Barbara Klein

7 Bins of Fabric

I remember watching as a young girl, watching our Filipina Seamstress making outfits for my Mom and taking that inspiration to my Raggedy Ann sewing machine to make clothes for my dolls. That started my love of sewing but unfortunately, it didn't stick. I had forgotten over the years how much I enjoyed sewing and making things. I managed to make a few projects over the years but mostly the machine collected dust as marriage and kids took over my creative attention. Then May 29, 2020 changed things. I received the call that my Mom had passed away suddenly and without notice. She was in her sewing room surrounded by her many treasures and fabric. She was actually working on a quilt for one of her grandkids for his graduation and also planning a quilt for my daughter’s wedding that was put off because of… well COVID. So in the midst of the pandemic, I had to travel out to Oregon from Maine for my Mom’s funeral and to clean out her craft room. My stepdad didn’t know what to do with any of it and I needed to have her things surrounding me. It took a week to go through everything and get it ready. There were days in that week that I would just sit in the middle of everything and just sob, a creative loving soul gone too soon. In a 7X7 cube I packed up her treasured embroidery machine, all her sewing knick knacks, gadgets and 7 large bins of fabric and sent it off to the basement of my “in-laws” house in Maine..... and there it waits for me.