I've been tying to start a new project and am suddenly eyeballing all my fabrics in microscopic detail! This one's too thin and that one's too thick. One feels lovely and soft but another feels coarse to the touch. Unfortunately the bulk of my stash is fabric I received from estate sales or locker sales.
When I first began quilting I had no fabric at all and it was my good fortune to get so much fabric cheap or free! With my first foray into quilting I was most concerned with content. I knew we were supposed to use cotton and avoid polyester and it took some learning to be able to tell the two apart.
My next lesson was color. I made the Grand Illusion Mystery quilt but had a late start so I hurried to get some fabrics together. I new nothing of shade or tint. I just grabbed a bunch of pinks and a bunch of blues and went for it!. I love my quilt, but after seeing others, I could have made better choices. So I learned about choosing color.
Now I am noticing the actual fabrics and finding I love working with the really nice ones.
My last couple of quilts I bought fabrics for, not having what I needed on hand so the fabrics were nicer quality. Then recently I decided I had plenty of blue on hand and would make a nice quilt with fabrics from my stash. As I began cutting fabrics and adding them in, I started really noticing the weaves and textures. I'd sew something together and 2 days later decide I couldn't live with it and rip it out. Some of the fabrics I've bagged up to re-home, but now I am wondering just how much of my lovely stash is needing re-homing!
I decided last night that I'll need to go shopping and I will be looking for lovely soft and touchable fabric for the next project. I feel so much more peaceful and excited about it now!
Is this normal?