Great Quilters Love To Stash!
|
The first time Sue took me into the basement bedroom that had been converted to her "cutting room", I was aghast! Two walls were lined with shelves packed with fabric; standing bolts, lying down bolts, yards and yards of folded lengths of every color and combination. |
 |
 |
A third wall held both the closet that had been filled with shelves and stacked with folded fabrics, and a partial wall of shelves stacked with various kinds of stabilizer. The final wall made a perfect place to hang a collection of cutting tools and mats and rulers of every size and shape, and all within easy reach at the oversize cutting table. |
At the end of the table stood a wire rack holding 8 shallow drawers -- completely filled with Fat Quarters.
She could have opened a store with what she had in that one room. But that was just the beginning. Sue has bolts and kits and projects all over the house! Just knowing she had been actively quilting and even teaching since before she retired, it wasn't a total surprise that she would accumulate a lot of extra fabric. But whole bolts?
It took me a little longer to understand the patient smile and quiet references to her "Stash"; really meant a great deal more than what I jokingly referred to as pack-ratting. In fact, I'm happy to report I've gleefully joined the Corps!
I've learned to shop like my friend Sue. I don't wander through the local quilting store or the website fabric store seeing fabric -- I wander through "seeing" what the colors and textures and blends can become. I see children's quilts just waiting to be cut and pieced and quilted. I see table runners and placemats waiting on bolts. I see gift bags, and shopping bags, and purses of many sizes and styles bursting from the fabric swatches. I see sweatshirt jacket patches waving at me from the Fat Quarter racks. And when I see a great backing fabric, I see the need to bring home the whole bolt to make sure I can finish multiple projects.
I get it! I really do! None of it goes to waste. It's just terrific to feel a new spark and be able to experiment with the idea without a trip to the store first. Even sacrificial fabric for Applique, and testing fabric for embroidery, are always right there just waiting for me
Of course it didn't take long before I realized I needed to organize things better. It's nice to know you have something, but frustrating to not know where you put it. And worse to finally find it sitting somewhere collecting dust.
|
 |
Thank goodness for sealable plastic tubs.
When I ran out of tubs I put the left-overs in plastic bags -- clear bags until I ran out of them too, and finally grocery bags when that was all I had left. It's nearing time for me to get back on the road and spend some time in Georgia, so I need my Stash to stay clean as well as tidy.
I noticed some of my friends keep their Stash similar to a store --- colors together: reds to pinks in one area, yellows to golds in another, blues to greens, etc. seems to be a popular method. But for now I'm still attached to keeping all the colors of a project together. Each tub actually represents a project (or at least the scraps left over from one or two).
Maybe when I get back to Vegas I'll change my mind.
Anyone out there have suggestions or want to share YOUR method of organizing your Stash? Please send me an email and share with everyone.
eMail: LLoni@WeLoveToQuilt.com
Especially since it almost time for me to pack up and scoot back to Georgia for a couple months. The Stash in Las Vegas will be kept dust free until I return.
And then I'll tackle a better order system.
