Collector....that's a good way to think of it!!! I am a coleector, too.

I'll trade with you Dotty!...

errrr uhhh wait, I dont have any scraps yet..I'm still new. =)

I agree. I find new homes for UFOs and fabric that I'll never have time to use. Its time to clean my sewing room again!

I hear ya! I "collect" stuff too, but am always doing several projects at once. Maybe get better at finishing a few sooner! :)

Mine keeps telling me he is going to apply for me to go on "hoarders" I keep saying its not hoarding its quilting. there is a BIG difference

I'm also a collector. I have many things "started" and not many "finished". I look at everything and then I get overwelmed and do nothing. I think I have a sickness.
Lynn

Well, I think I have to say you are an artist. I SWORE that I would not buy TOO much fabric when I decided to make this a "real" hobby 5 years ago. Now, I can look at every piece of fabric or kit that I have and I really have way too much, and see the finished project. Any artist can tell you that they can see the finished project in their head before they even start.

Happy Quilting,
Susan

Let's face it, collecting and using fabric is born in us. We are truly sisters tied together by threads. Wanna have a contest to see who has the most fabric in their stash?
Carol J.

I keep getting new fabrics because I don't want to cut into the fabric I have stashed. Isn't that sick? I buy fabric I love and then don't want to use it because I'm afraid a project will come along that will be perfect for it and then it would be used up. My stash is getting overwhelming but I still buy. I just have to have a "fabric fix" every so often.

Give away or sell items you will never do or do not like doing. Then every other project finnish one project.

Here is my problem. I do finnish quilts for other people but not the ones for DH and myself. As soon as I would change a project and make it for some one else then it does get finnished.

As for being a quilter you definitely are. You did start some of those projects. Right? Obviously most of us have similar issues. I need fabric and materials including vintage sewing machines to be inspired. ~smile~ Quilting helps keep me sane and it is cheaper then seeing a psychiatrist. It is the same with fabric. Even if I never make it into a project it has done its purpose of making me happy.

I saved stuff for years for "when I retire". I have now been retired 13 years and never touched any of it. My girls and I had a yard sale a couple of months ago with 26+ lunchroom size tables of mostly my stuff. What was left did not come home.
The sad thing is I could probably do it again and maybe be able to walk in my house without knocking stuff off tables, etc.

Well what a surprise. Blue Bell I'm also from Rhode Island

My Husband would never dare say that ! If he did I would prove him wrong, I would lock myself in my sewing room and he would have to feed himself( HAHAHA). I have seen your things. YOU ARE A QUILTER!!!!!!

Why don't we have selective hearing too?

I have a small pocket photo album that fits in my purse .When I purchase fabric a swatch goes in the album. The pages hold it in good but I usually put double sided tape on the fabric too. you can also put only certain colors on pages so you can flip through pretty quickly. Anyway, when you go to buy fabric matching those darks will be alot easier or it has been for me. I love my book even though I get the weirdest looks sometimes. I hope my ramblings make sense.

Well here is something to help your DH. Make curtains from that beautiful fabric for your book cases.

As for matching fabrics, can you get a friend to help. I often end up with that job in our little bee as that comes natural to me while my friends help me again with other things.

My DH says I'm a collector of books!!! I have so many instructional/pattern books on quilting, painting and stained glass, that I could almost open a shop!!!! LOL

I have a similar sighn right outside my door. lol

count the tools he has in the garage and ask him if he is a carpenter; auto mechanic; landscape designer, etc etc etc or whatever is appropriate.

Ditto! I couldn't have said it better.

I'm right there with you - However, my lqs has retreat days once a month - 12 hours of sewing time with other quilters -I seem to get more done there than anywhere -

:thumbup: :lol: :lol: I have that sign hanging in my dining room! :lol:

That is a good one! I think we are all in the same boat.LOL

Each to there own. I an sure he collects something . tools , guns etc.. If u make quilts u r a quilter . My husband just laughs when I say its time for a trip North or South to buy fabric. Just take one day at a time & work on whatever pleases u . I still have needlepoint to finish & I will someday.

Go thru all your projects and be honest with yourself. Sell or give away all the ones you definitely know you will NOT finish.
Then pick one and start working on it...and nothing else. This helped me! Oh...don't buy anything else.

I have too much fabric and patterns too, but my tastes change from year to year. A while ago i gave away a few ufo's for postage. Didn't make a lot of room, lol, but got to mark a few off my to finish list.

I am at the point of my projects causing me to have restless sleep!
I wake up to use little girls room, and can't get back to sleep right away as I am trying to vision problem with current project or work out how/when I will do next project!!

Talk about OVER THINKING!!! :|

so much for "RELAXING" hobby!!! :lol: :lol:

I read this entire thread and the quote I posted made me laugh my head off! I'm in that great big boat with the rest of you !! ha ha :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Well, try to control buying any more fabric and try to concentrate on just one project. Start with something small so it will go fast to complete. You can offer them as gifts for the holidays or if you have small children/grandchildren, they can be given to their teachers as gifts for the holidays.

Most of the time, I pick up stuff I know I will use. When I see a fabric I really like I will get this idea of what I want to do with it and work from there. I usually have 3 or more projects in the making and once I get them all finished I will start several more afterwards. I enjoy quilting so much that if I am not reading the quiting board or quilting magazines, I am planning another quilt. It has become part of me and my world.

Sometimes the UFO or even non-starts are part of the learning process. One of my struggles has been that I was raised: 1) to never waste materials - and practicing techniques could result in waste; and 2) that you shouldn't attempt something that you aren't good at, because that could result in #1...more waste.

I have had to teach myself to go ahead and buy fabrics that catch my eye or my imagination, and then to simply use it...whether it is to practice a technique (happy accidents to occur) or to hold for the right project. And allow myself that freedom.

My husband has been great help in this growth...he is a fly tyer and he is always buying materials that he might need :-) . And, he practices, and practices, and practices...and he throws stuff away or uses it to remember what not to do. And, he keeps a journal about it. So, his hobby has helped me grow in mine. If your husband doesn't have a hobby that requires collecting stuff for someday or creates messes, maybe you could help him find one...

Hugs.

Just keep on saving the scraps from everything you sew. OR you could volunteer to take a bunch of scraps off the hands of someone who is totally overwhelmed with theirs!

:lol:

How big is your bin? I wouldn't mind trading a UPS $4.95 box of scraps with you.

[quote=Grandmama Pat]I keep getting new fabrics because I don't want to cut into the fabric I have stashed. Isn't that sick? I buy fabric I love and then don't want to use it because I'm afraid a project will come along that will be perfect for it and then it would be used up. quote/]

Oh my gosh, that sounds like me. I have a gorgeous piece of turkey red and white fabric from the fifties when they used to use a heavier kind of cotton. I think, but I'm not sure, that it was called Indian Head?? Anyhow, I bought it on ebay thinking I'd make a beautiful tablecloth with it. I bought some white to go with the creamy white in the fabric, but I never have found the exactly "right" pattern to use. Every once in a while I take that fabric out of its hiding space and fondle it, then put it back.
Is this sick or what!? 8-)

We'll just say it's being "selective" for the time being. I have a cross-stitched tablecloth that I started about 28 years ago. I get it out and do a little on it every now and then, but I can't just sit and do that kind of handwork anymore (carpel tunnel and arthritis in my hands). I'm probably about 3/4 way around it now, so maybe some day I'll get to enjoy it. I just keep putting it on the back burner and creating something else that's a lot more fun for me. But, when you use your fabric that you love so much and then it's gone and you can't get more, that's what I worry about. What if I want to make something else with that fabric... can't do it, it's gone!!

Do you mean we're supposed to Use the fabric we buy??? I thought I could just sit and look at it. That's not quilting??

FOFLMAO!

Ditto!!!

When I started quilting a few years ago, I swore up and down that I would not start a new project until the current project was completed. That lasted about 20 minutes. Currently, I've got 4 projects in various stages of completion, fabric gathered for another 4-5 projects, and buckets of fabric for "just in case." I think I need an intervention. My husband, bless him, just smiles....

Overwhelmed is a good word to descibe it. I have so many projects lined up, that is the way i feel about it. So I am laying low at the quilt shops until I get some of it done.

Can anyone tell me if they have ever used the flynn quilting frame system for machine quilting and if so what do you think? I'm not sure if this is were I was supposed to ask this question but it's what I could find. If this is the wrong place please let me know. Thanks alot.
Rockingranny

you're not alone