"On the plains of Oklahoma, with a windshield sunset in your eyes like a watercolor painted sky, you'd think heavens doors have opened."
Fly Over States



Sunday, October 11, 2009

Symptoms of Insanity


The moving van is coming in less than two weeks. That means my stash has to be packed. I will be without my stash for two months. I was so distressed over it that husband advised me to a take a picture.


As if I wasn't going to do that, anyway.

My stash is stashed in several places.

Above, are a bunch of my fat quarters.

Here is my neutrals cabinet:


I ended up putting most of my fabric in boxes and clear crates. Here are a few in the closet (mind you, this is mainly just fabric and UFO's - "unfinished objects for the nonquilters among us, i.e., my kids). My tools and books are still waiting to be packed.


It just killed me to put away my batiks. I love they way they look. I keep them in CD cabinets:


And here are the empty CD cabinets. Cold. Empty. Dark.


I forgot to pack Evelyn's Samoyed Webkin.

I keep a lot of my fabric in the cubbies in this hutch. I keep larger pieces in the cabinet, below.


Now --- gone. Packed in a cardboard box. It will be like Christmas when I see them, again. Actually, it may BE Christmas before I see them, again!

Without the pretty fabric, the hutch just looks... cheap.


Oh course, it IS cheap, which is why I bought it in the first place.

I love my stash wall. It just sooths me.


Without my beloved fabric, this looks like a prison or something:


I'm happy to be going home but this isn't easy. I think I'm a hoarder.


I have seven large boxes of just fabric and five large bins of just fabric. I have three large boxes and three smaller plastic bins of UFOs. I have two medium boxes of quilting magazines, two medium boxes of quilting books, two boxes of sewing notions, one box of quilting rulers. I also have a whole cabinet of sewing stuff that will just go on the truck, as is.

I haven't even started on my longarm stuff - thread, patterns and notions.

It is a sickness.

But I am ready for the coming economic collapse. A common justification to buy fabric among quilters is that that they won't have to buy more fabric once they retire and are on a budget. The same reasoning applies if you don't have any money due to a breakdown in the government. Once we get back to Oklahoma, I'm going to get myself a cat to complete the whole picture of the crazy old woman. We'll eat tuna fish and write letters to the county commissioner and our senator about trash dumping on our street.

I am planning to pack up everything but some brights, my Sylvia's Bridal Sampler pattern book (which I couldn't find, earlier), some notions, my small rotary cutting mat, my three good pairs of Gingher scissors (5 inch, 7 inch and 8 inch - no way am I going to risk them being stolen en route!) and my beloved Janome. Everything else goes on the truck. The good printer/copier goes to Oklahoma. If I need to make copies, I'll make due for a couple of months with my old Dell ink jet.

Here are more boxes in a different room.


I am drinking a glass of one of our beer batches in anticipation of the screaming my back is going to do once it realizes I just lifted three tons of treasure.

10 comments:

tisme said...

I am so glad for you Penny!!
I am going to miss your stories of your "kids".
But I am sure you will have lots of adventures to share with us.
AND I love your stash! I always tell DH, that is why I buy so much, when I retire I will have no money to buy all the books, magazines and such, so I am stockpiling now! So far it has worked. lol

Mary said...

Penny,
You made me chuckle out loud with your post on stash! I can relate. My stash shopping has been greatly curtaied by the fact that I have no more room. It will be fun to unpack it all. Keep us posted on the move!

Miriam said...

Oh My Goodness.............I have stash envy!!!!

Take care of your back.....maybe put your feet up for a while and another one of your own beers will help.

Anonymous said...

2 months??? No way! That would be one of the essentials that would come in the car with me!!!
-karol

Katie Z. said...

What are you going to do without your fabric to pet? How much do you think you will buy before you move just to satisfy the need to see fabric? That's going to be a lonely sewing room!

swooze said...

You have really made a dent. I hope all goes well in the move. Can the girls tell something strange is happening?

Shogun said...

I am happy that you are moving to where you wish to go, but I understand how hard it is to pack everything up and be without it. How long will you be unable to post here? When will we get all the stories about the travels to the new destination? How exactly with the doggies be traveling? I wish you an easy trip and no back pain!

Lady Beekeeper said...

Shogun, Plan A is that we'll both drive back in our respective vehicles The girls will primariluy ride with husband because he has a van. We'll have walkie talkies but I will still be lonesome.

Evelyn is an excellent traveler but Pearl sits up the whole way until she can't keep her eyes open. After ten hours, we can sometimes convince her to lean over. It is a full two day drive.

We'll have internet most of the time. Won't be leaving until December and will probably not turn it off until we leave. Shouldn't take too long to get it turned on in Oklahoma, either.

Phyllis said...

yep - you're sick alright!

Oh how I absolutely dispise moving! Take it easy with your back!

BilboWaggins said...

You'll be OK without your stash - honest. Been there, done that. I was without mine for the best part of 8 months and guess what - I survived.

Being in our dream location was so much pleasure that I decided to stop stressing about the fabric and just enjoy what I ~DID~ have access to.

Unpacking it all in my new sewing room was great - took forever "oh, I remember this" and "hmm, I could make [insert latest quilt plan] with this" - went on for hours, possibly days!