Fabric Fast

I’ve been trying for a while now to talk about this fabric fast that I’m doing this year (first half of, anyway… we’ll see about the rest), but I keep crapping out a couple paragraphs in. Here was the most recent attempt:

I was in my sewing room trying to clean up the space a little because I’m going to have to sleep in there over Christmas (my family – parents, younger sister, and Grandma – are coming up for a week) and I was shovelling fabric by the armload into available nooks and crannies on the shelving unit I never wanted to out-grow when I finally felt relief, instead of a vague sense of terror, about my fabric fast next year.

I’ve said it before, but let me say it again: I have too much stuff. I have too much fabric. I have too many projects in progress. I have too many future projects. There’s just too much.

It seems like enough to say that, but there are so many reasons beyond the STUFF that make me want to fabric fast, and every time I sit down to write those out, I run into problems. I’ve talked about it so many times in so many places (every other blog where someone talked about doing a fast or why they won’t do a fast) that I can’t seem to sort it all out in my head any more. It’s… you know,… because… Reasons.

Here’s one very practical one: I may have to move soon, and likely into a much smaller place, where I will almost certainly no longer have a sewing room.
Here’s a head-casey one: I shop when I’m stressed or depressed and I hate that about myself and the shopping makes me more stressed/depressed, which starts the cycle all over.

Here’s a rage against consumer culture one: I hate that I somehow feel pressured to buy things now because What If I Can’t Find It Again When I Need It. (Here’s a true fact about the current quilting world: the number of designers and fabric lines that appeal to current day sewists is expanding, not contracting. THERE WILL BE MORE AND OTHER BEAUTIFUL THINGS. Do I need this beautiful raspberry print today? Probably not because three years from now, there will be five beautiful raspberry prints. Or perhaps I won’t like raspberry any more anyway, but there will be fifty beautiful *insert colour of choice* prints. If I’m not planning to use it now, why am I worrying about not being able to find it later? I’ll find something different later and I might even like it better.)

These aren’t all the reasons I’m fabric fasting, but I think they’re enough to be getting on with.

Making Rebecca Lynne and Jess at The Elven Garden came up with this idea of Fabricholics Anonymous, for which they’ve created the following list of goals and rules:

GOALS:
– To use the Stash I already have!
– Finish UFOs without distraction by shifting to other new beautiful fabric
– Stop the insanity of constantly buying the latest and greatest fabric
– Save the $$ I spend on stashing
– Destash the fabrics that I realize I am never going to use

FABRIC FAST RULES:
1) No fabric purchases for 6 months beginning January 1, 2014
2) At 6 months re-evaluate status and decide whether to keep going for full year – evaluation July 1, 2014
3) Create a UFO list and complete them!
4) Exceptions:
Backing: purchasing a backing to finish a quilt top is permissible. However, attempting to use fabric in your possession for a backing is preferable.
Books and Magazine purchases are allowed as they are not fabric. Notions acceptable too.
Swap Mama Fabric: if hosting a swap you are permitted to by fabric to execute swap duties, but you may not join a swap simply for the sake of being able to buy fabric!
Quilts for Publication: if you are making a quilt for a publication and need certain fabric to execute it correctly then that is a major exception – who can blame you?

Here are my exceptions:
1. Backings, borders, and solid white fabric if necessary. Also, I have a $75 gift card for Mad About Patchwork, which I want to save until I start feeling a bit wibbly about the whole fasting thing. (Rules for using that? I can’t spend more than the card plus the cost of shipping/tax.) Also notions are allowed, but only necessary items like thread or needles, not items used in the creation of new projects, like zippers for zip pouches or whatever. I want to finish/use up, not start/add to the collection.
2. No magazines or books: I don’t use the ones I have. Also, no more Craftsy classes: I don’t use the ones I have.
3. No joining swaps if it means buying fabric. (I can make an exception if necessary for my only bee, Stash Bee (I’m in Hive 12), but I have a pretty extensive stash, so there should be no issue there. And I should try to swap for fabric, rather than purchasing fabric, if necessary.)
4. Quilts for publications or teaching classes is not an issue.

—

As for the UFO/WIP list, that’s a tough one. I have a very incomplete list on a permanent page, but I’m going to try to make a list based on what’s in my Flickr acct. This might get hella long. Forewarned is forearmed. (Honestly, I won’t mind if you just close this down here. It’s going to get embarrassing.)

In Progress (Includes Embroidery WIPs, at the bottom)
– Catvent quilt top — blocks in progress
– Sunshine cushion cover — top finished, needs to be quilted and then sewn together
– Confetti Go Lucky quilt — needs to be basted, quilted, bound
– Pushme Pullme quilt — needs to be basted, quilted, bound
– Churn Dash quilt — needs more blocks made
– Doctor Who quilt — need to finish borders
– 2 Trip Around the World baby quilts (one, two) — tops finished except borders, will be donated as tops to a Linus charity (I have no backing, so don’t intend to finish them) — borders complete and tops sent away
– Mendocino Posh Tot quilt — needs to be basted, quilted, bound
– Checkerboard quilt — need to baste, quilt, bind
– First Quilt Ever! — baste, quilt, bind
– Curio quilt — finish blocks & top
– Mendocino Mod Times quilt — finish top
– Christmas quilt?? — Do…. something with these blocks
– Pink Bento Box quilt (Meant to be a charity thing for my work) — finish blocks, top, etc.
– The Poppy quilt — Baste, quilt, bind
– Eva’s Paintbox quilt — Finish blocks
– Amy Butler Pink Pink Pink BOM — finish blocks
– Oranges and Browns BOM — finish blocks (assuming I still have this one? Might have given the blocks away…)
– Stupendously Ugly BOM — burn and salt the earth
– Sunlight and Shadows quilt — ugh, piece top, etc.
– Green Amy Butler QAYG quilt — finish quilting blocks, piece together
– Blue and Orange Big Block quilt — baste, quilt, bind
– Random Blue Blocks quilt (do I still have these?) — create a top, etc.
– Hated Houses wall-hanging (something started for my mom before I bought my sewing machine — ie. it’s all hand-pieced so far) — salvage into a small wall-hanging
– Plume quilt — baste, quilt, bind
– Christmas table runner (No photo) — Meant to be a gift, can’t recall where I was at in the creation of it
– Saturday Surprise Sampler — finish top, etc.
– Blue and Brown Improv Block quilt — need to piece remaining blocks, etc.
– 2012 Modern BOM from Sew Mama Sew (couldn’t find a picture of the finished top) – baste, quilt, bind
– Summer stitching club wall-hanging — need to finish embroidery, cut out backing fabric, etc.
– Stitch Sampler Along — need to finish embroidery, piece mini quilt, etc.
– Tulip Slip cushion — need to do appliqué and create cushion
– Daisy Chain embroidery — need to finish stitching
– Nesting Place embroidery — need to finish stitching, build needlecase, etc.
– Molly Mutante wall-hanging — embroidery done, need to do everything else

Haven’t Started/Wish List (Includes embroidery projects, at the bottom)
– Bear Paw quilt repair — at the request of my sister, she doesn’t care how I repair it or with what
– Sunburst table topper — have kit
– Cori Dantini mini-quilts — have fabric
– Birdie Sling bag — have fabric
– Quilt for my Dad — no particular plan, just to use Parson Grey fabric
– Hourglass quilt for my sister — have fabric
– Acacia quilt (Craftsy class quilt) — have fabric
– Valori Wells Hexagon quilt (Rosalie) — have kit
– Ugly Welcome Wall-hanging (for my mother, her request) — have fabric
– Oh Canada quilt — uses scraps + white
– Embroidered wool wall-hanging — have wool and pattern
– Gypsy Wife quilt — have fabric
– Bird of Paradise wall-hanging – have kit
– City Quilts purple quilt — have kit
– Pale Blue and White Quilt — have kit
– Reunion quilt — have kit (Is it Reunion? I forget now…)
– Tufted Tweets reflection quilt — have fabric
– Matryoshka doll ornaments — have felt, need to make two for my cousin and her husband
– Varga girl mini
– Talliaferro crewel embroidery — have kit
– Mellerstain parrots embroidery — have kit
– Crewel Twists embroidery — have kit
– Little Garden embroidery sampler — have kit

Did I say this would be long? It was long. Did I say it would be embarrassing? It’s embarrassing. I really need some Off-The-Puter Quilty Friends who would slap me round the face if I ever start talking about starting something new. (Also, I feel the need to disclaim and say that these are projects leading back 10 years. It’s not like I’ve generated all these unfinished things in the last year or two.)(Still, it’s embarrassing either way.)