How Stephie, Sujata, and Sherri Saved Me from Myself... Or Not

This is my entire stash... after 46 years of quilting. Small shoe boxes of scrap quilts in progress are topped with my scrap bag (formerly the packaging for a set of bed sheets.) The larger boxes are my stash and a couple of tops. The fabrics definitely need sorting and refolding. That's okay; I love to pet fabric. It's important for me to remain intimately acquainted with each piece. {I have no idea why; I'm just weird that way.} Then there's the top box... I'll get to that.

All my fabric and WIPs

Three years ago I started saving selvedges. Just tossed them into a small ziplock and later into a drawer. Last week, the drawer wouldn't close. Upon investigation...

Three years of selvedge collecting. Oh, my.

It's more than my scrap bag. {Why, oh, why did I start saving selvedges?} Time to make them into something or pass them along.

My "use it up or clear it out" tendency applies to all fabric. I get rid of clothing, sheets and towels frequently, especially when we move. Remember the scenes where American pioneers reaching the Rockies tossed things from their wagons to get over the mountains? These are my forebears - emotionally and genetically.

On the other hand...

Years ago I read Chinese made the first quilts by sewing older fabrics from deceased relatives onto newer material as an act of reverence and remembrance. My husband's outlook is similar. Everything has deep, personal meaning. If he had his way, nothing would ever be thrown away. Bless his heart, he never complains when I sort and discard clothing... which happens frequently.

How did Stephie, Sujata, and Sherri save me? Stephie made a charming Ocean Waves pillow from repurposed clothing. The soft, varied shades really attracted me. Sujata posted several quilts which included some of her husband's old shirts, most recently here. I had a large pile of clothing in the car headed to Goodwill when Stephie wrote a helpful post about deconstructing shirts. Back they went to the house, but not on a hanger. They overflowed the top box until I spent an afternoon "deboning" them.

Shirts - deboned and folded neatly.

Fourteen shirts, one dress and one pair of slacks now fit nicely into the top bin and the lid fastens again. Those pesky collars, cuffs, zippers, and flat fell seams are in the trash. I wonder if he'll recognize them in a quilt?

Now I'm seriously considering adding t-shirts to this mix. For years, I've admired Sherri Wood's Passage quilt. This most joyful quilt memorializes the loss of a teenage son. But what a wonderful way to combine personal clothing from one person over the years or from an entire family.

Everything I touch has personal meaning and now I'm saving it all. {Gasp.} I'm becoming my husband!

Enjoy the day, Ann