Yesterday we sorted through the scraps. For several years, they have built up. We dig through them, root through them like pigs at a trough, but they still manage to increase. So... sorting time!It took us a ridiculous amount of time to do so, but we managed to get rid of a LOT of tiny bits and narrow strips (anything less than 1.5" wide). It was harrowing in some ways, which was odd. There were bits and strips less than a half inch wide that it hurt to dispose of. They spurred memories of quilt shops, road trips that just happened to pass new quilt shops, and people that quilts went to that are no longer in my life.
It was a little overwhelming, in the way that tsunami are a little overwhelming. These little bits of life that were being disposed of. I am not a hoarder, but for several hours I understood how they might feel - these things are a substitute for people that are not around, a mnemonic device.
But we didn't keep them. We tossed them, despite the discomfort. We had to - because like the people and the trips, all of that is past, and we do have memories of that past.
We also kept fabrics, and found fabrics to use in current quilts. We organized those that we have. We laughed about some of the memories, and thought about the people still in our lives that have quilts we have made.
One of the things that I vaguely remember from watching the various shows about hoarders is that the things do become substitutes for people. But quilts are made to shelter people, and so that fabric needs to be used. Quilts comfort people. Random scraps of fabric do not.
I've got fabric gathered for a new quilt - "Heart of (Lime)Stone." I've been accused of having a heart of stone in the past. I choose to think of it as limestone, which in some ways filters out the dirt and stuff as water flows through (That's not exactly true, but still), and lets the purified water out. Almost all of the fabric is coming from the scrap bin, and a lot of it has links to other quilts and other memories...
