Jeanette Frantz

I seem to have developed an addiction for fabric. It's unbelievable that I keep buying fabric. Our Wal-Mart here has a lot of VERY NICE QUILTING FABRIC. It seems as though every time I go to the store, I'm "breezing" through fabrics and I usually end up with a pretty substantial amount of fabric. Most of the fabric is "earmarked" for certain things but some of the "basic" stuff -- It's just because I want it! LOL

I've got to slow down! but I LOVE fabric and the things you can do with it! Like table runners, etc! If I keep up at the rate I'm going, I'll have my Christmas gifts made long before Christmas arrives! -- The main thing is, we're not starving and my bills are paid! There's just not much "extra" as long as I keep buying fabric!

Jeanette

jitkaau

I love to get surprise packages from friends and deceased estates. It takes me out of my comfort zone for colours and I end up making stuff in unusual combinations. A stash is good for when you can't afford to buy all the ingredients for a quilt but can add small pieces to the others that you collect over time. I am never $$$ rich enough to buy everything at once.

terriamn

My sister is here right now helping me organize and tidy up my stash. She is also a quilter but manages to control her small stash. She thinks my large stash shows I am compulsive . She might be right. Terriamn

localgirl1

I just grab from my stash that near me and start making log cabin blocks or a crazy quilt block, lol, fun to make and I accompliched something from leftover stash^_^

Judi in Ohio

I am a scrappy gal, so when something comes up I go to the colors I need and pick. I have a friend who has a dgd going to college and I told her she must have a quilt done in her college colors. So I bought her one border fabric - college mascot for the border and 10 1 yd pieces. We'll use her fabrics and we'll swap out with me for the other fabrics - I end up with more red and she has quite the selection. We are making string blocks - she has no sewing experience and we are having a ball.

juliea9967

I am with you Piper. My stash grew and grew until I didn't have room for any more. When I would go looking for something it was never the right shade or right color. I gifted my stash to a local charity and have never looked back. I now find a pattern that I want to do (I have loads of patterns) and then I go to the quilt store and get what I need. It definitely saves me money this way, and I have no guilt about the big stash that never gets used.

homebody323

The last few years, I have been devoted to using my stash. There is still so much, so I'm currently working on a book that will be for those people with extensive stash and don't know how to use them. Most of the quick quilts are now using Layer cakes, Nickel Squares, and Jelly rolls. I've decided that my stash of fabrics other than huge pieces should be cut into 10" x wof strips which can all be cut into all three of the above pieces. By doing that I can easily know if the pieces I have will work for a specific quilt and part of the cutting is already done. This has been so much help already.
Pieces that are too small for those sizes are cut into clamshell pieces using my accuquilt go baby or hexagons for my grandmothers garden. Even smaller pieces go into a tote for scrap piecing on phone book pages. I also have a box of 5" squares for those 1/2sq triangles I'm having so much fun making. Every day I press 3 pieces of fabric. One small, one med and one large. I decide what to cut them into and my stash is finally becoming manageable. Sometimes I run into a problem which stops me from cutting after I press. When that happens I don't press more till I cut the first 3 pieces. Right now there are at least 15 - over-sized totes and an overflowing porta crib full of fabrics but I can see the pile dropping and it sure feels great.

Bubbie

You can swap a fabric from your stash with a friend or someone from a quilt group. Everyone's taste is different, but some times you find that it's fun to try to use your stash with fabric from someone else. I used to go to a quilt store and once a month we would all meet for a general how to and some kind of swap. We could take orphan blocks and swap with each other or swap with the store (she always had a basket full of orphan blocks, demos, etc...), we could also swap something from our stash (we didn't like, couldn't use, didn't know what to do with). Susan (store owner), always felt that this helped us get to know others in the group and it always made us laugh. One month 5 people brought the same fabric to swap (some of the fabric came from Susan's shop, but still others came from old stashes and other stores even other country's). Susan felt it was good for us and for her business too. This might be something you could try. Good luck.

coopah

No, it's not just you. Yesterday I shopped my stash to make a bag. The fabric is not what I would normally choose,, but it will work. After seeing ho hum (meaning it was okay, but not stellar) fabric at Joann's for $14.99, my stash is looking better and better. For me, it is now a mind game of what can I use that I already have. All of my fabrics have been reorganized into clear plastic bins, and it's easy to see what I have. Any new project has to include some stash.

AZ Jane

If you don't love your stash, for whatever reason, consider giving to someone who will use it.