Annaquilts

Maybe some purging and organizing will get you back in the groove. I like the idea of bringing a friend that will hold your hand as you organize. I understand the overwhelmed feeling. I am always looking for the perfect shade or print to complete a top and then it ends up never getting done. I am trying to relax and just finnishing quilts even if it is with less then the perfect fabric.

maecece

I also feel like I have way to much fabric. Can't remember where something is so I go out and buy more. At one time I had 4 kits of the samething because I couldn't remember having it. I won't let myself even go into the quilt shops anymore because I can't resist. Have to stay off the internet too. I go to look for something and get so tried moving all the totes, bags and under the bed storage I just give up. I have it piled so high in front of my closet doors I can't get in there to see what I have. My sewing room is my spare bed room and just dread someone saying they are coming to stay because then I have to move every thing out to my camper and shed and if they are in totes they are not making it back into the house. I don't just quilt I sew clothes to so I have ever kind of fabric.
One time I gave away and sold all the fabric I had collected when my girls were young so what did I do when I had grandchildren you guessed it bought more....sold that...now it's great grandchildren and the fabric for clothing isn't out there much anymore. I have lots of knits and 1 yard fleece. Going to someday cut the fleece into sq and use it for backing.
Good luck and thank for making me feel not alone.

Pat625

My name is Pat and I am a fabricoholic~! Is there a 12 step program for this?? If there is I really don't want to do it---I enjoy every bit of fabric I have

Deecee

I wish I had enough stash to be overwhelmed by.

I hope you get enough advice and motivation to get back into sewing. Good luck.

Nilla

I haven't been quilting nearly as long as many of you and I feel overwhelmed, so I can't imagine how a quilter of many years must feel. Sometimes I wonder if I could ever use all this fabric, even if I never bought anything more...

Journi

I have been quilting 3 years. In the beginning my stash was shameful due to the learning curve of appropriate cutting and piecing etc,. But I must say I treasure my stash and find myself buying a yard here or there just to have on hand. If I really like a fabric I will but more. Being on a fixed income it is difficult just to go purchase an entire quil's worth of material at once. My stash has taught me design, strip quilting and my beloved scrap piecing, which I have come to adore. My quilts all have a common thread- a similar something, but certainly not cookie cutter. They are just mine, reflecting my color loves and piecing favourites. I look to my stash as an undiscovered quilt or two. I also love to piece my backs, so that to is served by all those 1 & 2 yard purchases. It is very rare, that I can just wip out the change for 6-8 yards for a backing or binding. That stash is my "treasure chest" that about once ever two or three months takes fligh, landing as it may, while I step back, squint, and choice my next quit. I know---- perhaps I"m a bit excentric. It certainly isn't the first time I have been called as such! LOL

Geri B

We moved to this house 9 yrs ago and I had moved most of my "little attic" sewing room into my now sewing cave---quarter of a basement w/windows and cozy. Last week one afternoon I was bored and decided to watch something on tv On Demand. So I clicked on Hoarders....OMG...I could not believe the filth this program was showing..I think anyone could not live like what I saw, it could cause a plague!,,,

After that I went down to my sewing space to find a pack of precut HST that I bought in the last century....so I started to "dig". And the deeper I went the more I was convinced I had become a "hoarder"...and I scared myself!

Now a week later, I still have not found what I initially went looking for, but have found 2 UFOs that I will take to a sew-in, afew things to friend of daughter who is just beginning in quilting and am "organizing" better what I have..both books and fabric. And seriously concentrate on completing all the UFO s that I uncovered......
So when I finish here, back I go to wind up this adventure and get back to quilting!

KatFish

I wrap my fabrics around a ruler so they fit better on the shelf in my closet. I find when I can see at a glance what I have to work with I buy less. I also enjoy starting new projects when I don't feel overwhelmed by the mess in my sewing room, so I set aside 1 hour a week to put back any fabrics I have stacked around my sewing room and cutting up my scraps for planed scrappys that I keep in small totes with the pattern. I use these as leaders and enders whenever I sew anything so that I'm more productive. I challenge myself to make at least 5 scrappys a year to keep my scraps from taking over my sewing room.

nhweaver

I understand the inertia caused by fabric overload. But I get some emotional pleasure out of seeing my stash. It is mine, all mine. I think alot of us enjoy, at some level, the good feeling that abundance gives us. I do. It is comforting, when it gets overwhelming, I either sell it, give it away to another quilter, or bring some to goodwill so another quilted/sewer can bring it home. If your stash is causing you some distress, downsize, divorce yourself from those fabrics that no longer speak to you.

Hcim55

Another fabric aholic here......

how the stash was built - having the means to buy, buy, and then buy some more and a small amount of time to start many many projects and no tome to finish or make a dent in my fabric collection.

Why the three year break in sewing -lost my best quilting friend and all sewing coming to a complete STOP, only after adding all her fabric to my already over sized stash.

Why the return to sewing - because another very good friend pointed out that your best friend would not want this for you....and to each day spend 15 minutes in your sewing room.

What the steps were to get things manageable - each winter I committ to making one scrappy quilt, one new large quilt, and projects that will use up those beautiful fabrics that look best in bags and purses, and one kit, and to also machine quilt and bind all applicable projects. For me to have several different kinds of projects to work on keeps things interesting.

P.S. My first winter I was able to discipline myself to finish all started projects or if I really did not enjoy working on the project I donated it. I no longer visit quilt shops just to randomly buy fabric. I now visit quilt shops with fabric and project in hand and only purchase fabric that I need to finish a project.

Here's the funny thing.....when the piles started going away and fabric piles getting small and gone....at first it didn't feel so good...but now it does.lol