Non-quilters do not understand
 

Yesterday I was showing a friend my 3000+ yards of fabric from Iowa. I was commenting on how hard it was for me to decide what I wanted to sell. I love every piece. She casually said that's easy all these you have marked less than on yard just pitch them. I nearly fainted!!!! I told her those are some of the best, they will make great scrappy quilts. Then I escorted her away from the fabric.

I always hear "Why do you need all this fabric? What are you going to do with it? You'll never be able to use all of it" This all from people who don't financially support me and act like it is their money I'm using to buy it!

When a neighbor of mine saw my Avante quilt machine (and after he called it a loom) he told one of my other (quilty) neighbors that it sure looked like an expensive piece of equipment for just a hobby. Guess I must have missed his check when I paid for it.

You are so right .. they really do not get it... at all. But I have run into some quilters that don't get it either.. when it comes to smallish pieces... they just say pitch the scraps... but some quilters don't get the scrap thing either.
I am glad my sewing space in in the basement.. guests don't see my "stuff" unless they are very "quilter friendly". That way I don't have to provide any "reason" for the "stuff".

I know about this! My friends or visitors just look in Awe.. they just don't understand! I love my messy sewing room, even when not sewing, I go in and look and touch and think about the pretty fabrics! LOL... I do know at my age, almost 77, that I can NEVER, even if I sewed 24 hours a day, use up all these wonders! However, I have coached my DGD (age 17, who is not interested in sewing), about the costs of everything, and how much to charge for my 8 machines, scissors, templates, rulers, etc, if I should happen to be "called away", so everything won't get thrown away.. the proceeds could help pay for her College. My son loves the Singer Treadle in Parlor case, he would use that one himself.

it's not just non-quilters --- there are quilters too who do not save anything beyond what their current project requires.
i have a friend who has been creating beautiful quilts for 30 years---she uses exactly what her pattern requires & (used to) toss anything left over---i about had a heart attack when she first told me this---& told me----'oh- don't become one of THOSE string savers!'....it took me a couple years but i did finally convince her to let me have the contents of her (waste basket) before bagging it to go to the landfill---she just shakes her head & gives it up---sometimes there is 1/2 a yard or more pieces in there---i know she is not alone- lots of people use what is required then get rid of what ever was left over- regardless of amount- and then there are those of us who buy extra on purpose & keep a stash and save every scrap--- not every quilter understands any more than a non-quilter understands.

My step-father was a goldsmith who worked with precious gems. You can bet he kept all his 'scraps'...to the point of getting down on the floor around his bench to seek them out with a magnifying glass. Some people keep tiny bits of leftover food. It's all relative.

I'm glad I have left overs, I have several projects I want to do and they come in handy. I usually have to buy some other fabric to go with, but usually I have enough left for at least 1 more project. My friends aren't all quilters so I have to save my own fabric and dnon't get any hand me downs.

Yeah, well those Harley's men drive as a hobby are expensive too. And you can't get warm under them when it is cold. At least our hobby has a useful purpose. And even if it didn't....poo on them. :-)

My house is messy ... with fabric piles all over the place and lots of bits of scraps .... but I wouldn't have it any other way. On the bad days I can sit in my "squalor" and dream, plan, and process. And on the good days I can sew up a storm! It's a beautiful life I have! :)