I have a time machine in my home. It will only go backwards. This is still saying something. It’s in my basement. I found it this week.

Earlier this week, I became the custodian of my guild’s community service fabric. This is all the fabric that has been donated to the guild for our community service projects. We make quilts for babies at our local hospital who’s mothers have (literally) nothing, for the local impoverished nursing home, for our county’s CASA (court-appointed special advocates for young people), and for the soldiers in Walter Reed’s amputee unit. There is a lot of this fabric. My friend and I are putting together kits for a sewing day this coming Monday. We had to sort this fabric. Then we went through my “stash.”

Every quilter has a stash. It is the bounty of fabric she (or he) uses to pull together quilts. It is the rare quilt that is made entirely from fabrics purchased outside the stash. That is where creativity lies: taking the pattern and using one’s own stash to make it sing.

So we went through my stash. The fabrics that I have been collecting for 12 or so years. The original sort of the community service fabric was interesting because it was a walk through quilting fabrics from the 1970’s to the 2000’s. I enjoyed that for it’s own sake. But when we got to my fabric, it got personal. I was able to identify so many of those fabrics and remember when and how I came to have them.

“This was a dress I made for LightGirl.”
“This was the matching outfits I made for LightGirl and I for her first Easter.”
“I remember when I got that … I was in a fabric exchange on-line.”
“Oh … ugh … I’ve never liked that.”
“What was I thinking??!!”
“Here is some fabric I just loved and was going to make an outfit for LightGirl … but never did.” There was more than one of those. Yeesh!
“I used to have a whole yard of this and I loved it,” now holding a scant 3″ square in my hand, “I used it in everything I could. But I can’t get rid of this and I can’t find it anywhere anymore.”

In the end, I was able to release most of my old fabric to the community fabric stash. I know it’s going to good use. And I have room now to store fabrics that I’ll really use. I’m not running out to purchase more … although I did do a little of that yesterday. I went to my favorite quilt store, purchased some of my favorite designer’s fabric and a book, and signed up for a class (while the LightChildren are visiting grandparents). But I have quite a bit of fabric that doesn’t have an official home and now it will. I’ve had my trip in the time machine, but now it’s time to be in the present.