Stash Upheaval

I have so many projects that need a lot of blocks, and I've been content to work on them over months and just amass them slowly.  There are 5 set of blocks that are ready to go on the design wall so I can work out the final placement and fine tune the colours and tones. I'm actually excited to get started on that, but I had another project going that left me unable to get to the design wall.

My stash drawers were in a horrible mess. I've spent years just throwing things back in there without any attempt to sort them or organise them.  Any new fabric was put in whatever drawer it fitted in, so there were three drawers of miscellaneous fabric that I totally forgot I had. Enough! I put a folding table up in the only available space, in front of my design wall, and started pulling out drawers to sort.

It took a few days, and I had to force myself to stay on track, but finally it was done. I was a bit shocked at the results. I have No Browns. No Blues! Nothing!!

These are all the blue FQs.  I know, I've made a heap of blue quilts over the years, without buying more (because I had so many anyway) but I didn't think I'd depleted them this much. I need more medium blues on my next shopping trip.

These are all the purple FQs, not very many at all. Again, I've made a few purple quilts, but I didn't think I'd made such a drastic reduction. 

The blacks and greys are really slim pickings. Absolutely pathetic. And yet I have 10 drawers of neutrals; white, cream, stone, sprigged, shirtings, beige.

It highlighted how I've been buying fabric in the last few years. I get overwhelmed looking at all the beautiful ranges, I don't know which one to buy for future projects. I can't buy them all, that's beyond the budget, so I buy good old neutrals, can't go wrong with them. And I've got this myth in my head that I don't have many, so I need to stock up. I need to change that thinking.

Another thing that has changed my buying has been the lack of 1800s reproduction fabrics in the shops I've visited. I know there are repro ranges out there, but a lot of the time they're not in the shops here.  Or they are in the $28-$30m range, and I can't always afford that. The English repro ranges like Di Ford's are really popular here, and I love them, but can't afford to stock the stash with them. Buying online from the US isn't really an option, by the time postage and the dollar conversion rate is taken into account it's not much cheaper.

What I can afford are the cheap FQs from Spotlight.  I buy them when they are on special at $1 or $2, but they are rarely anything that would go in a reproduction quilt.  

That has resulted in 3 drawers of modern and bright fabrics, which I'm happy to have for cheerful kids quilts, but they aren't anything I'm passionate about.

I'm glad I took the time out from sewing to rationalise my fabric storage and get a handle on what I have.  I'm a bit disappointed at the conclusions I came to though. My stash is being overtaken by fabric I don't truly love, which makes me sad. 

I think I'm going to start a savings fund for a bit of Stash Enhancement.  When there's a respectable amount there I'm going to blow it all on fabric that makes me truly happy. It's a plan....