It’s hard to believe 2013 is almost half over and, therefore, I should have used at least half of the yardage I want to use in 2013. Several years ago, I seriously began stashbusting and even though I seem to be making good progress, the stash just doesn’t seem to be going down. That makes me wonder if I’ll ever make much of a dent in it.
This was my final stash report for 2008. That year, I added 633 yards but used 435 yards.
Fabric added this week – 0 yards
Fabric added year to date – 633 yards
Fabric used this week – 6 yards
Fabric used year to date – 435 yards
Net Used to Date – <198> yards
I didn’t do much better in 2009.
Used this Week: 8 yards
Used year to Date: 464.50 yards
Added this Week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 457 yards
Net Used for 2009: 7.50 yards
I want to net 280 yards this year. So far this year, I’ve used 117, add 13 for a net of 104 yards. I have to more than double what I’ve used and add nothing in order to reach my goal. I can do it but I’m going to have to work hard. Each of the smaller type quilt tops takes about 5 yards for backing so if I quilt 10 of those, that’s still only 50 yards. Finishing up some tops would help because I’m not counting the yardage til the tops are finished. If I finish 10 tops and quilt them, that’s probably about 10 yards each, for a total of 100 yards . . so why am I sitting here at the computer dreaming up scenarios for how I could get to my goal? I need to be at the sewing machine or the longarm and I need to be quilting early til late!
Do you have a goal in mind for the number of yards you’d like to use this year? Maybe you want to use more than you buy? Maybe you want to break even or close to even.
Better question, do you think I’ll reach my goal of using a net of 280 yards this year? Honestly . . do you think I can? I know I CAN but . . will I?
Sharon in Michigan says
Okay, I may start keeping stash totals – but I’m inclined to think ignorance is bliss! I cheat when I decide to destash. I pack up yard and yards of fabric and donate it to a friend of mine who manages a group of ladies who make quilts for our local hospice. Did I mention, I sneak the bags and bags of fabric out to my car trunk in the middle of the night so my husband doesn’t calculate the dollars signs in his head 🙂 I donate the fabric and do the binding on the quilts after the ladies piece and tie them. I just went to the store and bought fabric to do a scrap quilt. Apparently there’s something seriously wrong with my stash usage. Is that real usage!!??
lynne quinsland says
buying fabric to do a scrap quilt sort of sounds odd. however, i can see it if it is a unifier that you needed….and, the de-stashed stash is usage by someone else hopefully…..
Kate says
I am on track to use more yardage this year than in the previous 3 years that I’ve been tracking my stash. That’s my only goal this year is to just use more than I ever have before.
I think you can reach your goal as long as you don’t do much shopping with Vince.
lynne quinsland says
i am using more than i ever have. i am finishing UFO’s into flimsys and also getting them quilted. still starting new ones too, and i am sure that i will be getting them quilted this fall and winter too. since the longarm is in the garage and it is HOT here, i dont know if i will be getting that much quilting done for the next few months, but know i will do some in the early mornings and late nights. i dont keep track of my usage, i just keep an eye on the levels of fabrics, and they are going down, just not fast enough, but i know that i will probably used in the neighborhood of 250-300 yards this year.
Pam in KC says
Well, if I had avoided the thrift shops for shirts, I’d be ahead of the game. — or if I would count the fabric when it was cut. As it is, I think I have 25 yards tied up in active UFOs, so I best get to working on them.
Susan Nixon says
I have to say I’m sure you can, but why would you want to? =) I want to die with plenty in my stash so I never have to worry about whether I have enough for a top I want to make. When I’m gone, the boys can donate whatever there is to whatever charity they choose, or just give it to a friend. In the meantime, I enjoy buying it, and I enjoy using it, and I don’t want to “bust” it! =)
Rosalie says
Judy, I know you can meet your goal…in fact, you can get up past 300 yards used!
Linda says
Well, I can help you with that! Just send me a “kit” to make that beautiful Road to Llano quilt and a couple of other ones and …bob’s your uncle! Stash used! LOL
I don’t have a big stash…I buy what I need for the quilt I am making, I usually buy a bit more just in case so that is where my stash is from, but I can’t walk into a store and just buy a few yards of fabric without knowing what I am going to do with it.I’ve tried (especially when stores are going out of business and the fabric is cheap), not sure why I can’t but I can’t!
Peggy in CA says
I don’t use or buy much fabric now that I’ve been doing more knitting than quilting. I need to start seriously stachbusting my yarn! Yesterday some friends and I went to a yarn sale at a church. A woman with no family had died with a huge stash of yarn she’d collected over, literally, a lifetime. There were several hundred knit nuts there. Now, there was a stash. We didn’t feel guilty about our own stashes after seeing this woman’s. It wasn’t a bad way to deal with it, either.
Norma V says
if i remember right last year i had to make 100 pillowcases to be in the black…but someone with a blog named patchwork times talked about a sale at the fat quarter shop…this was like with a month to go in the year and i was up to 77 pillowcases…and then when i am bad, i am REAL bad….i haven’t been good since…
pdudgeon says
Judy, as far as the stash goes i think you’re doing very well at keeping your additions to a minimum. one of the hardest battles to fight when trying to reduce the stash is successfully resisting the urge to replace what we use in making quilts. Just by having ready access to a longarm machine you’ve already conquored the second hardest job in quilting, which is how to find a way to get your quilt projects to a finished state.
When it comes to quilting, any way that we can find to reduce our own personal ‘log jams’ (things that keep us from having finished quilts and smaller stashes) and get our quilts to the “finished and using” state is a good thing.
Nann says
For the first quarter of 2013 I used slightly more than I bought. I’ve acquired more this quarter, but paying $40 for 92 yards at an estate sale — how could I pass that up? I’m trying to justify by saying that I *am* accomplishing a lot — 19 finishes so far of which 12 were created in 2012 or earlier. Right now I’m quilting a 2006 flimsy from one of your patterns!