I may have some hoarding tendencies.
One of my very good friends very delicately told me this once. As I have spent the past couple of weeks or so sorting, donating, packing, pitching things I am more inclined to agree with her than I was at the time she said this to me.
I’ve had several kind and generous friends helping me sort and pack this week. One of my young college student friends read me the riot act about how much “stuff” I have. She challenged me to explain why I needed to keep each item as she was getting ready to put in her box.
After she left, I pondered my status as a hoarder. Did she have a point?
I think my biggest collection is definitely quilting fabric.
Think? Know.
Let me re-phrase that.
My biggest collection is fabric. The majority of it is indeed quilting fabric, but there is a lot of “other” in there, too.
(Note: the photos here are not of MY stash. I just googled fabric stash. See? I am not alone in my plight. Plus, I have more than both of these combined…)
Some of it is unbelievably ugly. I can not imagine what ever might have induced me to buy the stuff! What was I thinking? What possible use did I imagine for it? Some of it still inspires me so much I wanted to leap out of my chair, cast off the bags and bins around me and run to the sewing machine to creative a wonderful new quilt design.
I tried to be firm with myself. If I no longer LOVE the fabric, I need to let it go. Over the course of several long days, I filled 9 large white plastic kitchen trash bags with fabric. This is the fabric I’m letting go!! By weighing the bags and using the formula of 4 yards of fabric equaling about 1 pound, we came to the conclusion that I donated nearly 400 yards of fabric! (Nearly 100 pounds!)
The fabric going out the door is being diverted to several very worthy quilt groups in the area. It comforts me to know that the organizations that are receiving my fabric will make lots of people very happy and bring lots of joy to people and soldiers in need. Quilts of Valor, our local guild, a local quilting bee, and the large guild in a neighboring city are all getting some of my former stash.)
I lost count of how many bins I’m keeping. But my goal was to cut my stash in half, and I think I stuck fairly close to that goal as I went along.
In the basement, I found large black plastic trash bags of unprocessed wool roving. I was going to make Waldorf style dolls and stuff the dolls with this wonderful organic fiber. (I made one doll. I had a two Rubbermaid tubs full of wool roving leftover. My daughter is now 14 so you can imagine how many years these tubs of roving have been sitting down there in the basement).
Another thing I have a lot of is CDs. We have been a member of a CD club since about 1989. I used to buy dozens of CDs a year, for several years there. I bought them mostly on clearance or when they were on super low sale prices. I also love a store called Frugal Muse that sells used CDs for $2 to about $5. I like to have legal music, so I still buy CDs. (I wrote a blog post full of resources for finding free mp3s in cyberspace. https://haskerj.wordpress.com/2013/04/14/free-music/). I have extremely eclectic taste in music.
As a musician, music teacher and pianist — I have many, many music books. MANY. Books for church music, books for teaching public school, books for solo singing, hymnals, classical music, pop song collections, musicals — I’ve got it all.
I collect salt and pepper shakers. I like old ones that are out of the ordinary. I never spend more than about $3 to $5 on them, and some I’ve gotten at yard sales and from elderly relatives’ estates. I especially like animal shaped ones, and ones that are not alike.
I collect blue and white dishes. I have lovely white cupboards, sunny yellow walls and have blue and white dishes, plates, bowls, and cobalt blue glass all around the tops of my cupboards and hanging on the walls of my kitchen.
I collect buttons. Old buttons. New buttons. Not round buttons. Glass buttons. Buttons made from shells and other natural materials.
I like old purses. Actually I like tote bags, too. Cool colors, interesting textures and shapes, well designed and crafted, handmade, leather, humorous sayings, canvas tote bags, well lined lovely fabric, fringed, beaded, small or large — you name it. If it calls my name, I struggle to balance my needs and wants.
Lately I’ve been collecting lovely scarves. This is a good thing because I’ve gained weight over the years, and no matter what size I am a scarf will still fit!
I also love earrings, necklaces and watches. (i.e. I have too many of all of these things.)
I probably have more cashmere sweaters than I really need as well.
(Yes, I do.)
BOOKS!! Oh my, do I love books! I enjoy my Kindle very much, but I still love to turn the pages in a real book. Books that touch my heart and soul are dear to me, and I have many that I love to read over and over.
Cookbooks always inspire me. I love to cruise the clearance cookbook area in bookstores. We live in a town where the range of ethnic food available is Chinese or Mexican. You can also have pizza or subs galore. If you want Indian or Thai or Middle Eastern — you have to cook it yourself, and I do — frequently! I also enjoy collecting community cookbooks; those recipe collections made by church groups, community organizations, and clubs.
My family claims I have a lot of shoes, too. No comment.
Wow, your fabric is so organized. That is my dream!
That isn’t my fabric in the photo. I have more than that and mine is all over the place but mostly in rubbermaid bins in the basement!
Well, I like the shelf except that the exposed pieces might fade. 🙂
I agree about the fading. The shelf does look very pretty, though. I would enjoy having everything where I could see it, that is for sure.
I don’t know how I missed this post! It’s just what I’m going through as well…
And your blue and white dish collection next to yellow walls sounds lovely. I’ve been thinking someone else needs to come in and help me get rid of it. I have so much pottery. I love it. It’s beautiful. And which pieces am I going to give up?
But I wouldn’t want anyone like your student friend telling me to justify what I was keeping…
Now my husband’s stuff, well that’s different. 🙂
Moving is terrible, isn’t it?
My blue and white collection survived mostly intact. I gave up a few of the larger pieces and some I was not quite in love with. My college helper is quite a firecracker personality and she says what she thinks because she knows I can dish it right back to her! Yes, I agree that getting rid of other people’s things is much easier, but letting go gets easier as you go I’m finding. I don’t want our new life to be cluttered and bound by too many “things” from the past. I read something that said everything in your home should either useful, beautiful or something you love (and hopefully more than one of those things.) I’ll try to find the quote.
I’m glad you found this post, too. You probably have so many blogs that you are following that some things slip by in your reader. It happens to us all.
My fabric obsessions has been going on for over 30 years. I have bins and bins in the basement and over a dozen more upstairs. Unfortunately, none of it is organized or sorted, so I really don’t know what I have. I can relate. I better not die anytime soon. It would be too cruel to anyone who had to go through this stuff.
Jill, I have a stash of fabric that fills all my cupboards in my studio. I do not regret giving away fabric before we moved here three years ago. Good on you for thinning down your collection. Until I use up a bunch of stuff, I have stopped buying more… it’s hard to say no to freebies though.
Blessings ~ Wendy