WMUTeach

Thanks, ibex94, for the promotional announcement. Those who are interested go to the 2023 Birthday Candy Swap Although today was the deadline, new swappers will be accepted until January 30. It is a good way to reduce and supplement your stash with something new but without any trips to a quilt shop.

I have been following the Fabric Moratorium since at least 2019 and it has made a BIG difference by making me more focused on my attempts to reduce my stash. I only purchase for what is NEEDED, such as backing or a small cut to compliment the other colors I am using in a quilt. I'll admit it was a bit painful at first but now it seems second nature. I did allow myself to purchase all the fabric for a quilt top this fall and it was refreshing but it has been at least 4 years since I did that.

I have one on my wall at the moment that is all from stash. Hope to have the top finished by tomorrow night! I am looking forward to lots of photos of empty bins, boxes, totes and bags.

Buckeye quilter

I've been lurking on this board for so long, it's time I join. Hello, my name is Sarah and I'm a fabric hoarder. No, not really. I've just inherited a lot of fabric from my mother, bought several fabric totes at auctions, received a couple of bags of fabric from someone cleaning out a loved one's stash, and hit 6 fabric stores on a vacation out west last year. It's time for me to stay home and sew instead of indulging in retail therapy. I'm off to a good start because I missed our LQS's annual "big backroom sale" (the one I bought 4 new projects at last year!) so let's see how long I can remain strong.

retiredteacher09

Thanks Gemm for starting this thread.

I will follow along again this year. I may not post much but I do read everyone’s posts and look at the pictures.

I mostly make 60” by 80” quilt tops for my church group. I do buy some fabric for borders. I have lots of tubs of fabric that I have brought home over the years from donations to the quilters with most of the fabric under fat quarter size,

In 2022, I made 29 quilt tops, some baby gifts, and donated some fabric to fundraisers. It was around 144 yards out of my stash. I forget to write down my purchases but I know I’m way ahead of them. ❤️

Enjoy the new year!

Judith1005

I think all of you are such an inspiration. I gave up on managing my excess of fabric. I was part of the moratorium a few years ago. I was so overwhelmed with all I had that i was just paralyzed by it. I dropped off the Quiltboard and did very very little quilting. This year, 2023 I will start with a much pared down stash. I donated probably 20 bags of fabric, kits and craft supplies right before Christmas to our local hospice run thrift store. They were thrilled to receive it and i feel as I have lost a tremendous weight off my shoulders and can breath again. Without having a panic attack. I know I'll probably miss some of it. But, so far, not a bit. Now, what I did keep is just enough to play with for a long time.

My scraps are coveted for now. I did donate a few scrap bins that I knew I would never touch. But, the one's I kept I will enjoy using for any and all the small projects I can think of. I have finally figured out what I enjoy quilting and sewing now. I have plenty of bed size quilts. Probably way more than I need. I really enjoy quilting mini. So, that's the avenue i will continue down. I'm sure a bed size one will crop up from time to time and, I have enough for that also. My stash is manageable finally.

I will be following you. And cheering you on. You all quilt for so many wonderful charities, family and friends. They are so blessed to have you.

And, I hope I will continue to follow your inspiration in NOT adding to all the excess again. I just have to keep reminding myself that the stores will have what I need when I need it and let them be the curators of the collections.

petthefabric

I’m in. Since we moved across the nation, it required letting go of a big portion of my stash. In my grief therapy, I’ve bought more. I don’t have $$$ to do this.

A little help has been shopping online…fabric goes into the cart. But, I don’t continue to checkout. And the computer doesn’t care how many times I check on my cart.

Another is the $ of new fabric. I’ve set a price limit which requires shopping sales. There isn’t as much there that I drool 🤤 over.

Another is defining what kind of quilts I want to make. There’s little masculine fabric out there.

please note, there’s nothing in this list yet about shopping my stash.

woodland creature

I started the fabric moratorium last year, but didn't get very far. I was asked to make a baby quilt in the spring, and while purchasing fabric for that, several extra yards just happened to fall into my cart. In June came my retirement, complete with $200 worth of gift certificates to local fabric shops. Of course, I couldn't just use the gifts for batting, although I don't really have any on hand, so I spent it all (and then some) on fabric for my stash. Then a few other pieces of fabric found their way into my home. Granted, with the extra time that came with retirement, I made quite a few more quilts this year than I usually do, but not enough to use up as much fabric as I purchased. Now it's once again time to organize my stash and start using it. As I won't be able to get to my sewing machine for another week or so, I have been working on an EPP project. So far this year, I have used up about 2 inches of fabric from my stash. It's a start!

WMUTeach

Oh, Woodlandcreature, you made me smile. You and your retirement gifts.I have a gift card left from my retirement for a local theatre that is four years old. Retired than COVID and now it really is time to use it! It is money in hand and it must be spent. Tee-Hee-Hee. I have a little box of gift cards and certificates and I put new cards in there to cool down. Then when I NEED something, a book, a backing, a new sweater or what ever, I then go to my little box of gifts and often find a card that will do. I helps me stretch my gifts out a little. I did get a card to a local quilt shop this year for Christmas and it was burning a hole in my hand. I put it in the cool down box and my hand is feeling better.

rryder

I'm in. My quilting yardage stash which also includes scraps that are at least fat quarter sized is about the same size as it was last year, which is good. That part of the stash gets shopped quite often because it holds mainly fabrics that can be used in a variety of quilts. I replenish things that I'm running low on such as blenders, but it all has to fit in the two plastic 3 drawer units that I got from Target several years ago. Where I've got a problem is - inherited home dec fabric from my grandmother's house- she had really good taste and I've used some of it in art quilts etc but there are 5 large rolls of it that I need to either use or part with as there is no way to store them easily. Also I haven't been as good at using up my smaller scraps and my drawer units where I keep pieces that are smaller than a fat quarter have gotten rather full over the past year. So my goal for this year is to continue only adding fabric as needed to replenish frequently used fabrics such as blenders, to try to reduce my small scrap inventory, and to either plan projects for Grandma's home dec fabrics, or pass them on to someone else who will use them. That should keep me busy and away from impulse fabric purchases for most of 2023.

PS WMU Teach- I'm glad your hand is feeling better! LOL

Rob

Sync

I spent some time yesterday folding some of my neutral yardage and have come to the conclusion that along with my neutral FQs I should be okay with NOT needing to buy any more neutral fabrics! Oh and for the times that I want to use black as a neutral, well, just a quick glance at my to be folded pile ........ it looks like there is more than enough there too. I will reduce my stash, I will reduce my stash ......

Belfrybat

I've enjoyed reading the confessions...err testimonials. I'm in about the same boat as everyone else but mine appears to be sinking right now. I was wandering around a couple of days ago with a pile of neatly folded fabrics trying to figure out when to put them. They ended up in a kitchen cabinet that held plastic tubs (another obsession of mine - I can't seem to throw them away). So it was either the tubs or the fabric. Guess which won out? But the kitchen isn't a good place for fabric, so that is on my "use first" list. I've started reducing the stash by finishing a mystery quilt from stash and have two more in the works. Progress baby steps at a time.