Quilting the cast off world

I just had a birthday so forgive me as I ponder…  As I turn another year older, I am finding that with all my experience in life (I am quite old, you know) I still question the basic things year to year…Why am I here on this earth?  What can I do to make the world a better place?  How can I use my gifts so that my soul is truly satisfied while at the same time contributing goodness and love to others?  Since I have turned 50, I am beginning the journey of letting go of things that I do that I really don’t like to do, relationships that I have that don’t feed me, objects and belongings that clutter my mind and don’t inspire me anymore.  I am letting go of plans that no longer excite me and projects that I have started that I don’t want to finish.

As I’m sure many of you know, being crafty can be a burden in some ways.  For me, I have a terrible time getting rid of supplies that someday could be of use in another project.  I have a huge bin of felt scraps, tons of paper wrapped wire, 6 jars and 2 cookie tins of buttons, fabric scraps that could fill 3 Ikea bags, the list goes on and on.  As I sit at my desk, I see vintage doll clothes that I have been saving thinking I could use them as Christmas ornaments somehow, my white gloves that I wore for social dancing class in 6th grade…the fabric is so soft, I thought it would make great paws on some creature (I remember the boys all had sweaty hands during that class – especially the one I liked, and I was so glad to have the gloves on), a ziplock bag full of beautiful sea shells and stones that I wanted to make a path with on my roof deck that didn’t get approved by the building department.  All of these things mean something to me but they need to be reincarnated into something else.  Like the quilts our mothers and grandmothers made out of our old clothes, I need to make a “quilt” out of these things that I love but that need to be cleared and molded in to something new.  These things will become the clay that I mold in to my creative vision.  I’d love to hear ideas of what you plan to do with your objects that have outlived their current use in your world but can not be thrown in the garbage.  As I create the “quilt” that will free me from my crafty clutter, I will also be renewing life for the objects and supplies that have been long neglected.

Please leave comments about how you plan to renew your crafty clutter.