i have been working with my guild sisters in the last few days, cleaning out the sewing room of a late sister. Her family did not know what to do with all her fabric, sewing machines, and it turns out, lots of craft supplies. We found at least 6 sewing machines, some on the tables and some stashed under them. We pointed the family to a site that deals with used machines. We brought back more than 50 large totes filled with fabric and the storage racks they were on. We will get it all ready for sale to our members at good prices and make some money for the guild and give everyone a chance to get some of her things. I was given all the finished blocks to make into charity quilts. Its always fun to try to make sense out of random blocks, find some way to unify them and make something useful.
But the question upper most on my mind was “What is the line between an enthusiast, and a hoarder?” She could never have used all the fabric she had squirreled away and we saw many signs that she had gone right on buying supplies long after she stopped actually working on anything. She traveled a lot and had easily 8 complete sets of luggage, each stuffed with satchels and backpacks and purses. My guild sister told me if you don’t take it out of the bag, you are a hoarder. We found lots of things like that.
My mother’s closet was filled with clothes when she died. We found 20 pairs of new jeans, with the tags on them, hanging nicely along side 20 tops bought to go with them. She went to Kohl’s weekly for some little thing but it was just to get out and see other people, I am sure. She got lonely when I was not there. The local women’s shelter had a good day when we brought all those clothes to them.
I have been cleaning out for a couple of years, slowly. I don’t want Lil Zen to have to deal with a lot of grief and memories, having to decide what to do with everything. I am not a hoarder and do feel lighter since I have been letting things go. Helping our sister guild member’s family has told me I am going in the right direction.
As you can see by Itzl's concerned look, this group is for us to check in at to let people know we are alive, doing OK, and not affected by such things as heat, blizzards, floods, wild fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, power outages, or other such things that could keep us off DKos. It's also so we can find other Kossacks nearby for in-person checks when other methods of communication fail - a buddy system. Members come here to check in. If you're not here, or anywhere else on DKos, and there are adverse conditions in your area (floods, heatwaves, hurricanes, etc.), we and your buddy are going to check up on you. If you are going to be away from your computer for a day or a week, let us know here. We care! IAN is a great group to join, and a good place to learn to write diaries. Drop one of us a PM to be added to the Itzl Alert Network anytime! We all share the publishing duties, and we welcome everyone who reads IAN to write diaries for the group! Every member is an editor, so anyone can take a turn when they have something to say, photos and music to share, a cause to promote or news!
Monday
Crimson Quillfeather alternate with
Tuesday ejoanna
Wednesday Pam from Calif
Thursday art ah zen
Friday FloridaSNMOM
Saturday bigjacbigjacbigjac
Sunday loggersbrat