To Box or to De-Stash?

by Maria Quian
After many years of just dreaming about it, the right house came along. My current house is in Texas and I am moving to Colorado. It is a now or never situation for many reasons.

But in life, all good things also come with other not so good things we must do. In order to move, I had to pack a lifetime of collecting sewing machines, fabric, thread, etc.

In the last 3 years, I had really gone a little crazy in buying things. I was getting to the point where I enjoyed buying more than consuming. The justification was that I am building my stash to consume when I retire. Now, the time came when I had to pack my own damage/fun. I realized I have more sewing machines than I will ever need, but at this point they are like daughters I could in no way leave behind. Plus, hopefully someone will appreciate them after me.

After taking inventory of the sewing machines including the newly acquired Sashiko machine. (NOTE: Check it out – it is a beauty and just fun to watch it in action!!) I then had to pack the pretty fabric. I very often hesitated to cut my pretty fabric and I probably shouldn’t have. I get more satisfaction from petting it than from cutting it, at least the quilting cotton fabric in so many prints and bright beautiful colors. The garment fabric is hopefully going to come in handy soon. I have lots of wool and nice thick fabrics that I wouldn’t dare to do anything with in Texas. Seasons in Texas are shorts and T-shirt for eight months out of the year. The other four months are just layering a sweatshirt to stay warm until the sun comes out.

Needless to say, many boxes later, I’m a little ashamed to count them, so let’s just say a big pile of them, I am all packed. Oh, I almost forgot about the yarn but that is for weaving, knitting and crocheting so they got their own boxes. So, when you need to choose between boxing or de-stashing, I have chosen BOXING. It really fills you with happiness to see/feel your fabric all over again. It’s like shopping again. You take inventory of what you didn’t remember you had and it brings back great memories as to why you bought it to begin with.

I am proud to say I survived a trip to a quilt store and I only looked and enjoyed all those beautiful fabrics. Not sure if I would survive a quilt show without buying a thing or two. The Plano Quilt Show is in October before I leave and I just have to go and enjoy. Shopping at a quilt store and walking out empty handed is a record for me and this story has come to a wrap!!!!!