I had a message yesterday from my mother in law. A friend of hers is giving up her crafting stash and I’ve been offered it. The lady in question has said for me to look through and choose what I’d like, then donate anything else to a charity.
My immediate reaction was excitement. Free stash!!! And as some of you know, I’m crafting on thinner reserves than usual due to unfortunate placement of the Christmas tree, so having a whole new supply is amazing.
Today, though, as I was searching for the fat quarters I bought and hardly used, I got to thinking.
My own stash is one of my most personal things. It reflects the changes in my ability and style over time as well as fashions. It’s full of half done projects and those which i wasn’t happy with so put back to recycle. It shows off my OCD with meticulously labelled iitems and storage, but also my drawer of shame where I tidy to when time’s tight. My husband knows of very little of it; my crafting expenditure iis an area i stay shtum about.
I do share crafting prodcts, but I would never set someone free on my strash, I’d pull out things for them to use or choose from, limit their exposure to my crazy and I’d definitely not allow my drawer of shame to be aired.
I have no idea of the financial value of my stash, but it’s invaluable to me personally and I can’t imagine anyone rifling through it and passing judgement.
So, I will accept my inheritance with a huge grin, but treat it with respect and I can see myself struggling to reject any for donation.
Does anyone else feel the same emotional attachment to their stash? And how would you feel about inheriting a stranger’s stash?
isntshecrafty 
I have never inherited someone else’s stash, but I have created a stash at a group working area. You try to pick fabric, findings, and materials that will be broadly useful to many different projects. And then when the materials actually get used, you are always prized by what sort of project your materials eventually wind up in. It often makes no sense. At least, not to you personally. The results are often very strange from your own point of view, while being perfectly except a bowl and even exactly right to the person who uses the fabric that you chose. I think that looking at someone else’s stash in detail, it’s probably good training for creating a group stash for many different people’s hands.
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Oh my stash is very personal! You might even say I am selfish with it. LOL! I would accept the “stash” gracefully. I then would go through it and keep the items that I wanted and then donate the rest to either a school or someone else who might enjoy crafting but doesn’t have the funds to do so. You never know what treasures you may find or who just might inspire! 🙂
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No, you are not alone! I built this stash!! I spent hours buying off the telly, trawling through websites and pounding the pavement to the craft shops. Can’t just let someone who doesn’t have any idea how much certain things might have cost come in and use what they like regardless! But then, if I were to pass my stash on, I would be totally happy with people taking what they wanted and then gifting or donating the rest. We all have different taste. Better it gets used?
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I can’t imagine passing my stash on,but I do think I’d like to be able to look at someone enjoying it and letting it be used
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I have given some away recently – actually it felt quite good!
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I really like showing off my stash, it inspires people to go crafting themselves, and I love to encourage that. Most of my yarns I have gotten from others, and I love using them for everything, I am a lot more careful ( read afraid to work) With the ones I got myself. I do not like to give things away till they’re done. For some silly reason I like to get half finished projects it feels like adopting them like my own since they were preloved. silly isn’t it.
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I really like the idea of adopting works in progress x
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I inherited a huge stash when my parents in laws neighbour passed away. I actually sold a lot of it to buy my Cricut machine (discussion with relevant people was had before I sold it and it was deemed ‘ok’ given that no one wanted to deal with it.) My stash is too big and I often consider reducing it in order to feel less overwhelmed, sometimes there really is such a thing as ‘too much’!
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I agree there can be too much. I recently had a paddy with a card I was making as I couldn’t choose between about 6 colours of cardstock to mat and layer. When I only had 6 colours, that was never an issue x
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Same here. I remember having one magazine, 6 card blanks and the free papers with the mag! Bet my husband wishes he never bought me it now!
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You could always have developed a passion for something noisy and disruptive…
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Haha, the two kids we’ve had since then fit that bill quite well!
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Such a great post. I am so glad to have found and read this post. I inherited most of my initial stash and hold it very close to my heart for so many reasons! The woman i received most of my supplies and tools from was someone my husband (he is a handyman) helped on several occasions woth home repairs. She passed away suddenly amd her best friend knew that I her handyman’s wife enjoyed crafts and did not want her supply to be wasted. I could not have been more grateful and that is in part how I was able to start my dream of creating professionally. While right now I would be too attached to give any of my stash I would hope to one day pass along the same opportunity to another person.
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