I agree with the 3 pile option. That's the best way to go thru everything. I truly understand what you are going thru. My mother was a very avid seamtress. She didn't quilt, but she did make one top, one of those Lone Star quilts with Y seams (that was the first project in quilting. She only make the top, eventually after she passed I quilted it. She started a drunkards path, but I haven't had the courage to complete it. When she passed I had the pleasure of going thru all her stuff. She never threw out anything, raised during the depression, she reused as much of everything possible. I knew I would never be sewing clothing because I don't have the patience for laying out a pattern and altering it to fit me - she was great at that. So what I did was call her friend who sewed and she came over and took what she wanted - she especially wanted the really old patterns. I talked with ladies at my local sewing center and gave them a lot of the stuff, gave alot of the material, yarn, different items which could be used by other seniors to a senior center that holds 2 really big craft shows each year. They loved everything I gave them. It's a lot of work, but no one says you have to spend hours at a time working on it, even spending 30 min. to an hr. in the room, then going onto something else, - like laundry, etc., then going back for another 30 min, to an hour, in no time you will have those piles whittled down to a manageable level. Good luck.
I feel like zozee who said she never regretted getting rid of anything - neither do I. I had to clean out my mothers house when she passed and she never threw anything away - I found stuff that dated back 50 to 60 years. I loved my mother, but there was no way I could ever justify keeping all that stuff. You just have to say "NO MORE" and close your eyes when you throw something in the trash and never look back.