as i was going thru some scraps to give away, i found a few pieces that i decided i couldn't part with. this is one of them. it is cheap "quilting cotton" (lordy, how i dislike that term), with origami cranes and a gold swirly background. when i bought this fabric, i didn't really "like" it, but for some reason i was drawn to it so i bought 5 yards (it was in the clearance section at jo-ann's, so buying 5 yards didn't seem like much of a splurge). it sat on my shelf for ages--i often thought about just giving it away or selling it on eBay--but each time i thought about gettting rid of it, the fabric seemed to plead with me to let it stay, so i did.
it took several years, but the fabric finally revealed its mission:
after an eight-year-long nightmare, my youngest sister finally escaped from an intensely-abusive relationship. it was christmas time, and usually the siblings in my family draw names for christmas gift swapping (because there are so many of us, and really none of us NEED anything, the gift swap is just for fun)--but that year the rest of us got together and secretly decided that we were all going to give to this sister, because she left with literally nothing but a small bin of clothes and her crazy little dog.
a friend had recently told me that folding 1000 paper cranes would bring abundant good luck. when i was searching my stash for inspiration on what to make for my sister, this fabric literally fell off the shelf into my arms. i decide that making something with 1000 cranes-worth of fabric did, in fact, constitute "folding", so i made her a long, wrap skirt--i used as much fabric as i could to make sure she got at least 1000 cranes. and i believe it worked--last summer, this sister married the man of her dreams, a man our whole family adores and who loves my little sister with his whole heart.
the summer after i made my sister's skirt, i made myself a blouse with the rest of the fabric--there aren't 1000 cranes on it, but it was still good luck--that was the year i got pregnant with ella.
this scrap has a place of honor in my heart, it reminds me of new life, and new beginnings, and the virtue of waiting patiently for the muse to show up.
now it's your turn: what stories are in YOUR scraps?
