Oh, sure, Sandy, I'll help you get back on this wagon, too! Nothing like helping each other out with a habit. It doesn't hurt anyone, and i'm starting to think that with prices going up, stash building is better than putting money in the bank. Can't believe I said that! Now we both need time to get sewing and make the purchases into product!
Emma S...escape clauses are good!

I'm planning to finish the last set of pillowcases today and see how I feel. Hopefully I can work on my last swap I didn't finish yet after. My son's car was hit by a deer on this way home from work last night, so this morning has been spent at the body shop and getting a rental car reserved. I have Alfa insurance though, and the claim can't be initiated until Monday. This is a good time to work at a car dealership with a body shop.

I've managed not to add to my stash lately, but the man's best friend's wife and a girl at work both have decided they want to quilt, so maybe between all of this I can get the motivation to get back sewing and knock out some projects. I can think of a hundred pieces of fabric I want though! If I have to go to the fabric store with either of these ladies, I may be in trouble!

I HAD to jump off the wagon today. Found a bluebonnet FQ for the round robin and some Texas longhorn bovines (the theme is Texas). So I added a little bit to the order to make it worth the shipping charge. Then I stopped at the LQS to get a 30s backing for my MIL's old quilt. The bill wasn't extravagant, so I did good, all in all.

We've been away from home most of the month, so not much time to shop, even on line! So it looks like I will have no quilting fabric purchases for June. Last weekend we had to take a detour due to construction. Went past a yard sale with a big sign "FABRIC". I made my husband stop. Cute older lady in a wheelchair was running the sale. I didn't get any of her quilting fabric, but I did get a yard (for a buck) of home dec to make a bag. I just had to buy something from her!

I did good in June until we went on a fishing trip to Alaska. After fishing my DH took me to two shops in Juneau! I got 20 fat quarters and border fabric to make a Turning Twenty quilt. Once the quilt is done it will remind me of the wonderful time we had in Alaska. The two shops in Juneau are great!

I did not buy in June (or May). I did not shop at Connecting Threads, or Keepsake Quilting, nor did I enter my LQS. Am I sick or tired or what? Is there a cure for this? I feel very faint, I know something is not quite right. My, oh my, I hope it's not terminal. I think I'll go pet some fabric in my stash. What a good idea!

None in June for me. I am in a wheelchair post surgery and both LQSs have stairs. I have started a batik Drunkard's path quilt, but it's not making a dent in my batik stash. :o

i am proud of myself I have gone nearly 2 months without buying fabric and for me that is near a miracle, and that was even with as much stress as we have had in the last month. DH mother had cancer surgery on the 3rd of June and was getting ready to go to rehab for a few weeks on Friday the 13th she took a turn for the worse and passed on sat the 14th of June she had lived with us for more than 17 years so we had to deal with all of that. We have everything finished now so I can get back to my sewing

Bezzie2013: So sorry for your loss!

Connie

bezzie2013: Condolences on your mother-in-law. 17 years is a long time to have had her with you, I'm sure you will miss her terribly. My mother-in-law lived with us for only 2 years and was a 24/7 care. I thought I would be somewhat relieved on her passing but found that not to be the case. I missed her very much. The care givers job is a sacred one and I learned much about unconditional love. Bless you and your household in this time of need.

Irish: You deserve full credit for no purchases. Being in a wheelchair, I think the temptation to make an on line order would be very tempting. Hope you mend quickly! Bezzie: So sorry. The best to you and your family.

Condolences to you, bezzie, and to your family.

Online order? Have my oldest daughter who wants to clean out my sewing rooms get the mail? No, thank you. I really have plenty.

I feel that my foot is healing. The first Xrays are Thursday. I will be glad to get the staples out and a stronger cast on.

I haven't decided on a back for the curved quilt yet. I'd like to make a stained glass, but we'll see what the time constraints are. Plain is fine, but I don't have a large enough batik in a boy color.

I wish you all enough.

Sorry for your loss and all the heartache that comes with it. Hope life settles down for you soon.

I finished the top with the Andover Amelia fabric I bought (off the wagon) in Livermore a few months back. She is a behemoth - biggest one I ever tackled. It felt so good using ALL that fabric. Then I finished two bags - all from stash (except the bits and bobs I had to buy).

I actually sold a bunch of fabric left from my online store that I closed and didn't even stop at the fabric stores!! No fabric for me for a full six months!

Queen: I salute you! Your women of great fortitude and amazing strength. Martina: Amazing how all those beautiful colors go together! I can definitely see why you fell of the wagon. Maybe we should discuss removing some demerits if you use the fabric within a year? What does everyone thing is it time to modify our "Rigid" rules?

Emma, I think that is a great idea. I have purchased fabric since I joined the moratorium, but use most of it right away. I do still have a hugh stash which am trying to use when I can. I just am not strong when I see all the new, beautiful fabric at the LQS. Also like to support them so they are there when I need them!

Emma, I think it would be great to amend the rules, but only because I've broken them so many times!! :D:mad::D:D Using what's purchased soon after the purchase is good...and how can a body stay out of quilt shops on vacation, especially when one of them (I know, I know..only one, and I went in about 4 shops) was in the top 10 two years ago? Oh, I sure do just need to use or purge my stash and stop whining. :thumbup:

Hi Paper Princess, Do you know how many have been keeping their commitment so far this year? I'm just curious....this is such a challenge (I didn't quite keep). Yet, the discipline is a worthwhile effort even with our slips!
I'm back to my resolve again. June was my 'vacation' : )

I've never counted, I don't want to be the moratorium police dept. I feel that you are successful if your purchases are below the level you were at when you started. I just love to read all the all the posts, both the 'no new fabric this month' and the 'a funny thing happened to me at the fabric shop/dept/site' versions!
A funny thing happened to me at JoAnn's yesterday. I was shopping with my god GD and the clerk told us about the student discount program. You have to be 14 or older an bring in a current student ID card. They will then issue you a discount card for 10% off your total purchase (some restrictions of course), but there are some days when the card will get you 20% off!

One of the gals at work is pregnant and she is a biologist. Of course I have to make her something quilty that is biology-related and I have nothing in the stash. Found a cute ABC (with animals) panel at the LQS yesterday and got just a yard of coordinating fabric for borders and binding. Backing and batting, along with the white border will come from stash and I already cut the pieces last night. So I was bad and good at the same time. Sounds like I am balanced. lol

Madquilter: Ah yes, all things in balance the yin and the yang, the good and the bad, the stash and the money allotted and yes even the fall from grace and the ability to rationalize it. I bow before a master! Paper Princess: Totally understand the delight of utilizing others student body cards. My daughter is currently a returning student and a Jr. in college. She says she is delighted that all of the thousands she is spending on her education is paying off, if only to enable her mother to get 10% off. I told her to be careful not to bite her tongue, since she had it so firmly wedged in her cheek.

It is just plain fun reading the latest posts. I am hoping to stay on the wagon for several months now. If I sew constantly (which I can't do just yet) I still will have a lot of fabric. However...I do not want to hear any more talk of 'purging one's stash' Horrors!!! I am looking forward to a long, cold winter so I can stay inside and sew.

Yes, Sandy, but then there's the Row by Row Experience...and so I guess I'll be buying thread at the places I go! HA! Actually, I do have enough fabric! Love the student discount story!

Sandy, if I were to only sew from stash, I could probably be busy for a good decade. lol

Not sure if I dare tell you gals but I stopped at the sewing machine dealer's Thursday. I am strongly considering buying a Baby Lock Crescendo. Not sure there will be much money left after that bill. Gulp! Looking for the best deal first.

The only fabric I took home from the quilt shop in June was purchased with a gift certificate. It does engender some guilt to go to the $5 club, but I do need to buy the finishing blocks each month, so they at least get $3 a month. Have almost freed up enough comic book boards to put all fabric away without buying more boards.

Hyperventilating here, ladies: I am in love/lust with a new sewing machine, the Baby Lock Crescendo. OMG it has a laser light coming out of the needle. No more drawing guide lines on HSTs. I actually heard back from a dealer who might be decent at negotiating (the local one is somewhat of a used car dealer mentality). So keep your fingers crossed for me please. At that price point there won't be much money left to buy fabric. lol

Good luck with wheeling and dealing, Martina. Let us know how it goes. I look at the prices of the new ones and it takes my breath away. I will just keep my 20 year old basic Viking and admire all of the new fancy ones I see on the sewing shows.

Back in March I posted I bought 2 1/2 yards of fabric for my friends daughter baby quilt. Well the quilt is all done and ready to be gifted. Here is the completed project.

Martina: What a diabolical method to stop buying fabric, just spend all available money on a knocked out machine. Good luck with the negotiations! Anoka: I too was on the train ride. Love what you did with the colors. The quilt will transition beautifully as the little girl becomes a toddler.

The mother to be is actually having a boy. She requested the bright colors. At first I was not sure, but I was very happy with the finished quilt.

Ah, me! A new machine sounds wonderful. I bought mine when I was working and had no sewing time. Now I have sewing time and am just learning the machine which they tell me is 'old." So what, I am too! But a laser light coming out of the needle? That's beyond awesome!!

Laser Light...Wow. Wow.

...hanging head in shame, digging toe into dirt...

I...
I...
I...um...bought...fabric
yesterday.

Went with a friend to Great Bend. Super Walmart. Even tho she TOLD me she was *shock* FABRIC shopping, I went.

Woe is me.

There were several bolts I would have purchased some of if the quality had been better, I just wasn't seeing it. $5.97 a yard... I can get NICE fabric at that price from fabric.com or CT. Even Wichita, Hancocks/ Hobby Lobby/ Joann's.

So, no.

But at the very last minute, my friend was at the cutting table, I spotted a white double fold, so probably around 108". With a pretty decent threads per inch (by visual) Could barely see my hand through it, which you pretty much can on plain white, even in LQS's.

I did not have ANY white. I know this. I have a baby shower coming up. Have planned a baby quilt with some Moda Max & Whiskers charms I've had maybe 4 years. I had shopped stash for complementary fabrics, and came up with a handful. I want to put a 9p or 4p with the charms, so wanted white to offset the dark colors I'd dug out to go with the charms. The charms are very hard to match to. The blue is chevy blue (late 60's/early 70's), not dusty blue, not medium blue, off toward both green and grey. The brown is mouse (real mouse-field mouse) brown, you know, slightly grey. The yellow is between school bus and dijon mustard. The rust is a true rust (if there is such a thing). Strange colors for children's fabric, but the animals are very cute.

I don't think I would use white as a back. Not sure why they made 108" white. I bought 2 yards, 6.97 yd. I'm set for white for a long while.

I also have charms/strips/FQ in CT's canning day line. (again, about 4 years) Think 30's style. So this white will be lovely with those, too.

Sounds like a plan, quiltmouse. No need to hang your head in shame. Although -walking through life with head hanging might keep me from seeing that fabric and reduce the pull. lol

I finished the baby quilt from the panel fabric I bought the other day and gave it to the Mom-to-be at her baby shower today. She loves it. Told me she was hoping to get a Martina-quilt. Looks like I have developed a reputation for good things for a change.

Q/M: You are clearly blameless, under our "rigid" rules anyone buying for a specific project has not sinned. Therefore Ms. Mouse you squeaked by, by a whisker. Martina: What a lovely, colorful quilt. I can see many hours spent with I Spy and the Alphabet. I know about your reputation for always being on the bottom of the pile of people having the most fun. Wait....is that the reputation you were talking about?

Oh my - I see I've spent just a bit too much time here. You are getting to know me too well. lol

No, I was talking about the reputation for doing nice and fun quilts. wink,wink

Well, I was on a sabbatical from my moratorium in June. But, our LQS had a 25% 1-day sale last Saturday.....Sure found some nice fabrics I couldn't resist. I didn't even try to resist! So, if I just stay home in August, Sept, Oct, Nov, and Dec, I might finish out the year without spending more. I'm beginning to realize how long a year is, though they go by so quickly! Having 'some' discipline is better than none. Making it 9 out of 12 months in non-spending is certainly not bad to aim for.

Mad Quilter: What a precious baby quilt. So vibrant! It will be treasured.

LOL, thanks, Emma!

laynak, crossing my fingers for you! :p

Yesterday DH took me to a couple quilt shops so I could get some backing fabric for a Turning 20 I made from FQ's purchased while on a trip to Alaska. I excused myself on getting fabric while on vacation, because I figured it would be a once in a lifetime trip. On the shopping trip yesterday I thought I was doing well with just the backing fabric, but then I purchased two Row by Row kits and DH put a kit on the counter for me and said "Happy Birthday". Guess all in all, I really didn't do very good yesterday. :(

Well, birthday gifts can't count. Surely, they can't!! And those trips to Alaska don't come by all that often. The Row by Row is doing me in...but I have until Labor Day in the 'back of beyond' to stay out of trouble! A year is a very long time...to not buy fabric. But I am thinking more about the purchases now, so that's a good thing.