stashbusting update

I haven't had a whole lot of time to work on stashbusting this holiday. I was pretty much on the run since I left work on Wednesday.

I am really sorry for everyone who had a bad experience on Black Friday, but I had a great shopping day. There were a couple of things I wanted from Best Buy including a gift for myself of iPod speakers. I set my alarm for 4 to get up and be there by 5. When it went off I decided that I didn't need iPod speakers that badly and nothing else couldn't be found later. When I did get up, DH convinced me that since the sale didn't end until noon I could still go and see how things were. If it was horrible I could just come home. I got there around 9, found my speakers and a couple of little things for my children and was out in 25 minutes. It went so well I decided to go get more shopping done. A friend and I organize an adopt a family every year at our office. Some people buy gifts from the list, but there are a lot of people in our office who would rather just donate money and have us do the shopping. I had a list of things that we still needed for the family and I was able to get all but one thing and made it home by 1 for lunch. This really does have something to do with stashbusting. I skipped going to the Joann's doorbuster sale which has been the only other Black Friday event I have ever been to. I didn't buy a single piece of fabric all weekend long.

I made this wall hanging this weekend completely from stash. It didn't use much fabric, but I didn't buy any for it either.

I also started a Christmas gift from stash. I can't show a picture and ruin the surprise. Not much used there either, but every little bit helps. :cD

to stash or not to stash

I have the top done for the wall hanging I am making for my friends' shop. I'm just going to put it together and do some outline hand quilting. With the 4 day weekend so I should be able to find some time to get that accomplished. Hopefully this gets the reproduction fabrics moving.

I'm OK with the way this turned out, but I think I would have liked it better if I had been able to use my stash. I had to make it all with fabrics I brought from the store and since I was making it small I didn't need much of each ... It would have been much more scrappy if I had my way, but my friend Jan said that whenever she even backs something with fabric from her stash a customer will turn the quilt over and come to her and want THAT specific fabric. So since I made this to boost sales I worked with what I brought.

There has been a lot of talk around about stashing and being crippled by your stash. I have always been a bit of a hoarder. Hopefully I never get as bad as those people on Oprah, but I can see myself leaning towards some of the people on Clean Sweep. I just have a hard time passing up a sale when it is something I think I will have a use for at some point. Personally I don't really feel crippled by my stash. My favorite part of the process is auditioning the different fabrics to find a combination I like best and for that you need a large variety. I feel my stash is my retirement account. At work we had a representative from our 401K management company come to tell us about how much we will need to invest for retirement (I could not believe how many MILLION they say is needed) and he said you need to save for hobbies after you retire. I figure the way it stands now I have a really good jump on that. All I will have to buy is thread and rotary blades and I'm golden. I do, however, feel it might be getting to be a slight problem when I buy new fabric and don't have a place to put it after it follows me home. My sewing room was so organized for a short time right after we moved and now is bursting at the seams. I do think I may have to live to be somewhere around 200 before I could use up what I have. Sooooo even though I love and use my stash I am going to use the support offered by JudyL and other quilters who want to reduce their stash and try very hard to pass by sales and not enhance my stash any further. I am not going to track how much I use, but I am going to try very hard to get moving on finishing up some projects and making a bunch of others that I have all kitted up and ready to go. We'll see how far I get. ;c)

secret santa

Dear Secret Santa,

I am going to wait until Christmas morning to open my present so please don't post a picture until after then.

Thank you.

...tami

what exactly have i been up to?

Not much quilting.
Sales of the reproduction fabrics at my friends quilt shop have not been terribly good. The weekend I went to visit she mentioned that another sample besides the tote bag I made would give people more ideas. I'm going to make a small wall hanging with probably 4 blocks from Jo Morton's Prairie Flowers book.
I love repro fabrics so I need to get them selling so she can continue to carry them. :cD
I've mostly been working on some extracurricular Christmas activities at my job. I'll post more on that later when things are out of the planning stages and I have some pictures.

weekends should be longer

I needed a picture for my post and forgot to take any of my weekend activities. I decided it's been quite a while since I posted a picture of my kitties. Look where I found them. Aren't they cute?
I didn't get a chance to get any cooking done ahead this weekend, but I had a very good reason. I spent the weekend with my friend Jan. I had agreed to teach a hand applique class on Saturday. She has been unable to find anyone else since I moved so if she gives me enough time to plan and enough students I go up for a weekend. I had so much fun. I taught a class, bought some patterns, picked up some fabric to make a couple of samples, ate way too many goodies and had a great time catching up with Jan. I just love discussing ideas for her shop. I live vicariously through her. :cD Her job is way more fun than mine.