Using What I've Got

I think I've always had a little bit of hoarder inside me. It took me a long time to overcome my compulsion to stockpile paper - I kept high school and college notebooks, middle school notes from friends signed with LYLAS and outlined with doodles, song lyrics that seemed profound at some point in time, and much more. Even though looking at those things could sometimes summon a memory worth remembering, as time passed that happened less and less. So I decided hanging on didn't always make sense, and the great purge began.

I don't really remember the exact time that the tide turned toward dumping excess, but it did. I flat out had TOO MUCH STUFF, and I let it overrun me. Case in point... here's a gem from times past on this #tbt:

This is me in graduate school, circa 1999. Check out that desk. No wonder I'm working on a lap desk (the TV tray was busy holding my excessive assortment of beverages, and um... parmesan cheese).

I know I've come a long way, but there are still things that I cling to because they aren't past their useful life or I'm too sentimental to part with them. Just looking at this picture, I see some items I still own 16 years later. The Coca-Cola thermometer hangs in my kitchen. Most of the Beanie Babies on the desk are in a pile of greatly treasured loveys in Emme's room. But at least those things are being used. They aren't just being kept for the sake of keeping, which brings me to the point of my post. 

I'm giving myself a challenge - to use what I've got. 

I'm going to use the stuff I have, or get rid of it. Even if that means powering through my collection of a million pencils (seriously - where do they all come from?) to write an opus, or adorn them with washi paper and give them as gifts to every person I know. I'm gonna be committed y'all. I'm going to get through it all, and be conscious before I add anything more. I know this process will take time, so I won't plan to do it overnight or anything. But I will share the outcomes with you here. 

And.... ta da! Here's project #1 - repurposed doilies. 

The vast majority of these doilies were impeccably handmade by my Great Aunt Mariah (this one falls in the "sentimental so can't toss" category). My house is not really a doily kind of house. I don't really have occasional tables. Nothing is lacey, or crochet-y. Nothing is chintz or floral. I just had no use for them. But they were handmade by my Great Aunt Mariah, and so I must. keep. them. forever. (or so I tell myself). Pinterest to the rescue. I searched for "doily DIY," and found this great pin for a doily runner from Under the Sycamore. 

To be honest, I just looked at the picture and didn't read her step-by-step tutorial. Figuring out how to do this is pretty intuitive. 

1. I laid out the doilies first. Since mine aren't all white, I tried to balance the shapes and the colors. I put the biggest doily in the middle and worked my way out.
2. I got thread and sewed the doilies together using a few simple loop stitches. This won't be the easiest thing to get apart someday if I have a different use for the doilies, but with a seam ripper it surely won't be impossible.

That's it. I like how the shapes suddenly seem much more modern and less precious when made into a runner. And now I have something that I've been hoarding with no practical purpose that I will actually use. Living forward by looking backwards. Good stuff.