Growing up my grandparents were always known as the "Bickersons." They would quarrel over a Monopoly game (for 35 minutes), how much toilet paper to buy, not to hang pictures on the walls, realy, just about anything. I remember in the Summer my grandma would wear these blue shorts covered in elephants, peacocks, tribal men with spears and crazy little geometric shapes. Anyway, one day they were squabbling about something and my grandpa says "Well at least I don't have a damn elephant on my ass!" Ever since that day, I cherished that memory – and those shorts. I was telling my mom and sister this story when we were cleaning out my grandma's house last Spring and they were cracking up. You could imagine my delight when at the bottom of a box, under several sweaters I found my cherished memories – the shorts! I shrieked with happiness and ran to put them in 'my pile' to take home.
Finally about eight months later I'm getting around to making something from them (did you think I was actually going to wear them? My grandpa would turn over in his grave!). I transformed the shorts into little cosmetic/travel bags for my mom and sister for their birthdays.
So the moral of the story? Re-purpose your favorite childhood fabrics into more useful adulthood items!