juliasb

I have been 'again' working on thinning my stash. I know it will out live me and will then be donated to my quilt guild for charity quilts. I do my best not to add to it and cleaned it and refolded every piece not to long ago, then I thinned again. My scraps are piling up to become as many as the different pieces of yardage I have here too. If I thought I would be able to make all this up into quilts I would keep growing my stash. I say go for building as long as you might put even a piece of it into a quilt. Scraps are great.

IrishgalfromNJ

I don't have a very big fabric stash. It fills a five large storage containers. I love the fabrics. Most were bought and used in projects.

What I may regret just a little are the six sewing machines, one embroidery machine and all the other crafting supplies that I have accumulated over the last nine years. I have a little bit of everything to do a variety of crafting. I have a large supply of cotton thread for quilting, several boxes of yarn for knitting and crochet projects, crochet hooks, knitting needles, a small table top loom, embroidery floss for cross stitch and regular embroidery, a few large pads of scrapbook paper, polyester embroidery threads for the embroidery machines, stabilizers, and all the other supplies like pin cushions, scissors, seam rippers, bodkins, threaders, hand sewing needles, sewing machine accessories for all the machines, quilt pattern books, crochet afghan pattern books, quilt magazines, and sock knitting pattern books. I have filled a small bedroom closet and most of the bedroom with these supplies. I wish I could use it as it as fast as I buy it.

DonnaC

Honestly, I wish I hadn't started a stash. My problem is, I have so many hobbies and a stash for each.... quilting fabric.... garment fabric... scrapbooking....knitting/crocheting....stamping and papercrafting. It's distracting and even though I love all my "stuff", it can be annoying. Just this past weekend I embarked upon attempt #967 (being facetious but that might be true) to rearrange my sewing room. Now everything is out all over the place and it's just a mess.

I just turned 61 and I have no one to pass anything down to (one niece but she's not the crafting type). So now it stresses me out to think about my brother having to deal with it all. I'm hoping that when I can eventually retire (probably around 70) I can sew faster but who knows what's going to happen?

Sorry I didn't mean to depress everyone including myself but that's how I feel. Hopefully everyone else on this thread is a bit more upbeat....!

Edited to Add: Irishgal just reminded me about the Books. Holy cow I have soooo many books on every kind of craft. Those stress me out too!

joe'smom

My stash is limited by the amount of space available in our small house plus the fact that I can't be bending to get into bins, so everything has to be out and accessible. It was fun to buy fabric just because I liked it, but then my LQS closed, so that was the end of that. My current stash is not large enough to foster regret.

zozee

My stash fits into about three dressers. Small by many standards, large by others’, but I have put a halt on acquiring more till I have used up, sold, or given away all but two drawers’ worth. The exception would be buying for a special occasion or person. I don’t want to pay movers to haul my “someday” fabric.

mindless

This is me too. Almost. I am glad I started building a stash. And you can add patterns and lots more 'hobbies' to the list. (Painting, fabric dyeing, etc).
But I started buying fabric years ago when $6.50 / yard was expensive. I bought a lot of it on sale for around $4-$5/yard, and I 'shop' through it now. I'm happy I don't have to buy at todays prices.

Having said that though, there are So Many must have, super cute or pretty fabrics out there now...who can resist a good sale?

Oh....and I don't much care who has to deal with it all when I'm gone. I have many quilty friends who know what to do.

Trixie77484

I have a stash and I'm sure it's small compared to most, only a bookcase and a half or so. It's all folded nicely and arranged by color so it doesn't cause me a lot of stress. I have cut way back on buying any. Mostly I'd shop remnants at lunch when I was aggravated and I have pretty much stopped doing that. I have cut way back on buying in general the past few years because I realized pretty much no one knows why I have this and that and they are just going to get rid of it when the time comes so why am I keeping everything. If no one knows why I had that glass horse for 20 years and they are just going to send it to Goodwill why do I need to keep it myself.

patricej

my stash is down to about 1/3 to 1/4 of what it was 5 years ago.
it's still more than i would like it to be.
the good news is that i only have to buy fabrics necessary to complete a project.
the bad news is that despite all i have, i often can't find everything in my stash necessary to complete a project.

wesing

My wife and I have a decent stash, but we have a space to store it. Sometimes it seems like a burden, just because we have plans for a lot of it and no time to see them completed. The last few years we have been in "austerity" mode and had to almost completely stop buying any fabric. We miss the fun of the hunt, but it's nothing we can't live without. The stash has been a life saver for us because we have been able to complete several quilts but buy very little. I'd say if we had it to do over again our stash would consist of a lot more solids and blenders and less focus fabrics, but we would buy and maintain one.

Butterfli19

Did you see my other post on building up a stash? When I saw this post I remembered this was one reason why I pared mine down. I also had books and supplies from various other crafts, so I donated quite a bit to the local nursing home and the books to the local library for the book fair. It haunted me to have all that around, like it was lonely and calling me to use it and I couldn't take it anymore. I figured someone else may benefit from it so out it went.

I then wondered how I had accumulated this and that and realized that maybe my buying was a coping mechanism, a sort of control over buying/returning when other aspects of my life weren't very pleasant. Now that I realize that, I try to ask myself if I really really need this "thing". Sometimes I just fall in love with something and have to have it, but those things are usually small in cost, like less than $20.

I'm also a very introverted person and have no real friends, so the social aspect of joining forums and hearing everyone's excitement and enthusiasm over creating makes me want to as well, but then I wonder if it's that that I need or do I really want to sew?

I would also like to retire next year at 62, probably won't happen but nice to think about, so I am now trying to pay off debt and keep it that way. Some unexpected expenses of course, but every little bit I don't spend stays in my account and not someone elses, so with that ahead it's easier to not spend on every little thing I think I should buy.

I guess we have to come into our own truth, and decide why we do what we do, and ask ourselves if it really is what we need or if it's just what we do.