Thread: Fabric overload

Now, I know some people will have no sympathy for me at all, but bear with me...

I love fabric. LOVE fabric. But I have almost reached burn out. I am an assistant coordinator for my local Project Linus, and we frequently get donations of fabric. The coordinator is a knitter, so she has no interest in fabric, so it all comes to me (lucky me!).

Recently, we got a whole bunch from a lady who was "downsizing" her stash. Her daughter and son-in-law brought me about 10 big plastic totes of fabric that she had purged out of her stash -- of 80 totes!

It was really interesting seeing some of the older patterns. There was some from the late 70's and early 80's, as well as more recent stuff. I always separate out the cottons, specifically the child-suitable stuff. Unfortunately, no matter how much I try to explain that we only want fabric suitable for making kids' quilts, I always get a lot of upholstery weight and apparel fabric. I always take it cheerfully, though, and pass it along to other charity groups.

My problem is that I pull out everything I think I would possibly use, wash it, and iron it. It destroys my sewing room and kills my productivity. Takes forever to get it all ironed, especially when they are big pieces (great for backings) that get twisted in the wash and dryer and are that much harder to iron.

I finally got everything squared away, and this week we got another big donation from the husband of a quilter who had passed away. Now, of course I can't say no to fabric. I simply can't. But after driving to go get it, I spent about six hours sorting through it all. There was a lot of good stuff, I won't lie, but probably 75% of it is moving on.

I look at the fabric I kept out and I am too tired to even think about sewing. How sad is that.

I do intend to try to sell some of it on the board to bring in some funds for our PL chapter. I'd like to get this fabric into the hands of people who can use it, especially for charity quilts.

All through the sorting I kept thinking about the woman who left this stash. I tried to send her appreciative thoughts and let her know I liked her taste in fabric. Then I tried not to think about someone who might have to sort through my stash some day, lol.

Definitely need to move some of my fabric along!

Thank you for all your hard work sorting, washing and especially ironing all that fabric. The quilts that are made from that fabric will be appreciated and enjoyed. Kudos for all your hard work.

Venting is good, gets us motivated to move on and get something done. The reverse side of attitude of gratitude can be difficult to overcome. Now you can get with it and enjoy making some Linus quilts! Have fun!

{{{{{{{{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}} Is there anyone who could help you with all the sorting, washing , etc. ? it does seem like a lot of work for one person

Originally Posted by sharon b

{{{{{{{{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}} Is there anyone who could help you with all the sorting, washing , etc. ? it does seem like a lot of work for one person

I agree. Why is it left to you to do all the work? Anyone can iron favric. If the coordinator is into knitting, why is she in a group that quilts? And why cant she sort and iron? If i lived closer i would help you. Thanks for your willingness to do this for PL, but i think some of the other member should be helping out with the sorting, washing, ironing. That way everyone can get to the fun part.QUILTING

Originally Posted by sharon b

{{{{{{{{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}} Is there anyone who could help you with all the sorting, washing , etc. ? it does seem like a lot of work for one person

I had the same thought as Sharon. You need some volunteer help.

Originally Posted by sharon b

{{{{{{{{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}} Is there anyone who could help you with all the sorting, washing , etc. ? it does seem like a lot of work for one person

That's what I was thinking too, if you are coordinator of a chapter perhaps the rest of the chapter people can help when you get such large donations. Either by doing the sorting/laundry work at their homes OR perhaps make an appointment to meet 2 or 3 three of them at a laundry mat where you can all sort and launder together and when done THEY can take some of the stash back to their homes to work. You can use the $$ you get from selling the "unusables" to pay for the laundry services (or the laundry mat owner might even donate the use of the machines for a day to a good charity!).

Originally Posted by sharon b

{{{{{{{{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}} Is there anyone who could help you with all the sorting, washing , etc. ? it does seem like a lot of work for one person

I agree with this comment. I have received two such donations from friends/family of friends. I went through it and kept what I knew I would eventually use. I then packed it up and took it to my quilt guild and let them pick through for their preferences and what was left went to another source for her choices. Needless to say it didn't take long for the stashes to disappear and no one complained about having to wash and iron their own pics. Now as far as the guild, if we were to keep it for a universal project, we would take turns at tasks, sorting and washing being among them.

I know what you mean about using all your energy for PL and nothing left for yourself. Perhaps there is someone(s) that can help you with the sorting, washing and ironing...it's a lot more fun and a lot less work if there is more than 1 person doing all the work...

Diannia