mrspete

I admit that I grew up pretty sparingly in every sense of the word. So, of course, sales unleash desires that aren't for publication. Being married for a thousand years, my choice of vacation, music, tv programs or friends and places to go were just a laugh. So, I would make things. Baby food jars, old clothes, clothes pins, cardboard just about everything had a value. I even would ask for old magazines that folks had and did mosaics on bottles and trace the cracks with magic marker. So, this stash was obvious like my makeup and my extra sweaters and things that I hord.....hmmm there goes that four letter word again... anyway, it is natural for me to say, I might not be able to buy it one day. So, I keep piling it up and now I'm sewing like a fein. I love my freedom. I love my life. I love sewing but the need for food purchases and utility payments keeps me away from my wonderful stash and my loving sewing machine...but I keep trying. That's my story and I'm stickin to it!

So what's your story?


Blessings, Ruth

Charlee

Pretty simple answer for me...I'm a bit OCD (Obcessive Compulsive Disorder).

I tend to "charge" full bore at the things that interest me. Losing weight, I was on Calorie Count website several times a day. I could tell you within 10 calories what I had eaten on any day of the week. Didn't take me long to know how many calories were in the meals that we ate, or what I could order at a fast food place.

I'm the same way with crafting or anything else that grabs my interest. And yep. I'm a "gatherer" and a "hoarder"....thankfully William isn't, and he talks me into getting rid of stuff when I need to.

earthwalker

My childhood was pretty spartan, and we moved and travelled constantly..not only homes but countries. When I was small I would dream of just staying put and hanging on to my possessions...Well didn't achieve that 'til I was just over 30, I then vowed vagabonding was out of my life. I have stayed put for well over a decade, am passionate about my garden, books and animals, enthralled by fabric and quilting. I think the thing with quilting is the fun of hunting and gathering and the quiet time spent designing and creating. The end result is not only beautiful but warm and somehow homely.

One thing I can't seem to achieve though is "the look" (whatever that means). When people who know me find out my interests they always say...."but you don't LOOK like a quilter/gardener". Just wondering if anyone else experiences that?

Charlee

Ask them what a quilter/gardener looks like? ;)

Gramof6

I don't know what happened to me. Honest. I took up cross-stitch and had to have ever color, size of Aida Cloth and ever color of DMC embroidery thread made. Then I took up Tole Painting with Acrylics. Had a ton of my fav. brands of paint. See a habit forming here? Then I got into quilting. Didn't know squat, but hit Hancocks weekly buying fabric just because it was beautiful. Then found JoAnns. OMG then possabilities were endless. LOL Then my dear little friend took me to the LQS. The rest is history. I found what I thought was a dream that I never wanted to awaken from. Started buying Ft Qtrs and started traveling around to Quilt Shows. The weekend after my DD moved out after graduating from college in 1999, I painted her room and it became my sewing room. Got DH to put shelves along the length of 1 wall and from there I just had to fill them up with stash. It has grown and grown from there. It is an illness I hope no cure will be found for. I have slowed down this year and not buying like I have in the past. That is not until the Show in Houston this Fall. LOL And that is how it began.

thequilterslink

i too grew up pretty poor, it was a big treat to get fabric to make a new skirt, i use to take forever to pick out which piece to get. Now i am onto quilting and buying fabrics, can't seem to stop, although i have to live to be 500 to use what i have now lol

amandasgramma

Three years ago, DH and I decided to go full-time RVing. We sold/gave everything away....including SOME, but not all, of my crafts supplies. The house did NOT sell - well, it sold 2 times, but both sales fell thru....So, we did take a long trip to Texas and then decided full-timing isn't for us anyways. Well -- now after 3 yrs of being back into the home.........My craft room is PACKED to the gills!!!! Yes, I try every craft out there.....at least once. Yes, I buy because "it's on sale"....Yes, I'm happy as a clam!!!!!

cjomomma

Well I grew up poor and I still am. I started buying fabrics at the thrift shop, I got some really nice stuff from there. Then I started purchasing from WM especially sense other quilters discovered my secret to shopping at the thrift shop and now I can't find any fabrics there worth purchasing. I don't purchase at the LQS cause they are too expensive for me and it would take me forever to get enough fabric to make anything. I have a fairly large stash in my home and 3 to 4 plastic tubs in my folks basement. I can quilt for many years to come and not have to buy for quite a long time. Yeah right like that will ever happen. LOL.

theresse

I grew up poor, no allowance $1.00 a week lunch money. started working in cafertira sp? making $8.oo amonth and lunch. My mother started borrowing from me. I never expected it back. all I received war her love,I would have that anyway. As an adult I tryed to do better beauty collage Tech collage, Two back surgerys cronic pain, cause memory lose no past for 12 ys. Now sewing & qting kept me sane until the pain disapeared, not over night. Three grown children, on good days I Qt a lot Bad days I dream of Qting. Ym stash came alittle at a time. I hate waste 5 tubs six boxes, gee thought I didn't have enough. I don't. Don't have mush to send. don't get around very good. But good days are wonderful. Quilting is Wonderful, and Qting freinds that are super. Theresse

pocoellie

I used to make clothing, but even then not making enough to use up what I bought. LOL My problem started when I found a fabric store(many moons ago) that had fabric I liked, prices I liked AND lay-away. Boy, was I in trouble! LOL I used to make all of granddaughter's school clothes, then we home schooled for 5th-7th grades, so she didn't need school clothes and that's how I got into quilting. I have cut down buying fabric, mainly because I don't have the room for any more, especially in my tiny sewing room. My old sewing room was 500 sq. ft., my new one is 9x15. Not even enough room for ALL my stash. There's a small room attached to the back of my sewing room, that has the overrun of fabric. I have 5 machines in my actual sewing room and 4 more older ones in the "garage"(dirt floor) that I would sure like to put into the store room. I have to figure out how to get it organized so I can do that. LOL