WMUTeach

Pillow cases, what a good idea! They eat up stash right before you eyes. I could do that too and donate along with my Project Linus quilts. Duh, why didn't I think of that before. Thanks for the reminder, dmo. Hey, we are Michigan neighbors. Tee-Hee-Hee!

Lena1952

I'm going to hop on board again this year and see if I can do better than last year. I have acquired a sit down longarm and my goal is to finish lots of things waiting to be quilted. I've already finished two of them. I will need to purchase some backing fabrics but that should be all I will need. Here's keeping my fingers crossed I can stick with the plan this year.

Rhonda K

I'm joining the challenge with you this year and want to focus on using up the fabric stacked in the closet. The four shelves are packed full of fabric and there is no room to organize other sewing items. There are also bins of pre-cuts to work through. I really want to be a good steward of my stash and make pretty things.

I like the idea of tracking amounts used for quilts and projects each month or year.

woodland creature

I started last year, but fell off the wagon during the summer, and was never able to catch up. The past couple years, I had been in a quilting rut, so to speak. I was still sewing, but it was mostly guild projects or quilt alongs, or following others instructions as my creativity lapsed. Recently, there were a few new additions to the family (none of whom I knew about until they were born), so I did need to purchase fabric for baby quilts. None of it has arrived yet, but as I hit the purchase now button on the 31st, I figure I'm still good for 2024. And I whipped open EQ7 yesterday to finish designing a quilt that I have been thinking about for over two years. It's mostly finished, but as I tend to design on the fly, I can easily start sewing before I know how this one is going to end up. The good part is that I have pulled all of the fabrics, and every one of them is from my stash! Alas, I auditioned so much fabric that I need to do some serious cleaning up before I can actually start sewing!

ibex94

Hi all. Good to see you again. Thank you, Gemm, for keeping the wagon rolling.
I've brought a rocking chair onto the wagon this year. If I jump up to stretch, you are welcome to jump into it.

Day three and I have not bought any fabric this year!! Woohoo! Shopping my stash. Keeping track of ins and outs on my to do list. I am participating in the Birthday Candy swap so that will be an even in and out. I hope to do a lot more out than in on my Mad Adders participation.

Good luck to all of you on your stash journey!

Rff1010

I'm so far in....I can't turn around in my guest bedroom...aka the place where I store the fabric. I can't have any guests!!

I already declared a personal "no buy January (if you follow TerriblyRadQuilts - she introduced me last year). I also made a list for myself of Projects I already Have the Fabric For....and I filled a full page in my journal.

Already had a moment of Victory this evening. Finished something up on the longarm but I had loaded a very long piece of backing...so there was still space. Found a floral scrappy in the Flimsy closet and a piece of batting that "just* fits. And the whole thing is already loaded and ready to go. It's not exactly the backing I might have chosen, but it will be pretty enough and will make a lovely Project Linus donation.

Butterflyblue

I’ll hop on. I just started quilting again this summer after ten years of only small-project quilting (table toppers for gifts, stuff like that. Maybe one quilt.)
I started again because I got to looking through my stash and realized just how much I had. So I made each of my two boys a quilt, and I still have lots of yardage and scraps I need to use up before I’ll feel good buying much new fabric. I did some gifts for Christmas - my rule is that each project has to use something out of my stash, even if I do buy some new fabric for it. But I also impulse bought at least two and a half yards of various fabrics that I have no project underway for, so I need to nip that in the Bud or I’ll be back where I started.

i want to make a mystery quilt, I want to experiment with improv quilting, I want to make my dad a quilt. . . Not sure which of those will be my next project.

1CharmShort

Yes! This! I'll come back to this in a minute...

I have been a lurker here, following along with all your slips and victories, and I just wanted to say a big thumbs up, high five and congratulations to all of you. It is big, in my world to even try this.

Thank you, Gemm for this...second (and third, etc.) chance to try, try again.

Way back, in the *oh oh so long ago* way back machine, I purchased all the fabric *cough* I would ever need before the prices went up. At that time, a high price was about $6.50/ yd
But, you know....that fabric is SO cute, pretty, perfect for the niece, bff etc.

Back to the "I already declared a personal no buy January..."
I REALLY need to do at least this!

So....I really haven't bought any fabric...for...months now. Pat on the back.

Instead, I have been buying vinyl and cork and faux suede because I like to make bags, coin purses, totes etc.
and, because I have begun wire weaving (love that) I have been buying wire and pliers and beads and...
and, because I enjoy knitting, crochet and other yarn projects, I have been buying yarn.
Does embroidery thread count? DMC and perl cotton? so pretty! and so fun to do some slow stitching in the evenings.

I also love to paint....I did actually sell all my air brushing supplies, but kept the H2O colors & other stuff
and I'm weaning myself from wood working and egg carving
but do you know how fun dyeing fabric is? That is one thing I won't stop doing -buying more dyes, etc.

Is there a moratorium for just...everything?
it's still early days for 2024.
maybe I'll just keep lurking

Gemm

Wow - such a great group of people on the wagon already - this is going to be a fun trip!

Of course, someone has to be the first to fall off the wagon and so, out of the goodness of my heart (and if you believe that I have a beautiful bridge I could sell you, too... :-P) I have to admit to a brief tumble yesterday. Sigh.

It was one of those "straw that breaks the camel's back" days - just lots of little things going wrong and making the day more difficult than it should have been, and when the fifth or sixth of those things happened I was just down the road from a thrift store I haven't been to in a while and so I went in for some hopeful retail therapy - ostensibly to see if they had any thread - and I walked out with two small baggies of scraps I don't need. Total cost: $3.20 including tax, so not the end of the world, but I'm still feeling a bit frustrated with myself.

Today I have managed to clamber back on the wagon with little injured save my pride, and I'm happy to say I'm ready to resume the journey!!! Tally ho!

Rff1010

Gemm - no you didn't need. But you did NEED. Here's the assignment. Make those scraps into some kind of block asap. It's only 2 small bags so ... 9 patch? Wonky stars? HI? (I hate crumb blocks so I'll never suggest - but you do you). Somehow a block of some kind feels more productive than just kicking yourself for falling off.the wagon