My Crafty Heritage – I Didn’t Throw It Away

Are you a pack-rat? A minimalist? Somewhere in between? We’ve moved 4 times in the past 5 years for my husband’s job (finally settled for a little longer now, I hope!) and packing/unpacking all of your Earthly belongings is a great excuse to evaluate what is worth saving. I thoroughly enjoy cleaning stuff out and am not prone to sentimentality but I do have one big tote of ‘Memorabilia’.

Agatha Lee of Green Issues by Agy emailed me inviting me to a blog train on “I Didn’t Throw It Away” and I had to think a few minutes. I’m 27, so I don’t have a ton of things that I can say for certainty I’ve kept for 20 years. But when I thought about what I did have, there was a definite theme – handmade! I hope my kid(s) end up saving some of the things I make them.

As a part of the blog train, thinking about: “We have become such a throw-away society, but there are some things in our households that we still keep. Why is that so? Perhaps this blog train can unlock the reasons behind it! Follow the daily posts on this blog train and read about the stories behind the things we have kept for many years and why we didn’t throw them away.”

First up is my baby quilt, made by my Grandma. Cross-stitched in the middle, hand-sewn binding, it’s full of love. I inherited her sewing machine when she died and used it to get started learning. I wish she could see what I make now! I hope to make baby quilts if I have grandkids some day and love the idea of them looking at my quilt, their parent’s quilt (that my Mom/their Grandma made), and then their own quilt that I made. I’ve held on to it for obvious reasons – it’s something special that my Grandma made for me and I love having a tangible artifact of the creativity that I’ve inherited.

Another crafty artifact! There is no year on this, but I assume it’s from elementary school because my Mom made it and gave it to me. I was pretty much a snot from middle through high school, so I can’t imagine her having given it to me then! I’m not huge into making cards, because they tend to just be recycled/pitched the next day, but it’s clear that love and time was put into this Valentine. It also makes me laugh, because it’s cheesy. I bet she’ll be surprised that I still have it but again, I love having a reminder of my creative roots.