What was I thinking?
 

I found an ad on Craigslist for quilting fabric. I met the lady yesterday and picked up 5 trash bags of fabric. I paid $100 but there is easily several hundred dollars worth of fabric there. I started ironing it to put it away. I will never finish and don't know where I am going to put it. I keep telling my husband I'm collecting fabric for my retirement on a little over a year.


Linda

5 trash bags?! You are going to be busy!

Sounds like a good deal to me.

Several,of us bought the sewing room fabric of an elderly lady. We had enough for all 3 of us and lots to donate and share with friends.

Sounds good to me :D

I'd feel myself really bless'ed to have come up with a deal like that one.:thumbup:

oh my! have fun!!

Oh how exciting. You will have a wonderful time sorting it out and putting it away. Please take pictures when you are finished so we can see what a great bargain you got.

Wow!! Have fun!!

Let's see....would that justify adding a room to the house? I'm about in that shape too...LOL...it took me a long time to get where I'm at and I'm staying here!!!

Congrats on your great find! Do we get to see pics-? :)

What a great CL find for you! I have found when I hit a jackpot that it is fun to share with others here on the QB and my quilting friend who has been the recipient of FQs, 1/2 yards and even larger to get her started on the Bonnie Hunter scrap system. Enjoy yourself!!

Awesome! Go through it and what you don't want donate for Project Linus quilts or other charity quilts. Your local quilting guild will take it.

Why iron it before you put it away? Why not just sort it, fold it, and put it away? I only iron after I pick my colours for my next quilt.

Have fun!

I purchased about 10 tubs of fabric from a fellow who purchased them from a storage unit auction. I was ironing until the cows came home! LOL

Oh yes, please show us your fabric. Yummy!!! haha Looking at it is almost as exciting as touching it! Yeah, I'm addicted to fabric. :D

I'm ironing it because I want to put it on comic book boards and some of it is too wrinkled to do that.

It is really beautiful fabric and I actually love playing with it.

Linda

I had two immediate thoughts:
No 1 was: what a wonderful find!
and No 2 was: I'd better start working though the stash or someone else is going to gwet lucky one day!

Just tell hubby that it was better than trying to buy all that fabric at regular price

Buy a boat load of comic book boards. I use the large size which are actually for comic book magazines. Here's what I do with them...as you can see I've just started organizing my fabric but I have plenty more that needs to be organized.

The bookcase? Turn it sideways and you'll recognize it as 2 old letter sorters I turned on their sides. Who uses these anymore nowadays?

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Oops, didn't see this in time. You're on the right track! What a wonderful 'problem' to have though. Right? :D

I hope you washed them before ironing....heaven only knows where they have been and for how long.......

Woohooo! Way to go! I'm sure the person you purchased the fabric from needed the cash, why else would anyone in their right mind get rid of so much?! Sounds like you hit a fantastic bargain - and you have deserved it! I always wash and then iron new fabric - important to me to know if it will fall apart or loose it's color before I make use of it. I've told myself the same thing...I'm collecting for retirement...and then I make use of it within a few days time. I know there will be more out there when I do become of age to retire! My DH says there is help for someone like me...but I doubt this is an addiction any can help me with!

Good for you! I colllect for retirement too, along with my next life time, which is how long it will take me to use all this stuff! :D

I've been there... getting a ton of fabric for a great deal. I have made out and also been disappointed with the fabrics I received. Normally it's on the sad side though. I think my fabric tastes have changed and now I've gotten picky with what I want to keep. I hope you make out on the happy side of the fabrics - it sounds like you are which is a great thing :)
You will be kept busy now!

It must be a "Linda" thing. I am a Linda that keeps purchasing fabric thinking that in a few years not so very long from now, will be retiring and will not have the flexibility of funds to keep purchasing fabric like I can now. Good for you that you found a bargain! Keep ironing. Too bad I am not close by I love to iron!

Linda, You should just put the bags in the back of the closet (under the bed or behind the door), until WINTER. Your in Pittsburgh and the winters get cold, it will give you some thing to do when you don't want to get out in the cold. Just a thought. Snooks

A year ago I saw an ad on craig's list for fabric. Called immediately and was told there was quite a bit of fabric, that I could come over to see it, and that it was his mother's stash. She wanted it to go to a quilter. To prove that, I brought several finished and unfinished projects. He gave me ten garbage bags of fabric, all quilt store quality stuff, for $100 (his price). When I thanked him and was loading my truck (gleefully) he told me that I wouldn't have had to bring quilts, the strings hanging on my black pants were just like the ones always hanging on his Mom's clothes! It turns out our tastes were pretty similar and I went from a small stash of two plastic tubs to this massive stash. When I am using her fabric I always hopes she approves of what I am creating with her legacy.

I seen that ad and was wondering about it. Then I got busy in the garden and forgot. Great find!!!

You were thinking this is too good of a deal to pass up!

LOL! I bought tons of fabric while I was still working. Now I have retired and it's wonderful to have that stash to fall back on. I say, "Get it while you can, girls. Keep on collecting!"

What a great deal! Lucky you...

I'm new at this and wondering. "what are comic book boards???

What an awesome find!! I think I'll be staking out Craig's List today lol can't wait to see some pics of your newfound stash :)

I too buy fabric happily because when I retire I probably won't be able to afford it. Seriously, now it's gone up to about $10.50 a yard, so in 4 years or so, think about how expensive it will then be. I should start going to garage sales now.!

I know it is overwhelming but it is a good in the long run. Maybe just sort it in stacks for now.

I have bought trash bags full of scraps before. I personally would never iron all that fabric, it will wrinkle when you put it away. Here is my suggestion: Put some of the fabric in the dryer with a wet towel to get most of the major wrinkles out of it and then fold it up on the shelf till you use it. You were very smart to buy that fabric. I am using mine in scrap quilts and when fabric is now at least $10 a yard in a LQS, I feel very lucky. I used small pieces about 10 x 10 to make a cat quilt that turned out darling, just think of what you can make . Lucky you.

I too have bought a large quanity from a certain individual I think it took me atleast 2 weeks to wash and iron all the fabric- but in the end it was worth it.

I always refered to those retirement or someday fabrics as my "401S" for stash - still occasionally need to dip into my 401K to add to my 401S. Luckily I'm not running out of either one.