Jenn at Quarter Inch From the Edge has declared 2016 the year of the stash and she has written a stash manifesto to go along with it. She is encouraging others to play along and write their own manifestos. This prompted me to add to my 2016 goals the goal of using more of my stash.
My first thought was to have my manifesto typified by the statement "Use It or Lose It. With this scenario I envisioned myself restricting purchases to having used an equivalent amount of material from the stash, but here's the thing. I don't have that kind of accounting personality and the whole enterprise would just bore me to death.
So I'm still going to add to my stash, pretty much in the same way I do now, but I'm going to aim to use up at least as much of the old stuff as I bring in , and hopefully more.
Now I don't know about you but over the years I've managed to accumulate some fabrics that I can only describe as one offs. Maybe I went a little overboard at a sale, maybe I bought too many fat quarters for a particular project wanting to have lots of options for fabric choices. To be frank for some of my fat quarters I don't know what I was thinking!
Keeping all this in mind my Mission Statement is "To Use Up the Weird, the Wacky and the Wonderful" one offs that I have in my stash. It could be a fat quarter or several metres of fabric.
And here I share with you some of the dirty laundry.
Some of these could definitely fall into the category of weird and wacky, and if they don't fit in that category they don't go with much in my stash right now.
The weirdly wonderful category includes several traditional Japanese fabrics that don't really fit with each other or with much else in my stash.
Although some of these fabrics are quite beautiful.
So how am I planning on using these up. Well, in November and December I did a pretty good job of using stash fabrics in small presents like the five minute hexie coasters and fabric baskets. I might also sneak some fabrics into improv pieces, and I have some plans to give away some fabrics to homes where I know they will be better loved. It's all about lightening the load and freeing up space for new things.
So that's the plan. I'm linking up to the Year of the Stash Linkup with Jenn at Quarter Inch From the Edge. Like Jen I'll keep a running tab somewhere.
Do you have plans for lightening your stash this year?
11 comments:
The little bunny people make me giggle! I'm better now, but I used to be bad for picking up random novelty prints that don't fit into many, if any, quilts. I'm just a sucker for cute/funny prints! :) Good luck with your stash this year!
I struggle with the weird and wacky in my stash, too, and have been known to gift it to someone else who is excited by it when I cannot figure out what to do with it. I think the coasters or sliced up into improv work would be great ideas for me to remember in the future.
That orange print in your first weird and wacky photo is awesome! Yeah for orange. Good luck playing along.
Great plan! Sometimes the best designs come out of designing with a challenge.
I'm with you - the accounting thing is just not my cup of tea, but I like the idea of deliberately focusing on the stuff that has been left behind over the years. Sometimes I just sneak odd things into quilt backs, but that first pile of Japanese fabrics I would use all together.
Yep, I too have some of those weird and whacky fabrics lurking in the corners. Your plan is a good one.
It is funny how you come across fabric in your stash and wonder...How was I going to use this? I keep telling myself I'm going to do a scrap vomit quilt of 2 inch squares so any ugly fabric is hidden the in mix.
Isn't it funny how those weird and wacky fabrics seem to breed in ones stash? Those little critters in the red bunny suits are a hoot. Best of luck with "using it or losing it" and thanks for linking up and spreading the word about The Year of The Stash!
This is so weird. I swear I do not know Jenn at Quarter Inch From the Edge but I too had decided that I would use up my oldest, waky-est fabric this year. I pulled a few out for the RSC that were just old, not too weird. So I will hop to her blog and I might join. :^D
By the way, love the circles fabric in the first picture, all four of them. I'm a sucker for dots. Good luck with your goal. ;^)
Your weird and wacky fabrics would be great for Beads of Courage bags. I agree it is time to use our stash/scraps. Good luck.
It's these weird and wacky fabrics that I have trouble using too Lisa. Love the little red bunny costume fabric... so one's person's weird is another person's wonderful, LOL.
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