I hope this gives everyone a good laugh!!

My DH & I bought our home 16 years ago, soon after we married. Everything we owned fit into the bed of a truck & a small trailer. I swore then I'd never move again, & have lived by that very adamently. Over the years we have managed to grow into that, once pitifully furnished, home quite well, filling it with furniture, children, and 16 years of living. Over the course of time I have managed to accumulate quite a stash of fabric, tools, battings, machines, and frames which have all lived in perfect harmony in my sewing room (which used to be 2 rooms- living room & dining room- but I took the wall down to have one great big room). Earlier in the year, I had to pack up each side of the room (one side at a time) to shift my belongings over to replace the floors. I thought that was way too much like moving and fussed for a month because I couldn't find anything. Well, about a month ago my DH & I got the oportunity to buy a fabulous house we have loved for years, from a friend of ours because he is being transferred to TX by his job. After 2 weeks of talking, my DH finally convinced me to move, which meant ours had to go on the market. This is when the REAL packing it up came in. :shock: :shock: I have never had to truely pack up my stash before, and I can honestly say I WILL NEVER MOVE AGAIN (after this one is finished)!!! :evil: I had no idea I have so many books & magazines on quilting, nor that I would need so many boxes for fabric!!! :oops: When I shifted it all (I thought "all") earlier in the year, I barely scratched the surface!!! :shock: :shock: The closets in that room were so full, when I pulled it all out into the middle of the floor it was waist deep (don't ask me how I got it all in there). :roll: :roll:

So now, all of our stuff is in storage and our home is, once again, minimally furnished.

I post this as a warning to all of you... beware of your stash!! :twisted: You may have to actually pack it up & move it one day!! :shock: :lol: (& then live without it for a while- that's what's killing me!!! :cry: :cry: )

Many times. I think this is our 24th house. All of my fabric is kept in convenient Rubbermaid totes. The books have to go in boxes, but everything else is ready to move. Even notions and supplies are in totes. Thread and patterns are in Rubbermaid wheeled drawer units.

cathe ... 24 houses????

yoooo got some 'splainin' to do. i can't be the only one who's dying of curiosity :wink:

LOL - military family, then some wandering post-military. Many of the moves have been local. Lately, we have been staying in one place longer. I think in 1988 we lived in three different houses! (Oh, and one of them was from Germany to Missouri, and I gave birth to our third son that year, too!) Frequently when we moved with the military or across the country, we moved into a house knowing that we would be relocating locally when we got settled into the area and knew where we wanted to live.

:shock: http://bestsmileys.com/fainting/1.gif :shock:

I moved before quilting struck. It was bad enough then as I have been sewing 40+ years, however the quilting bug really has sunk in its teeth. :lol: :oops:

piney

I had to move my stash from California to Florida. I still have the Rubbermaid totes, just in case. You never know if there will be a roof leak or something.

All the fabric is now on shelves where it gets air, but when it is boxed up, I keep the silica gel packs in with the stash so it can't get moldy. The gel packs are the ones that come in new boxes of shoes.

You might want to do this if your stash is sealed in plastic.

well, you have to take it out and play with it, of course, but the totes are fine for storage. They are not airtight, and I am in and out of the boxes all the time. I would worry more if I kept them in the basement, but mine stay nice and dry in the attic. Besides.... I am talking about maybe 40 big totes.

i just had to move mine from one room to another. bigger shelves. way more space. should've had room to spare. and yet ...

IT DOESN'T FIT!!!!!!!!!!!!

if i ever have to move to another house i'm gonna save myself a lot of time and stress. i'm just takin' the fabs, the machines, and my quilting supplies. ok. a bed. only then, if there's room, will i bring along the unimportant stuff like furniture. LOL

We are a military family too :lol: I am going on 10 times since 98 right now.. Getting ready to face another move soon... I have also learned to keep everything in rubbermaid totes... All organized and ready to use or move :thumbup:

I had to move all my stuff from Central Illinois to Indianapolis, then 4 years later move it back. The sad part was, a bunch of my stuff had to be left behind. I still catch myself going to get something I "know" I have just to remember after searching for an hour or so that it got left in Indy. The biggest hurt for me was leaving my custom made bead looms behind. And now I really wish I hadn't left my quilt hoop stand, I had used when I appliqued bead work to various projects, but WOW!! I can't believe how expensive those things have gotten!!

I now feel the same way!!! I even got rid of a boat-load of clothes... just so I wouldn't have to move or store them!! ( :roll: DH has no idea I raided his closet too!! He noticed & loves the extra space, but assumes it is all in storage :roll: :lol: ) I also got rid of 2 dressers, a chest-of-drawers, a make-up vanity table, 2 desks, a bed.... :lol: :lol: Man, no wonder my family thinks I'm obsessive about my quilting supplies. :lol: :lol:

After a couple of newlywed moves, I moved into my home in Wyoming. It had a great sewing area. And lots of scraps and supplies, etc! Then when I decided I wanted to move from WY, from my home of 20+ years, I cleaned in earnest. I made 15 quick pieced quilts for a humanitarian relief charity project for our church, which used up lots of fabric that I didn't really like. I had planned on putting things into storage to fulfil my dream of being a traveling nurse. BUT, I met my fantastic husband and moved to Southern Utah to his house. It had NO storage. AFter a few months of sincere cleaning, remodeling, etc. I claimed 2/3 of the laundry room as my sewing area. It is a fantastic area with a couple of nice windows, great light, plenty of shelves. My main stash is in numerous plastic tubs on shelves on the lower level. But I have to agree that moving a set-up area is like loosing a best friend. (even though my new best friend is much muchly better!) It was the transition between two designated areas that was the worse! Sara

altogether now ...

A BIG GROUP HUG FOR POOR STRAWBERRY :cry:

and another BIG GROUP HUG

for our military family friends. just think ... how great ... now that they're "here", they can always be "here" no matter where else they go. :P

Ahhhhh thank you!! I feel sooo much better now!! :D

I've been thinking about changing rooms , we have a room we share only because his fax machine is in there. The guest room (which has a 24 hour limit!) is maybe 2ft in each direction bigger . but the bunk beds have to be taken apart to move and so does my sewing table, then all that packing just to go down the hall! Just hearing y'all talk about it makes me too tired to do it, I think I'll wait a while! We just built this house 7 yrs ago and when we moved in we both got rid of a LOT of stuff but you can't tell it now. And I really hope I never have to move again I can't imagine do it 24 times!
But congratulations Carla! I'd help but you're kinda far away!

Oh, how well I remember the military moves....the sewing machine always went with me in my car. I know what those movers do. I've been in this house 18 years now and I'm constantly thinking I'm done with moving. HOWEVER, if I found the right little attachment to set up and leave up all my sewing, quilting, and crafting stuff.....heaven!

Hugs to Carla and Strawberry, I really empathize and have sympathy. You are a strong woman Strawberry to be able to leave those looms and frames behind. I would have had to make a stand of 'carry them on your back' to the husband.

Now if I could just go out and find the attachment to the house.....hmmmm

I keep a storage unit filled with stuff I packed when I "temporarily" moved here two years ago. If I ever get my own place again, I will be all set!

Kathy, thank you and thank you for the offer, but all I would ask you to do is caress my fabric for me and reassure it I'll bring it back home someday... I don't think it believed me. :lol: :lol: Strawberry, when I was a kid, we moved 21 times in 3 years, which is why I wanted a big house when we bought this one so we would never need to move. Anyway, my Mom used to make ceramics and ended up leaving all of her stuff in one of the houses we moved from. I am sorry for you; big hugs to all of you... You are the best!! So, y'all want to come help me decorate my new sewing room after I move??? :D 8)

I even got rid of a boat-load of clothes[quote]

Old clothes ( if the fabric is good ) make excellent quilts, both for yourself or charity quilts.

My husband took a new position with the goverment and we had movers pack up our home. The guy that packed my quilting room took longer than the two guy who packed the rest of the house. My DH gave me such a hard time until they had to pack the garage....lol