I am also in the minority I guess. I have bo't a few pieces that I fell in love with and 10 yrs later still have them because I never found a use for them. Seems like I either do not have enough yardage from a piece that I want to use or else I can't bear to cut a small piece from a large piece of yardage so I quit fighting the problem and buy for the current project but save the leftovers.

I certainly admire her! I wish I did not have a stash...our home (a 100+ year old farmhouse) truly has limited storage space. And, I hate like everything to have have my stash sitting out 'looking' at me all the time!

Can I delete this thread before my hubby sees it !!!!


Oh god no !.. I have a nice stash and I never have enough.. I cannot imagine NOT having one.. Shes got some will power.. Wow..

:shock: :shock: :shock: Absolutely not...and she calls herself a quilter :?: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Don't have a stash. Would like to but right I can only buy the fabric I need. Never anything left.

That's like having kitchen cupboards that are empty...

I gotta have the fabric to look at - sometimes I just sit and look at my different prints, and then I get ideas

I have NO space for any type of stash. :)

I am jealous! I'll bet the rest of her life is uncluttered, too.

My fabric fits in a small closet in my sewing room. I put in a 3-shelf bookcase and use the three shelves and the top for my fabric. I have a smaller one (about 18" wide that houses my fat quarters, Christmas fabrics, and small "panels" I can use for large applique designs. For example, I have a swan that will be used for the center of a quilt for my niece who adores swans. Quite a bit of my fabric has been given to me, but I do purchase some when I see it and it fits a future project that I have in mind. I like being able to "shop" from what I already have. Most of the time I can pull from it without having to purchase more for the design I have made, but if need be, I rework the design so I can make the fabric fit the project. I don't work from patterns but from my own designs so I rarely have any problems using what I have. Whenever I do need additional fabric for a project, it's usually for the backing, but I have been known to piece those, too. My stash is small, but it certainly fits my needs. As much as I love fabric I cannot imagine having the backstock as large as some I've seen. :wink: I think I would feel so overwhelmed by it. Maybe I wouldn't, but I think I would. Right now I'm gathering fabrics for seven I Spy quilts for my four nieces, one nephew, and two future step-grandsons . When I'm finished with them, the leftovers will be added to my stock and will be used for scrap quilts. I also use my fabric to make non-quilt projects such as placemats, table runners, window valances, etc. I make these items mostly for my mother. She loves to change out her "linens" so she appreciates them. I have recently used some of my fabric to line crocheted purses I make from pull tabs. My stash of fabric has saved me quite a bit of money because it was either free or was purchased at a very good price. When I need to make this year's auction quilt, I will pull from what I have. The school benefits from the sale of the completed quilt, my students benefit from having helped make it, and my wallet benefits from it by not being bled bare. :-)

Silly question :-) I can not imagine even in my wildest dreams not having a stash. I had a stash *before* I became a quilter. How can you quilt and not have a stash??

Diana

My stash if you could call it that is very modest, I use recycled clothing and op shop purchases to make my quilts. I do buy a little if I need a special colour though. I love the challenge of designing my quilts around a colour theme or a particular fabric I have found. There is never enough of course working this way so my quilts are mostly organized scrappy types. I have a couple of large boxes of fabrics, most have been garments which I wash and unpicked and cut into the largest pieces I can. I tend to keep to just a few colour ways, that way everything is colour co-ordinated. Blue is what I am collecting right now, I do put a lot of thought into the planning of a quilt and sometimes I have to wait a good while untill all the fabric pieces are found and I can pull it all together. I like to work this way and everyone seems to like what I do when I give my quilts to them.
I do not know what I would do if I suddenly won Lotto and could go wild in a quilting store, probably come out with fabrics I would never use having bought them on impulse!!

Gal

Thank you for writing this and posting it. I was getting a little jittery from a previous posting.

love my stash it gives me insperation (sp) to add it in a new project

I think it would be quite unlikely to have that happen very often in this neck of the woods. One is always looking for new ways to incorporate the left overs from the last quilt into the new one...because of the $$$ situation as mentioned before. Besides that, there is always a time when the project is saved by that little bit here and there.

I admire anyone who can resist having a stash. I have a stash. Since I just moved, my storage space is limited in my apartment. I have organized a "Sew & Sew" club for my neighbors in my building. I mentioned that my donation of lap quilts would go faster, if I had help quilting and tying them. You will never know, how some older ladies were just waiting for the opportunity to get involved. I have several tops in various sizes completed but not layered. As I pull one out, I hunt my stash for a coordinating lining. I have 3 ready to present for quilting/tying at our coming 2 hour session.

I crochet, some knit and others want to learn. This looks like it is really going to be successful.

I do not have a large stash because I cannot afford a big stash. I too only buy fabric for a project I am working on. I just can't see buying fabric and just storing it. Esp. since it cost so much.

I don't know how or why she does it. I am just the opposite. I love seeing my fabric. Looking at it, touching it, reorganizing it, talking to it, planning for it, even cutting it up and using it!!! The more the better for me!!!

Yes I have a stash. But when I started sewing(about 5 yrs ago) I didn't know what I was doing I didn't even know how to use a ruler.LOL... and bought just any fabric.Now I have all this fabric I can't use. Now I buy 100% Cotton once in while cotton/poly. So I have tried selling it on yard sales and someitmes people buy it. So I am trying one more time this spring and what doesn't sell is going to charity someplace.

I'm still new to quilting and need to get some blenders. I love fabric!!

As I've said before on here, I am not a stash person either. I can't stand having all that material laying around thinking I mite use it sometime. I do not throw away my scraps, as I am a scrappy quilt maker and also I love to do applique. But I never buy material just to buy, unless it is something I really love. Then I will buy ONLY 1/4th yd!!! How about that? I guess I am not normal, according to most other quilters. I also think if I die, my husband would just throw it all in the dump. That would really be a waste.

No stash??? I don't know what I would do if I did not have mine. I go to it with every new project. Most of the time I find exactly what I need. I never throw away anything because I know I will eventually find a use for it.
Give my scraps away???? Oh my no

If it ment losing my stash I would quit watching that show. :-)

your friend is my IDOL!

My stash is almost non-existent. It's only left overs from completed projects for the most part. I love to shop for fabric as I need it. I find it stressful to have fabric and not know what to do with it.

I choose not to have a stash. I shop specifically for each project and don't think I've ever bought any fabrics "just because". Mind you, when I buy for those projects I do always buy extra..mainly just to make sure I don't run short for that project. Eventually I find some small project to use the leftovers on. But a stash? Nope, not me ;)

If she does not have a stash, what does she have in her "worship center"? It is a joy to me just to look at my fabric and feel the texture and dream of all the quilts I might make!!

hahahaha That was a joke right? I couldn't do without my stash. That is one of my more fun things just petting it.You can tell I don't have a very exciting life.lol

I don't know if I qualify as a true quilter because I only do foundation piecing and some strip quilting.

My stash is the left-over fabric from whatever project I have finished. I buy 5% more than a project calls for in case I make a mistake. I will use those left-over's in other projects until there is nothing left but fuzz.

The only time I buy any fabric not being used immediately is after Christmas and only if the Christmas fabric is really unique.

My reason for this is past experience. I used to have all these ideas and then I would go buy, buy, and buy more fabric every time I turned around. Nine times out of ten I never got around to doing the projects and often forgot why I bought the fabric a couple of years later because my tastes had changed. I had so much fabric that I no longer really cared about and felt guilty and foolish for spending all that money. I gave all this fabric to a local guild to make charity quilts.

So now, I find a project I really like, either create a pattern or buy one and then shop to that project. I also restrict myself from having more than one project at a time in case I get side tracked and don't get the project done in the specific time I thought I would.

But I do love going over to a friend’s house and drooling over her stash!

Do Not tel my husband!

Crazy talk!

I'm in the no stash club. Having fabric around that I have no plan for makes me feel guilty. I buy what I need and use it. Of course, there are scraps but it's minimal.

I can't even begin to imagine life without my stash. When I am ready to start another project, I have something there without having to run to LQS or Hancocks or JoAnns or Hobby Lobby or WallyMart. OR online even....for I do have a landscape quilt project designed both on paper and expansion and revisions in my mind as well. Already have fabrics from previous projects and stash, but have to admit saw two fabrics online yesterday that I thought would be great enhancers so I ordered them. I love my stash!

Well, I used to have a stash...at least that is what I called it... until hubby said I had enough to open my own store, so now I call it my merchandise. Of course, it's not for sale.

You know, I do have a stash and frankly, it is pretty large. In fact, it can be kind of depressing too. I think I can understand how your friend feels. I have gone through the stash within the last year and weeded out fabrics that no longer appealed to me - and I am thinking of doing it again. I have more material than I will ever use and sometimes feel overwhelmed by the stash. It is good to have the choice but it almost feels like going into a huge grocery store and having too many choices! I MUST be getting old! My attitude about a lot of things in life has changed the past couple of years!

But the minute I get rid of something hardly no time passes when I miss and could have used it for this reason or that. That is why I love my "merchandise" as mentioned above!

I don't think I could function without a stash, even though I still go out and buy fabric for a quilt without 1st looking through my stash. For a while I had to stay out of fabric stores because I always had to buy something or some things. I am now begining to look at my stash when I think of making a quilt but still have to go to the fabric store to see what they have.

I always tell people that I am building a big stash now while I'm still working because with the cost of fabric I probably won't be able to buy much once I retire in June of this year. I love being able to go to my stash and pick out everything I need for my next project.

Don't know how she does it. I'm trying to finish a quilt now, that I haven't had to go buy anything so far to finish.
That in itself has been challenging. Will have to buy fabric to get the binding done. I have to have fabric here to work with. Local prices unless on sale are practically unaffordable. I buy when on sale, and when I see something I like at a good price. It's a pain to live in the boonies, and have to drive an hour away to find fabric. Very inconvenient. I like to be prepared as best I can be.

My friend gave me a huge amount of odds 'n ends and quilting magazines to get rid of it all, even though she & the others who thrown theirs in with hers were still sewing. Guess they just wanted to start fresh. So as a brand new quilter, I got a ready-made stash. I made my entire first quilt, a king-size Cathedral Windows, from those tubs (scrappy, obviously) and used a bunch more on my second quilt, a king-size Tumbling Blocks. STILL have a lot of it but hopefully will get a couple more scrappy quilts from it.

I have a stash - a large one - but you know I am rethinking my buying habits. I love scrappy quilts so why am I buying all this yardage? I've started always checking the remnant bin before I leave JoAnn's and I'm getting quite a collection that way. :thumbup:

Nancy, I understand so well your comments. Before joining this board, I was beginning to worry about myself. Just to touch good feeling fabrics and see all the beautiful designs is so exhilerating! I always go shopping from my stash, unless I see something that I just can't live without. If I could stay off this board shopping I would surely not have as much. However, I buy some beautiful fabrics at really good prices here. Thanks everyone.