It has been exciting to hear that so many of you will be joining the Vintage Holiday Quilt Along next month! Some fantastic fabric stacks are starting to show up in the flickr group. I had originally planned to buy some new Christmas fabric for my quilt, but after going over the family budget with my husband last week, I'm trying to do the responsible thing and pull from my stash instead. I've been collecting prints by Denyse Schmidt for months now, planning to use them for something special, and I've finally decided that this quilt will be it. I'm already picturing different blocks in my mind using these prints, and I can't wait to get started!
Aneela Hoey's lovely blog Comfortstitching was one of the first ones that I followed when I discovered the online quilting community last year. Her fabric designs are both sweet and clever -- I'm personally drooling over her two new lines: Cherry Christmas and Sew Stitchy. Be sure to stop by her blog today because Aneela is sharing her finished Vintage Holiday quilt -- yes, the one that inspired me to start this quilt along! While you're there, be sure to leave a comment because she's also hosting our second quilt along giveaway this month: a $25 gift certificate to the Fat Quarter Shop! See...even if I can't buy new fabric, you can!
Do any of you ever struggle with the financial aspect of quilting? I seem to be constantly trying to balance my desire to buy every new collection on the market with my need to pay the bills. My friend Beth and I were talking about this just last week, and it's made me curious. How do all of you support your fabric addiction?
that is the hardest thing....i really tend to be a buyer...and then have regrets....so i am trying to really think about what i am buying...but gee whiz it is hard...i am going to supply my need for more fabrics by selling off my remenants on etsy over the next couple weeks....this way i am cleaning out the stuff i am sick of or have no real matches for and then generating more money for new fabric....it is a nice fantasy....i'll see if it comes to fruition :)
ReplyDeletebtw....great choice of fabrics....mine will be a bit of the non traditional...no christmas fabric variety...trying to use what i have
I'm fairly new to quilting, but have already purchased quite a bit leaving my hubs a little suspicious. What I've been doing when the urge hits is leave it in the cart (online) and wait until the next day. After some time has passed I will definitely still be thinking of certain fabrics more often than other when I walk away, and having the distance really makes me think of the ones that I really really want versus just getting drunk on pretty. It's worked so far for the most part, I definitely can usually trim my purchases to about half of the original. But it's so hard to pass up sometimes. Sometimes thinking of a collection that hasn't come out yet that I really want (Sarah Jane's new one at the moment) makes me more able to save for the future instead of blowing tons of cash now.
ReplyDeleteAll mind games, but it works for me.
I do struggle with buying fabric. My hubby and I are missionaries and I lost my part time job over a year ago. This means I only have a few dollars at any given time. I love all the new fabrics coming out and would love to buy them. I constantly fight with myself and have to repent of coveting all the gorgeous things. I do try to enter all the giveaways I can find and every once in a while, I win some pretty fabric. i also do what Jess does. I put the things I love in a shopping cart and wait for my better sense to overcome my want and I generally walk away from the fabric.
ReplyDeleteI find that having my stash organized by color helps a lot also because i can look at it and remind myself that I have 196 fat quarters of various aquas. (not really!) And it's good for during sales too b/c then I can see that okay, I really don't have any yellows so I feel more justified in buying them.
ReplyDeleteBy no means am I able to buy every fabric that I have my eye one, especially when it comes to those lovely, pricier organics, but I am able to get quite a few from selling vintage sheets as fabric and other findings in my Etsy shop.
ReplyDeleteLike many others, I play the fantasy shopping game quite often too. I'll load up my online cart and then just walk away from it. Somehow just pretend shopping seems to help a lot, especially when you go back and realize that you can survive without that super, wonderful print.
Currently, I still work full time well almost, so we can afford for me to splurge some, however, if I decide to be a stay at home mom then I know that I will have to cut back or earn enough from my long arm quilting to cover my fabric obsession. It is a fine line. but I will admit one thing that I have done is for christmas I e-mail my husband a list and there are usually some charm packs and fat quarter bundles in there. It just sucks because both my birthday and Christmas are right next to each other.
ReplyDeleteI try to stay with a budget when I buy fabric. So far this year I saved up for a couple of months so I could buy something at every shop during the local quilt shop hop my Mom and I went on. We are in a new state now and I am doing a new budget before I find the local quilt shops!
ReplyDeleteI have lost all control. It's funny, I don't have a quilt shop nearby but when I do go to one, I have incredible self restraint. Something about buying being only a click away is my downfall. And I always feel guilty about it afterward, especially since at my pace I can't possibly make things fast enough to really justify my purchases.
ReplyDeletePerhaps a diet is in order?
I am supposed to be on a fabric diet this year but it is a complete and total failure. It seems likes I buy fabric for a swap or project every couple of weeks. And I always tell myself that is the last fabric I am buying until I finish some projects. So much for my resolutions. LOL! I do watch for sales which helps some. But fabric is getting so expensive. I definitely need to come up with a plan to cut back.
ReplyDeleteI have to be very frugal too! I started selling things on etsy that I make to try and fund my addiction to fabric and quilting a bit more as I don't work and look after the kids at home. I just wish I could sell some more things to then buy some more fabric!
ReplyDeleteYour fabrics look great. I am looking forward to seeing your quilt : )
ReplyDeleteWhat? You mean people actually budget for fabric and don't blow all their grocery money on it??? Just kidding of course ;-)
ReplyDeleteI work part time to support my addiction. I'm one of the lucky ones, who doesn't "need" a job, so any money I make goes to fund fabric, travel, sky high heels......ok, maybe not the heels, but you get the idea :-) Right now I'm stashing my money away so I can shop till I drop when I'm in Utah at Sewing Summit in the fall!
My little sewing room has reached critical mass these days, so I now know that if I'm itching to acquire something new, I either have to finish a quilt or sell something. That seems to keep the influx of new fabric to a slow creep instead of a deluge!
ReplyDeleteI think I finally worked out that I can buy fabric faster than I can sew, and often 2 or 3 lines that I love (need?) will come out at once so I can't possibly buy all of them, so I have come to a sort of peace that unless the number of hours in the day increases dramatically, I just can't justify buying cartloads of new fabrics because I haven't even got time to sew the old stuff, let alone the new. Oh but it hurts!
ReplyDeleteAs I am fortunate enough to have a casual job (3 shifts a week) and do sewing (not quilting) for extra income and the money is not required for housekeeping, I can (and do) spend as I fancy. But....at 69 how many sewing (or quilting)(or working) years have I really got left....especially to get through the heaps of fabric I've accumulated over the last 10 years!
ReplyDeleteWhen asked what I'm going to make with a new pile of fabric I'm buying I have to admit that I've no immediate plan, and add that I am just "collecting" fabric while I still have the money to do so. It's somewhat shaming to have this addiction, and I'd best change my mindset to Gertie's. ....and that BEFORE next weekend when I am attending the IQCAfrica in Johannesburg, when there will be a million and one fabulous new never-seen-before-by-me fabrics on SALE ! Oh dear. Margaret
I'd love to say that my fabric spending is under control, but nothing could be further from the truth! It's way too easy to buy online, and even the anticipation of the parcel arriving is wonderful :) Perhaps I should try the delayed shopping technique described above? Well done for shopping from your stash...looks like you had lots of yummy pieces to choose from :)
ReplyDeleteI recently retired due to illness...so money is really tight. I spent about $150 when I first retired (retirement gift from my DH) to buy a "bulk fat quarter stash" online and also several charm packs. Then I put the word out on Freecycle that I was in need of material (preferably 100% cotton) for quilting. Several people responded and one wonderful woman gave me large garbage bags FULL of material of all types. I kept all of the cotton, home decor and tapestry and freecycled the rest to another crafter. As someone else said, my 10 x 10 room has reached critical mass. Although I LOVE the new lines, I will have to wait until I work through my stash and buy the new lines when they have been out for a while and hit the discount stash builder items on ebay. I, too, have been entering every give-away I can but haven't been lucky enough to win. Keeping my fingers crossed for the future.
ReplyDeletelindapawlak@verizon.net
Oh what a beautiful pile!! It will make a gorgeous quilt, that's for sure!! As for fabric buying... well, I'm still at the buy-as-I-need it stage. Mostly. At least, most of it all has projects planned, lol!
ReplyDeleteI am definitely a "collector" of fabric! I have found that staying away from my dealer, I mean online fabric shops, keeps me out of trouble. When i really feel the need to buy something, i go to my local shop and buy a couple of fat quarters to fill my need. I only shop online if i need something.
ReplyDeleteThey put out so many new lines so frequently I find it impossible to purchase what I'd like to. Lately it seems what I buy is older lines on sale for half the price, and I use great places like Fabric.com's free shipping with $35/order and coupons on top of it when there is a sale. I'm hoping to find a job when I can to support my hobby.
ReplyDelete