Last weekend I had the opportunity to retreat with some of my friends at our annual Gruber's retreat. I believe that this was year 8! I'm so thankful for good friends from all over the country who were brought together through the internet and our common love of quilting! We have expanded our retreat to a 5 day stretch--what a treat that is! It still goes too fast. :)
My main project for this retreat, other than my pincushion a day (of course!), was to work on this quilt! I opened up a much loved (and hoarded) layer cake of Marmalade fabric by Bonnie and Camille. This stuff has been aging nicely in the stash, but it was finally time to use it. It hurt a little bit to pull the ribbon off, but I'm so glad I did. It was high time!!!! This fabric is sooooo pretty!
I'd be curious to know what your most precious, hoarded fabric is in your stash. What is holding you back from using it? (No judgement here....I'm sure I will be able to relate!)
Hope your week is off to a great start!
39 comments:
I don't hoard fabric --- it lives on better in a quilt!
I have a fat quarter stack of your "Good Neighbors" fabric I got from Connecting Threads. I love it but just haven't found the perfect pattern!
I have just around a yard of some Riley Blake Rocket Age Rocket Blast in Navy that love. I purchased 7 yards of it years ago because I knew I would regret it otherwise, and I have been slowly using it in beloved projects. It feels good to know I've used most of it... but now there seems to be extra pressure for it to be special with the last bit of yardage, you know? It sounds like the retreat was a lot of fun and you got a great start on another beautiful quilt. I'm glad you dove into some beloved stash in such a great supportive environment to have just as awesome (if not more so) memories to go along with fabric favorites.
I have half yards of one of the Joel Dewberry Bungalow colorways (the purple colorway) that I am someday going to make into a double wedding ring quilt. I have yet to seriously commit to starting this project and doing all of the curved piecing.
I have about a yard left of some Nancy Crow fabric, it's an ombre blue with large leaf outlines on it - fades from a gorgeous aqua to a deep navy blue. I LOVE this fabric! I started with 3 yards and have used it in one quilt already. However, this last yard is being held until I find the pattern that is juuuust right. It keeps changing, so I hold off on cutting into it. I'm glad it's there when I need it and will miss it when it is finally gone.
Several years ago, my cousin gave me what was left of our grandmother's stash. There's not much in there, but there are scraps of the dresses that she made for my cousin's youngest sisters. BUT there's one scrap of a hand-me-down dress that I remember vividly. My cousin said she picked it out at the Winn's Department Store with our Mama Nita, and she was the proud original owner of that dress. I am hoarding that scrap, and will need to split it 5 ways when I tackle mini quilts for my cousins. But I'm not ready...
"flea market fancy" Denyse Schmidt ... just keep looking at it ... touching it .. drooling over it ... someday ...
I am hoarding some hand dyed fabrics I did several times with the guild I used to belong to. I have plans, but they change and then I fear cutting into them!
I hoard Bonnie and Camille fabric too. I have 7 fat quarter bundles all still covered with their ribbons and hidden in the dark closet.
I have hoarded Gypsy girl by Lily Ashbury and I have finally cut some 2.5 inch strips from it. Afraid to do anything more!!
I have several pieces I'm hoarding. 2 pieces are silk. The original intent was for silk PJs. But time has passed and I think I'm going to find a blouse pattern and turn them into blouses for my daughter as she starts her internship for her Clinical Psychology degree. The other pieces are hand printed cottons from a mission in Africa. I haven't found the right pattern to showcase the fabrics yet.
I've got some gorgeous Asian print fabric I'm hoarding so I can do a quilt along that theme. Trying to find a link to the most adorable pieced Asian girl ... argh.
My most precious hoarded fabric is 2 meters of a beautiful black and grey wool suit-weight houndstooth purchased in Paris about 30 years ago. I wanted to make a jacket from it, but wanted to lose some weight first. Then couldn't find the right pattern. Now I am afraid that if I mess up the pattern, the fabric is gone forever. As long as I don't cut it, it can be anything. I don't have any special attachment to any of my quilting fabrics, but I do have a rather well stocked resource center.
I have two large cuts (maybe four yards each) of blue and yellow background with white dragonfly outlines on it. I have no clue what to make with them. I love the fabric and I don't want to waste it, so I just pull it out of it's storage place and pet it from time to time!
Oh my! This Cartwheel quilt is an eye-popper! The design is just perfect for your beloved fabrics! I need to look more closely at this pattern. One of my fabric collections that I hold on to dearly is Art Gallery's Paperie. I so love it and need to find the perfect project for it.
I have a Fat Eight roll of Rainbow Batiks that I've been saving for the RIGHT project. That project has yet to be determined. The ribbon has remained intact for nearly 10 years. Sigh...
I have a fat quarter bundle of Make Life. It's the first big fabric purchase I made, and I still haven't opened it up and used it yet!
OMG, I love it, another quilt to add to my ever growing list of quilts I want to piece! Gonna have to break down too and open up a stash piece, or better yet, I now have a reason to look for more fabric!
I have a FQB and yardage of Ruby that I have been saving.
Thank you for this question about savoring precious fabrics. I am in love with Kate Spain's line of Good Fortune. I just found another bit of the Yoshino Waterfall in purple and am using it sparingly, if at all. I also had a lime green blender fabric from Sweetwater that is ancient, and well-loved by me, but now al lthat's left is a smidgen. I am envious of quilters who go to retreats. I haven't ventured out of my house for quilt happenings yet, but I do fantasize about it.
I have a 5 yard piece of Victoria Findlay Wolfe's Mostly Manor (the orange floral) that I am holding close, waiting for just the right project. To contrast that, I just picked up a 4.5 yard piece of Jo Morton fabric (also orange, but much darker). Orange is a theme around here, lately.
I found 3 beautiful, unusual floral printed pieces in a Goodwill store several years ago. Soft, muted colors! The selveges have writing in French. For some reason, and I'm sure you ALL understand, I cannot bring myself to cute them.
Debbie
ollieami@aol.com
I bought a yard of Liberty fabric about 4 years ago. I have used a little of it for a name tag for myself. I even have the tiny scraps. This quilt is amazing. Love the lay out and colors.
I have quite a bit of Kaffe Fasset fabric, a huge amount of real vintage fabric including feedsack and sugar/flour bags and a fair amount of Liberty of London. I've been saving them and now have decided to start making something out of them. This is the year I dig into my Kaffe Fasset and I will actually cut out 3 quilts at one time. I have been really busy this past year and now can do some serious quilting using some of my nice new fabrics too.
I've got a few FQs from Karen Lewis' Blueberry Park line and I keep meaning to dip into them, but then hesitate in case I come up with a better project idea for them!!
Love where this new quilt is going - it shows off your fabrics beautifully!
I love the layout of your pinwheels. It's a perfect way to show off those lovely prints and the pretty color palette. I'm a huge Kaffe fan and have a few older prints that I hesitate to use since I know I can't replace them, but I am slowly getting better at using my fabrics. Slowly.
Your blocks are so fun!!! I love that line too ;) And I don't know if I have a particular fabric that I am hoarding, but my stash would seem to show that I am hoarding lots ;) I just wait for the project to go with the fabric, and it always seems to be "just right", but it still have to gear up for a few minutes before I can get myself to take that ribbon off. Glad to know I am not the only one ;)
I have a bundle of the original Flower Sugar from Lucien that I just can't cut up--it's too cute!
I just plainly have to much fabric, but I am getting better at using a strip at a time from a wide variety of fabrics. I have a lot of large florals and they are hard to cut into because you lose the original design. But how much good does fabric do sitting folded up on shelves and in bins? And there are too patterns I want to make and not enough time. Sigh.
Pat
I am getting much better about using my hoarded stash - particularly Alison Glass and Carolyn Friedlander. It's crazy, but I'm much more likely to use it for someone else's project than my own! Case in point, I did a round-robin with some friends on the internet - we all live in different states coast to coast! - and when I made blocks for their quilts, I didn't hold any fabric back and used my best. I've found it to be a release of guilt to use those fabrics, and I want to have the attitude that no matter the project, if there's a perfect print in my stash, I'm gonna use it. It's fun to work with the fabrics you love, after all. Plus, working with the fat quarters and the yardage creates scraps, lovely scraps that can be used in another project (and maybe another one after that, too!).
Great quilt, and pattern! My favorite hoarded fabric changes all the time; uduslly the most recently purchased!
I used to have hoarded fabrics, but now I'm determined to put them to use. #usethegoodstuff. I hoarded Tula Pink's Neptune and Lotta Jansdotter Echo. Some echo still remains in it's own tub, but I made one big project from it. Good for you cutting into the Marmalade. Did you get nervous when you cut the ribbon or was it freeing?
I got rid of almost all my hoarded fabric. I gave it away like the book Rainbow Fish. I do have a bundle of Lori Holts Bake Shop. I can't figure out what to do with it. It may need to go to a better home. Boy it felt good letting it all ( well almost all) go!
I have quite a bit of Laura Gunn's first 2 lines for Michael Miller. I still love them! The scale is big so I hate to cut them, but they have sat there for a long time!
I love this Marmalade line too, when I see remnants of it in my scrap bin it always makes me smile, great patterns in gorgeous colours.
I have a bundle of hand dyed fabrics from a friend, some charm packs and mini charm packs and a large piece of gingham that was meant to be a shower curtain back when brown and orange and avocado green were in vogue ( before you were grown, no doubt)
I hoarded Kate Spain's 12 Days of Christmas fabric for eons (it was the first fabric I ever bought!) happily I sliced into it and have thus far finished a king sized quilt and four twister stockings (I have enough leftover from those to make a few more should our family expand!) and I have a full sized quilt all cut out and ready to piece!
One I've had forever is a fall harvest print with gold that I've seen made up into a gorgeous stack 'n' whack.
I love the effect of those blocks together. I have a layer cake of padstow by cabbages and roses which I love. I know the pattern I want make with it but I'm having trouble locating the extra fabric I need to make the quilt without breaking the bank. I can't bring myself to use it for anything else, though I may have to one day.
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