Welcome, TouchofRustic!

Darcyshannon: Please update us about your visit to the new LQS.

I must admit I bought a second piece of yard goods. It was at St. Vinnie’s, raspberry pink, tricot. It was $16 for eleven yards. I see gift nighties next Christmas....lol. (Also a perfect excuse for using my new serger)

I think I must have slipped on the same banana peel, Grann. I fell in love with the bookcase quilt posted yesterday and decided that I need to make something similar. So I purchased a bookcase pattern on Etsy and while "surfing" I also found some fabulous book fabric. Call me weak, but I just HAD to buy it. Though I agree with you, in that fabric bought specifically for a project is not really cheating.

Are you going to use it very soon? Then it is an allowed purchase, IMO. Are you going to use as much as you can from stash? That's even better.

My problem is that sometimes I don't want to use up something from my stash. That's stupid, I know, in that's why I have a stash, but it's occasionally my reaction, nevertheless. Right now I'm trying to persuade myself to use some Cranston fabric as backing in the string quilt I made. It's a discontinued fabric that I love, and so I'm inclined to "save" it for something "better", such as piecing. I've wrestled with this for nearly a week and still haven't made up my mind. I'd cheerfully go buy something else to use as backing but haven't, so far, found anything I like better than the fabric I have.

What a stupid conundrum! I seem to always be having them. :)

Well.... I’ve got it in my head that I want to join the r,w,b, patriotic swap that’s having sign ups right now and guess who doesn’t own an inch of patriotic fabric? I’m thinking if I buy responsibly and use the wow I have in my stash I can pull it off without tumbling completely off the wagon. I’ll shop my stash first then supplement .

I understand...one has a nice chunk of fabric and a 2 1/2" cut would work in a quilt your are working on, but you hate to cut that 2 1/2" piece because then maybe, just maybe you won't have enough to do a larger project...which the design for it is out there in dreamland! Don't feel alone. I'm trying to get over this bad "thought" habit. Good luck to you with yours.

Having a dedicated and restricted fabric storage unit is a good idea, I think. I bought a Billy bookcase, complete with doors, from IKEA about two years ago and my goal is to reduce all fabric to what will fit in it, including space for some tools and books, patterns, etc. (currently on the bottom shelf). I've folded my stash on comic book boards and it is arranged like books on a shelf. I have a couple of bolts of fabric which are stored lengthwise on another shelf. I'm a sucker for fat quarters and I have far too many, some of which I bought simply because I loved the pattern; those are in containers on yet another shelf. And I have some "kits" in soft plastic zip bags on another shelf. My scraps are in plastic containers on the top shelf. Batting is in rolls and/or containers on the top of the bookcase.

So, I'm mostly there already except for some fabric given to me by the family of a former quilter, and a bag of worn jeans, which I love but may never use, both of which won't fit in the Billy bookcase. I may re-donate the fabric given to me, and the jeans, as well.

Thanks! And yes, that's it, exactly.

Me too! But what I wanted to comment on was the Cranston fabric comment. I have two pieces of the stripes made up of coordinating fabrics and I am planning on using it on the back of the Not Quite Y2K/Flying Square project. Should have plenty and it will be a good use for it, can't think of a better one coming up in the next ten years or so.

I used to have a hard time using up that last piece of something. Now I hold a little 30-second ceremony, remember the original project and/or the person it was made for or something and acknowledge it and use it and move on. Now it feels good to have it used and gone, more than feeling like I should save it. This current project has brought up lots of memories -- piece of my first ever quilt is in there, baby clothes, maternity clothes, all sorts of happy memories. You always have the memories :)