postal packin' mama

You've got that strain of quilter's pox known as SABLE:
"Stash Accumulation Beyond Life Expectancy".
No known cure but regular injections of more fabrics help...

cabbagepatchkid

Just be careful after you buy (you know you will :D ) your first vintage sewing machine :shock: ----they are much more expensive than fabric :mrgreen:

~~my name is Cathy and I'm a vintage machine/fabricaholic~~

Sew happy

This topic's replies are so funny..and so true. I had a good laugh over the "I don't remember buying this" and the elves brought it in. That has happened to me, not remembering I bought it. I can remember once thinking I didn't have enough variety of fabrics for a scrap quilt. That was a good excuse to buy more fabric. Then you have more and you think, well,I have too much to be able to decide which fabric to sew next or which fabrics to use in that scrap quilt. After a while you start looking for places to store the stash and there is little room left for more fabric except maybe under the bed. Quilters are creative thinkers, maybe that's why we need so much fabric to work with..the more fabric you have, the more you have to create with. I know this didn't help much. If you're serious about giving some away, torture yourself by giving away your favorite fabrics or give away fabric that just doesn't appeal to you like it once did. The old saying, your trash may be someone else's treasure is true even in fabric.

wishiwerequilting

i just returned from a long day of doctor's appointments and I have to say reading this has really cheered me up! You are all too funny! For many years I ran an online quilt shop out of my home, and we had 4000-5000 bolts of fabric in our basement, which was the source for the quilt shop. Now of course when I worked shipping fabric every day, I never had any time for quilting. Now that I have sold the business, I have time for quilting and you can imagine the stash I have accumulated! When the bolts of fabric were here, we would refer to the shop as the "bunker" and we laughed that even if there were a nuclear attack, we would be safe in there because it would never penetrate all that fabric. It was well insulated from temperature, sound and troubles ov the world!
There is nothing wrong with collecting fabric, as long as it brings you joy and pleasure and it is not breaking the bank!
If you seriously want to reduce your stash of some fabrics which may not be appealing to your personal taste at this time, you may want to consider working those pieces into some charity quilts. Right now Haiti is not accepting quilts because of the need to fly in food and medical supplies but think of all those orphans who would love a cuddly quilt. Start sewing!
Also there is a 1 million pillowcase challenge on (Calling all quilters and sewers) to make pillowcases. There are free download pillowcase patterns on the web site for All People Quilt (http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/millio...ses/index.html).
We are collecting pillowcases for Sloane Kettering Hospital in NYC, which is a major cancer center, but if you know of local organizations which will accept your pillowcases, you can stitch them up and take them in to be given to patients. Then add yours to the count. Tonight they show only about 13,000 and that is a far cry from 1 million.
Just a thought. Making quilts for charity makes me feel as if my stash is there for a great purpose, and it's not just wasting space and money.

lindy

SABLE. Oh, my, I hadn't thought of it that way! I am going to look through some of the ideas, again, and see if I can convince my daughter all those fabrics are useful. She is looking forward to empty totes I can send her way. I have no problem with my husband. He can can get as involved in picking out fabric as I can if we are looking for specific colors or designs in our LQS. He actually has a good eye.

sewbaby

I personally think my stash procreates when I'm not looking. I too have been reorginazing my fabrics , and stash is the correct word. One large walk in closet that can't be walked into,nothing else will fit under the bed,numerous tubs(10 or 12 at least) I have even put stuff in my file drawer with my reciepts, and last night ordered more online, sick ,sick, sick, and I know that there is no cure I've been at this for over 40 years. I will buy fabric just because I like the color,pattern,design, or the worst IT was on sale I hade to buy it!!!!!!!

guehlein

I don't see that you have anything the rest of us have obviously had for a very long time. Don't drive yourself crazy - just watch for sales and stock up on storage containers that will allow you plenty more room to express yourself.

loishe

I hope there are some good cures for this! I have the same problem. I don't think that I can talk hubby into building a room on.

charvan

Hi M'boro-my name is Char (Manchester) and I am a fabricolic?sp Near Med Ctr Pkwy? Those homes are still not repaired as yet-I feel so sorry for those people. Glad you have a fraidy hole to hunker down into. Good luck this year.

Clothfiend

"We are collecting pillowcases for Sloane Kettering Hospital in NYC

Our guild makes charity quilts for Hospice, local children's hospital wing, nursing homes, and the homeless shelter. We also give out small quilts wrapped around stuffed animals to the local food kitchen & fire department during the holidays - these are a huge hit with the children. In addition, we also make pillowcases for the teaching hospital's cancer ward. Last, but surely not the least, we make quilts for wounded service personnel through Quilts of Valor. There are endless possibilies for fabric collections - Lots of mine go to these causes and it makes me feel good to know they've found a good home.