Why I love my stash

I figure I need to ask myself what it is I love about having a giant stash of random fabrics.  After all, if I purge without acknowledging the secret reasons I have certain items, I am sure to just replace them over time with duplicate items.  (This is a lesson I hear from the Hoarders tv show.  It kinda sticks with you.)

So, clearly I love dreaming about fabric projects.  The dreaming stage is very appealing to me.  Lots of fabrics means lots of opportunities to dream and imagine different possibilities. (Thus the many blog posts about fabric auditions, often for a single quilting block.)  And the possible may be more satisfying to me than the actual.  (Not 100% sure, but they run close to 50-50 in my book.)

I also like to be a resource person.  I like it when my children (or a colleague) can call me up and say, "I need some fake fur", and I can ask them which of my seventeen different fake fur choices they would most like to have.  I give items freely from my stash.  It makes me feel useful, and I love being able to share my passion instantaneously.

I have trouble making choices.  Could be why I end up with similar things.  And why I buy five fabrics, when I clearly told myself my maximum on this particular trip was TWO.

Recent choice example:  Looking at upcoming sewing challenges, I found Jungle January 2 - Style Safari, a sew-along for the month of January.  Sew anything you want, using jungle-themed fabric.  Wait, don't I already have some animal-print fabric?

3 Choices: silky poly-blend, quilter's cotton, and textured double-knit

See what I mean?  Choices!!! Three fabrics here, plus a bit of fake fur stashed away somewhere (orange, black, or leopard-print?).  Aww, too bad I used all of the teal zebra print to back a quilt this past year...

Okay, I think I have enough psychology of my stash for now.