Not a fabric regret but I regret getting rid of my father's boots. He had several pair of really nice (western or cowboy) boots and I wish I'd kept at least a pair or two to just display in my house.

When my quilting Grandma went to a nursing home, she had 10 unfinished quilt tops. My Aunt asked Mom if either she or I would want any of them (I was in college) and she said no. When I found out and asked about them, she said she took them to the dump.

I was just thinking the other day that I wished I had asked for my father's ties. I would have liked to make a purse using them. I used to buy my dad a tie every Christmas and he would wear it to church and boast that his daughter sent it to him.

I wish I had my grandmother's hankies. She kept them in every pocket and some had embroidery. I didn't quilt when she passed. Another note, I have the ties that a retired school principal was going to toss. All hand washed, opened up and pressed. Just waiting.....

piney

I also wish I had my Grandmother's hankies, dollies and pillowcases she crocheted the edges of. I was in bed with a complicated pregnancy 1000 miles away when she passed and Mom and my Aunt had gotten rid of all of those things before I was up and around again.

I was only 12 when my Grandma died, but took the boxes of worn out quilts that no one else wanted. I kept them and then years later went thru them and found enough selvagable parts to make all her grandchildren (24) a teddy bear. Mine sits on the bed in my sewing room and Grandma and I quilt together almost every day.

When I was a new mother I got a sewing machine and began making clothes for my children. I kept all the scraps thinking someday I would take up quilting and use them to make a quilt. Over the years I moved around, went back to school for a degree, then went to work. All the while I was moving boxes of fabric with me. I tried cutting some squares with a cardboard template and scissors (before the days of rotary cutters and plastic rulers). Ugh! - boxed them up and put them away. Then one day I decided I was never going to get at the project and gave all the boxes to a nursing home where the ladies did quilting.

While I know they went to a good cause, I often think about those fabrics and wish I had hung on to them a little longer, because now I am "a quilter".

I wish that I had had the quilting bug when my grandmother was alive. She was a quilter and I wonder what I could have learned from her. I have a doll quilt and a twin bed quilt that she made for me that I treasure. When my father passed away, I took two pair of his jeans to make rag quilts with. I've done one alternating flannel squares with the denim and it's enough for a throw. I treasure that quilt, too, and it's the one I grab when I need to snuggle. I made sure to fussy cut the pockets and the leather tag with the size -- W 40, L 29. I guess in reality he wasn't tall, but he sure seemed tall to me. I'll do the other pair with homespun.

I regret giving away stacks of beautiful T-shirts that I "out grew". They had beautiful designs done for each wildfire I worked on before I retired. They would make a fantastic t-shirt quilt, but I didn't know about t-shirt quilts at the time.

Yes, my DH passed away last August, and I wish I would have kept several of his shirts to make a quilt with. I think I was in shock, and I was rushed to clean out and make room because I wouldn't have been able to afford where I live by myself. So, I had to move my sewing room into my bedroom. Now have my mother and my brother living with me.