Back to my grandma crafting for a moment.

So I’m a bit shameless when it comes to my little hobbies and I’ll take them anywhere. I will admit I usually like the attention it gets, most people are amazed or at least interested at what I’m doing.

My favorite place to do my crafts in public has become the Laundromat. Whether it’s explaining to inquisitive little kids what I’m doing and why (they rarely understand the why part). Or repeating “It’s really not that hard” a nice lady who always wished she’d taken the time to learn to knit.

But I have to admit my favorite part is the appreciation, especially from old men and women who love to sit next to me and tell me how long its been since they’ve seen someone my age doing something they remember so fondly their mothers or grandmothers doing years ago.

The other day I was waiting for my loads at the Laundromat and a older woman sat eyeing my project (something I’m working on for a friend so I can’t go into detail until its finished and she gets it). This lady stared at it and me until she was about to leave when she sat herself right down and struck up a friendly conversation. Being the Iowan that I am at heart and therefore always willing to have conversations with complete strangers we discussed my work for a few moments before she (an avid follower of the craft I was doing until her eyes gave out) pronounced my work as “Heritage quality” and left.

“Heritage quality”, perhaps the best compliment I’ve received for anything I’ve ever made. To think that someone considers something that I made with my two little hands worthy of being kept and passed on for years to come is quite an honor.

There’s not much we acquire nowadays that is “heritage quality” of anything. No one is going to pass down that IKEA bookcase for generations and that ‘bed-in-a-bag’ comforter doesn’t tell a story. So I look foreward to the idea of giving this friend one little thing that might be worth keeping for a long time.