for the love of fabric

In the past I would buy fabric just because I liked it. But I was finding that I was accumulating a stash of fabric that no single quilter could possibly hope to use in one lifetime. This wanton buying of fabric really started to bother me. It felt wasteful and selfish. Even intimidating. When I would stand back and take a long look at this growing monstrosity of fabric, I would think of all the projects I had thought that I "might" do and never had the time to get around to. Then the guilt would seep in over money spent, projects never started or started and left unfinished and dusty.
This extravagence was unheard of in the earliest days of pioneer quilting. This was incomprehensable durring the depression era. I can hardly imagine even the Amish of today tossing this much money into something that may never get used.
So I weeded through my mounds of solids, plaids, and the oh-so-70's. I set aside yards of "hey that would make a great curtain" and "I better buy it ALL before it is gone" yardage. I was cruel to the point of painful in my culling of the fabric herd. Yes I tossed that "one of a kind batik" (that was really massed produced in China) and that weird "what was I thinking!?" fabric that would co-ordinate with, well, Nothing!
And I Gave it Away. I took it to my church left in bags and boxes for the Martha's Quilters who spend dilligent hours making lap quilts for the needy. And I made a promise to myself that day. I would NOT fall of the wagon again. I would only buy what I needed to complete a project. Plan ahead the fabrics and design I might use. and so far I would have to say that I have been successful. But it has been hard to quit the compulsive buying habit..."see it, love it, must have it".... or "I just know that I will use that someday..."