Inspired by all of the television commercials for “RLS” and other acronyms for diseases for which one can take a pill and possibly make the symptoms abate, today I have coined a new acronym. Now, pay close attention. First, let’s discuss the symptoms.
When you pass a quilt shop, do you have the urge to visit? Do you then buy fabric that you like, just to take it home, put it on a shelf, or just “pet it?” This is one of the first clues that you might be coming down with ITAS!
Next, when you drive near an antique shop, do you go in, scouring the place for old quilt blocks, quilt tops, and quilts, ragged or not? These precious items are orphans and need a home desperately. If you rise to the call, you have ITAS.
Do you then go home and get on your computer and READ about textiles. Do you immediately rush to eBay to find further examples and then order some of them? If so, this is another example of ITAS at work.
Do friends seek you out to give you the gift of old quilts because they know that they will be given a “good home?” Ah, if so, they will never suffer from the same syndrome that you have.
Okay, what is this ITAS anyhow? Why, it is … drum roll … Incurable Textile Acquiring Syndrome!!! That’s right! Incurable. That means that there is no found cure yet, although it may be a situation with which scientists can distract themselves for awhile, trying to find just the right pill. They seem to have found a pill for everything else, and taken all together, the pills have the potential to annihilate someone, so that, indeed, if the person does have ITAS, I suppose that would be the ultimate cure!
If you have suspected that those uncontrollable urges you have to acquire textiles are just random, think again. It’s called ITAS, and you heard it here first. I declare myself as the first person to have ever recognized and named this malady, so if you use my acronym, ITAS, please provide appropriate credit to the discoverer of Incurable Textile Acquiring Syndrome. THANK YOU!
Patricia Cummings
