I like this way of thinking about it. It is basically what my goals are, too. I want to make quilts for family/friends/myself out of what I’ve got, buying only enough to finish things that use what I have. I’m going to make what I want to - patterns and techniques I want to try out. If my loved ones don’t want those quilts, I can donate them. I have more potential sewing years left than you, but none of that is guaranteed, and I’ve realized that I’m not comfortable with buying more and more of the latest shiny pretty things while quilts-worth of fabric languishes in my stash. It’s wasteful and I don’t have the luxury of unlimited storage space. And I have a lot of pretty fabrics that aren’t being enjoyed by me or anyone else as they sit in their tubs.

“Done is better than perfect” and “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good” are often-repeated phrases for me.


I have realized in life in general and in fabric particularly I have a hard time with enjoying my nice things now, and so I save them. But then they are often never enjoyed, and things degrade over time. So I’m working on trusting in future abundance - if I use up the nice thing, it’s okay, I can get more of i need out want more. But it’s a long- term habit and definitely a process to learn to change it.

You're not alone, Butterflyblue, in struggling to use the nice stuff! That's an issue for me in more than one area of life, too. It's good to recognize the tendency to cling to what is precious or special - knowing is half the battle!

I've not been doing much in my sewing space lately - there have been other distractions that have been keeping me from getting too involved in anything. I did put together a couple more tops for placemats and have the backings ready to go, too - I just need to make some more frankenbatting for them. It's such small potatoes, but it felt good to be able to say I had accomplished something, at least!

I do have a bigger project in progress but I need to feel more on top of things before I go to the next step because I will be working with very limited fabrics for some parts of it and I know I will be so cross if I mess something up! I'm looking forward to getting back into the groove because I think this one will be a lot of fun to put together and if it meets my mental picture, should be fun to look at, too. :-)

Any good stash stories out there?

Well no good stash stories... I didn't have a suitable back for the Dragon Hoard project, and then there was a coupon and a sale and a price point to meet and I bought some additional fabric... I did save a ton, everything was on sale (most 50% off), and shipping was free. But this is additional fabric. I really don't take these buys lightly.

This Friday/Saturday my (new) quilt guild is having a mini-retreat -- I plan to put the Dragon Hoard top together. Tomorrow at my regular Tuesday sewing group, I'd like to work on the corner units a bit, because I added on a top/bottom border it is a little weird shaped going to the sides with no border. Overall I'm happy with it, the mental image meets the reality quite nicely! Used a ton of fabrics, some down to the last bits. Learned more about this "fast" crazy quilt process and ways to work it down into smaller pieces. Learned some about working with panels. And pushed myself to put red and orange along with other fabrics together.

With the Dragon Hoard done, I will have a week or so to clean up and put the remainders away and switch to Bonnie Hunter time :) The fabrics I added to meet my coupon price point are in the range of colors I'm most likely to be using for this year's Mystery. But I admit, they are more than I need/am going to use, that's a problem when you are looking at price points and not total yardage that was half off (meaning, I needed to buy twice as much). The designated totes for those colors though (purple and pink) are not full and have capacity to store.

The fabrics I ordered are largely pretty strong and will be able to work with Black or White backgrounds. Even if I don't do the Mystery with a black background, I see a phase in my future with a lot of black/bright projects. Which is good, because the stash supports it.

Gemm - even small potatoes beats no potatoes, I guess! Sometimes those little projects can really give you a burst of satisfaction and help prove the pump for bigger projects.

Iceblossom - buying more to save is such a conundrum for me. I bought more backing material for my baby quilt than I needed because it was less than half what I would have spent for the exact amount I wanted in a different fabric (clearance fabric at that store had a minimum purchase amount and also extra discount of you bought all that was left, which I did). But now I have extra fabric, and that combined with the overage of background fabric I bought because of a math error means this little project is not actually reducing my stash much, if any. But I too am consoling myself with the thought that they are flexible colors and will be easy to use in other projects.

I feel like I have not been doing too well at not accumulating new fabric, though today I did specifically NOT go to Hobby Lobby, since the only reason I wanted to go was to look at potential fabric for quilts I have not started yet. I cannot tell you how many yards of my stash are due to buying for a future project too far ahead and then changing my mind when it actually came time to start it. I wanted to get started on quilting my baby quilt but didn’t, though I cut out a couple of blocks for a cute wall hanging that is my secondary project, and I did some planning of blocks to use on a couple of stockings I need to make before Christmas.

Well the other day I went to Lowe’s to get an idea on how to set up my new quilt frame as mine did not get on the trailer when I moved. Grrrrrrr. The person who ‘helped’ me move decided that those boards were just junk. He also left my saw horses that I used to set my frame on for quilting it up. Well, I wanted to get 2-2by4 by 12 foot long. Then asked if he would be able to cut the boards to my length. He agreed to do it for free on the first cut. The other cuts would be $2.50 each. Man talk about price gouging. Daddy got his for 25 cents each but that was a few years back. Saw horses were $35 bucks each. Not buying them. I will build them myself. Can get the wood and put them together in about two hours—each. My Daddy was a general contractor so we all learned how to make the stuff we wanted. Still do most of my own stuff.
Now all I need is the c-clamps to hold the frame together. Will get them payday. Will also buy some new quilt batting. The stuff that sneaked into the washer was given a very fast funeral—dumped into the trash. I have found a piece of batting that will replace it. It’s a white batting and I think it’s a polyester. I was able to sew 2 pieces of it together so the pieces would fit perfectly in the pillow form. I will use that pillow as my sample for the trip to the Children’s Hospital. (MaryKa) over and out.

Don't be discouraged about your progress. Stay with it and keep reminding yourself that a deep moratorium takes time. It will not happen overnight. Its a change of mind and a change of focus. Keep at it and create from your stash.....first.

Oh no! Moving is always with chaos. Somehow I lost two big bags of fabric in a move, which was basically all of my stash at the time.

Well, I started batting the baby quilt . I pin basted, closer than the last quilt I made because that one had a bit of puckering on the back, and i ran out of pins. I went to the quilt store to get more pins. They were having a 40% off sale on everything but the new fabric, with a two yard minimum. My “rule” is that I can only buy fabric for quilts in actually working on. I bought 2.25 yards of dark blue for the Farmers Wife quilt I have made one block for. Technically that counts. I looked for a backing but didn’t find yardage for it. I found a fabric I really love and want to use for the backing, but it was in a layer cake and they didn’t have it on a bolt. I’ll order it online, I guess. I also bought two yards of white for background. I don’t have something started that needs that. But it will be useful for two things I have planned, and if I change my mind on those things, white is very versatile.

I went backwards in using stash. I went to a garage sale because there was a Featherweight advertised. Well, she had an amazing amount of fabric bundles. So inexpensive so I spent $35 and came away with a large bag of fabric. My bad. Will I ever learn ? But I make many donation quilts and I’m set for a while and I intend to work on it.