Stash Accumulation Beyond Life Expectancy
I plan to have used all of my fabric when the time I have on this earth is finished. Buying fabric at the JoAnn store liquidation sale might have made that more difficult, but I’m okay with it.
This is the photo I took back at the end of April after a very L O N G day of shopping at 3 different JoAnn’s locations within a half hour driving distance of each other.
I purchased 697 yards of fabric at an average $1.29 paid per yard. I am factoring in a $200 credit card bonus that I used to actually pay for the purchase in case you’re quieting thinking “no way!”. 🙂
Wells Fargo offered a $200 reward when you spent $500 in the first three months of receiving their card. I had anticipated the store would be closing soon so I applied for the card when I saw the offer and got it just in time for the last week of the store’s liquidation sales. I was actually a little surprised to get it. I think I took advantage of the same offer in 2019 and closed the card a year later. I suppose it had been long enough to not prevent the new card offer.
I’d also began tucking away extra mad money prior to the store closing so I’d be ready when the best sale prices were likely – the last couple of days that the store would still be open.
I agree that credit cards can be dangerous however; I never carry a balance on them, learning that lesson the hard way when I was young and dumb. I trust myself to pay the bill in full every month – and that’s exactly what I did this time too.
Back to the fabric…
I spent a week measuring/marking and folding fabric to fit my shelves. Prices were reduced further if you purchased the remaining amount on the bolt. I bought 19 bolts of wide backing but not all were full bolts. I also folded the backings that were 4 yards or less so I could try to use the smaller pieces first.
Here’s the photo I took the day I finished putting it all away. I was pretty tired but also happy that I could make it all fit neatly with the fabric I already owned.
I silently chuckle when family and non-quilting friends look shocked by all this fabric. If they only knew how modest it actually is for the length of time I’ve been quilting. 😉
You can see from the photo I took today that things have changed in the last four months and quite a bit of fabric has already been used.
Shelf space opened up move some of my string quilts from the guest room closet to the top of this closet. My goal is to eventually have more finished quilts here than fabric. I like to keep several extra finished quilts on hand for those times I want to give one away on before I’ve had time to make it from scratch.
I’ve also been able to return my travel sewing machine and case back to the bottom of the closet. Best of all, I’ve had fun using the fabric I was able to purchase at a great price to make quilts I wanted to make.
While it may seem like S.A.B.L.E. to some, to me it represents three to five years of quilt making at my average rate of about 300+ yards per year.
I often say that it’s lack of space that motivates me to keep my fabric accessible and as neat as possible. The truth is, to do otherwise would feel like hoarding which makes me anxious.
I bristle watching guilds spend more and more of their funds on storing donated fabrics, regardless of their justifications. If what’s coming in is not in sync with what’s going out, there’s a problem, or soon will be.
Am I worried about what happens in the future when I use all of this up?
Not at all!
With faith, you don’t fear scarcity or live with the stress and limiting thoughts that come with it. I’ve seen people work to gather much more than they’ll ever use or need, only to struggle with keeping it all. That’s not how I choose to live.
To be clear, I do understand the difference between hoarding (a mindset) and a simple measurement of the amount you own. I know quilters with thousands of yards of fabric who completely enjoy it, use it, and share it with others. That’s not what I think of as hoarding. Not even close. Hoarding is holding onto what you have (regardless of whether it’s a lot or a little) with a fist clenched so tightly that you almost fear using it as much as you do giving even the smallest amount away.
When I read the Cambridge Dictionary definition, I realized it’s no wonder I was so uncomfortable with a guild that chose to use all their resources to store fabric that only a few had access to and most had never even seen.
Hoarding: the act of collecting large amounts of something and keeping it for yourself, often in a secret place
Faith means trusting in the promise of abundance and feeling content with “enough”. It allows your world to expand with new possibilities. Your efforts grow, you give to others, and you share, all without worrying about running out.
How you feel about what you own is far more important than how much or, how little you have. “My people” are those that choose to live with an open hand, not a clinched fist.
Time to Quilt 