ok, emma, you almost got me! I started to look up Whittle, but I didn't. can't buy, need to sew!! i'm not sure if I have a stash or a collection. no one expects you to use your stamp collection for mailing things, so why should they expect us to use our fabric collection?? (thanks, ricky tims). elisabrat, you know you and I have forgotten more than we've ever known, so no reason to sweat it! we're still ahead of the pack, lol. or at the end of the previous one......
Anoka, a gift is a gift. you can use it as you wish. if you choose not to buy f abric you can get all sorts of other stuff, interfacing, stabilizer , blades ,thread, magazines, patterns, etc. or that yummy fabric you just couldn't buy with your own money! enoy it guilt free!

I have made it 7 weeks without buying any new fabric. This has to be an all time record as over the last couple of years I would buy something every couple of weeks either at Joann's or off the web. I am staying focused on scrappy quilts and finishing UFO's. This thread has been so good for me. Good luck to everyone!

Jwardknits: Congrats on making it 7 weeks without buying fabric!

Anoka Quilter: I may need to check out Millie P's.

Connie

Kudos to those who have abstained. It's not easy when there's so many pretty fabrics out there.
Lucky you AnokaQuilter--a guilt free reason to add to your treasured fabric collection.

Yup, I am in too! I have been sorting out this morning and I really need to use of the fabric I have - the boxes are getting too full. Of course I could just buy more boxes! I have just been away sewing with friends for a week. There was 2 fabric shops and all I bought was some velcro - which I needed to finish a project!

Angel: I never could be around that much fabric and remained unscathed. Your a woman of iron!

Ok you ladies of iron wills!! Good job on not buying. I on the other hand succumbed to a sale. I spent $39.00. My excuse is because it's enough fabric for a queen size quilt and Keepsake Quilting catalog came and their price was $500 for a kit I liked and I didn't buy that one. So I figure I saved about $450.00. I know I'm pathetic. I'm really grasping for excuses and the whys of what I do. I did go about 5 weeks without buying and now I have to make a quilt out of what I just bought and shop my stash to make another one just like it. My own rules for buying...poor me. I better get busy sewing and quit ranting about my lack of will power.

Rhonda Lee: If you ever run out of excuses we can help you out. Sorry about your fall, but just get back on the wagon. I think of it as a semi win if I can just cut back on purchases but sales are always my downfall. Never tempted by anything above $5 a yard.

ok, I am home which is a good thing. Two, I am home and honestly.. I look at the fabric on my shelf and I get overwhelmed so I will gladly not spend any cash this week either. Enough is enough. I flounder a bit, worked on a round robin for another quilter and well.. don't know what to do. I have so many projects and sit here, not knowing what to do. This my dear friends, is pathetic. sigh. I think I am just still over tired. Sick to death of that excuse too. Help me, shop for me, shop with me, make me feel all home again :)

I have been good all month. No fabric purchases. Today I went to Joanne and the only thing I bought was a spool of white thread that I needed. Hopefully I will be as good in March.:)

boy that must have been a true challenge! I go into a store and its just one quick look at.. and well maybe I really need that.. and before you know it I walk out with a 40.00 bill and nothing to show for it its too small!!! sigh.. and that is being good. do you see why I can NOT walk into a store?????

I had to make a Wally run today. Picked up some flannel for a couple of receiving blankets for our new Gson who is waiting patiently to come into this big world! Also found some flannel on sale to use as backing on a couple of charity quilts. No quilting fabric though.

Elizabrat, glad you are home. Find one project. Do that in 20 minutes spurts. Then go do something else for 20 minutes. Then go back to the sewing. Or just take some time off. Not everything has to be done immediately. Give yourself the grace to do things at a slower pace, especially after a hospital visit! :hug: :hug:

Brat, You need a change of attitude. Firstly, Please please take care of yourself and don't rush into sewing again. Just your morale boosting postings here on QB are enough for any of us for now. Secondly, don't be overwhelmed looking at your fabric. ...be grateful! I see pics of others sewing rooms (which in some cases look like half a house stacked wall to wall with fabric)and I think to myself.."I don't really have so much after all!" :-) What I am trying to say is make a game of it...sort of like Mary Poppins. :-) Look at your stash with new eyes and think what you can do with it. You don't have to rush, either. That fabric won't spoil sitting on the shelf. I took an hour's break today (from the cat quilt) and worked on one of my ufo's begun 2 years ago. Used some pieces I found in stash that are working well for the outer border. Little by little I will find uses for all the bits and pieces friends have donated to me. Plus, looking at what I have makes me think I really don't 'need' to go to a fabric store for a while! :-) Lots of scrappy quilts in my future. Back to cat quilt tomorrow. Oh...and Emma, you are such an uplifting person. You are always posting encouraging words to everyone. I love this thread...even when one of us falls off the wagon!

coopah thanks and oh boy do I love your center!

Sandy your a sweetpea and I hope you know it. YOu always find a way to make me smile for this I am so grateful. I am doing a bit better just slow.. and gladl to be home not running around all crazy. Steve is good but I forgot to buy him something for his birthday. I wish I hadn't forgotten. I remember to bake a cake and make dinner guess this counts. I sure hope it counted. Its a slow week for me. I will move slowly and do what has to be done. Hoping that I get the grove back again.. it hsnt hit so far. UGH! so keep at me I will do it.

Elisabrat, I think we all hit those lows from time to time. The tide will turn and soon you will embrace your stash again. Maybe it is time to clean up. I ran into the problem a while back where I had a lot of stash outside the shelves and no apparent space to put it. So I pulled my stash out, pile after pile. I refolded some, reordered a lot, restacked it all and put it away. In the process I was petting the pieces and refamiliarizing myself with what I actually have. It was like visiting with old friends. It sure gave me a boost.

Well, I think I did pretty darn good this month. I only spent $39.00 on fabric. That is an all time low in the space of a month. High marks for me. I'll just have to see if I can get it lower in March!

Rhonda Lee: Good for you! Now days you can hardly go to a movie or out to dinner for less.

good news!! no fabric bought in either February or March!! dang, i'm good! that's 2 months of no relapses!

I didn't spend a cent on fabric, notions, or books in January or February. I didn't even buy a pair of scissors. My tax refund is coming though.

So far I bought one yard since Jan1st.. it was less than $3 so im not counting it at all.. it was less than LUNCH !! lol..
I did happen to go to an Apparel xpo and got some nice notions but so far so good no textile goods.. Im holding ground NO MORE FABRIC for 2014... Now, mind you, Neutrals are fair game... IF and i mean a H-U-M-U-N-G-O IF, i find neutrals at a fantastic price I refuse to kick myself in the butt later because i dint get the whole bolt.. but like i said it better be at a fantastic price..


Kudos to those holding ground... Keep the straight and narrow !!!
i say for every month you do not spend $ on fabric put $10-$50 in a 'STASH" jar..
on Jan1st 2015 go shopping with all the money you saved !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

on anything but fabric RIGHT? lol love to have a monster stash for spending at a later date. Right now I am working on a few things: a round robin in rainbow of colors this month need a nice round with greens and only greens in it. could be interesting but using my scraps for this so I give myself a big pat on the back. then there is the quilt for my son in law and that is so boring its KILLING ME. two blocks a week is all I tell myself to do so I can walk away and get into something fun and colorful (its a cream and light teal snowflake pattern.. ugh). and then I have a monthly doll quilt I signed up to do.. what am I thinking??? and I am running a table runner swap and so far its been me me and me who sends the angel quilts so think I might be doing that too.. not signing up just in case. and that my dear friends is what is up for March. I have a bin full of finished work to send out, but can afford only one at a time so I am taking my time and thinking each and every one through.. I have a goal! I want to have at least six quilts for Christmas gifting this year. do you think I can do it??? it will be indeed a challenge. Just finishing things up.. one at a time with the exception of the snowflake quilt. It is possible. Likely????

Everyone is doing so well with being good so far this year. Two months down and ten to go. I am still slaving away on my cat project. I wish I were an artist. It challenges my brain to make things look 'sort-of' real. I will be glad to go back to a regular quilt pattern. I did, as a break from cat quilt, get a backing sewn together (from stash of course) for a quilt top that I have been working on for 2 years as a leader-ender project and had planned to take it to local LA quilter next week. But phone call from far away cousins who are stopping in has squelched that plan. Oh well..it can wait for another time but is all ready to go. I want to go through my scraps and do the Bonnie Hunter Lozenges leader-ender next. It will be a year-long project so I think I will have plenty of time to play catch-up. If I never found another pattern to do, I think I could still stay busy the rest of my life just making quilts from patterns i have. Think I can stick to that...probably not. :-)

Nothing in February for me!! After a flood in my kitchen, laundry room and family room, I've hardly had time to shop anywhere except Home Depot and Lumber Liquidators. Now I'm painting the kitchen ad already have a pretty piece in my stash for new valance. I do need to stop into the LQS to see if one of the repairmen want a Singer Touch & Sew before I throw it away. Dangerous territory, but I am strong. There is a red batik there that calls my name.

I fell today--went to pick up taxes and you know just down the street is a fave LQS and so I stopped in and bought some peaches from a Jo Morton collection and then as fabrics were getting cut saw some neat grays that just jumped off the shelf. That's my story. But I'm still on budget for the year.

I think the best thing about this thread is that it's helped me to be aware of what I am doing with fabric. It's helped me to control the impulse of just buying anything I want. (fabric). Everyone is really doing their best here and I congratulate you all. I am still working on Orca Bay. My oh my, but that one is a study in tenacity. I'm sewing wings on 2 in. HS turning them into flying geese. There are 350 sq's. 700 wings. The cute little squares were done earlier. I'm close to having one wing on all of them. And I haven't spent any money on fabric for March. (yet??)

Wow Nancia! No fabric in March, and the month is already 2 days old! I'm in total awe of your resolve for February, however. I didn't do so well, and March is my Birthday Month, but I've also been good for 2 days!

I haven't bought any fabric in march either. YEAH! However, I joined a FQ swap and some of the participants want fabric in colors I have absolutely NONE. Like black with yellow. So I will have to buy a FQ or two but they will go out in the mail immediately.

Other than receiving the 'anniversary gift money for fabric' (which I immediately spent), I've been really good with no other fabric buying. I've finished 3 quilts in 2014. One, which I'd had the fabric for 3-4 years without 'getting to it.' I have a few more of those 'dated' projects to do before I begin to feel shopping withdrawals : )
Actually, I'm feeling pretty good to work with what I have and restrain myself from impulse purchases. They get ahead of what's possible to accomplish anyway. Soon, I've forgotten I even have that project yet to do. Continuing to enjoy my fabric stash....

I had a coupon for $20 off at Superiorthreads. So I went shopping today. "Just" thread and needles.

Wish I could say I've done well....4th day of March and after visiting my employment agent stopped to buy a zip and some thread...passed by the quilting fabric but succumbed to 5 metres of tapestry fabric for couch quilts reduced from $12.00 to $5.00 per metre - I do need to have extras for winter but felt a bit guilty in view of the "moratorium".

Earthwalker: Sometimes you just have to make exceptions. If it's something you will need anyway and to be able to save a bit of change, it's really hard to pass those wonderful sale prices. Oh, the understanding is strong.

Thank you....I just washed it and hung it out to dry....I do feel a bit better about it. It is a necessary purchase and by having more couch quilts in the rotation, will save using the dryer in winter. Electricity is very expensive here.

I agree Earthwalker if its a necessity then that's your exception.. It gets cold here too and sometimes we need to layer on a bit more to keep the escalating heating costs down... IM grateful for our roaring fireplace that keeps us cozy (sometimes HOT) at 72 ( upto 80 at times) but ill take it over freezing any day.. !!!


Keep up the good work everyone.. STAY ON GOAL !!!!

WE CAN DO IT - WE CAN DI IT - WE CAN DO IT !!!

Oh-oh, we are going to Vegas this weekend and DH has already printed directions to the Christmas Goose "in case I find something I can't live without." I swear, he is the worst enabler. I do need to buy a FQ in black and yellow for a swap as I have NOTHING in those colors.

Martina: Seems to me he's happy when he's making you happy. Seems like a win, win to me.

OK i almost fell off the wagon.. Im swapping Batiks this month and was only going to swap two sets BUT i saw how beautiful the rest were that came in and i broke down..... I want ONE OF EACH !!!!

but i managed to scour my stash and found four more yards i could use.. whew.. that was close !!!

Still holding my ground.. NO FABRIC buyin in 2014 !!!

I have a new computer and haven't disabled pop ups yet Guess hat my pop up of the day is? Connecting Threads pretty red fabrics - the blue, too, but my eyes go to the reds. Limited time?? I wish they'd hurry and sell out.

I did buy the CT reds, Irishrose. Well, a couple of them. In 2013 I bought reds with white to do a red/white quilt I'd seen here on QB. BUT I couldn't find the whites with red so easily. The CT finished out what I needed. So now to get my UFOs done and move on to the reds...they are really nice quality if that helps you with your decision! :-)

We just got back from Vegas and I couldn't wait to report in: I didn't buy a single piece of fabric for myself. Did get some pressies and some FQs for the swap. The only think I bought for myself was a purse pattern.