Yesterday was the day.
The day to begin to move the huge bins of fabric from the garage/shop at Quiltville Inn over to my little Quiltville Post Office studio.
I couldn’t leave those cabinets standing empty forever, could I?
It was a drizzly, rainy kind of a Thursday as it was – not really pouring, just drippy. The kind of day I like to refer to as simply “soft.”
Info on the cabinets? I got them 20 years ago from Home Depot when we lived in Waxahachie, Texas. From there they moved to Irmo, South Carolina, and then up to Wallburg, North Carolina - and now they are residing here in Mouth of Wilson, Virginia.
Info on the cabinets? I got them 20 years ago from Home Depot when we lived in Waxahachie, Texas. From there they moved to Irmo, South Carolina, and then up to Wallburg, North Carolina - and now they are residing here in Mouth of Wilson, Virginia.
It started like this – Get the morning mail out, and on my way back from the USPS, back up to the big double doors at the side of the garage/shop and load the back of the van with just about all I thought I could handle.
The challenge being – the neutrals were at the way back, and these were heavy, so I started with what I could get to at the front of the stacks.
Taking liberties with the rainbow!
Starting fresh means I can make some changes to how things were before. How did I want to arrange these? What might work better?
I decided to head the direction of this pencil set, only moving the neutrals to the far right end, instead of the beginning.
I decided to head the direction of this pencil set, only moving the neutrals to the far right end, instead of the beginning.
(They were at the back of the stack of tubs in the garage, remember?)
This is also my opportunity to pull lesser loved fabrics destined for backings, charity quilts, and to be stripped down and shuffled into my Scrap User’s System.
Click to Play:
Fun things discovered along the way! I think this is my earliest piece of Jennifer Sampou fabric. It’s not full width of fabric wide, so it is time to get it down into the strip stash where it will have a better chance of being used.
A reminder to me that no matter how much I love my yardage stash – It’s my scrap strip stash that gets the most activity. So put your fabric where you’ll use it most!
Keeping and maintaining and organizing fabric is an ongoing project – much like doing laundry. It is never all the way done. It won’t stay done. It needs constant tending – but having my stash where I need it, where I won’t have to travel to get to the bulk of it, is such a wonderful feeling!
Son Jason came to visit a bit yesterday, and it was funny to see his reaction to the amount of fabric in this space.
We laughed together when I reminded him that much of this stash was accumulated during his high school years as my own “self-medication” as a way to keep my mind centered so I wouldn’t just get in the car, drive away never to be seen again!
How we both survived his teen age years, I will never know. But here we are. And I’m grateful.
Today we continue. Brown, tan, black, grey, neutrals.
What will I do if I run out of cabinet space? Reevaluate. Cull more.
Some stuff will have to remain in tubs – Holiday fabrics. 1930s collections. Flannels. Novelties. Solids. Big backing pieces that take up too much space on the cupboard shelves. It will be a work in progress, but I’ll know what I have and can make plans for using it.
And before I get on with it – it’s time to do our September Quilty Box drawing!
Who is entry 1366 of 4444? (Interesting number!)
Diane Miller Flood! This box will be coming your way!
Please reply to the email I sent to the address you provided with your entry. I’ll have the kind folks at Quilty Box get your goodies right off to you!
For more information on Quilty Box, please refer to the original post.
Quiltville Quote of the Day.
This not only applies to quilting, but to everything else we face on a daily basis that seems too large, too hard, too complicated.
Take another look. Break it down. One step at a time!
Enjoy your Friday, everyone!
48 comments:
All I can say is — you win!
Well done! It looks beautiful!! And it also looks like the perfect amount of fabric.
It is shaping up nicely! Wish I was there helping you sort, fold, and stack!
It looks like a fun plan for a "soft" day!!
Thank you for the color arrangement inspiration. I have been struggling to organize my stash. It is great to see yours.
Fun part of getting it organized is seeing the thin spots. Yellow and green aren't your thing. Way more red than yellow and green combined. Congrats on settling in.
I can just see all the wonderful quilts that you will be sharing us for quite awhile.
Tried to post this earlier but don’t think it went through!
NEVER, EVER feel guilty over the amount of fabric you have - this is your business! Thank you for everything you do for us - your followers & fellow quilters!
The stash is looking good! I think I'll take a tip from this post and move my theme fabrics to totes so I can keep the fabrics I want to use all the time together on the shelves where I can see them. And good for you for banishing any negative thoughts about how much fabric you have!
My stash fits in my sewing cabinet...and my hubby wonders what he will do with "all that fabric" if he out lives me........
You inspire me in the reorganization because I, too, am moving my stash from another state (though it is not near as large as yours). I can also identify with the "teenage years" and driving away; it is indeed a blessing that we persevered to enjoy them as adults. Have a good day.
I love it when you blog about your stash. I'm working on organizing my fabric too and starting a strip stash as you recommend. I used to quilt with just designer lines of fabric, but now the real treat for me is using all scraps. I think the quilts are so much more unique and fun.
What a beautiful rainbow of colors! I've been piecing less-loved fabrics to make quilt backings and enjoy having them being used now, instead of just being passed over.
Thank you so much for sharing your in progress photos. Gives me things to ponder. Sometimes looking at someone's already filled in shelves it's daunting, but in progress gets my brain thinking, "what if...." So glad your fabric is at hand and in QPO with you. How wonderful!!!
Try to say, scrap strip stash fast. Tongue twister for sure. Really like how you are organizing your stash of material.
That is a mega stash, it looks so pretty.
You've got the most amazing stash - it'll be a lift to your spirit every time you open those cabinet doors. Endless Possibilities -
your stash is beautiful! All the colors together are so inspiring!
Seeing photos of such a lovely, freshly organized rainbow of stash like that is.... *happy sigh*. It must feel so great to have this almost done, and to have your stash right where you can use it again. Happy projects will come of this!
Wow!... Great collection!
My late husband used to say that I had "fabric-itis"..And that I was a "scissor-holic". That's OK..I bit my tongue when he said these things. But now I am left with a HUGE collection of what?.. you guessed it.. Screwdrivers, tools, bins of screws and nuts and bolts and a whole lot more!.. Fabric is sew much more interesting!!
A little hint for stacking in those cupboards I bought at Home Depot soooo long ago: You can cut trays of foam core a little longer than your fabric folds. Instead of pulling out the entire stack you can pull one half or one third of the stack. It’s also much easier to insert the smaller stack right where it belongs on the foam core.
You are blessed to have so much fabric to work with. I'm sure many beautiful quilts will be made.
It’s good to see how much fabric other people have in their stash. That way I can show my husband that I don’t really have that much.
Reorganizing can be tedious but the memories some of the forgotten fabric brings back can be priceless. I love your blog. Keep up the good work.
I really want to see how you store your Scrap Strip Stash! I am running out of room in the system I started with. Please post pic's! I START every day with you and my coffee :)
Beautiful sight. All the colors neatly folded. After this you will have so much fun playing with the fabrics. It will be like opening a new box of colored pencils.
Amazing!! Yours has got to be the best stash that I've ever seen!
Congratulations on accumulating a Blue Ribbon stash.
You get a BIG ATTAGIRL for what you've done today.
Your fabric is your inventory for your job. Nothing to be ashamed of. And those shelving units are very sturdy to last through so many moves. I'm impressed. Have a great weekend.
I need to change my ways. I start well on the first digging, evaluating and organizing. Then I wander off and start dinner or answer the phone or something equally mindless and never return to finish the job I started so well!
The yardage storage cabinets are looking SEW pretty as you are filling them with fabric!! I'm looking forward to the BIG reveal of the finished (for a time) project.
In parts of Eastern Canada, the weather you described used to be referred to as "mauzy", as in "It's a mauzy day out there". If you play scrabble, there's a new word for you!
Your stash looks wonderful arranged in that color order! What a wonderful resource to have at you fingertips.
Never apologize or feel bad about your amount of fabric or anything, look at how much happiness and joy you have shared with others. Keep it up!
A professional quilt designer surely needs, no requires, a beautiful stash like this! I agree with the comments about no shame here, this is inspiration for your creativity. Although your comment about self medication during the teen age years made me laugh- I've been there too! Its so much better when they get older.
Your organization gives me hope. ..someday. .beautiful fabrics
I need to get the energy to rearrange my fabric room. I don't have enough room to sew anything in there. Do you keep your batiks separate or mix them in with the regular cottons?
Hi Bonnie, Wonder if you could give us the internal dimensions of one (1) shelf of your cabinets? I am not sure if you are storing fat quarters here, or half yards or a mix - or stacking them 2 deep? Would help if I knew what your were doing - might help me do something with my tubs. Many thanks in advance
Oh those fabrics look so pretty in colour batches. And what fun to drool, choose, admire and create. Lovely to see the system emerge. The pencils are a great starting point. Thanks for showing us.
I like that idea - could save some time re-stacking. Haven't we all had a collapsed stack on occasion? Thanks!
My husband says that if every quilt store i. Town, (there are 6) everyone could buy from my stash! If I run out I’ll send them your way. I love to open the cupboards and just look at my fabric.
These are her YARDAGE cabinets. The shelves are 15 inches deep. Bonnie folds the 1, 2, 3 plus yards of fabric so they are 14 inches deep. That way she can see every piece of yardage in the cabinets.
I just recently bought similar cabinets from Ikea. I wanted something with doors to protect my fabric from light and dust. Previously, I used to fold my fabric inside out to protect it from fading. Now that I have doors, I look forward to having it right side out like yours so I can see exactly what colors I have.
Oh what a gorgeous stash!! You might be a tad bit ashamed, but we are all a tad bit jealous!!!
Thanks for your quote today. It was encouragement that I really needed. For life, not for quilting. I can use all the good words that I can get.
You did an impressive job -- and in one day!! even more impressive. BTW re: stash -- a quilting friend and I decided that for the same reason we needed to contribute to our pension/retirement fund -- we needed a retirement fun of fabric!
Many thanks, Margacat - Must have missed that info. somewhere along the way
Love your beautiful rainbow of colours, lol I would just be stroking each piece.
Stay safe
Love and quilty hugs
Anne xx
Isn't it fun to see others' collections???? You see immediately what their favorite colors are. So much fun!!!!
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