Attention, please!

May I have your attention for an important annoucement! (drumroll please)...........
My scrap bin is EMPTY!

The cleaning-out process was inspired by my quilt buddy Cat and her daughter Beth who had come over to peruse the bin for scrap quilts they were making. Watching them have such fun going through the goodies reminded me of how much fun it was to collect all those scraps. So I decided to start going through them myself and breaking them down into workable parts.

I cut 10" and 9" squares out first for big block quilts. After that, I cut one each of a 5" and/or 6" square for my charm square collections. Then, from longer pieces, I cut strips 2 1/2" wide (jelly rolls) down to 1" wide. Narrower strips and selvages got thrown into a ziploc bag. All others scraps were set aside to die cut into 4" and 2" squares or equilateral triangles.

As I dug through the box, it was great fun to remember where the fabrics came from. "Ah, here's Cheo's Spiderman shorts." "These are left from the first block-of-the-month class that I taught with my friend Patti at Hancocks." "These are from the bag of scraps that I won at our guild's Chinese Auction." "Here's the leftovers from Laurel's Crazy Strip class." "Here's a big chunk from that pink, blue & purple Western shirt I bought for Pedro that he wouldn't wear." and "These are all from the Dollar Bag Day at the thrift shop."

One of the greatest pleasures of a scrap quilt or a charm quilt are just these; touching the fabrics and recalling the special memories that go along with each piece. It may be nothing more than, "Oh, this was a great deal at the quilt shop." or "I bought this on that Road Trip to Tampa." These are good memories to be sure; to me the even more special are "This hot pink print is from the dress I was wearing the first time I felt my baby Cheo move inside me" and "This Looney Tunes print is from the shorts and vest outfit Cheo wore on his first day of first grade."

Now my 32 gallon scrap box is empty, waiting to be filled with fresh new fabric or UFOs or orphaned blocks - who knows. I've enjoyed the pleasure of all the memories passing under my ruler and rotary cutter as they transformed into the building blocks of new projects. I look forward to the new memories yet to be formed.

Happy Today

Today I've made a decision to be happy. Let's face it, I am addicted to anxiety. Worrying about my son at college, my backlog of work, the never-ending household chores, my relationships with family, friends and acquaintances keeps me on the treadmill of anxiety. Just for right now, I'm stepping off the treadmill and declaring, "I'm happy."

I have a cushy job. Let's face it, how many people get to set their own hours, roll out of bed, and stroll into their office (in my jammies, if I want). So, maybe it's not my dream job. But it's valuable work.

I have a husband that still adores me after 20 years. Not every minute or even every day, but often enough, he looks at me with caring and desire. How lucky am I!

I have two amazing sons. My oldest is on a wonderful journey of self-discovery, is polite, handsome, smart and kind. My youngest shares his days with me and fills my world with his thoughts and ideas, bringing a unique perspective from his Asperger's mind.

I have a beautiful home with space and color and filled with the things that I love, and then some. I am very blessed to have plenty and enough again to share.

One of my very favorite things to do, play with color and texture, is fulfilled by my collection of fabrics. My younger son noticed me cutting scraps into strips and squares the other day and commented, "That makes you fell peaceful, doesn't it." You're darn right!

So, just for a few minutes, let me stop grinding my teeth and clenching my jaw, squinching my shoulders and forgetting to breathe. Right this minute, I am happy.