A lot of junk in my trunk

OK, it's fabric and not junk, and technically it's not a trunk since I have a minivan. But there is a lot of it.

My brother-in-law's mother passed away last year. Apparently, she was a sewing maniac or a hard-core fabric addict or both. He had offered her fabric to my younger sister and me a while back, and we never got around to going to look at it. So, at Easter he brought us a present. All her fabric. His trunk was packed full. He transferred it all to my minivan, and it has been there ever since. Upon first glance, I thought, "Wow, it looks like I robbed Hancocks 20 years ago." I figured there was very little I'd want to use, even less my sister (who mainly quilts) could use. I saw some green football jersey type material, some Native American style print that was popular when I was in junior high school, some super stiff denim... I have just let it sit. First, I have no where to put it. Secondly, what am I going to do with that mess? My girls cut all their hair off - make them some football jerseys so they REALLY look like boys?

I finally made it out there today with the intention of bagging up what I didn't want to either toss or give to Goodwill. As I pulled things out, I discovered that the hideousness on top was hiding some really good stuff. A lot of it is knits, which I haven't had much practice with, but I'd much rather screw up some free fabric than a couple of yards I paid for. There was an entire BOLT of black knit fabric. A whole BOLT. Almost a whole bolt of red knit. And she had to have been buying 5+ yards at a time of stuff, because the quantity of all of it is just ridiculous. I did throw some stuff away, mostly things that she had already cut out. I bagged up a few bags of really bizarre feeling material that I'll donate to Goodwill. But the majority of the fabric is still there in the back of the van, waiting for me to come up with ideas for it. I know my sister is supposed to share in this bounty, but not much of it is good quilting material. Even still, splitting it in half would leave me with enough stuff to keep me busy for a long time.

This is particularly good because I worked on the budget last night and had to promise myself I'd stay away from Joann's for a while with the exception of thread and other notions. Sad, but true.

Now I just have to figure out where to put all this junk, because I kind of need my trunk back =)