I’m constantly surprised at how little impact each quilt I make has on my stash. When I’m cutting out hundreds of triangles or squares and stitching for days, it feels like I’m getting through fabric by the ton. Then I look at my stash and more often than not, I can’t even tell where I took the fabric from. The last scrappy stash quilt I made seemed to make no indent whatsoever on the baskets of scraps I have under my desk. It’s quite an amazing thing really.

I feel like I’m on a constant diet where the stash is concerned. Most of the time I’m pretty good about not adding more. (This isn’t as virtuous as it sounds as there isn’t a whole lot of temptation near where I live!). It’s inevitably the late night internet splurges that spoil it. Why do the manufacturers and online quilt shops have to make everything look so incredibly attractive. No, don’t tell me, I know. They’re doing their job and moreover, doing it well, and I’m a weak-willed woman.

The only control that really helps keep things in bay is a storage issue. I’m pretty good about not buying anything that won’t fit into my IKEA fabric cupboard. Clutter gets to me after a while, so I really need to have stuff in drawers or baskets or cupboards and not just lying around. I have a fair stash of dressmaking fabric which is way more bulky than my quilting supplies, so every time I sew some clothes that frees up more space to fill with jelly rolls and fat quarters.

I’m hoping that I have another 30 or 40 years quilting time ahead of me, providing my eyesight doesn’t deteriorate much more. I’m guessing that using up what I have is probably still physically possible within this lifetime. But it’s certainly not a sure thing. At least my recent eureka machine quilting moment has given me a chance. Mind you, even though I’ve churned out a good few quilts this year, I can honestly say that I can’t tell at all where the fabric came from. It never ceases to amaze me how a rinky-dinky little jelly roll can miraculously expand into a great big quilt!

At the end of the day I can only say that I could be spending the money on much worse things – like gin, chocolate or fast living. I love my fabric to bits and sometimes on a down day just taking it out and stroking it lifts my spirits. Pretty cheap therapy I should say…..

Enjoy your weekend!

Helen

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 6th, 2010 at 1:48 pm and is filed under Quilting, Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.