Hello S4L friends,

My mom has a group of stitching friends that she has lunch with once or twice a month. Well, a few of them have been cleaning out their stash and passing it on to me. I have received frames, a lot of fabric pieces (which will be great for bookmarks), patterns, etc.

This case which opens on both sides is filled with all kinds of floss and beads. My head is spinning with ideas of what I can do with all of this. Also, in this case were three needlepoint squares. I finished them off and made them into bookmarks. Here is a picture to show you. Aren’t they cute?

They have given me so much stash that I have to share the wealth. I have a box ready to be mailed to a stitching friend. She’ll love it. I don’t think Mom’s friends are done cleaning out yet. My mother has also informed me that she is almost ready to clean out her stash as well. What am I going to do with it all? Any suggestions?

Jen chimes in:

What a haul! That’s some good stash.

I love getting stash surprises because they always include things I wouldn’t buy on my own, which presents the opportunity to create things I wouldn’t normally create. New-to-me stash also has a way of making me look at my old stash differently, inspiring new ideas and combinations.

Inherited stash challenges us to find ways to use it. I can imagine those orphaned needlepoint squares looking up hopefully at Mo asking, “All right, what can you do with us?” And now they are oh-so-proud bookmarks ready to serve a reader. What a great lonely-orphan-gets-adopted story!

Harriet has a wonderful story about trading unused stash with friends: Once upon a time, she received in a stash swap something she herself had off-loaded years earlier. No one had used it. This time, however, it spawned a Brilliant Idea, and Harriet put it to use at last.

Do you have a fun stash story?