"the collective whole is my stash"

Pinterest photo

I was reading Rachel's post at "ps I quilt" (one of my regular reads). Lisa Lee's comment, "To me the collective whole is my stash" really spoke to me.  How succinctly Lisa Lee said exactly what I was thinking. 

scrap basket I made for a non-quilting
friend who gives me her scraps

The post asked about the difference between scraps and stash.  Before long, I began wondering why there has to be a distinction. 

Oh, I understand that there are those quilters who are a little OCD and need lines.  But some of us are a bit more laid back, and others simply don't know or make distinctions between scraps and stash.  I'm in the last of the three, sort of. 

I do now separate scraps simply because I have a way of doing so: this dark blue fabric basket--made from scraps. (I wrote about it here.)  But scraps are, in my mind at least, still part of the stash.  I make an effort to use the scraps so that they don't build up to overflowing, but I don't get crazy about it. 

I don't know that it matters as long as your system works for you.  For those who don't have a system, take your time in setting one up.  I have been in my studio for years and only recently began separating scraps.  I'm not sure that I even like this new way either, so I'm going to try it for a while.  If it doesn't work, I'll go back to the system I was using before: everything goes on the shelves.  In the meantime my little homemade scrap basket will do.
Happy Quilting,
Mary