pollyjvan9

My favorite part of quilting is deciding on a design, selecting the fabrics and piecing or appliqueing the top. I FMQ all my quilts and I don't mind doing it, I just don't love it. Consequently, I have over 30 tops to be quilted and 17 UFOs (some almost completed except for a little quilting and the binding), and then yesterday I put together 6 new kits and plan on many more. I have soooo much fabric I simply have to stop buying anymore because I have run out of space, hence the kits. I hope I can make myself go to the closet and "shop" instead of heading for the fabric store to buy fabric for that quilt I just saw in a magazine or online. Wish me luck in this endeavor!

lynnie

Great idea, i need to make kits too.

ontheriver

Good luck. I have a pretty large stash I am trying to use up, I only buy right now if it is something I need to complete a project. I have tubs full of scraps so I am making a lot of scrap quilts. Good thing they are my favorite. My problem is patterns. I don't buy many but I save all the ones I like that I find free on the internet. So far I have a memory card with over 400 of them. I know I'll never make them all but you never know when you may need that "perfect" pattern for a project.

pollyjvan9

Ontheriver, I know what you mean about the patterns. I have a large bin with purchased patterns, another bin with freebies I have printed off the internet and a stack of magazines 4' high marked with stickies, and even more free patterns bookmarked on my computer. I would have to live 3 lifetimes to use even half of these patterns. I also love scrap quilts and find myself cutting into yardage to make them because I can't find the right color in my scraps!

Wanabee Quiltin

I have decided I will only buy fabric if I absolutely have to have a color that I do not have. My stash is quite large also and I have bought enough to last me the rest of my life. My DH realized exactly what I have when one of my 8 foot long shelves broke in the closet of my sewing room. We had to take all the fabric off that shelf and then found out it also broke the shelf below it. He said he had no idea there was that much fabric. It was a wakeup call for me to stop buying. I am perfectly happy making quilts from my stash as I love scrappy quilts most of all. I do wish you luck.

LoisM

Have you considered a hand held (wand) scanner to copy the patterns you have applied sticky notes to? You could then get rid of that mountain of magazines - either by donating them to your local library/quilter's group or by selling them.

I have a VuPoint Solution Magic Want Portable Scanner. I bought it a couple of years back from HSN but they sell them on Amazon.com too.

AliKat

I think all of our stashes eventually get too large. Mine is sorted by color and design and batiks are to themselves. A few years ago a friend and I went over my stash and made 'kits' for church prayer quilts. Since when I started really quilting once I was down here in AZ I didn't have a 'stash' friends started one for me. Now I have started to share with someone else. It is a good feeling

"Have you considered a hand held (wand) scanner to copy the patterns you have applied sticky notes to? You could then get rid of that mountain of magazines - either by donating them to your local library/quilter's group or by selling them."

I just use my printer scanner and scan what I want. I have 2 folders on my computer and flash drive backup. #1 is only of the quilt tops with their names. #2 is for the quilt tops and their directions. That way I can do a slide show of just the tops and decide what I want to do.

The quilt mags go to one of my quilting groups when I have finished scanning. What the quilters don't use I donate to another group that then sells the older mags at our Rusty Barn booth in January.

ali

ali

ppquilter

I also have a lot of quilt mags but hate to downsize them as tastes change with what i might want to make. Same with fabric, what I bought ten years ago or more doesn't go with all the fabrics of today. You like what you like but tastes change! I don't make kits but if it works for you great!

OCquilter

I too have my own stash then inherited my 90 yr old aunt's when she could no longer hold a needle. After that, my sister and best friend was hit and killed by a truck so I got ALL of her stuff and now my mom wants to start giving me hers. I am taking a suitcase full of fabric home from FL to CA. Good thing I got lots of black and white when connecting threads had it on sale for $2.96. I should be able to pull anything together. Maybe I should concentrate on UFOs and ready to start projects first, LOL.

karenpatrick

I'm trying to do the same thing. In order for this to work I need to stay out of stores that sell fabric. I almost always find something I just have to have. Just recently I just "had to have" Moda's Summer Breeze II as I always wanted a blue and yellow quilt. I just "had to have" a jelly roll and a layer cake and some yardage for the border. And of course when Connecting Threads has one of their fabulous sales. Last one I got lots of fabric for less than $2/yd.