Sunday Stash Report

Judy wanted to know how many of us who are making a weekly stashbusting report are still making a big effort or whether we've given in and aren't so committed to busting the stash. Since I added another 22-1/2 yards to my stash this week, I thought I'd better sit down and really think about this. I'm also going to quilt show this week, and you probably know what that means. While I am shopping for yardage requirements for several specific quilts, I am also sure there will be some discretionary spending, which will probably put me so far in the hole that I don't even want to think about it.

For years I bought fabric indiscriminately for no good reason other than because I liked it and because I was intent on building a good stash to draw on. Back then I lived more than an hour away from any decent quilt shop, and it usually meant a day long road trip every time I wanted to make a new quilt. After a while, it's a hard habit to break.

We moved four times in six years; and of course every time we moved there was even more fabric. The last move was what it finally took to make me realize that enough was enough. I would like to be able to say that I don't shop indiscriminately anymore, but that would not be entirely true. Suffice to say that the majority of the time, I buy specific yardage for a specific project because it's not available in the stash.

So, am I still committed to reducing the stash? Yes. Will I continue to buy more fabric this year? Yes. Evelyn left a comment on my Sunday Stash Report a week ago, and she wrote that her goal really isn't to use up her stash, but rather to use it at a fast enough pace to replace it with newer fabrics as she goes along. That makes some sense to me because that is probably the way I actually work with the stash I have. At the end of the day though, it still is my goal to use more than I've added.

That said, here's the stash report for this Sunday:

Fabric added this week: 22-1/2 yards
Fabric added year to date: 63-1/2 yards
Fabric used this week: 8 yards
Fabric used year to date: 42-1/8 yards
Net used year to date: In the hole to the tune of 21-3/8 yards

Even if I am in the hole, I'm still feeling really good about using 42 yards of fabric so far this year.

The 8 yards I used this week was for the backing on the new quilt I've been working on. The fabrics used in that quilt were part of a Keepsake Quilting medley called Courtney, so in the short term I'll just refer to the quilt as the Courtney quilt. The pattern actually does have a name; but I can't share any more details about the pattern or the quilt until the pattern goes to press, and that could be another month. I debated whether or not I should even mention it on my blog at all, because it's not much fun not to be able to see some photos; but it is what I'm doing in the sewing room, and you will see the whole quilt eventually. And it will have to be this way for the other patterns I'm working on this year for Koleen as well. So the Courtney quilt will be hopefully be finished and ready to hand off to the machine quilter before I go to Lancaster.

I already have the next pattern Koleen wants me to work on, and I'll be using some of those 30's reproduction fabrics I bought a few weeks ago. This pattern uses a bunch of half square triangle units, so I'll cut those out and prepare a bunch of them for hand piecing while I'm in Lancaster.

I also dug out a couple of UFO's from way back when that also used 30s repros and decided to try to finish them at the same time. One of those is an irish chain, and the second one, called Lover's Knot, is shown in the photo.

I hate everything about this little quilt except the fabrics. I hate the pattern, I hated piecing it, and I especially hated making those dratted yo yos, and I still have three more to make! Why did I even start it? Because it was part of an ongoing block swap with friends, and I wanted to participate. Now I've lost the pattern, so I'll have to draft a new template to fill in the edges, because I am certainly not going to continue torturing myself by binding that edge the way it is. My plan is to add white fabric in between the hexagons to square it up and call it good. I am making myself finish it because it is character building or something and because it will make a sweet baby quilt the next time I need one in a hurry.

Credit where credit is due:
Lover's Knot can be found in Electric Quilt's Blockbase program and is copyright-free