Teen

Ckcowl....that's so cool that your sister is close enough to come help you. Awesome results...

Cattitude....stunning quilt! Love the soft colorway...I am looking up that pattern...

pbraun

This is an interesting thread I found just today. Since I am relatively new to quilting I do not have a big stash. From reading what others have posted I was afraid of letting such a monster take over my life. I have a few kits for small projects, a baby quilt with fabric I do not know how to sew and a second set of fabrics for a duplicate mystery quilt. Otherwise I only have left over fabric from my learning projects. Then along came the virus and I sewed several hundred masks using most of the left over fabric and fabric that was supposed to be used for special gifts and Christmas gifts for my family. I even used Halloween fabric that once draped an exhibit in my classroom. I did order some fabric online for microwave bowl cozies and was so disappointed in the feel of the fabric I do not think I will order online again. The purchase resulted in a yard of stiff red fabric in my "stash".

Julienm1

Since my fabric seems to be out of control, I decided to attempt to organize it. Ended up cutting down what seemed like tons of pieces into usable sizes. Now I have lots of 2.5", charms, and jelly rolls. Not in the to mood to start quilting UFO's so making baby quilts. Friend will be GGM for first time in Nov so she gets the first quilt and yes will quilt this one when it's done.

Now I don't miss fabric shopping since I feel like I have lots of kinda new fabric to play with...lol

Conchalea

Welcome, Pbraun, & a good way to 'refresh' your stash, Julienm1.

joe'smom

Welcome, pbraun! I'm sorry you had a disappointing on-line experience. I haven't had a problem with fabric quality when ordering on-line, but the fabric does sometimes look different than expected, because of monitor variations or inaccurate color in the photos. I really miss the days of having a LQS nearby and knowing for certain what I'm buying. When buying on-line for a particular purpose, I usually buy a couple of options in case the website representation is off. Most of my stash consists of on-line extras or misses.

ckcowl, it was so inspiring reading about your sewing room clean-up!

Cattitude, your choice of patterns is always inspired, and your quilts are so beautiful! No one would believe this one was made from an 'ugly' jelly roll.

Amecoy

Hi everyone, I started 2020 with masses of fabric. 4 huge totes stuffed to overflowing and misc odds and ends. Then Covid-19 hit and I made masks - over 2000 masks and 500 scrub caps. Made a huge dent in my stockpile. Past few weeks I have been making mug rugs for friends and last night I started making needlebooks. Next project is to improve my free hand quilting skills.

retiredteacher09

pbraun and Amecoy: Welcome! We like seeing pictures of how you use your fabric.

I'm working on borders for my Pat Sloan May Challenge. I hopefully have my final choices now. The stop border is done but I will be adding 3 more borders to get it to the size my church quilting group likes. If only I wouldn't get so sidetracked with cleaning, starting a new project, etc. Lol!

Iceblossom

Welcome new posters. While I have been making masks (and binding for masks... so much binding), I don't want to count them and I don't keep them around. I've been feeling that I haven't been very prolific in my quilting this year (and that's true) but maybe I should give myself some mask making/stash using credit.

How much stash each of us carries is a personal decision. Some people can keep everything quilting related including notions and fabric in a drawer, and some of us have drawers full of thread or templates or whatever. There is no reason we need to have any excess fabric, yet somehow most of us do! Me, I just love textiles of all sorts (my personal dress style is "hippy dippy weather chickie") and my chosen artistic expression is not only quilting but became scrap quilting and for my small house, my stash got out of control.

It took a diagnosis and acceptance of a deteriorating vision condition about 10 years ago for me to realize that no, I wasn't ever going to use all that fabric. Combined with that deep down really, I want more space in my small house and I can achieve some of that by getting rid of stuff. The first purges were pretty easy, first I got rid of anything "non quilting", craft items too. Then I went through my fabric and got rid of everything I didn't love/want. Another easy round. It's getting harder! What I have left I feel for me is reasonable, even if a huge amount for someone else. Now the task is to use it.

I have one friend who feels she has an adequate amount of fabric in one of those stands of stacked plastic drawers, most of which came from her mother in law and dates back to the 80s or so. I have another friend who has a small bedroom basically full of larger (3 yards - full bolt) pieces of batiks, and another one with the smaller pieces and "the rest of the fabric" (anything not batik). I know people with entire rooms or storage units full of well kept fabric and I've seen some pretty sketchy hoards in my time too... I have gone from what was once a full room stacked and packed to what I believe will fit in the closet -- if I can get the non-quilting stuff out of there.

rryder

Welcome, pbraun and Amecoy! This is a fun thread and a supportive bunch of people.

Rob

Rff1010

IceB- your words carry weight and are worthwhile to consider.

So I kind of lost my.mind for a little while and did some retail therapy at Bluprint. Some clearances at $4 yard and mystery FQ bundle. Felt good. Did it again when Bluprint had a coupon and had just announced going out of business. Good bargains, but not as good a feeling. (cue Mr. Rogers).

Hopefully I have learned my lesson. Ive decided my Mystery FQs will be good for practice blocks and color practice combos.