I was a colector until I moved and made simple block quilts for charity out of it and now I'm a project quilter. It make my life and home less stressful.

I have more than enough fabric to last as long as I will live...the one with the most fabric wins right? But I am doing a good thing as I am donating 4 plastic tubs of fabric for charity quilts. I have washed, dried and ironed until I am weak...ha ha. Plus cutting for kits. I have them returned and I put on the backing and a friend quilts on her longarm. 4 inch over-hang on the quilt backing so we can filp and sew the binding. Oh yes...I have lots of help sewing as quilters are the best and always up for charity!!

i am trying not to buy any unless i have to or i just love it but i went into walmart yesterday to develope pictures had to wait an hour guess where?!! fabric dept. i found some blacks and bought a yard of each. i don't have much black and sometimes u just need a little for whatever in a quilt

[quote=vivientan]I have this bad habit of buying nice fabrics, especially precuts such as FQs, charm squares, jelly rolls etc, even though I do not have any projects in mind. Then I will search for suitable projects to use them, when it should be the other way round. Now I have too many fabrics lying around, waiting to be used!

Oh yes -- FQs and charms esp. but also jellys that have been marked down. Haven't purchased a layer cake yet - they aren't usually on sale!

Hi Patty, I am from KY also. I love having beautiful fabric where I can look at it a lot. I am trying to use what I have on projects instead of buying more. It's hard to do. I have been quilting just a few years, but I have quite a stash. Kitty

I started off collecting random fabrics so that I have a collection/variety on hand for scrap quilts. I also purchase some fabrics with a specific project in mind.

Cheers, K

I used to buy beautiful fabric and then couldn't bring myself to cut into it. Am working on the problem.... Now I have to dye the go together fabric for the old pieces, they are nowhere to be found..
Am trying to use the beautiful too small pieces by making smallish gifts.
Am a fabriholic, don't need a cure cause I don't want to stop buying beautiful fabric.

About 5 years ago, while living in an apartment from which I had to move, I held a "sale" from my fabric stash by putting a notice in a local quilt guild's newsletter. I pulled from my stash any I couldn't part with and hid it. The rest I arranged in huge baskets and on shelves/tables. I determinedly sold everything for $3 per yard (some cost me a few tears but I was ruthless with my clearing out). The 'buyers' called/emailed first to arrange a time to shop as a way for me to control the number of bodies in the house at one time. They all paid cash. I cut anything from 1/2 yd. up, no cutting fats. But some of the pieces I had were already only fat quarters or ¼ yd cuts, too.

I had little slips of paper I'd printed from the computer with columns of cut sizes: .25 yd, .33 yd., .375 yd., .5 yd., .625 yd., etc., etc. and I put a chit mark in the appropriate column as they 'bought' and I cut. Then it was easy to add up all the decimal sizes and come up with total yardage, then multiple that by $3 for the total they owed me.

I met some lovely ladies, had fun conversations, sold a ton of fabric I had not used for a decade, and made $1400!!

Of course, I had to do it all over again 3 years later as I spent the original $1400 on more fabric.
And I made another $1200!! (What I sold the second time was more of the 'old stuff', not newly bought, of course.)

I admit that I owned lots of yardage of individual fabrics because I kept tons when I closed my shop in 2000. But a large number of the prints were those I’d collected in ¼, ½, ¾, yards for years. Some had been used in more than one quilt over the years. I had many, many blenders and tonals useful in any quilt, and I believe that’s what made my ‘sale’ so successful.

Jan in VA

Who knew I had so much value hiding in my fabric closet! :thumbup:

The way I see it is....eventually those fabric prices is going to rise and now you already have your stashes so less $ to spend later, just go with the flow and pick a pattern and start now! Worry about the rest when a project calls ya and lo-behold there is your fabric waiting to be used! Making sense ?? LOL

tellow brick road is a terrific pattern to use co ordinating fat quarters have fun

I do that too. If it is pretty and good quality and I like it, I end up buying some of it. I have so much stash I should never buy any more fabric in my lifetime. I am trying to stay out of fabric stores at the moment but don't know how long that will last lol!

You are not alone. I LOVE fabric, especially florals and batiks. Do you know how many fabrics that includes! I have started buying at least 2-3 coordinating pieces at a time. That has helped when I am looking for fabric to match with a quilt pattern. My other problem is that I sometimes don't want to cut that beautiful piece up even for a quilt, so I have to go buy more!

Susan

[quote/]Just wondering if you ladies buy fabrics only when needed for projects, or you also collect fabrics just like me. Pls tell me that I'm not the only one who's doing this! :P

I have been trying very hard to stop myself from browsing fabric websites, so as to stop this impulse buying.[/quote]

Welcome to the club!! Most of us are in the same boat. We need to form a "Quilter's Anonymous" group. It's an addiction, and I'm not just kidding.

8-)

Same here. I did that till I had a better idea of what quilting was all about. Now I have a very nice stash and only buy fabric to fill in a particular color. VERY limited income.

I buy fabrics I like even if I have nothing in mind until the money runs out. (I have 72 cents in my fabric fund right now.) Guess I will be going to the stash for a while!

I buy fabric all the time without knowing what I'm going to do with it. Sometimes I have to buy just a little more fabric to make a certain quilt, or I have to much for a quilt I'm making, but it will get used one day. I bought some basic beige with a light white print on it years (12) ago. Really pretty background fabric. I think I bought 3 yds at the time, and I now have just inches left. When I pulled it from my stash, I had no idea what I was going to do with it. Then one project needed a little and another a little and so on.....and just to build my stash, I now buy full yds. even if the pattern calls for 1/4 or 1/2. I'm doing a fine job of building my stash and running out of room.

Here's my husband's logic for a good stash - you're an artist and you need to maintain a supply of raw materials - so glad I married a creative guy.

I only buy when I am shopping for a specific quilt.
If I see a fabric I really like and know it will work in a scrappy quilt I will buy 1/2 yard or 1 yard.
The only time I really stock up is when my LQS has the tone on tones on sale in January.

I don't think I am a fabric fabricaholic :roll: I went into hobby lobby and come out with only 2 yds. The same thing happy last week I only came out with 2 Yds. :lol: :lol:

Me too!

I usually have a project in mind, BUT if I see a beautiful fabric I just can't be without I buy 2-3 yards.
Since I have 4 grandchildren I collect childrens novelty fabrics.

I call it Spec Fabric. On the speculation I may use it someday

What comes first, the fabric or the quilt? With me its definitely the fabric every time, then I just wait for inspiration to hit me as to what to do with it.

I call it wonder fabric. I wonder what I will do with it?

I collect nifty fabrics also. I have found a simple pattern that lends itself to any size scraps. Everything is cut to 2 1/2" strips, then sew together 2 of them(length wise). Cut the strata into 4 1/2" strips. Now you have a square. Assemble as you like to make designs, or add frames to make the block bigger, and assemble your quilt. Don't forget to post your results. I do not have a copyright on this pattern, nor does anyone else, enjoy the process. Lovies!

I usally buy without a project in mind...just what catches my eye. And when a sale is on I will stock up on neutrals and solids. You always need those.

:D :-D :lol: I buy fabric because I love fabric. I hope someday to make something out of it . Back when It was cheaper I bought a whole lot more now I limit myself to fabric every other month, but if I did not have a 'large' stash, I could not afford to support my quilting habit.

My DH collects antique cars, and I never expect him to drive them, My brother collects stamps, and Lordy, Lordy, if one accidently gets used as postage. My son collects guns, and surely he isn't expected to shoot them much, so I collect fabric, I am a quilter so sometimes I use a little of it, but mostly its a collection and I don't intend to ever have time enough to use it all up

i but fabrics when ever im in the mood and what kind of mood im in is what kind of fabric i buy , that way i have an assortment !

I usually use what I buy except my batiks. I have a problem cutting into those beautiful pieces. :oops:

If you haven't read my fabricaholic induction club story, here is the link

http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-57114-1.htm

Its self explanatory. :-)

I almost never buy fabric with a specific project in mind. Lucky for me, I love samplers - no boredom, lots of opportunity to use a variety of fabric!

Wow! I can't do that! I buy fabric whether I need it or not...I love to buy Joann's remnants, so I have a really big stash along with yardage I've bought. And I have a bookcase full of quilt books that I bought when I belonged to a book club that I joined and could get 5 or 6 books for a dollar each and then I'd be obligated to buy X amount for a year and I'd quit and rejoin again later and do the same thing. And you mentioned yarn...I have lots of that too! I guess I'm a compusive buyer! My 9 year old granddaughter seems to be getting interested in crocheting and sewing, so maybe she'll get it all. Her mom and her aunt don't seem too interested in any of it. One of my daughters-in-law has been bit by the sewing/quilting bug I think, so there's another one that can benefit from my stash!

This is what I did with my batiks.

Yummy, yummy colors!!
Jan in VA

I read your story and liked it. You're NUTZ!!! (meant in a good way) I hope your friend didn't leave you in the lurch as you did her! hehehehehe

:twisted:

Think we are all in the same boat.....

Hmmm "too many fabrics lying around..." what the heck does that even MEAN?? ROFL

K9dancer,
Beautiful!!!
I love it.
thanks

A lot of fabrics call my name and tell me to take them home with me. Some of the time I can resist. Most of the time I end up with yardage not just a FQ.