June '08 - 

Why can’t I throw anything out?  What’s wrong with me?  My “living” part of my home is usually fairly open, mildly cluttered, totally lived in, while my sewing room on the other hand, could be featured in a “hoarder” segment on one of the afternoon talk shows.  I don’t keep newspapers, but can’t dispose of a quilting magazine to save my soul.  For gosh sakes, what if I need to reference one of those fantastic quilts?? ( Really, would I ever find the exact article I’m looking for?) I collect fabrics but almost always use the older stuff because the “new stuff is too pretty to use”.  I might use it the-wrong-way.  Discarded garments are stripped of unique closures before being tossed, sometimes the garment itself is retained for its fabric content; there’s got to be a quilt in there somewhere.  Don’t throw away bed sheets, they could be a backing for a utilitarian college quilt.  This all would be fine if only I spent as much time actually making stuff as I do thinking about it.  I’ve been doing some contemplating about this now, and I think it’s a result of my direct lineage of savers and users.  My paternal grandma was amazing at creating, recycling or re-using ordinary things that would be considered trash.  She could whip together a gourmet meal out of three days of leftovers in the frig at the drop of a hat, making it feel like she’d been slaving over the stove for hours.  She’s made all of the grandkids quilts from used up double knit garments.  These are heavy puffy warm quilts that cuddle around you.  Even though they’re recycled, she’s put the colors together in a really appealing design; the casual observer probably wouldn’t even pick up on the former life of the fabrics.  Both of my parents are very creative also, Dad with woodworking, and Mom with everything.  For them, it was being frugal, raising a family of five kids on a moderately low income, although I used to think of it as “cheap”.  Now I realize how efficient they were, from our home-made underpants (how embarrassing!) to the various benches and storage units.  I guess that quality has trickled down to me now, and it’s my turn to not throw things out, or to find alternate uses for items.  Up til now I’ve managed to keep it corralled in my sewing room, but I’m finding evidence of it in other areas of the house; I own tons of the nice plastic food storage containers but still prefer to use the Cool Whip bowl, as if the other stuff is too nice.  It’s time though to purge some of those fabrics and notions, so I’ll be in there today.  I wonder what treasures I’ll find?  Maybe I can make my hubby some underpants….