What make us quilters buy and stash so much material?

[Sara]

I was soooo glad to read cindyg's post. I thought there was something wrong with me. I hardly ever buy a piece of fabric without knowing what project I will use it in. I start with a project and then go on the hunt for the perfect fabric. Oh, well, I guess I'm just backwards.

[Leetec]

I buy fabric for the same reason I breath...to live!

[cindyg]

Oh, Sara, am I ever glad to see you!!!!!! Welcome, welcome, welcome. I think the girls on here consider me a weird-o freak but, you know, I love them anyway. And you will too. Join in, please, and post often. Tell us what you are working on. Send pictures, etc etc etc. There are several block swaps, fabric swaps, and BOMs going on so feel free to join. I'm so happy to have you here!

[sunsup]

Are we buying fabric or buying a dream? Too often I've seen fabric that I just knew would be perfect in a quilt, it's me, I've got to have it! Well, I still have it...the fabric, not the quilt. Now, I'm trying really hard to make those quilts before I buy any more fabric. It ain't easy.

[maryq]

Seriously, I think I have some kind of disorder. It's not just fabric I go crazy for.. it's just about anything. I've tried to figure it out from time to time and I can't put my finger on it, not without professional help anyway.

I love having LOTS of everything and anything. I have a couple hundred pens I'm sure and just go ga-ga when a sales rep drops off pens at the pharmacy. I was big into knitting and crocheting for a while so I had 20 tote boxes of yarn.. Most of which I have sold on E-bay or given away. I love paper and the thought of getting 10 spiral notebooks for $1.oo at back-to-school time just makes my heart flutter. Last year when DD went to Walmart with me, she would only let me buy 3 and a I snuck in a 4th one when she wasn't looking! I must have 12 pairs of scissors around here, not including the different scrapbooking ones. I have more scrapbook paper than Walmart, and stickers galore. I dread the day I have to move! Just moving stuff yesterday to paint my "new" sewing room was bad enough.

I've even kidded that if I like something I like a LOT of it... including s*x, but I'm learning to live without that! Just don't take away my fabric/yarn/scissors/pens/paper or you'll have a real fight on your hands!


Maryq

[Cathy32078]

Maryq, you crack me up! I DO understand though. I am a collector too. It went from needlepoint to cross-stitch stuff. Then it went to ceramics & back to cross-stitch. And books all along the way. Oh & I forgot the Tole Paining. lol In the last few years, I have downsized in the books, got rid of a great deal of cross-stitch and everything else. From here on out, it will just be my fabric & quilting stuff. I went through a time while working that I began collecting post-it notes & pens. lol Bet I had enough post-it notes I could have made a chain from Okla. to the E Coast. I am really doing better and going to cont. to try to improve.

[MsSewNSew]

Maryq, you are too funny (and I think we must be twins). When I took up quilting, I just had to have a stash so I started buying (Im still buying). I usually do have a quilt in mind when I buy something but sometimes I just like the fabric and I think "I'll use that someday". I still have a tote of yarn from my crochet days. I have quite a few craft items and scrap book stuff but I'm not getting rid of it. It's my stuff!

My best girl friend is like cindyg and sara. She only buys fabric for the quilt she is making then she gives me all the leftover fabric. I don't understand her but I love her and I'm happy to get her scraps! She's also a very "planned" quilter. I kind of fly by the seat of my pants with fat quarters and scraps.

It takes all kinds in this crazy world!

[QIAD-Linda]

When I was given Eleanor's Log Cabin book for my 40th birthday, I was so excited. I immediately went out and bought fabric and started to sew. Now mind you, I did not know how to sew at all. My husband had given me a sewing machine for Christmas a couple of years previous to this and it sat and gathered dust.
I did not know any other quilters at the time. I was hooked immediately! I couldn't get enough. I bought every Eleanor Burns book I could find and made 17 quilts my first year. I found myself always buying fabric! It was a compulsion! I honestly thought something was wrong with me that I wanted to buy fabric so much. It wasn't until I started working at QIAD and got to know other quilters that buying fabric was part of the addiction to quilting. Now, I just buy what I want with no plan in mind. I love fabric!

[qltsbme]

maryq - we are just too much alike. I often tell people that the reason I have 8 children is because I am obsessive compulsive - I collect things.

I have 16 pizza boxes of rubber stamps. That's not including around 50 sets of Stampin' Up stamps. I was heavy into stamping for a couple of years. Now I need to find the time to put it all on eBay. I never use them but parting with them is going to be ever so hard!

The reason my studio is such a mess is because I have too much stuff for my room.

there is no hope for me

[WeSignificant]

I buy fabric because I have too. It is an absolute necessity. Yes, the world will end if I don't have that fabric! Sometimes I plan but most of the time I just see it, like it, buy it. You know, they say, everything happens in 3's.