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! :)

I love this thread. It makes me feel "normal".....well at least normal on the Quilting Board!:)

This is too funny. Yesterday I told my friend Julia that she who dies with the most kitchen tools and machines does not win. She has just about everything available and lots of it has never been used. I mean how many food processors (of assorted sizes) does one need. It took her about an hour to come back at me about my fabric & quilting tool obsession. LOL.

I hate taking my non-quilty friends shopping with me, they stand around looking bored in a quilt shop while I'm in heaven LOL. I wish I had a quilty friend that tossed what she didn't need ... I'd happily take her trash LOL

Suzy

I can only go fabric shopping with my one non-quilting friend...she understands...

We will go to my favorite shop in her town (Henderson, NV) and she will look at all of the antiques they have all over and marvel at the way they display everything so lovely...and when she is tired will start looking thru one of the quilt magazines that I will be buying...

The only people that are allowed in my sewing room are the ones that don't judge...anyone that stands at the door and shakes their head are not invited in...

My sister, new to the quilting world herself, sends me all her scraps. :) She doesn't want to bother with them. I like scrappy quilts, and am happy to receive her scraps. Of course, I pay for it; she sends her quilts to me for the quilting part. For me, though, it's win-win. I get to practice my technique on her quilts and she is thrilled with the results. someday I hope to be able to quilt as well as some of the wonderful quilters on this board.

I remember when taking Home-ec [100 yrs ago]ha. Our teacher would have us buy much more yardage than we needed to make a garment. she would toss what was left over. So goes the world. The reason we have garbage dumps many hundreds of feet high, from people who don't SAVE THE SCRAPS.

I've tried to instill into my kids that there IS value in my stash - if someone wants to go to the trouble of actually dealing with it!

I keep my bigger scraps for appliqué and maybe small other items, personally not a fan of making a scrappy quilt, not that I don't like them just that I won't make them I also have been known to pass scraps onto girls outs or other groups but I never pitch them...,to usable fabric :-)

I know many people who do not understand saving/buying fabric. They think you buy what you need and only what you need.

But I have to laugh - I used scraps to make a baby blanket with cuddle fabric on the back and it still costed about $50. I had to buy the fabric to go with the scraps. My DH says it is too nice to give away - I explained that you only give quilts to those you care about.

I get that one all the time from people who then expect me to make them quilts to justify the cost of MY machine ;-)

i am a quilter and i am one who don't understand either. i made clothes for most of my sewing life so i had a stash of fabrics to rival some of the quilter's stashes i see here but i had my own boutique clothing line and i made custom clothing so i needed all of those fabrics. right!!:D now that i am a quilter, my stash includes different fabrics(than sewing days) but i would be totally lost in some of the quilt stashes i see on this board. i go to estate sales often of quilter's who have 'passed on' and see stashes they would have never been able to sew their way through.

i wonder is it just a desire to collect when one has more fabric than they could ever hope to sew up. it is a comfort to be surrounded by 1000's of yards of fabrics and double digit numbers of sewing machines. i know that i love fabrics (and buttons) and if i didn't monitor myself, i too would have 1000's of yards of fabric that i would never make it through. i try to buy what i need by projects or future projects yet to be designed and try to preserve some walking space in my home (which is very little right now:)).

perhaps our obsession (eek that word:)) is just to own and surround ourselves with things we find pretty and obtainable rather than things we plan to use. who knows for sure.:cool:

haha! good point ;-)

When my mom taught me how to cut out a pattern (many ages ago), she taught me to place the pieces as closely together, as possible (while still keeping grain straight, of course). There was almost always a good bit of left-over fabric. Need I say she liked quilting? :D

I love all my fabric and love looking at it and touching it! I do wonder what in the world I will ever DO with some of it, but it doesn't stop me from craving more!! After my mom had quilted for many years and Dad had obligingly complimented her on them, because they were always on the floor at his feet while mom figured out the next step, he actually ask for one for himself and she made him a lovely scrappy bow-tie! I can still see him glancing out from behind the newspaper to see what was going on down on the floor! Miss him and mom still sews at 91.

My Mom did that, too. I still cringe when someone cuts out a piece 'wastefully'

One of the first things I tried to teach the granddaughters - you can have some of my fabric - but PLEASE use it carefully!

Most of my non quilting friends I have let drift away. We have nothing in common anymore that interests me or them when we are together.

you have no other outside interests other than quilting? i have a whole group of women that i visit restaurants or do other fun things with monthly and none of them quilt. we have a supper club (for women 40 and older) and we go to the theater or visit the wineries or take cooking classes together. i also have different groups of friends that i do volunteering activities with or travel with (we luv cruises and the caribbean) and neither of these groups quilt.

there is so much more to do along with quilting.:)

I had such fun last month when I was with some on-line friends and we shopped and talked and bought. No explanations necessary, no asking 'what project are you going to do with that'. We were camping and DH's kept themselves busy with no comments on what we bought.

I don't save much under 2 inches because I try to keep it under control. I also want the fabric manufactures to stay in business or we won't have any new fabric.

My quilting friends do more then quilting. That's silly to think quilt friends only quilt together. We have season passes to the art center, go to all the broadway shows that come to town, take trips to museums, go to dinner theaters, go to clothes fittings/shopping. We do volunteer work and sponsor charity events for local groups. I choose to do non quilt activities with other quilters. We understand when a trip to a political benefit may take a detour when we see a quilt shop sign.

I have to admit that I don't keep scraps of fabric. I keep a quarter of a yard but not much less than that. I did for awhile but then it just piled up and I got rid of it.

I know I will never make all the quilt patterns I have, or all the patterns in all the quilting books I have. I will never live to use all the fabric that I have. I still have scraps from where I made my daughters clothes when she first started school and she is 42 years old now. But.... I love all these things, and they please me. I love the look on my families faces when they receive something that I have made. These things bring me joy, and what I make with them brings others joy.

Non quilters just don't get it.

To my way of thinking a stash is all about serendipity: having options that might inspire. It doesn't matter to me in the least that I couldn't possibly live long enough to use it all, I use some of the options nearly every day.

I keep the tiniest of scraps of the spendy fabrics (batiks, etc). The part that drive me crazy is when I am constructing on my design board and I get "what is that supposed to be?" or " wouldn't this color look better over here?" When the quilt is done and I have endured all the suggestions/criticisms/questions, then the oooos and ahhhhs! Let me alone in my creative process, please!

Ultimately this is the conclusion I reached for myself. I don't have to feel guilty about any of it...the fabric, our APQS Millenium & Intelliquilter for ourselves and longarm business, the tools, the Berninas or the vintage machines. We use them to help other quilters finish their projects to bless their world with love and comfort and we do the same with our finished projects. If there is one thing our world can use right now it's hope, encouragement, comfort and love to wrap itself in. Keep on building that stash and use it to bless others. That's my new motto! (stepping off soapbox now :) )

Pitch if it's less than a yard?

Pitch is for baseball, not for fabric collectors!

Hubby has a barn for his hobbies! I have a room (and one wall of his barn!) Don't bug me about my stuff!

Mary, I love your attitude.

Aaaaaaaaaggggghhhh!!!

This is for nygal