Digging Into the Stash (and an unpleasant surprise)

How much fabric does one person need? Of course that question has a different answer for each person. It all depends on what you use it for. I of course use it for quilting. Not that I don't sew clothing once in a great while and I do make things for the house now and then. But mostly I have fabric to quilt with.

Last year I went through all of my pre-cuts and inventoried them. But I never got around to digging through my yardage. Well in my current decluttering attempt, I've decided to attack the bins of yardage. I was thinking I had six large bins of fabric in the closet. In reality I have 10 large bins and 1 large steamer trunk full of fabric. And that isn't counting the fabric I've bought in the past 2 years. And that is just the yardage, not pre-cuts and kits, panels, etc.  I have a lot of fabric and I need to start using it.

Karen Brown of Just Get It Done Quilts, talks about taming our stashes by shopping from our stash first. I have been trying to do this for the past couple of years. I have created about a dozen flimsies from my stash. She also encourages quilters to only buy what they need for the quilt. I didn't follow this advice I like to have a little extra in case I mess up. I am the Quilting Wannabee after all. I make plenty of mistakes. I have also bought fabric simply because I liked it and was at a quilt shop. So the stash keeps growing.  Then add my husband into the mix and it only gets worse.

In a podcast I heard a professional organizer, who specializes in crafting, say that we should have our fabric out where we can see it. She says that the fabric has creative energy. She talked about how we go into fabric shops and get all excited and inspired by the beautiful fabric. Then we make our purchases, take home the fabric and put it put of sight. The energy that the fabric has is shut off from us. This organizer stated that we should have the fabric where we can see it. She says by seeing it our creative energy is charged and we get inspired. I certainly wasn't feeding off the energy of the fabric that is in those bins. Inspiration was lagging as well.

So I started to dig into the bins. I needed to find some yardage for borders and backing anyway. What did I find? Mouse Damage!!!!  This would have been a nice back for a baby quilt but now it will have to be cut into pieces.  Even worse this isn't the only bin with evidence of mice. I am obviously feeding the cats too well.  

Now, going through the stash is a priority. I will be going through and sorting out what needs washed etc.  That is certainly going to slow down the progress of just about everything else.  But that closet needs emptied and it needs to be done now.

But this evidence has me rethinking about how and where I will be storing my fabric.  It is definitely not going back in the closet.  I will store something else there.

I am currently putting the folded fabric into clear bins. I plan on stacking them in my dining room against one wall. That is where I do my cutting anyway. The clear bins will help me monitor for possible pests and allow me to see what I have.  Shopping from my stash will be so much easier. At least that is my current working theory.

Well time to get back to sorting. 5 1/2 bins down, 4 1/2 bins and 1 steamer trunk to go. Wish me luck.  And maybe pray for me to not lose my patience with the rodent world.