Enough Fabric??????

Yesterday morning, my husband and I were laying in bed, not wanting to be awake yet, and chatting. He asked what I wanted to get done that day. I replied "All I want to do is sew on my quilt." That is all I ever want to do these days. We talked about the kids and he asked how my 24 year old daughter was coming on her quilt and I replied we had run out of the white fabric she was using. I said we have some more but it has a different degree of brightness and I was going to see if I could find some for her after work on Monday. Then he said something that I never thought I would ever hear a man say. Are you ready for this? He said "I don't think you have enough fabric".  Did I get the perfect husband or what? Okay he is not perfect but he is Mine and I am keeping him.

Now do I think I have enough fabric. The answer is a resounding "NO." I do not have every batik or retro print that I would love to have. I do not have near enough geometric prints or enough of a variety of prints and print sizes. I also don't have room for all the fabric I want. I don't have room for all the fabric I have.  I am already kicking hubby out of my studio into a 10 x 20 storage shed to make room for a long arm machine. (By kicking him out I mean his lapidary equipment.) That still leaves most of my stash in bins and trunk in the kids rooms. (not to mention other craft supplies) Shoot we can't even walk into our closet because of sewing machines and bins of fabric. 

So how can he say I don't have enough fabric? First he comes from a large pioneer family. They all sew and quilt. Add to that we both grew up in a culture where sewing and quilting was encouraged.  He stated that there are women have rooms full of fabric. He's right. We both know of women, who have always had a dedicated sewing room. As their families grew up and left they filled the rooms with fabric. Would I like to have that much fabric? Of course provided I had it organized in a easily usable fashion. Alright even if I didn't have it organized. I would love to have a room dedicated to sewing/quilting and a room dedicated to the storage of the fabric.

I have only been working on my stash for about 12 years. Those women worked on their stash for Decades. They also lived/live closer to fabric shops. So impulse buying is a fact of life. There were more fabric shops available and more women sewed. This still true in Utah and lots of Idaho. Even in the little tiny town of Delta, UT there is an awesome fabric shop, Mom's Crafts and Fabric. Mom's had everything, I swear you could find any print you wanted or needed there. I miss Mom's. I should see if they have an online store. I know they are on face book.

There is not a fabric shop within a 30 minute drive of my home. In fact my closest Walmart doesn't even carry fabric. The closest fabric shops are 40 to 60 miles away and they aren't very good. One is a Bernina dealer, mostly machines and some fabric. The other is an alteration shop that is dark, dingy, and dusty. So how do I build my stash to an acceptable level? 

Right now I live in Cairo, GA and work in Bainbridge, GA. Since moving here 8 years ago, Janet's Fabrics in Bainbridge closed as did Suzanne's Quilt Shop in Moultrie. I did take advantage of those clearance prices and spent way more than I should have in both stores. I estimate that I spent close to $1,200.00 in Suzanne's in the last 2 months she was open. That was in 3 trips. The first trip, I had 2 of my daughters with me. We stayed under my budget without even trying. WE were very pleased with our selves. The second trip was just me and I bought stuff that I passed up on the first trip. The third trip and the most costly trip was made with my husband. (I wanted him to look at the Handi-Quilter machine) While I was deciding how much of each fabric he would say just get it all and if I didn't agree right away he would tell the women "she will take it all." They would look at me and I would nod. They told me, he was a keeper. 

The Walmart in Bainbridge does carry some fabric. And that is where I will be looking for the white fabric my daughter needs. But mostly I am buying online these days. I have bought a few things from Craftsy. I have fallen in love with Missouri Star Quilt Company. I buy a lot of pre-cuts from them. Their daily deal is dangerous. Also, I am buying from Connecting Threads. Which is really quite ironic.  When we lived in Vancouver, WA I used to go to the Artist's Club store to buy decorative painting supplies. That store was also the store for Connecting Threads. They were sister companies.  Now that I am clear on the other side of the country I am actually buying fabric from Connecting Threads. But buying mail order/online has it's disadvantages as well. Such as what do you do when in the middle of a project you have run out of a fabric that you need?

Which brings me back to my first post. I want to own a quilt shop. Bolts and Bolts of fabric. When you needed some more you just go find the bolt and sell yourself some more. I still haven't figured out how to make this a reality. I am only about 13 years from retirement age and I hate to go into a lot of debt. I really do think I could make a go of it, if I find the right location and people to help me set it up,  I need to find out what the quilters in this area would like and I need to find some quilters to help me set it up in a logical manner.

In the meantime, I am building my personal stash and wearing out my credit card. How much is enough fabric for you? How are you building your stash?