crock pot for tonight's dinner. It's all good!

Life is Good!