Stash family History

This lovely little pile of 50 odd fat quarters are all that remain of my ironing. I have prewashed everything. Just to Let everyone know I am a Fabriholic and in need of some serious intervention. In the weeks since Christmas I have purchased (laugh at me and my fat quarters) 109 fat quarters but I just have these left to iron. in six weeks thats like 27 yards. That doesn't include the flannel I purchased for quilt backings ( 6 different ones) plus a little bit for play and raggedy quilts for my nieces. In my defence I must state that I come from a long line of stashers and packrats.

Some people have traditions handed down through the family , things that others take great pride in. My families traditions is hoarding things like stash and doilies. Through out my life stash was there. When I was little I used to go to my great grannies little home. It had 3 rooms and a porch/mudroom with out door facilities. I loved going there when I was small granny always had something new in her basket for sewing. Her home was filled with quilts she made and hand made rugs. the prairie point rug was my favorite. It was made up with so many colours. and for a little kid you could stick your finger into the praire points. Sometimes she would get me to fold the squares into the triangles and then sew them into a rug. Other times she would get me to roll up the strings of fabric so she could have a ball of fabric to crochet into a rug.These bits of fabric were in and around her Chair in the living room. or under her treadle machine. My quess these bits of worn clothing that she she cut up was her stash. The tradition continues to her daughter My granny , I loved her so much , but she was a confirmed pack rat. She never through any thing out because you never knew when you might need it. When I moved into her home in the early nineties It was my job to go through everything, 265 doilies I counted two UFOs and stash. After my grandmother retired she worked in a second shop. there she would spend 6 days a week in a month and sort the donations . Some things were to worn to go out into the store and well you know it it ended up in my grannies closet to make its way to a quilt or even a rug or two. all those worn flannels and polyester double knits (yuck) were her stash. As for the doilies some were so fine I know these ones where great grannies. The bigger ones made with a heavier cotton were my grannies. You can never know when you need a doily. Moving down the line is my mother. She passed away in Sept of 06. I miss her so much. She grew up on an island on Lake Manitoba so she collected floats from fishing nets. I have absolutely no idea why she collected them they are just there. There are boxes of them in the garage. I have absolutely no idea what we are going to do with those.

All in all every one has a quirk or two. Mine is to have hundreds upon hundreds of fat quarters . Good thing I love scrappy quilts.