Lena1952

When I retired from the quilt shop at the end of 2024, the previous owner of the shop hosted a “Retirement party” for me, along with another former staff member. We went to a quilt shop while there and we all purchased 13 FQs. Returned to her house and sewed most of them into a pineapple WH as a memory quilt of our week. The remaining FQs are for a project I plan to start this year. So fabric in and some quickly out. The fastest turn around I have ever accomplished! Also while there, I finished two tops, one QOV that has languished for ten years (I have no excuse) and a flannel throw size for I’m keeping for myself. About 6 1/2 yards of fabric out. We had a great time and are considering making this an annual event. My kind of retirement party!

LGJARN52

Last night I dug out a 30 gallon tote with partials of jelly rolls or strips cut at 2 1/2 inches that were not used before. I'm going to start sewing them together today make 12 by 12 blocks or 16 x 16 blocks or perhaps even making them large enough for Kennel Quilts for the future. This usually sits under my sewing table and I could use the extra leg room, plus it needs to be whittled down. We'll see how far I get working on it this week.

Belfrybat

Good going everyone. I'm close to needing some wide backing but realised I have several lengths of large print fabrics I was going to use as the center panel for nursing home quilts, but I could sew some of them together with blender fabrics for scrappy backings instead of buying a bolt of wide muslin. So I will pull some out today and experiment.

WMUTeach

Good ideas Belfreybat and LindaS. Prime examples of using what is on hand in your stash. Encouragement for us all.

Gemm

Fantastic posts and progress and purges, all! Way to go!

I've started working on a string block quilt because I discovered as I was trying to tidy up some fabric, I had several boxes that would only close under great pressure (and risk to the latches). Time for a stash purge!

As I've mentioned many times in the past, my stash is less yardage and more what other people have trimmed away or rejected once a project is done so it can sometimes be challenging to find pieces big enough to fit my ideas. While I have done string blocks before, I've generally worked with equal width strips and a scrappy colourway, but this time I'm trying to make colour blocks (pic: the plan). I started out making the split blocks one at a time but I soon realized that was going to make the final layout very challenging so I've gone to just making the coloured strip sets (pic: the process) and delaying the actual block creation until I find out what I can actually make from my stash.

A fun extra is being able to use a wire drawer unit a neighbour left out with a "free" sign on it (pic: the chaos). I saw it and liked it but didn't know what to do with it until I had this mess of fabric to keep organized! I don't think it will be a place for long-term storage of fabric because of dust issues, but it will certainly work for now and as a bonus, it actually slides under the dining room table (my sewing room table :-P) with about an inch to spare. :-)

peaceandjoy

I am late to the party! My "moratorium" is definitely a modified version, purchasing for specific in progress or immediately upcoming projects. Unless I find a shop while on vacation or some such.

For example, I am starting the annual Stash Buster quilt offered by Border Creek. Each year, they put out a new block pattern, along with possible layouts. The idea is to make a block a week, using stash. That sounds like a great use of stash, right? My problem was that I really like the layout with a dark background best, and had no yardage of the size needed. Somehow, in my mind, a scrappy light background throughout a quilt is wonderful, my favorite! Yet a scrappy dark background doesn't work. I want it all to match. So, yup, I immediately ordered 7 yards. My quilts are BIG! I wasn't thrilled with the customer service of the shop, a farily large, well known online presence. Ordered 1/1, knowing that was a holiday. Heard nothing, so finally emailed them on the 10th. 3 days later, it was prepped for shipping. I absolutely love the fabric, it's a gorgeous color, but 2-1/2 weeks for an online order? Anyhow - my stash buster quilt required 7 yards purchased, lol. Seems kind of backwards...

I was interested to see the fabric use calculation, but it doesn't include any seam allowance, which eats up a lot of fabric. I'm plodding away on Old Town, Bonnie Hunter's last mystery. When it's done, I'm going to weigh the top and calculate that (averaging 3 yards/lb) vs. the method from carolinamore and see what the difference is. I'm also keeping track of what I spend; I put a ledger sheet into my journal, along with a sheet protector to hold receipts so I can go back to review just exactly what I bought.

Earlier this month, I put the last of a binding on a very large (104" x 98") quilt, so my first entry is an out of about 14 yards. Seems almost like cheating as so little of it was done in 2025, lol.

After decades of quilting, I've got a large stash; mostly 1/2 to 1 yard cuts as I love the scrappy look. However, due to a need to get into the wall where it was stored, DH moved it all into bins and put it in the basement. Ugh. Difficult to get at, impossible to see. In addition to loving the scrappy look, I am willing to do a pieced backing with any large pieces left from a quilt, or yardage. If it's kind of, sort of in the same color family, I'm happy. Lots of blues in the top? Great, blue of some shade, or lots to make a pieced back of many shades.

WMUTeach

Five yards came into my stash yesterday. Two backings for UFOs. Nothing in my stash to fit the bill for either piece. One of the backs is already nearly finished. Whoo Hoo! The second will likely go to a long armer next week, so fabric in and fabric out hopefully in this month of January.

Iceblossom

Sigh. I failed the free fabric temptation yesterday and brought home about 8 fat quarters of white on whites and neutrals, plus one darker civil war. Pretty much replacing what I've used up in the Bonnie Hunter project. In my defense I have used up several entire pieces of various colors so still a net decrease.

Fabric came from a relative of one of my sewing ladies, smoker house and there is a light lingering odor. I find that if I use the unscented Febreeze, flatten out the pieces and give them a light spritz, let dry a bit, and then wash as usual is enough to remove the remaining odor. With fat quarters I can lay them out pretty nicely on top of the dryer, then dump them in the (empty) washer when they have dried. Heavier smoke I really spray the pieces wet.

Iceblossom

Hey peaceandjoy, welcome to the thread! Buying fabric for immediate use is ok, sometimes you need something specific to tie together a bunch of randoms. We also do have a few exemptions like for travel or birthday.

My stash is also mainly small pieces and organization is always an issue. When we moved, I ended up with more fabric than I wanted because I just couldn't make any more decisions. I did give away tons, probably literally! I've gone from cardboard box storage to semi-clear totes, which are semi-sorted into colors or themes, and then I put on labels on the outside as well. Husbands tend to like big black costco totes which are too heavy when full of fabric for most of us older female types... My totes are about 30 pounds each full which is enough to make my grunt pulling them off the top shell.

About the weight and seams, those tiny triangles of Bonnie's can have almost as yardage much on the back as they do on the front!

petthefabric

For another wall hanging found another "why do I have this" fabric for the back. And for the front, using fabrics I've been saving, for what I'm not sure. Love those fabrics. Now they'll be on the wall where I can see and enjoy them.

And the scraps, even large ones, got bruttal. They're in an animal bed. Feels good to see projects I really want to make.