Butterflyblue

One of my big reasons for quitting all of my own quotes on my home machine is that my grandmother died with a stack of quotes she could never afford to get sent to a long armer and didn’t have time/desire to quilt herself (by hand). It was a point of contention with some of my relatives, who got weigh to, because some were labelled with intended recipient and some weren’t. My great great grandmother also passed down a stack of tops.

Because I’ve done it this way since I started, I don’t feel like I can move on to the next big project until my top is quilted. Now, I have UFOs that are partially quilted, but no unquilted tops. A top in and of itself doesn’t feel finished to me, and usually after I finish a top I get it layered and start quilting within a few days because I’m so impatient to see the real final product, bound and quilted, because those two things can change the look so much.

WMUTeach

QuiltMom2, I have done that a couple of times over the years, too and have had the same reaction.....haven't missed those little itty bitty scraps in any way. For me it was a mental big relief to not have them lurking in bins and boxes and cluttering up my thinking. So many folks adore working with them, three cheers to them, but to me they take more time that what they are worth to me. My diminishing stash is still large enough to keep me sewing for a LONG time. I don't need crumbs. Tried them and had to make myself finish the quilt and wasn't thrilled with the final product. In the end,... you are not alone,QuiltMom2!

Buckeye quilter

I live in northwest Ohio and I'm familiar with Shipshewana. It is charming! I try to go once a year, if I can. The flea market is a big draw for my sisters and I drag them to the fabric stores. Of course, you got to eat the Amish food!

WMUTeach

Buckeye, Don't you have an Amish/Mennonite area too in Ohio? I seem to recall it is farther south than Shipshewana. There are so many little quilt shops just outside of town that you could spend a day or two just visiting them alone. I have a few favorite shops where I purchase meat, cheese and bees wax candles along with holiday decor. I even went to visit during the holidays and each of the larger stores had ice carvings displayed outside their front doors. Lovely. It is always a trip back in time to drive past the Amish family farms and see the men plowing or harvesting with horses or kids sledding behind a horse and the chickens pecking about the yards while the goats frolic.

Butterflyblue

I love sewing with scraps but even so my pile of crumbs stresses me out sometimes. I hate the idea of waste but sometimes I realize that the scraps from my early quilting are just not fabrics that are good for quilts- too thin, not cotton, etc and I’m working on throwing those out without guilt. Once in awhile I need mindless sewing and that’s when I love crumbs, but I do agree that I don’t love the look of most crumb projects I’ve seen, so I’ve never done any big projects with it.

It’s strange though, I find myself planning all these scrap projects that will take forever. And I have a lot of yardage I need to use and could do quick easy projects with. I’m just afraid to cut into it and ruin it or use only a little and run short on some mythical future project.. If I mess up scraps, no big deal.

Does anyone else find their biggest hurdles to seeing down the stash /not acquiring more are weird mental blocks? I am getting better at telling myself I don’t need that beautiful fabric right NOW because there will always be new beautiful fabrics available, though.

Gemm

Butterflyblue, "weird mental blocks" are so much a part of quilting, at least in my experience. I struggle, like you, with cutting into bigger pieces of fabric and with the idea that "I could need a bunch of this fabric in the future so I should probably hang on to it."

I have definitely found a happy space of working with scraps but am slowly tweaking my definition of what is worth keeping. My toes curl at the thought of just dumping a tote of fabric into trash but I can sort of understand how cathartic it might be for someone who is feeling their fabric is an anchor dragging them down.

It's part of what makes this thread so helpful for me - so many stories, approaches, experiences are shared and while I might not be inspired or excited or encouraged by every one, each one reflects a part of a journey and I/we can all use that to see and map out my/our own stash-acquiring and -busting journey(s) a bit more clearly.

Lena1952

Butterflyblue, you are not alone. I have kept fabric yardage I loved for several years afraid of not having enough or choosing the wrong quilt design. I have a huge stash and have recently started looking at my stash differently. I am almost 74 and reason I have maybe 10 good years left of sewing. I’m being realistic. I want to use down the amount of fabrics in my stash and have fun with it. If I make a Dud quilt, oh well, someone will love it or at least it will keep someone warm. My children will know what to do with quilts. They will only be burdened with the fabric stash I didn’t use.

If your stash overwhelms you, find a local quilt group, senior center, etc and pass the fabric forward. Using the good fabric is like using the good china. What’s the point in having pretty things if we never use them. Use the pretty china dishes for every meal. Use the pretty fabric as a backing to a scrappy quilt or give yourself permission to make something you want to make. It has taken me years to get to this point and I find I’m much happier finding a use for those fabrics I was keeping for something special.

Iceblossom

I am not going to make anything deliberately horrible, but I do keep repeating things to myself like "any use is the best use" and "finished is better than perfect". Sure it took a horrible eye diagnosis to make me appreciate that while fabric might last close to forever, I'm not going to! And that I wanted my fabric to be used and get out in the world whether it was by my hand or others.

It's been an evolving change in my relationship to fabric. I do have a lot of attachments to objects issues, is one of the things I work on with my therapist. There are reasons I cling to things, there are reasons that for many pieces of fabric I have specific recollections of when I acquired that, or it was a scrap from a previous project and was "precious". I used to feel I had to find the exact right perfect use of each tiny little piece of fabric whether or not it was special to me or something I got in a free bag.

But agree with Lena -- yes to a life of living today with what we have -- whether it is is the "good" fabric, or the good clothes or perfume or whatever you save up for a special day. We are special and deserve treats, and when we have too much we can share

Buckeye quilter

Yes, in central Ohio, north of Columbus there is Holmes County, which has several Amish towns. They have, I believe, 9 fabric shops in that area. It's a great place to visit. This is where Cori Yoder is from.

Butterflyblue

I definitely love being able to see what other people are doing and thinking so far as managing their own scraps and fabric abundance! Sometimes it’s hard to think outside of my own little box until I see what others are doing and it makes me realize the possibilities!