My Old Addiction

This stuff is like heroin to me

When I read the words "Italian Silk-Cotton Blend", I was filled with that acquisitive desire known to fellow fabric... enthusiasts.
Like an AA member who still walks by liquor stores, I regularly look at fabric  I read about sewing and quilting. Occasionally, I even sew things. But my main passion is collecting fabric  That I have many lovely pieces already is not the point. I am always interested in having more. I have tried to be rational about this. But as any addict/collector/hoarder knows, these things are not rational.
I went for a four year period in which I did not buy ANY fabric at all. Last year, I bought some lovely pieces on my birthday. Of course I have not made anything out of them yet...they're Too Nice.
When my daughter asked me what my New Year's resolutions were, I told her I'd have to think about it. Then when I was working on a fabric banner for our Christmas Party, the Resolution presented itself to me, as J.K. Rowling says, "with the force of a stampeding troll": No Saving
I was selecting the background fabric from my Christmas Fabric Collection. I found the perfect one - white with silver stars. I am ashamed to admit that I then thought, "this is too nice, I'd better save it." and then my rational brain spoke up and said, actually yelled: SAVE IT FOR WHAT!!! 
Yes, reader, I used it. What was I saving it for, but to use for our family celebrations? Then I realized: THAT was my resolution: NO SAVING. Don't I deserve to use all of my nice things? My daughter doesn't sew. When I am gone, this stuff I have "Saved" will all be donated to a worthy cause (I hope) so I'd better enjoy it now.
I couldn't decide what lovely piece I wanted to sacrifice on the altar of No Saving, so I decided to use up all my my small scraps in a scrap quilt. Part of my Saving Problem is that I will save Scraps Too Small To Be Saved. And I noticed yesterday that giving up "saving" isn't going to be easy. I'm happily taking sewing breaks, making little scrappy log cabins and courthouse steps blocks, and I caught myself thinking, "This scrap is too pretty to use now, I'll save it for something else". I made myself use it.
What are your sewing resolutions? I'm NOT Saving. I am recklessly using the good stuff, and trying to UN-hoard. It's a constant battle, because my first impulse is to save. But I guess all resolutions are like that, amirite?

p.s. My collecting habit isn't just manifested in humans. My little cat, Miss Etta, has a collection too. Every day, she drags these three things out from my sewing room into a special spot in the living room. When Mr. Hunting Creek puts them back, she fetches them again.

I snapped a quick picture on my iPhone: they are a little lambswool duster that I use to clean computer screens, a bag of wool felt scraps, and a package of Angelina Fibers.The bag of wool felt scraps is bigger than she is, but she loves it and drags it back every day. It's pretty bad when your cats start hoarding too.

Much too good for use

"Now everything must be washed in hot water and soap, because of the children's dirty hands,' said Mrs. Williams, 'and when it is thoroughly dry it must be wrapped in baize and locked up in the strong-room. It is much too good for use." (The Letter of Marque, 1988, Patrick O'Brian)...much too good for use. Where have we heard that before? Do you have china or fabric or napkins or some other heirloom that is "too good" to use? When my grandmother died I received a stack of hand embroidered pillowcases. They must have been 30 years old. They had never been used - they were Too Nice. I promptly washed them and used them. I swore I wasn't going to be like my grandmother, who had nice things but never used them, but I look around me and I see the signs. I work at home, so I don't wear my nicer clothes around the house. Oh no - those are for going out only. Why? I can't dress nicely for just me?
If I were to make a New Year's Resolution, this would be it. No Hoarding. If I have it, use it. I have stacks of beautiful fabric that I don't sew - why? Because it is Too Nice. So who am I saving it for? It's mine. I can do whatever I want with it. No one is going to punish me if I use it for something different that what I originally bought it for. If I don't use it, it will just sit there gathering dust and taking up space (and eventually be sold at my children's mega yard sale for $5.)
These traits run in families. When my son was little, he would only eat half of something and ask to "save it for later".
I used to collect cookbooks, but I found that I only really used about 25 of them, and they were getting out of control, so one day I went through them all and took all of the books that I was sure I would never use and gave them to my brother. He kept some and then happily released the rest into the wild by selling them on half.com. Now someone else is happy with them and I have more shelf space. (I am resisting the urge to fill it back up.) The remaining books I try to use all the time. I try to keep them clean, but I make myself not fret if they accidentally get a splash or a mark on them. That's part of being used; they are mine to use. (The splashes will be seen by my descendants as historical.)
I have to do the same with my closet. It isn't that I don't wear some of my clothes because I don't like them or they don't suit me. I don't wear them - the nicest clothes - because they are Too Nice. I don't sew my favorite fabrics because they are Too Nice. What if I wore clothes I loved every day that were made out of my favorite fabrics? Wouldn't that make me happier to treat myself like I deserved the nice things that I have? I don't have to save them for anyone else. I am not alone in my hoarding. Gretchen Rubin wrote that she saves her new underwear.
When I read that I had that cold shock of recognition. "I do that too!', I thought. And I have to stop that now.
So in the kitchen, I will try to use up all the good stuff every day. In the sewing room I am going to try to use my favorite fabrics FIRST. Because what am I saving it for? Today is all we have, really.
Happy Sewing!