How many years did you spend stocking up on fabric before retirement?
 

I have read on here several times about how many of you have written that you are stocking up on fabric for retirement. When will or did you retire and for how long did you stock up? I am asking because I am now under five years for retirement eligibility and want to know if it is time to really start to stock up. ;) As opposed to the 1000 or so yards I have purchased in the last three years while I perfected the shopping part of quilting, lol.

It took me an entire lifetime to get enough.....now my goal is not to die until I have used it all....:p

i did some stocking up over the 30 years before retiring. did not realize that was what i was doing, it just happened. have been retired 4 years now and my stock has grown geometrically. ha ha! just spent many hours sorting my stash and have been crazy with convincing myself that enough is enough. going to, well, trying to, stop buying.

come to the realization that "stash happens" whether we want it or not. so, just relax and enjoy the ride. try to get some actual work done between the fabric gathering.

as one of my quilting group ladies says, "i have enough fabric that i will have to live to be 200 years old before i run out."

I didn't start quilting until 5 years after retirement. I had to hurry to catch up, but I think I made it. :)

After I quilt working I had more time to shop for fabric, find the sales, sign up for classes, travel to quilt shows and join day time guilds. I found out fast I needed more money for my quilting after retirement then when I was working so stock up money not fabric.

Soooo... That is what I am doing? Ughhhh.

BellaBoo has great advice -

Stock up on the money - not the fabric!!! (Besides, money takes up a lot less space and there are more options for what you can do with it.)

I did not start quilting until several years into retirement, but my mom and I had both been garment sewers for our whole lives and that and denim blue jeans and old clothes was what I started quilting with. I still am not a dedicated LQS fabric quilter. I buy wool garment and cotton prints at thrift stores, for instance. I'm not sure it is a good idea to 'stock up' on fabric unless it is very generic. I have found my sense of color has changed a lot over the years. You would not believe how much mauve floral fabric I have! Yuck! You might want to start buying the staples of quilting before retirement - rulers, mats, rotary cutters, etc. because they are so expensive.

Popular fabric styles and colors change dramatically over the years. You might not want to get too much that is not a generic in style or color....I agree with others, save you money instead so that you can buy fabric later while in retirement, not now.

love it, dunster :thumbup: that's my story too