"F" is for fabriholic

Yep, that might be the perfect "F" word to describe me. I don't think there's a 12-step program for it, but I haven't really checked too thoroughly. I'm in big-time denial. When it comes to fabric, there's never enough.

Last night, after I told Mr. Gadget that the perfect "F" word had just hit me like a big bolt of canvas, he asked, "Do you think you should call it "comfort cloth?"

I'm sure it's hard for someone without this affliction to imagine what it's like to have a new project in mind and no appropriate fabric with which to construct it. It's probably like having a new outfit and no shoes in just the right shade. I wouldn't know. I just buy sensible shoes in basic colors to go with everything. It's not the same with fabric.

I'm pretty much of a hoarder. I find it especially hard to part with things. The other day I finally got up the courage to delete hundreds of emails I'd been saving on my computer. I even tossed old spices from the kitchen cupboards.....Emeril, did you hear that? It's not the same with fabric.

This is a big laundry basket I've assigned the task of holding small scraps. I'll never know when the urge to make a quilt might overtake me, so I want to be sure I have a sufficient stash. I remember seeing a postage stamp quilt in a museum once. There isn't a piece too tiny not to covet.


I even have crates of fabric in the basement, but I'm careful to keep them separate from the Costco inventory of paper products and Mr. Gadget's tools. I keep the plaids and florals down there, and occasionally have a need to root through the stacks. It's mostly old stuff.... kind of like an archive. I'm like a gopher digging in the dirt, tossing debris here and there as I search for something I vaguely remember with strawberries on it. Or turtles. Or whatever.


A while back I bought some bright yellow fabric with roosters. I had no idea what I'd use it for, but it was just so darned cute!


I emailed the picture to Tech Guy and suggested it might make a whimsical curtain for the bathroom in his new apartment. He loved the idea. He can tell his friends he's decided to decorate the new manly place with a barnyard theme, and this is just the first piece.....