I don't feel all that pressured to make things, other than a wall hanging i promised and can't find, and that is on another thread. I do think we should be proud of cutting back, whether we have an important someone to remind us , or not. I just tend to open up that catalog, or website and get all carried away. The best thing about actual stores is i walk around for awhile and decide what i really want and what i don't. On line i don't take the time to decide whether or not i want it or need it. I seem to lose all perspective and i end up spending a couple of hundred dollars on non-essentials. My dh doesn't get angry, but i know it frustrates him. end of my confessional. My name is nanci and i have a problem over spending money, and a lot of the time it's for fabric i don't need and won't be able to use for a long, long time.

I'm not a very productive quilter. Somewhere along the line I thought someone told me I could only make 92 inch square or larger. Now I have started piecing the back using some of the designs from the "modern" movement so I am really making two bed size quilts for every one I complete. The good news is I am working on my sixth UFO for this year, everything from my stash. I love the hobby and have my stash in book cases (at least half of it) so I can admire the colors all the time. I never spend over my budget but the truth is I would do better to put the money in an account for a rainy day.

All i can say is if there comes a rainy day, I will have a warm quilt to wrap around us as we sit under the bridge, and there will be several under us , too. And probably a few over our heads, as well. And you are all invited to come share our shelter. If you don't have a quilt, we will share what we have. And if we have to we will make stone soup.

I'm IN!! I have a few quilts to share too...A year ago I didn't have one as I gave away every quilt I made for YEARS! Finally made myself 2 and instead of ditching the ones I wasn't 100% satisfied with, I gave them to charity and kept a few for throw quilts.

But you do have it in an account for a rainy day - the day when you aren't spending $ on fabrics but shopping your stash. I've had a great time shopping my stash first. Made easier by doing most of my sewing at odd hours when nothing is open and the Internet can be iffy out here in the boonies. The only project I've done this year that was not primarily from stash was the one for my friend Misty. And I've used what I bought for that in a couple other projects as well. Another help in shopping stash first and limiting my buying has been having DGS with me a couple of times and wanting to get out of the store before he got cranky! Of course if I have DD along too, then she says "oh go on you might need more of that, and you can make me xxxxx with it too." Love my enabler!!!

Well I was feeling very virtuous because a) I finished a quilt in less than 2 weeks (it's a miracle) b) I did not buy any fabric, batting or thread at all....it was all from stash and home supplies. Today, however, I had a bit of a slip-up and fell off the wagon....Textile Traders had 99cent fqs and 99cent per metre fabric. I didn't buy metreage, just 7 fqs and some remnants from the remnant bin - the smallest remnant was given to me as they asked what was the smallest scrap I saved and I confessed to 1 1/2 inches (the bit I got free was a very usable 4 inches wide and about 2 metres long). The most excellent part of the whole trip was the amazing $5 per metre curtain fabric.....Husband has gone out to visit all their stores today and Yay.....he's going to make new curtains for the living room and the family room!

The man (who isn't my husband) doesn't fuss at me for what I buy, and as I've mentioned, he just bought me a new Topaz 30 sewing machine, when I went looking for a much less expensive one. Honestly, it's to cover his guilt about the amount of time he works, so I let him have his guilt and I have my fabric and new sewing machine. However, my sewing room is also our guest room, and it's the smallest bedroom of the 4 in the house, so I'm very limited on space. If I remember right, I think I joined this moratorium when I was still stashing in plastic bags. Now I have 2 stacked 3-drawer Rubbermaid dressers almost full, plus the box I can't seem to empty. Sure, I've bought a lot of stash this year, but for me, participating in the moratorium has slowed me down. It's made me think about what I'm buying in terms of what I can use it with instead of "Ooh, I like that & I gotta have it!" I don't have nearly as much stash as many of you do, but I still am unhappy with my storage and can't find what I want much of the time, so I have to stay strong and not make the problem worse by adding more fabric because I like it.

My non-wagon fall fabric purchase of the week is a jelly roll of Christmas fabric for a Christmas tree mat for the man's SIL, and backing fabric. The completed mat (In Denmark they don't care about seeing the base, unlike most Americans) made by the Danish directions would be 135 cm (53" +/-) square, but since I'm using a jelly roll and it's 2.5" strips instead of 6.5 cm (2.55"), it's going to be a touch smaller. I'm hoping that I'll have enough leftovers to make another project & not put the leftovers in stash!

Going to LQS today--but hope to purchase one piece of fabric to compliment stash fabric for a queen size quilt. Wish me luck. Like many of you I am changing my buying habits.

I went to a quilt shop today and resisted buying and additional fabric. Went to get blades for my rotary cutter. I did also get a pattern. I really think I need to be on a pattern moratorium! Hard to resist the nice patterns.

Good job Sophie. I need some applique needles, hope I can show the same will power. At least I don't have to go through the quilting fabric to get to them.