Or longer. I first moved to St. Louis from my parents' home near Kansas City in the summer of 1977, when I was engaged to a St. Louis guy. I moved into a small apartment above some stores. While I was living there I started making a quilt. I had no clue what I was doing, but I was an accomplished apparel seamstress, so I just jumped in.
I found that original project: Five blocks and a lot of cut pieces.
Lightweight poly-cotton background fabric.
Crispy calico parts.
I am being ruthless and unsentimental about getting rid of stuff. This long-time UFO is now gone.
Also gone is my high school and college "time capsule," a foot locker full of memorabilia from back in the day. I read through a few pages of old diaries and shredded them. Junior high crushes just don't hold the fascination they once did! I dumped all the old theater programs, football tickets, etc. etc. etc. in the recycling. I put photos in an album (yes, I added pages into one of the albums I just worked on recently). Do you remember notes passed in class, folded into a tight triangle? Yes, I got rid of the first (and only!) note a boy ever passed to me. Also my first corsage. It was enjoyable to revisit all this stuff for an afternoon, but I don't need it and don't want to keep it. I filled several grocery bags with trash and took a load of paper stuff out to the recycling bin.
Have you done this kind of purging? How did you feel afterward? I'm feeling both lighter that this much is gone, and still overwhelmed by the amount of stuff in this house that has to be dealt with.
PS - that St. Louis guy? We'll be married 42 years in March. I think I'll keep him.
You have a winner; definitely keep him. I wish you the best in your new home.
ReplyDeleteWe are hoping to relocate in a year or two and I have started going through my "stuff". . . and just gave 5 copy paper sized boxes of quilt, crochet, cross stitch and knitting books to Goodwill.
ReplyDeleteThere are still a *ton* of books and magazines to go through. . .and then there is the fabric, tools and "needed" items that I don't think I have ever used (or used very infrequently in the past 40 years of crafting).
I am glad that I have some time and am not working under a "drop dead" deadline. . . but it just never seems to end. LOL
And then I start thinking about setting up in the new house and I break out in hives! LOL
Have a lovely day and keep on purging. . . . .
I just did this kind of purging in my sewing room. I like your term 'ruthless and unsentimental'. I find that I really have to be ruthless in order to get stuff moved out of my house that I don't need or use. Good luck on your move.
ReplyDeleteClearly that St. Louis guy was and is pretty darn special. I always feel lighter after making choices like that, too.
ReplyDeleteI've found that taking photos (as you shared here) ends up being enough. In all of our purging, house closings for mothers and grandparents, etc. there has only been ONE item I've ever wished we'd hung on to (a liberated blue hand thrown pottery vase of indiscriminate origin). And even that object we have numerous photos to enjoy.
ReplyDeleteWe have done this, and I've done it in my sewing room, too. It's very liberating! Plus it makes living with what yiu have so much easier. The only things I really couldn't part with were a few things of my grandmother's. All of my old stuff-- gone! Good luck with the purging and the move!
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