Stuff-a-holics Chapter now forming!

Hello Out There in Quiltyland!

I confess, I’ve been really out of touch lately. I got eaten by my stuff. I have a fair-sized house, complete with a full attic you can walk around in, but after 7 years of complacency on my part, all my stuff had expanded, had stuff babies, and in the case of my sewing scraps, well they had clearly been multiplying like mice. (I really think all those systems that are supposed to organize your scraps are vain attempts to separate the female from the male scraps so this doesn’t happen, but the trick of telling one from the other has eluded me.)
And it’s not only my problem! My husband is a keeper (well, I’ve kept him for 38 years, but I really mean that stuff sticks to him, too.) Here’s my whole statement about my husband’s stuff:
Wires are to Tom what scraps are to me.
He’s always going to use them sometime. But when that time comes he’d rather have the excuse to go to the electronics store than dig through all his plastic boxes of neatly bound bundles that never seem to be quite the right one or the right length or whatever. He thinks if he puts stuff in a plastic box, it is somehow conquered. Better yet, they should be in a plastic box within a plastic box. I guess this is all just some kind of giant condom to keep his wires from multiplying in the night, but he has no more success than I do. His stuff was out of control too.
And don’t get me started on Allie, our ten year old. Girls invented the whole concept of stuff. Especially stuffed stuff. Allie has a stuffed radio. Stuffed chairs, tiny stuffed couches for her tiny stuffed toys. She has lots of tiny stuff too, which used to be endearing and is now kind of annoying, but she was pretty malleable, as long as I agreed to buy her more stuff.
Over the years here is a partial list of what I have collected at one time or another: beaded purses (I have about 80), buttons, china spice sets, pottery planters, Christmas ornaments, stuffed bears, chairs for the stuffed bears, sequined satin boxes, Christmas tree toppers…..you get my drift.
Now that I design fabric, I’ve gone into the whole world of antique paper goods, (oh yes, I collect antique pull toys), books, fabric and memorabilia.
My name is Mary Anne and I am a stuff-a-holic. I’m just taking it day by day.
Over the last year, and especially the last few months, I have divested myself of a massive rocker, several huge rugs, several small tables (gone to Classy Flea for their dog rescue groups), a bookcase, several receivers, woofers, tweeters, and many boxes of wires, many boxes of fabric, a half dozen framed whatevers, two carloads of girl stuff (teeny tiny tents, teeny tiny bedding, teeny tiny inflatable trampoline, teeny tiny clothes, shoes, books, etc.) a carload of gardening stuff and coming soon, a carload of blankets and pillows to MUST Ministries.
I can breathe again. I have triumphed over my stuff. I have 15 empty plastic tubs and boxes to prove it! (These must be removed immediately because yesterday Tom grabbed a couple of them, feeling they cried out for stuff.) Now I can settle down for the Fall and quilt to my heart’s content. Our Thursday night quilt group is doing a scrap project for the next Humane Society sale and I plan to chew up scraps like a wolverine! Come join us for a sew in at the store August 27, 2010 from 5:00 p.m. until whenever! Produce more scraps! The cycle goes on…