2020 Fabric Moratorium
09-01-2020, 05:54 PM
#901
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Cottage Grove, MN
Posts: 2,807
Great job in reducing items in your sewing rooms.
I donated 40-45 yards of mostly Christmas fabrics to a fundraiser. I only bought a few yards of it and that was at garage sales. The rest was given to me through donations either directly to me or to my church group. If asked by the organizers if I want the unsold fabric back, I will definitely say no thank you. With that said, I will pick it up from them and donate it myself if that’s their wish. The area in my sewing room with the Christmas fabrics sure looks nice and organized.
I was amazed how many yards were squished in 2 medium sized tubs.
I only finished one quilt top this month. 🤷♀️ Better than none like in April.
I donated 40-45 yards of mostly Christmas fabrics to a fundraiser. I only bought a few yards of it and that was at garage sales. The rest was given to me through donations either directly to me or to my church group. If asked by the organizers if I want the unsold fabric back, I will definitely say no thank you. With that said, I will pick it up from them and donate it myself if that’s their wish. The area in my sewing room with the Christmas fabrics sure looks nice and organized.
I was amazed how many yards were squished in 2 medium sized tubs.
I only finished one quilt top this month. 🤷♀️ Better than none like in April.
Last edited by retiredteacher09; 09-01-2020 at 05:57 PM.
09-01-2020, 07:41 PM
#903
Power Poster
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Between the dashes of a tombstone
Posts: 12,716
Originally Posted by WMUTeach
OKSEWGLAD, I have been saving my spools since January, just for the fun of it. Well I now have a two quart green canning jar full and have started on a new quart jar. Stash comes in many forms! (How many spools of pink thread can one really need?)
09-02-2020, 07:01 AM
#904
Super Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Waterford Michigan
Posts: 7,241
I continue to fight the urge to buy fabrics. I saw some to die for pieces this week and I walked away knowing the perfect quilt for those fabrics. Working from my stash has been fun this year. With only a couple purchases in the last 12 months I figure I am doing this challenge pretty good. I have another stash quilt sitting on the floor right now. I made a jelly roll and am now using it for a strip quilt. It is coming out pretty good. Another simple but very nice top to add to the list.
09-03-2020, 07:44 AM
#905
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Greater Peoria, IL -- just moved!
Posts: 6,066
Yesterday and today I'm working a bit with the stash. The various things I pulled since the last major clean up (year and a half ago??) have to be put back if they aren't already, and decisions need to be made on some pieces, I have too many boxes of miscellaneous which are really "I was trying to neaten things up by shoving things out of sight" and it didn't get any better when a large box I bought at an estate sale a couple years back collapsed about 2 months ago. Before they were a box in their own right, but now they must be integrated.
I think I might have to make one box of "miscellaneous difficult to categorize fabrics". I love novelty fabric and some are there, but I end up with some fabrics that are harder to fit in. Or the problem with two-color pieces, is that red or is that black? As it is, I have a stack of red and black fabrics together, it's enough for a quilt but I don't know what quilt that is yet...
I'm also putting things into collections or groups, last year some of my now-out of order fabrics had been put in a box of potential projects and that worked pretty well for me, but I need to label the box that way, and maybe separate the groups with tissue paper. These are mostly crib-twin sized juvenile collections for fun quick projects. There is a subtle difference for me, if I put the fabrics in their own box they are then "kitted" and are now a UFO instead of a potential project
I have enough spongy textured sort of pieces (brighter than grunge mostly) that I decided needed to be kept together as a collection and not separated by color, I do have a box for small collections, like sewing themed and they can go in there. I'll have to look at my "food" box, most of that is gone now and they should go there too if they can and separated out by color if not.
My solids box was my last remaining "paper" box, the sort that reams of paper come in from when I was working. One side finally collapsed, time to go to the office supply store and buy some new banker boxes and retire some old ones. It's just not worth it to get the cheaper boxes unless they are just for temporary sorting of things, they just don't hold up -- especially the lids. For sorting things or going through closets and do set up donate and keep boxes next to the trash can. Any box works for that, but for me I like to have a nice clear label that maybe I'll stick on the wall above the box so it's clear.
I want to get all my fabric in consistent boxes and stack them up... I think what I have now will fit in the closet of my sewing room, if I can clear that out. Then I will have an actual sewing room with room to move instead of a fabric storage room. Some things are harder to let go, like the rocking cradle that was mine when I was a baby and which wasn't used for my own grandbundle. Some things like the down sleeping bags will be easier -- turns out I'm allergic to down!
I know a closet of fabric is still a huge stash, but seriously, it's gone down from a room packed floor to ceiling. I've lost track but visualize 10-20 large black plastic garbage bags stuffed full (accumulated over 30 years) is about what is now gone.
I think I might have to make one box of "miscellaneous difficult to categorize fabrics". I love novelty fabric and some are there, but I end up with some fabrics that are harder to fit in. Or the problem with two-color pieces, is that red or is that black? As it is, I have a stack of red and black fabrics together, it's enough for a quilt but I don't know what quilt that is yet...
I'm also putting things into collections or groups, last year some of my now-out of order fabrics had been put in a box of potential projects and that worked pretty well for me, but I need to label the box that way, and maybe separate the groups with tissue paper. These are mostly crib-twin sized juvenile collections for fun quick projects. There is a subtle difference for me, if I put the fabrics in their own box they are then "kitted" and are now a UFO instead of a potential project
I have enough spongy textured sort of pieces (brighter than grunge mostly) that I decided needed to be kept together as a collection and not separated by color, I do have a box for small collections, like sewing themed and they can go in there. I'll have to look at my "food" box, most of that is gone now and they should go there too if they can and separated out by color if not.
My solids box was my last remaining "paper" box, the sort that reams of paper come in from when I was working. One side finally collapsed, time to go to the office supply store and buy some new banker boxes and retire some old ones. It's just not worth it to get the cheaper boxes unless they are just for temporary sorting of things, they just don't hold up -- especially the lids. For sorting things or going through closets and do set up donate and keep boxes next to the trash can. Any box works for that, but for me I like to have a nice clear label that maybe I'll stick on the wall above the box so it's clear.
I want to get all my fabric in consistent boxes and stack them up... I think what I have now will fit in the closet of my sewing room, if I can clear that out. Then I will have an actual sewing room with room to move instead of a fabric storage room. Some things are harder to let go, like the rocking cradle that was mine when I was a baby and which wasn't used for my own grandbundle. Some things like the down sleeping bags will be easier -- turns out I'm allergic to down!
I know a closet of fabric is still a huge stash, but seriously, it's gone down from a room packed floor to ceiling. I've lost track but visualize 10-20 large black plastic garbage bags stuffed full (accumulated over 30 years) is about what is now gone.
09-03-2020, 10:18 AM
#906
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: Ontario
Posts: 309
Oksewglad...I love that your grand is so into LEGO and doing his own thing with it. Although I think the kits sold now are pretty cool I believe it takes away from the creativity factor that LEGO encouraged when I was a kid. Of course LEGO was out of my parents price range....I played with friends LEGO ‘stash’. Now that everything is made offshore they are more affordable so kind of a win/lose situation.
Irishrose and WMUTeach, very nice projects.
Iceblossom....If I had your huge stash I would need inventory sheets and numbered totes. Little swatches of fabric glued to paper with tote number and size and placed in a binder. Otherwise I would lose my mind trying to remember what I had....or to find it!
I finally sat down at the machine to sew up borders for this top I posted a few weeks ago. It took hours to work out how to use up as much of my leftovers as possible. I wanted a pieced border however could not get it to work, just not enough fabric. I used up another 2.5m and ended up with about .3m each of the brown and beige blender which goes back into stash.
Irishrose and WMUTeach, very nice projects.
Iceblossom....If I had your huge stash I would need inventory sheets and numbered totes. Little swatches of fabric glued to paper with tote number and size and placed in a binder. Otherwise I would lose my mind trying to remember what I had....or to find it!
I finally sat down at the machine to sew up borders for this top I posted a few weeks ago. It took hours to work out how to use up as much of my leftovers as possible. I wanted a pieced border however could not get it to work, just not enough fabric. I used up another 2.5m and ended up with about .3m each of the brown and beige blender which goes back into stash.
09-03-2020, 04:04 PM
#908
Power Poster
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Between the dashes of a tombstone
Posts: 12,716
Well done with the borders Cattitude! They are so well proportioned to the quilt!
Re: Legos--we had three boys and they all played with them, but the youngest probably the most. (He's in construction as an adult.) I have had an accumulated batch of them. They have been gradually disappearing as Gson has found just the right piece to work with his current project. The family was here one afternoon a couple of years ago watching The Amityville Horror. We thought Gson was just busy playing with the Legos and not watching. Ha! Next day at our house he showed me a replica of the house complete with quarter arc windows on the second floor and a hinged trap door to the basement! He looks at the boxes in the store to see what parts he can use for his building projects and bases his wish lists on that. And yes in many ways they have taken the creativity out of it. FYI, I'm a preLego era kid.
Re: Legos--we had three boys and they all played with them, but the youngest probably the most. (He's in construction as an adult.) I have had an accumulated batch of them. They have been gradually disappearing as Gson has found just the right piece to work with his current project. The family was here one afternoon a couple of years ago watching The Amityville Horror. We thought Gson was just busy playing with the Legos and not watching. Ha! Next day at our house he showed me a replica of the house complete with quarter arc windows on the second floor and a hinged trap door to the basement! He looks at the boxes in the store to see what parts he can use for his building projects and bases his wish lists on that. And yes in many ways they have taken the creativity out of it. FYI, I'm a preLego era kid.
09-03-2020, 04:55 PM
#909
Super Member
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Portage, Michigan
Posts: 7,394
Cattitude your precision is amazing. The border is perfect for the quilt. Now, how to quilt it?
My grands are so into Lego they could start a store. They have a few large sets that made a specific structure such as some of the Star Wars ships and BB8 and a pirate ship but most of their vast collection is just a pieces from many, many, many kits that they made then took apart and used in new ways. Last fall one of the kiddos was into a game of making me guess what he was illustrating using Legos. He would make a scene from a movie and I had to guess the title of the flick. He was 8. He made a scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark, you know the big ball rolling down the incline. He made it with Legos, a tennis ball and a Lego man with hat and a homemade whip. He also did a reconstruction of the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Creative used language, recall memory, small motor skills and a lot of silliness trying to trip up his Grammie with movies.
Enough about Legos and extraordinary grand children and back to quilting. I have a quilt top all cut out from stash for the Virtual Quilt Weekend on the QB. I hope to finish the top this long week-end and will post photo when the top is done.
My grands are so into Lego they could start a store. They have a few large sets that made a specific structure such as some of the Star Wars ships and BB8 and a pirate ship but most of their vast collection is just a pieces from many, many, many kits that they made then took apart and used in new ways. Last fall one of the kiddos was into a game of making me guess what he was illustrating using Legos. He would make a scene from a movie and I had to guess the title of the flick. He was 8. He made a scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark, you know the big ball rolling down the incline. He made it with Legos, a tennis ball and a Lego man with hat and a homemade whip. He also did a reconstruction of the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Creative used language, recall memory, small motor skills and a lot of silliness trying to trip up his Grammie with movies.
Enough about Legos and extraordinary grand children and back to quilting. I have a quilt top all cut out from stash for the Virtual Quilt Weekend on the QB. I hope to finish the top this long week-end and will post photo when the top is done.
09-03-2020, 05:12 PM
#910
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Cottage Grove, MN
Posts: 2,807
I still have the Legos that belonged to my boys. The oldest was into building with them more than his brother.
Iceblossom: I was chuckling as I read your post. I just finished going through my boxes of “I was trying to neaten things up by shoving things out of sight". There were way too many of those boxes in my sewing area. I also have fabrics that frustrate me as to where they belong in my tubs sorted by color. I am excited to see your closet stash when you are finished organizing.
Cattitude: Very nice finish!
Iceblossom: I was chuckling as I read your post. I just finished going through my boxes of “I was trying to neaten things up by shoving things out of sight". There were way too many of those boxes in my sewing area. I also have fabrics that frustrate me as to where they belong in my tubs sorted by color. I am excited to see your closet stash when you are finished organizing.
Cattitude: Very nice finish!
