Why do they call it a "stash"?
 

I got to wondering, why do they call it a stash? I googled the definition and found: "to put by or away as for safekeeping or future use, usually in a secret place", which pretty much settles it!

I mean, how many of us run our fabric purchases by someone else before making said purchase? I firmly believe that I could buy some fabric here and there and tuck it away with the rest of my stuff and my husband would be none the wiser! He only comes into my sewing room on an invited basis, usually for me to either show something off or solicit his help with choosing colors for the next project, so he really has no idea when my fabric collection grows, and since it still fits (for now) in a closet, how would he know the difference anyway?

Just wanted to share a bit of humor...have a great day to all and Happy Sewing!

This is the definition I found through Google; I think it applies to quilters :)
[h=3]stash/staSH/[/h][TABLE="class: ts"]
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[TD]Verb:[/TD]
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[TD]Store (something) safely and secretly in a specified place: "their wealth had been stashed away in Swiss banks".[/TD]
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[/TD]
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[TD="colspan: 2"][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Noun:[/TD]
[TD][TABLE="class: ts"]
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[TD]A secret store of something: "a stash of money".[/TD]
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[TD]Synonyms:[/TD]
[TD]verb. hide - conceal - secrete
noun. cache
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</tbody>[/TABLE]

That about says it all! Also, don't mess with MY stash!:)

Now that I am single and don't have to hide anything, is my fabric collection still a stash??

I'm single and I enjoy my stash ..... some of neighbors wonder about me because I've given over my dining room (spreading into living room) but this is MY house and I've decided I'll live as I want.

copied from others :P

Acronyms used by quilters

• BOM = Block of the Month
• DSM = Domestic Sewing Machine
• FART = Fabric Acquisition Road Trip
• FOB = Fear of Binding (thanks, KayEllen!)
• FQ = Fat Quarter
• HIPS = Hundreds of Ideas Piling Skyward (thanks, Mavis!)
• HST = Half-Square Triangle
• LAQ= Long Arm Quilter
• LQS = Local Quilt Shop
• MAQ = Mid-Arm Quilter
• PhD = Projects half Done
• PIGS = Projects in Grocery Sacks
• SABLE = Stash Accumulation Beyond Life Expectancy
• SEX = Stash Enhancing eXperience (or eXcursion)
• STASH = Special Treasures All Secretly Hidden
• TGIF = Thank God It's Finished!
• TOT = Tone-on-Tone
• UFO = UnFinshed Object
• WHIMM = Works Hidden In My Mind
• WIP = Work In Progress
• WISP = Work In Slow Progress
• WOF = Width of Fabric
• WOMBAT = Waste of Money, Batting, and Time
• WOW = White On White

Moonwork I think all but FOB applies to me LOL

Coz you pay cash, and don't wanna throw in the trash.
As good as any reason i guess
maybe i should call it something else, no one
Would know what I'm talking about, and that would be good.
everyone is always saying i have enough.but...honestly,i don't.
do we ever???????

Because we hid it in secret places, I wish I had enough to have to hide it.

My "stash" is out in plain sight in the garage for anyone to see. Now that my sweetie is the Executive Producer of the TV program he is always coming up with ideas and goes to look to see if there is something I can use.
He does suggest I sell somethings to make room for new so hopefully, I will be doing that again soon.

I learned (while working on mine) that PhD means Piled Higher and Deeper...also applies to stash

(He only comes into my sewing room on an invited basis, usually for me to either show something off or solicit his help with choosing colors for the next project, so he really has no idea when my fabric collection grows, and since it still fits (for now) in a closet, how would he know the difference anyway?)

My DH is color insensitive. He can't even sort clothes for washing. He will help with everything else with laundry but not the sorting. When my oldest was 10, I had to go to California for a few weeks to visit my father who was terminally ill. I left my son in charge of laundry and cooking! Otherwise they would have been wearing pink clothes and eating McDonalds' for the entire time.

But, my DH provides me with plenty of FART's and SEX! Whenever he plans a road trip, he includes stops at quilt stores even if it involves a detour. Just last month he took me to Missouri Star Quilting Company! He even pretends to believe me when I tell him I'm all out of fabric and need to buy more.

I agree . dont mess with my stash

"Stash" came into modern usage through the drug culture; referencing someone's dope cache.

Before, 'to stash' simply meant to put something away for future need and 'stash' was the noun. It implies secrecy.......Squirrels stash nuts, nuts stash guns and ammo, the thrifty stash cash under the mattress and the revenue officers look for the moonshine stash.

"Stash" is also short for the hairy growth above the mouth. If I'm not religiously careful to depilate, my quilter's stash will be seen on my upper lip.:D

AMEN !! I got rid of my spare bedroom and turned it into my sewing room!! On the rare occasions when weekend company does visit, I give them my bedroom suite and sleep on the couch!! No point in maintaining an entire room that only is rarely used. My sewing room is used every day and the best thing is I can leave my "mess" at the end of one work session and then just pick up where I left off :)

Isn't it liberating to use your home the way it works for you?? My husband is a builder, and we have always built homes with "resale" in mind, living in them for a couple of years and then selling them. The house we are currently in (and moving out of next Friday), has the dining room enclosed and used as an office for him, and the third bedroom is (was) my sewing room. That's how we showed the house when it was up for sale, told the prospective
purchasers what the rooms were intended for, but this is how WE made use of them. You're paying the mortgage by jeez, use it as you see fit!

Hear, hear!

Good for you, I should do the same and never mind what the neighbors think or say.

I like the way MaryMo thinks, I too sew and do what ever I want in whatever room I want to. If people come to see my house instead of me they don't need to come. LOL

Because I try not to let my husband have a clue as to how big an investment "we" have in my stash - this will remain a secret

OMG! I love the FART!!!!!!

It sounds more cultured than "pile".

I turned a extra bedroom into a sewing room and love it. I used to sew in the dining room and like others on the board if people come over I sure hope they come to see me!! I like having a separate area so I can leave things out. Everyone have a wonderful weekend.

A month or so ago, I found a list of acronyms on this site that was four pages long. And I found that QOV was not on it. I later found out that was Quilts of Valor. There are some on your list that weren't on the other list. BTW, I hate acronyms! But now that I am learning a little more about what they mean, it's not so bad. I have my list printed out, and just have to go to my "dictionary" to find out what they mean.

AlienQuilter, your DH is definitely a keeper! My DH groans when I mention stopping at a quilt store, but only mildly. He certainly doesn't mind me adding to my stash. Sometimes he aids and abets by saying, "You're building stash, right?" when I can't make up my mind whether or not to buy a piece of fabric. I guess I'll keep him!

I would do the same. If I had my own place. I can't see leaving rooms unused simply because someone else decided to put a name on it. :)

If I was the only one living in this house what I have as our bedroom would become my sewing room and I would sleep on the twin bed in the room used as spare room/office. I also am spread out into the living room and I would spread out even more if it was only me. Nobody comes to see me anyway except the youngest DD and that is where I would need a daybed. Would get rid of all the other misc junk that DH thinks he needs. He saves newspapers and mags til I throw them and then he wants one of them. I told him too bad --gone.

Who told about the Swiss account? Now will have to move it. LOL DH and I went to Big Lots yesterday and I got a quilt kit, fat quarters and a pkg of 2 yard fabric. He push the getaway cart. LOL

I bought 47 yards of new fabric a couple of days ago and DH never noticed. Even when it was in a laundry basket waiting for it's turn in the washer. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing. Either I have too much fabric (NOT) or he just doesn't notice things! LOL My stash now covers an entire wall in my sewing room and I love it!

Lots of Ladies feel the need to "stash" their purchases. I don't, my fabric is out for the world to see.

Only thing I need to stash is chocolate! It's my husband's downfall.....he loves it.

While the real definition of stash is a secret store, I think the word stash for quilters is to buy now for later use. No one has to know how much later! We all know that we WILL get around to a lot of it later and if we don't get it when it is just printed, we'll miss out on it.

luckily (or not), i share my love of quilting with my girlfriend. we enable each other terribly; sometimes, one of us is the voice of reason. anyway, when we get home, we go through all of the fabric. then, i put it all away in our shared space. when one of us is ready to use some fabric, sometimes we have to ask the other if it was purchased for me or her. this is not the norm, though. our taste in fabric overlaps just a little. it is fun (or terrible) that we share our accumulation.

what a hoot! love your humor.

that's what i did for several years, but got tired of packing it away every holiday, and if the kids came home. so i just moved everything to the basement. hubby offered to move in back upstairs to the sun room if i wanted, but i told him 'no way'. i like the mess downstairs. but i have found that i keep it surprisingly neat. and it's all in 1/2 the basement. everything i own, the handi quilter frame, and everything. love it. and him for helping me make it so nice.

FART = Fabric Acquisition Road Trip......well, according to you, I'm about to take a 'FART'!! This is too funny!! Sorry if I've offended anyone, but seriously, I'm off on a road trip to as many quilt shops in eastern long island as I can fit in two days time!!

How can I get a copy of these abbreviations. Can you email them to me. I would love to have a copy for my guild.
[email protected]

My best quilter friend does not have a stash. She calls her stash "my resourse center". A very apt name I think.

It is stash because we buy it and stash it in every drawer, nook, cranny, closet that we can find to stuff it....just for safe keeping of course...not hiding from husbands. My niece once looked at me in a quilt store and said loudly "Aunt Sherry, step away from that fabric". Of course everyone looked and laughed. She knows how big my stash is and knows I don't ever need to buy another piece of "stash".

I don't call my fabric a 'stash.' I keep it along an outside wall, and call it 'insulation.'