Not quite my first blog, but pretty close to it! I'm going to keep this one just for blogging about quiltmaking. I'm pretty much an amateur at this, although I've been doing it for 20 years, and have my City and Guilds. However, I'm not really that talented, just love fabric, and stitching, and making things. Especially making things out of nothing. And this blog is going to be about trying not to buy fabric.
In all the books and magazines and the quilt fora that I belong to quilters are both apologetic and defiant about the size of our fabric stash. So I'm probably not alone in admitting to owning a gargantuan amount of fabric. Some that I have had for 20 years. I still know where I got the early stuff, although I am more hazy about some of the more recent purchases, as my shopping habit has got out of hand.
I know I can't use this stuff. I know that a consumer attitude to my hobby is bad for me financially and psychologically and bad for the environment. Worse still almost is the paralysing effect all these materials have on my creativity. I have so many possibilities, I cannot choose, and I have more UFOs than I can remember. I find things everywhere. The mess upsets my other half and my step daughter. Thankfully my sons don't care about it all.
It's got to stop. This blog is a companion to my blog on MySpace (www.myspace.com/notfortaming) where I shall report occasionally on my efforts not to buy new stuff. Here I am undertaking to use up my stash! I am going on a stash diet (please nobody publish that book title before me). I will post pictures of my finished objects - if I run out of pristine fabric, I shall make do, learn to dye, or paint, or embellish (using my stocks of other craft materials bought just in case). I will rediscover my creativity and I shall have fun. I will no longer be burdened by the environmental damage done by indulging my hobby, which used to be all about thrift, make do and mend. Anyone want to join me?
6 comments:
Way to go! I blog too as an attempt to get back that good feeling from fabric shopping as opposed to that 'bad' guilty feeling. I look forward to seeing what you're up to, perhaps we can get our UFO's finished up this way!
Well, I'm not going on a stash diet, but I did make a resolution to actually use the stuff I own - not necessarily use it up, just USE it - so, not look at it and think, no, I won't use that, I'll save it for something (what??). And where possible, I do try to use stuff from my stash rather than buying new. But if I need (or even want) something, I still buy it, I just try to be moderate and sensible about it, rather than out of control...
Another thing to keep in mind about what to do when you don't have the right fabric for something is you can try swapping - if you are looking for a specific thing, many people might have it in their stash and not need it, and those same people might really need that whatever-it-is that you have lurking about which you can't remember why you bought...
I know exactly what you mean. I will never live long enough to use all the stuff I have bought over the years and too much choice can certainly stifle your creativity. Maybe I will try and take a leaf out of your book. Good luck with your resolution and the new blog.
I know just what you mean - there is no way that I could live long enough to use up all the stuff I have bought over the years and it is true that too many materials can be stifling to your creativity. Maybe I will have a go at working only with the stuff I already have - of course, that won't stop me going to all the art shows I can get to (next stop Art in Action and the Festival of Quilts.)
Good luck with your resolution and the new blog. I've just succumbed to blogging too!
Julie
Sorry Kate I got confused and posted my comment twice....doh!
Congratulations on starting
Q-Blog...I love the 'On the crest of a wave' quilt. It is stunning!
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