She who dies with the most fabric wins…

 

20 years ago Sis gave me this cup with that saying on it.  This was after she came to stay for a few days and got a chance to really see just how much quilting fabric I had stashed away.  

I’ve kept the cup as a reminder to pay attention to what I have, use it up, sell it or donate it before I buy more of the same.  Since then my fabric stash has been mostly replaced with fleeces, fiber and yarn, but the cup still reminds me to only keep what I can use, sell or donate in the near future.  

The cup developed a crack last year but I really didn’t want to throw it away.  I didn’t need another pencil/tool cup, but I did need a new pin cushion.  The cup is now a very handy pin cushion, I use it daily.

Proof that visual reminders help to change how you think, yesterday my dear friend Trish (Amazing Grace Farm) came for a visit.  While she was here, we stopped in at the Mt Saviour Monastery gift shop and purchased granola, marmalade, books and more, things we didn’t have and would use right away.  We then picked up a friend and went out to lunch and then to a very nice quilt/needlework shop.  We admired and petted some of the fabrics, made plans to try some new patterns and fabric, but resisted bringing any home because we already have some fabric projects that aren’t finished.   

If I have to die as the one with the most of __________ (fill in the blank) . I think I’d rather it be friends, family, faith, etc….  the kinds of things that can’t be put away up on a shelf.   

Labor Of Love

This year I refused to work on last minute handmade Christmas gifts. I wanted to spend more time enjoying the moments and less being stressed about getting things done. Instead I worked on projects throughout the year and gave them as birthday gifts or saved them till Christmas.

So, why did I find myself spending most of yesterday helping daughter Tina with a gift for her mother-in-law? *G*

Here is the completed project, a quilt. This is Tina’s first large quilt and I think she did very well picking out the fabric. She chose some because the print tells something about Miki and others because of the colors.

Not all the fabrics are new. When Tina was 8 years old, we worked on a quilt together, a pinwheel quilt that she still has. I’d saved the extra fabric in case of repairs and simply because I don’t throw things away if I have a place to store them for later use. The fabric in the lower left hand corner is one of those fabrics, little pink flowers on light background. Tina and I hand pieced every single bit of her quilt and so it was definitely a labor of love. Now with some of the same fabric, she has created a labor a love for Miki.