2021 Fabric Moratorium
 

Welcome to the 2021 Fabric Moratorium.
We have general guidelines, but please just do whatever makes sense for you. Although we call it the "Fabric Moratorium" the main idea is to not add to our stash and hopefully reduce it!
Here are some general guidelines:
* No fabric purchases "just for your stash" from Jan 1 until U.S. Black Friday (11/26/21).
* When you start a new project, shop your stash first. If you don't have anything that will work, then feel free to make a purchase. Hopefully at least some of the fabric for every new project will come from your existing stash.
As the year progresses, post your updates here. We can support and encourage each other, post tips on how you use your stash, and any planned new projects where you shopped your stash!
Let us know about falling off the wagon, everyone enjoys a great excuse to purchase fabric. Some members have come up with creative exemptions: ie trips, birthdays, quilt shows, receiving the Covid vaccine...I'm sure our imaginative followers will think of others.
Pictures are always wonderful!
As stated these are just guidelines, there are No Moratorium Police! Please do whatever makes sense for you and your stash. Just start using all that gorgeous fabric in your stash, after all, that's what you bought it for!

Count me in! I'm sure I don't have as extensive a stash as many, but what I do have couldn't be sewn up in a lifetime. I'm happy to shop the stash again this year and to share my progress with you all.

Thanks, Conchalea, for starting this thread again.

I finished a top today and will put it in my church quilter’s pile. It is 70” by 80” and uses a variety of sizes of blocks. I’m still working on using up the squares cut by my church group that have been in my stash for 6-8 years probably.

Here are my plans to reduce my stash for now:
1. 2 ongoing log cabin scrappy blocks
2. 10 partially or fully kitted projects
3. Wanda quilt top by GE Designs-pattern is in a book
4. Debby Brown’s quilt along-Make 16 patches from 2.5” squares and she will give a new free pattern every month for the year plus an idea of how to quilt it on your home machine, I am working on the January top and hope to do a few more during the year,
5, Pat Sloan’s Home is...
6. Last, but not least, finishing the 7 UFO projects.

I know I will be working more with the church blocks too and I would love to make a Jelly Roll Race quilt top.

Thank you for starting this again. After ?yrs participating, the stash still offers variety for whole quilts and backs. Got a long ways to go to get to "finish in my lifetime" and my daughter doesn't want it.

I'm in again. It doesn't look like my stash has reduced, but I know it has. I'm working on the Merry Mayhem Mystery - totally from stash.

Here I go again. I think this will be my 4th year of the moratorium ( maybe 5- how long have we been doing it?) anyway. I have found that my stash is reaching a point where much of the large pieces are gone. I have to be more creative to make it work-
I have enjoyed sharing my stash with others- mainly my son this past year- my sister the year before. And a local lady who belongs to a church group who make donation quilts.
I still have numerous kits - a couple over 10 years old- this year I plan to concentrate on getting those done. I of course still have plenty of scraps to use up too- maybe another temperature quilt. I haven’t done a string quilt in a few years - time for another one.
I believe the only purchases I may have to make this year will be backing fabrics.
time will tell.

The 2 tops I'm making now are mostly from stash. The jelly roll top, Ripple, consists of a rainbow JR I bought in March & a beige one bought about the same time. I have 28 of 35 blocks made, so it's going fast. My RWB has 16 patch centers of each star block. Those 16 patches were made from 2.5" squares used as leaders/enders. All from stash, as were most of the star point units. I did have to buy RWB fabrics to finish the points & make the final part of what I envision for the top. This will be a large top & I'm almost through with the main part of all 25 blocks. I hope either my stash or K's will have backings for my in-progress tops. Two other tops will come from my stash.

Yes!!! I’m tackling pre-cuts again and about 8 quilt projects that are kitted up. One FQ bundle is on my table ready for its project, which I will start when the mysteries are done. I hope to do more scrappy’s this year, as well.....and I have a bunch of small craft kits that I need to make. I plan on making one small project in between quilts so we’ll see how I do. And, my own personal moratorium on pattern purchasing...so ridiculously out of hand..

Thank you, Conchalea, for getting us going for the new year?.both here and UFO thread!

Excited to see this! I am also going to do this but I do have a shopping trip planned to Quilted Twins with my MIL and then I'll be done. I'm going to work on UFO's, focus on learning EQ8 and more about my longarm. I don't have backing fabric so that I'll have to purchase as I go.

Thank you, Conchalea, for starting us up again!

I am continuing with my prep project, kitting up my FQ bundle quilts. Will I run out of space to store the kits before I get to the end of the list? We'll see, LOL.

I am back again for 2021. This year will be more of a challenge because I used up so much of my stash in 2020, but...there is still a sufficient amount to use.

Oh my goodness, I just looked at the Debby Brown Sew-a-Long and signed up! Thanks for mentioning the site. Off I go to the Birthday Swap thread here on the QB. These folks need to know about Debby Browns year long sew-a-long with 2.5" squares. Whoopie, I am in charm square heaven. One quilt a month....perfect. Good by scraps!

Me too, I’m in again...although in 2020 it was not difficult to adhere to the moratorium. Like most, I didn’t travel nor attend quilt shows. Thank you Conchelea for keeping this thread going.

I am always intrigued by those of you (Teen, Connie and joe’smom) who make up kitted projects. I wish I could be motivated to try a few...not sure how I would go about it. Suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Ckcowl that is nice of you to share your stash...I went through all of my stash, even crumb bins right after Christmas and have a pile of “tired of looking at” and “what was I thinking” fabrics to share with a couple of friends. I have a modest stash and like to keep it that way.

I just ordered two new scrappy patterns from Quilting Daily’s 40% sale that are perfect to use up scraps.

I'm in for 2021!

It's day 2 and so far I'm good. There are lots of stash fabrics, panels and kits in the closet to keep me busy. Let's see what we can do this year!

Thanks for getting us going again, Conchalea! I’m in. This thread has been great for me. Over the years it has helped me become more mindful of what I buy for my stash. I will always have a stash, but now it is much more useful than it was way back when I was just buying whatever caught my eye.

Connie- great top.

Rob

WMUTeach: I’m glad you signed up for the Debby Brown Quilt along. I may do 4.5” square (4 patches) for some months especially if I get behind with 2.5” squares. I’m making my quilt one row longer and am doing pink blocks and yellow blocks on a fabric that reads blue sometimes and at other times purple. 🤷‍♀️ I look forward to your monthly quilts.

jmoore: When you get your new patterns, start by collecting some scraps and put them in a container/bag. Then add to it as you find other scraps that you want to use. Sometimes, I just put fabric together with the pattern in a container and cut when I’m ready. With my Signature blocks, I’m using my die cutter on random scraps that I want to incorporate into a quilt or 2. When I feel I have enough variety, I will start assembling and cut more as needed. Hope this helps.

I've completed all 35 10.5" blocks for my Ripple quilt. All fabric is from stash, 35 jelly roll strips in bright colors & 17 neutral strips. I'll also use stash for borders. Still undecided about those. So far, the fabric used equals 3.6 yards!

Retiredteach, I just watched the Debby Brown video on how to spiral quilt. Goodness how easy is that and so impressive. I am dreaming of all the UFOs hanging in my closet that I made last year from my stash that need quilting. Whoo Hoo, I can see the finish line on some of them using spiral quilting. Now I will have to see if I counted those quilts for last year or can I count them as stash busters this year 2021. https://cdn.quiltingboard.com/images/smilies/wink.png

Yes, , your post is very helpful and I will definitely use your suggestion. Thank you for sharing your idea.

Where is the Debby Brown site with the sew along? I keep seeing youtube videos and an old blog when I search on her name, but haven’t found anything that is new.

Rob

I did good with last years mortarium so I am going to do this again. I have nine quilt tops that I finished from my stash and only had to buy one or two pieces to complete a couple of them. I cut into my stash very well. That is the plan again for this year. I am going to try and not look online at any fabrics.

Rob: https://debbybrownquilts.teachable.c...-color-blocks/

Conchalea: I really like that pattern and hope to do it in the future.

WMUTeach: I may try that spiral pattern. Since I give the majority of my tops to my church group to finish, I haven’t tried other designs than crosshatching.

K & I went through her stash, much of it dug out of closets with her daughter's help. We found backs for 2 of her daughter's UFOs, & 1 has a flannel back already. It's a jeans quilt, so we dont plan to add batting. Our domestics may have all they can do as it is. We got 1 sandwiched & partially quilted today. As fast as K quikts & bonds, it may well be done before the weekend.
I completed the 25th star block, mostly from stash, & plan to add RWB stripes to 1 side of each block. They will end up at 16" X 20".

After seeing Watson’s post in another thread, I signed up for Debby Brown’s quilt along and have 8 color blocks ready to piece.

Today I have to go to my LQS to get backing for my Merry Mayhem mystery quilt. It calls for 3 1/3 yard but since I have a small stash, I don’t have anything more than a yard or yard and a half.I am going to use a fairly large piece leftover from Fabric A in the backing so I think I only need to purchase 3 yards. 🤞thankfully Hubby gave me a gift certificate for Christmas...

Just signed up for Debbie Brown's Quilt along. Found the video on the spiral quilt. I've seen this quilt on Pinterest, couldn't do it, (refused to use graph paper) but now I know, grab graph paper, color and away I go.

We are only 5 days into the New Year but so far I have not bought anything on-line. What's worse? Sugar withdrawal or credit card? I think both can be difficult. https://cdn.quiltingboard.com/images/smilies/hug.gif

I too signed up for DB's sew along...will see how I fare with it as I'm good at starts and not so good at finishes, but I have so many 2 1/2" strips and squares already cut ready to get sewing...also have 2" ones.

I will be making my first purchase today..I have a tshirt quilt to make for my GSon and over the weekend my DD and I sorted and chose the shirts and layout. So yes I am buying setting fabric, but know how much and what fabric from the LQS already. I have been "commissioned" to make quilts for the kids' girl and boy friend so that will entail some extra buying, too.

Thanks for posting the link, Connie. I have signed up for it- Yay!

Rob

I’m glad to see others have signed up for Debby Brown’s quilt along. In one of the Facebook posts by a quilter, Debby said the number of blocks range from 9-36 in the quilts. I got sidelined with running errands and getting things done at home so I haven’t made much progress the past few days.

I am trying again this year. I signed up for two Saturday Sampler quilts this year. Technically I have purchased fabric, but it was between Black Friday and New Year's last year, so it doesn't count against me yet. https://cdn.quiltingboard.com/images...s/rolleyes.png.
Good luck everyone with their goals for the year!

I've completed 8 full blocks of my RWB top, with 17 to go. The 16 patches in the center of each came from stash, as did most of the star points. Some star points & the stripes came from new fabric. I had to buy some of each color in order to finish the top.

I almost joined this discussion on January 3rd. Then on the 5th a friend sent me a link to some really cute fabric. I couldn't didn't resist ordering a panel and a couple of yards of matching fabric for the border. And today a wide back that I ordered in 2020 will be delivered. In my defense, I do shop a lot from my enormous stash, but new ideas usually result in new fabric too, and lately I've been buying more wide backs, when I probably should be piecing my existing fabric for the backs. Maybe if I report my transgressions on this list it will keep my purchases in check. (Does that really work for anyone?)

Dunster, I think being on this thread makes many of us more mindful of fabric purchases. We think, 'do I really need this to complete a project? Either one you're planning or one you're working on at the time. So there's a little less impulse buying for a lot of us.

Yes, it works. Accountability helps. When I go to stash to pick out fabric, I think I don't have anything that'll work and need to shop. Then I remember this thread and look some more. Almost always I find something that will work, I just need to adjust my expectations.

So glad this is a new year. I did fall off the wagon a few times last year.

AUQ...we are human after all...don't let it bog you down!

I fell off the wagon and have been running like mad to try and get back on. Don't the horses pulling this darn wagon need to take a break!

I had 3 separate gift certificates dating back to 2018 for one of my LQS that DH has purchased for me either as Christmas or birthdays totaling nearly $300. The shop has not reopened their doors since March of last year and while they do offer curbside pickup, it has been difficult for me to shop from their website. I took the plunge yesterday and ordered several large pieces (4-6 yards) of a variety of colors of blender fabrics, including whites that I can use down the road for backgrounds, backing or sashing. It didn’t take long to exhaust my gift certificates but now I will have some useful yardage in my small stash.

We're slowing down for you! Here's a hand-jump back on!
I'm tipping toward a fall myself. Pat Sloan showed the National Park map today & I'm very tempted. I'd need 2, 1 for me & 1 for my younger daughter. We both have a Park passport to get stamped when we visit them.

Congratulations on your new fabric additions! It sounds like you got some really useful fabrics. Now to use your stash to make quilts for the additions...

jmoore, even in the best of times many LQS close their doors, whether due to economic downturn or illness or retirement. I think it's always best to use their gift certificates promptly. Also kudos to you for getting those fabrics that will play well with others.

Conchalea, thank you for the "hand up." I have a feeling it may be a bumpy ride on this wagon, but looks like a lot of great people already here! https://cdn.quiltingboard.com/images...es/biggrin.png I promise not to buy any more fabric unless I need it to finish a project! (No one knows if I have anything crossed right?)