I too revamped my space before Christmas and I'm still fine tuning the set up and trying to remember where I put things in their new home!

Wow, everyone is doing great! I'm doing well too, but I'm wondering if it's because my LQS keeps sending announcements that they are closed due to the weather! If the local school district has a snow day, they do too.
I keep deleting emails from fabric sites without opening... but I'm not unsubcribing either :)

I'm holding my own about not buying fabric. I've also cut out 6 "kits" to give out to people who are interested in a prayer quilt ministry at church. Lots of strips! Hopefully all 6 will be taken. I also have several tops ready to quilt and I'll use fabric from stash for backings.

The other day, my priest asked me if I would provide her a tentative budget for prayer quilt supplies for the rest of the year. She looked at me in surprise when I said to come back and ask me in 2020! At least by then I should be in need of batting. Non quilters really don't know how extensive our stashes can be! Although I probably will need a roll of batting towards the end of this year. I only have enough left for 14 or 15 quilts.

Well since my FQ bundle fall, I've done well and even better than that I guess. Went through some fabric that's been hiding away in a closet and sorted it. I think it has to be at least 35 yards going out the door for donation. Sure has cleared out and cleaned up that closet nice. Now on to the other closets in the house I guess though none of them have fabric thankfully.

So happy for all of you that are holding to their fabric moratorium pledge. Congratulations.

As for me-----I have been so bad. The end of January, I was told that I was going to be a great aunt in July. I decided on Saturday that I would work from my stash but I needed to make neutral boy/girl quilt. My husband loves to drive, so we took a 2 hour drive to Wales, MA. I had bought a pattern by Nancy Zimmerman on my last visit, thinking I had enough reds and beiges, but I didn't, so I needed to buy the fabric for that quilt to honor Nancy. While there, I saw the neutral quilt pattern that I needed, and the background is green, that my niece loves. So 2 quilt tops and $130 later!!!!! My January purchase.

And so today, I wanted/needed reds and blues for Kathleen Tracey's and the Buttermilk Basin internet blocks. So off we went and then $62 later.

I promise no more shopping in February.

But then comes March, a shop hop.

So I guess I have been banned from your group.

My stash is extensive, as you may have guessed.

Oh Blue Bell...we never ban members..we just put out a hand and help you up. But if you use the fabric...well that's not a big deal for falling off the wagon.

So, once again, I worked 10 hour days Mon-Thur, which resulted in me having today (Friday) off!! So, after some delays due to helping hubby with some new ductwork for the heating system, down the road I went to Foust's.
And I must say, there was very little that got me excited. I guess that's good for my Moratorium, bad for fresh insight. I bought a "short bolt" (4 1/2 yds) of camo fabric, and a small bolt of solid black (10 yds), so total of 14.5 yards... for (drum roll, please) only $47 total.
The camo fabric is going to be the back of a baby quilt (it's a boy, and both parents are deer hunters). In my stash, I found a set of pillow panels with different views of deer on it, and it's about 2 yards, so there I go - use up stash, buy minimal fabric to finish, and have a cool gift for some good friends.

Haha, MadQuilter, we have in the past actually brought newborn's into the house if there were problems with baby and/or mama... or if it was extremely cold. And when we first got married, he would "park" his motorcycle in the kitchen in the winter so it would crank easily for his drive to work the next morning. Mostly what's in here now is a welder, welding "consumables", and several different kinds of power tools. Hubby has his own version of "quilting" - it's called "machine shop stuff".


When helping hubby today, I "rediscovered" some more fabrics, and that was another reason why Foust's just didn't appeal today. I found quite a bit of fabric... more than just scraps, more even than FQ's, but not any significant yardage, and that part of me that just "doesn't do scrappy" was thinking "now what?" But the part of me that is frugal said "dig out those patterns in binders!!" So I did! There's quite a bit of the same color groupings (I didn't realize how much I like purple!!!), so altogether, it's kind of scrappy yet kind of organized. And in my binder was three patterns that I've pulled out. So, my organization OCD part of me will be ok with this kind of scrappy.

Now all I have to do is finish helping hubby with the ductwork so my sewing room can go from "disaster area status" back to "moderately cluttered". Tomorrow should see that completed, so I will working on binding the commission, load the vintage, and frog the Lone Star (and use the black fabric purchased today to fix a problem).

And bummer - they quit carrying prewound bobbins. So, I guess I'll have to shop Amazon for that. :(

BlueBell, you're not banned!! We wouldn't do that!!
Babies on the way are an exclusion... or at least, I think they should be! (Of course I would say that, since that's why I bought camo at Foust's today! :) )

Nope, we just drool over pics of what you do with your latest purchase, while we cheer you on when you do resist temptation!

Now, you gotta post pics soon!!

Well January was good I spent nothing even with my birthday exception. Little step off the wagon yesterday was wondering Tuesday morning and found two small fat quarter bundles that had the neutrals I want for an upcoming quilt project. I did not get the other tonga treats they had although in my favorite colors. Used up so far all stash for my Mom's queen quilt not sure I have enough for borders so I am trying to figure that out. Still working on UFO's using only stash set aside for the project and what every I can come up with when I have run short so more coming out of stash then these two four packs of fat quarters and those were cheap! So I don't feel too bad nice brands too. I will have to buy some backings coming up watching for a sale and some batting. Really should buy a roll with all the really large quilts I have in the works. Also pulled out some random strips I got from somewhere and sewing them all into 16 patches not sure what pattern I will use them for but getting them out of my hair is good. need to come up with better storage for strips. Everyone is doing so good this year its helping me stick to my really strict budget.

Thought I should share the blue and white double Irish chain king is for my MIL and I have another two rows to add and then here is the center for my mom queen. All done so far from stash I have backing and batting for MIL but not my Mom's [ATTACH=CONFIG]588733[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]588734[/ATTACH]

Thank you for keeping me in the group. I am so relieved.

Altaire.....your mom and Mil Quilts are gorgeous! Way to go on stash...

Congrats on the new babies coming. I vote purchases for babies are exempt! Lol! And, no one is getting kicked out. I think we should all get kudo's for always considering our stash first before we purchase.

No fabric purchases for me so far in February except I did purchase the Sylvia's Bridal Sampler Book. This sampler will use some of the 2 bolts I have had for a year. I think I'm good for awhile with the projects I've got going.

Blue Bell. There's no ban in this group, just encouragement. I for one forget to shop my stash first. This thread has helped with that. So when I'm able to use my stash, it's a victory. It's getting better. Now I remember things in my stash that are as good or better than what's offered at the store.

Fell off the wagon today, couldn’t resist this fabric at $4/meter. That’s a great price for this side of the border. I don’t have much Christmas fabric, only a small bin.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]588748[/ATTACH]

Who could pass that up? So cute and great price....

I say, buy it, when the price is right.
I have bought this year, LOL, but I have been using up my scraps to make mug mats for our guild's quilt show in April. The little snippets are going to a friend that makes dog cushions. And I have used my scraps for the latest mystery quilt.
And the board is very friendly and kind so I really wasn't afraid of being banned from the fabric moratorium group.

Those are lovely Altairss! Congrats on using your stash. They will surely love them.

I had what may or may not be a slip today at Joann's, but I'm actually pretty proud of myself, considering the quilting fabrics are 50% off and I had a coupon for an additional 25% all fabric. There were so many pretty fabrics I wanted to bring home! I even resisted the super-cute Valentine's fabrics that were 60% off!

I only have scraps of neutrals, so I really wanted to pick up a variety to keep in my stash, but decided I'd rather pay a little more when I actually need it, than have them sitting in my stash for some unspecified future quilt.

I don't specifically have a quilt in mind, but I am woefully low on yellows and oranges in my precuts for scrappies, so I bought a half dozen fat quarters to cut up. I brought home 2-1/2 yards of a beautiful chocolate brown I may or may not use to finish up one of my UFO's. Not sure if that counts as a need or a slip, lol.

Not part of my slip-up, I also bought a bunch of patriotics for the quilt top my son asked me to make for him, but unlike my past self, I only bought 1/3 yard pieces I needed instead of going ahead and buying a full yard of each, so another small victory there.

Baby steps, JJ....way to go!

Yesterday I went to a quilt show from another guild close by with 2 other ladies from my guild. I had not realized there would be vendors there. I bought 3 f-g’s in batiks for $8.00 - yard. I found a license plate coffe cup. Then I found 3 patterns and one Nebraska small w/h kit. Afterwards we went to a lqs, 45minutes away and then couldn’t resist buying fabric for a quilt I want to start this year. I bought 90% of the fabric for a king size quilt. This store has 4-6 rows of batiks. I found the perfect fabcic blends for my project. I tried to shop [ATTACH=CONFIG]588815[/ATTACH] my stash, but I did not have enough fabric for this pattern. The other 10% of my fabric needed, I will shop my stash. Here’s a pic of my my fabric.

Happylab, Love those blues. They will make a beautiful quilt. I would have bought them, too.

JJ, congratulations on your resistance to temptation and thinking through before buying.

Happylab, the batiks are gorgeous. It's hard not to buy when you've already traveled 45 minutes to a shop. We'll be watching for that quilt this year! What is a w/h kit? I probably know, but am drawing a blank.

I need kudoes for my major self-control yesterday. My favorite quilt shop is only 1 minute from my favorite thrift shop where I regularly take donations and sometimes shop at because it's church-run and I appreciate their mission.

Last week I found some solid cream fabric at the thrift store ($2 for 2 yds) and a few thin quilting paperbacks for 75c each.

Then yesterday...here's where I'm rather proud of myself...

You have to know that my car will drive on auto-pilot from said thrift shop to said LQS. Two right turns, one stoplight, and bam!--I'm in fabric heaven. My rationale is always "while I'm this close...." . I was soooo tempted to just stop in to buy another 1/3 yard of Kaffe for an eventual quilt (no pattern chosen, so not exactly an imminent project). I even have a gift card...

But.....drumroll, please...and go ahead and give me a standing ovation while you're in the mood.....I took my car off AutoPilot and drove it myself straight home instead! Seriously, people, this was like saying "no" to pumpkin pie being passed out at Thanksgiving after I've just had coconut cream pie!

Altairss: Lovely quilt tops! Your MIL and mother will be thrilled.

OhCanada and Happylab: Nice fabric purchases! Sometimes we just need to take advantage of sales or 'these are what I need for that quilt' sightings.

Zozee: w/h is wallhanging. :). Congratulations on your major self-control event! I'm glad you were able to turn off your car's autopilot! Lol!

Connie

Everytime we can have victory over temptation we stay on the wagon. But this isn't like alcohol to an alcoholic. If I've a project that my stash just doesn't support, then off the store I go. My stash is just so big that rarely do I truely need, mostly I just want.

I stumbled onto a sale the other day and fell off the wagon (again). But all I bought were backings for 4 quilts on my UFO list, so I'm counting that as a win. Especially if I get those particular items quilted this year.

Krista....your purchase is well within the guidelines since you bought to complete projects. Good job...definitely and double win!!

Oh oh I just sorted scrap bags from a couple of my guild friends...hard to say how much total yardage, but have a variety of pieces. Many times there are left over binding pieces...I have a project with a couple of 2 1/2" width strips. Thank goodness not too many HST's. LOL I have accumlated 2" scraps of one kit from 3 different quilters...anxious to create something out of these pieces too. These things are a jump start to my creativity!

I caved the first time this year was at goodwill and found a 4.5 yard piece of QSQ fabric for $6.99 could not pass it up do not have a lot of bigger pieces for backings When I came home I already found a use for it as a backing for a quilt top I have finished and waiting to be quilted. So at least it is not going into stash for a someday project. Have to finish a baby quilt first for my niece baby was not due until April 18th but came 12 weeks early. But have been waiting till she is closer to coming home top is done just needs quilted. Then my other neice went and got married at the courthouse last Thursday so was not anticipating that so cut out another quilt today all out of stash. Carry on everyone small steps using up what have and hoping by the end of the year my stash is smaller then it was at the beginning of the year :thumbup:

Hubby FINALLY finished the ductwork yesterday, and today he finished "redoing" the shelves (that are now significantly smaller), so tomorrow (hopefully, if I get home from work in time) I will move all my stash back onto those shelves.

While I waited for my shelves to return (somewhat) to normal, I was frogging the Lone Star, and planning the stitching I'll be doing on the Dresden Plate. But with the fixing-the-ducts chaos, I couldn't really QUILT (and I can only stand frogging for so long), so I started another quilt. Hopefully, it won't become a UFO.

I pulled out a pattern from my binders, and used it as inspiration.
The original pattern used yardage, no pre-cuts at all. And the main block is just a star - sometimes called "Morning Star", sometimes called "Evening Star". But since I'm using pre-cuts, and not going along with the original pattern... and it's a "traditional" block... I may be able to self-publish. I'll think about it. Anyway, I'm using two layer cakes (Civil War repro's) along with some cream tone-on-tone yardage. And using Eleanor Burns' no-waste method of making flying geese.

The blocks finish out at 12", so they stitch up pretty fast, but I'm pondering what I want to do between the squares - either some kind of alternate block or some kind of setting squares or sashing. This should use up the somewhat large chunks left over from the layer cakes. But the whole quilt needs to be something other than just the star blocks. Just the stars would be boring! :D

But I think it will look very authentic to the era of the repro fabrics. And this should finish up into at least a flimsy very quickly, so it shouldn't become a UFO. So, now I don't have to find space for this fabric on my (smaller) shelves.

Stash usage!!

My mother finally decided on a quilt pattern for her bed (Linda Ballard's Fractured Crystals), and fortunately, I have a few yards of a great floral print in my stash that will go perfectly as the main fabric in her quilt. Unfortunately, I don't have fabrics to co-ordinate, so I will have to head to Joann's for those tomorrow, before the sale/coupon ends.

After, I'm heading to Hobby Lobby for some more Patriotic prints for my son's Shadowbox quilt. I did came across a star print in my stash that will work as a background for that, so that's two large pieces of fabric from my stash instead of the store!

Wish me luck on my double-whammy of temptation tomorrow!

Good job on using and shopping your stash first.
Good luck on your temptation tomorrow JJBlaine.

I went to Joann mid week to avoid their sale this weekend. I thought it might be too tempting for me. Just purchased what I went in for.

Instead I started my DWR yesterday. I realized I didn't have enough fabric for the wedges (used charms for that) so pulled what I could from stash. I also ordered two packs online as the closest quilt shop is 20 miles away. But only what I needed and no other fabric so I've also been busy patting myself on the back.:)

Good luck JJ!

I whipped up a baby quilt, decided I need to have a few in reserve for shower gifts. Shopped my stash and found a charm pack that was super cute. But I had nothing suitable for a border, can you believe I have no greys in my stash!
Found this cute polka dot for $4.99 meter. Then I thought, oh no, I don’t have anything suitable for the binding. But decided to use the border print for the binding as well, gives it a modern look and is cute against the backing fabric.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]589242[/ATTACH]

that's really cute OhCanada, and congratulations on shopping your stash!

Rob

Well time to come up with a plan, my big sister wants to go to the sew expo the first part of March. I was thinking of taking a few blocks with me to get some backing that will match. A list of what I need to finish the quilts I am already working on. But what else I want to stay on track and not go crazy lol. What do you when faced with such temptation? I want to save up for a frame so I am really trying to be good :)

Great job everyone on shopping the stash!

OhCanada.....that is darling! Your improve binding looks perfect. I need to make a couple of baby quilts to have on hand too. Thank you for inspiring me!

i haven't shopped for anything, nor on-line. Mystery quilt was all scraps and I have backing for it to finish it up. Still working stash for SBS and I don't foresee buying anything more for that monster...If you recall, the 2 focal fabrics are on the bolt in stash so I will use one of them for backing and binding.

I'm good for awhile; however, My next "fresh" quilt will need WOW so I'll be shopping for that.

I had a bit of a revelation today.

For months now, I have been trudging along, cutting anything less that a yard down into strips and squares and crumbs. More than once I thought I was wasting my time, and ruining perfectly good pieces of fabric (which I wasn't using anyway), and thought about giving up. I've managed to empty four or five boxes of scraps and turn them into lovely little stacks of ready to use squares.

I'm redecorating my mother's bedroom, and today I was on a mission to find fabrics to make her a new quilt to match the new paint,as well as a few patriotic prints for a quilt my son requested. I planned on stopping at several fabric stores, and I was somewhat concerned that I would not be able to resist temptation, and I would come home with all sorts of pretty fabrics to add to my collection, especially with the holiday sales.

As I browsed, I thought about how, out of the last 6 quilts I have made, five were reversible. So out of 11 floppies, 6 were born out of those pre-cut scraps, 5 were UFO's, and 1 started with a panel I had in my stash. Out of all six, I only bought 2-1/2 yards of a solid fabric, and thread. Even the batting has been pieced!

Despite this, I've barely made a dent in my pre-cuts, UFOs, or my stash, and I still have a couple more boxes of fabric to go thru and cut. I haven't even touched the roll of W&N I bought last summer! Thanks to my new Nickel Quilts Book, Pinterest, and the amazing inspiration I find here on this message board, I already have a slew of ideas for many more quilts using what I already have.

It was kind of a magical moment for me. I felt myself relax. I was no longer mentally making calculations as to how much fabric I could realistically afford to buy while simultaneously imagining what quilt patterns it would be perfect in, and thinking about who I know that would love this potential quilt. I stopped making rationalizations about how this or that fabric *might* go well with something I have in my stash, and I quit looking around for other fabrics that coordinated.

For the first time, I just wandered around and enjoyed looking at the fabrics around me the same way I might go to a museum or watch the sun set, for no other reason than for the sheer pleasure of it.

Quilty-wise, I only bought what I needed. I did decide treat myself to two yards of fleece with penguins on it to finally make myself the robe I've been wanting for years. Much to my surprise, when my mother went to reimburse me for the fabric for her quilt, she told me she would pay for the fleece too! Woohoo!

Just curious. How many of the folks that joined last year were able to make it through November?

it's February 18th, and I did'nt buy any fabrics this year

JJ....lovely story of enlightenment. So very proud of you....and will look forward to the beautiful quilts you create from stash.

Eve...I wasn't a member of the board last year but I can speak to this year....I bought fabric (precuts) at the Road to Calif. and 1 of 5 fabrics needed for the Baltimore Album quilt I want to do, which was the only fabric I committed myself to buying. I will say, in the past prior to making this commitment, I bought fabric for "whatever" every week. Enough that my LQS had a luncheon in December for her top 10 customers (ones who spent the most) and I was one of them...yikes! So, this has curtailed my purchasing immensely. Good for you on your success, as well.

Shopped stash for charity quilts and easily found 6 quilts. Already cut strips for 2 quilts.

Petthefabric- good job!

Eve-third year here for me. I still sometimes fall off the wagon, but I’m much more mindful of what is already in my stash. Now I usually only buy if I need something to finish a piece, or if my stash is missing things like neutrals and lights that I use frequently. Even with the occasional “just because” purchase, my stash is noticeably smaller than it once was and it is more versatile because being in this group with it’s “shop your stash” focus has helped me think about what is useful to have in my stash.

Rob