Sunday Stash: Happy Birthday to Me!

My birthday was a few weeks ago, and this year I decided the fabric fast was off for my birthday and treated myself to some quilting related goodness.

First up, a gift from my hubby and the kids. The easiest way to do this and ensure I'll get something I need is to go to an online store, make a wishlist, then give my login details to my husband. Despite some very good acting on his part along the lines of "I don't think I got that email... do you think if I order it tomorrow it'll arrive by your birthday?" (haha, so funny!), this worked.

They bought me some tools - not super exciting, but useful.

I also caved and bought a couple of packets of Washi tape from Spotlight a while ago and then gave it to my daughter to put away until my birthday.

Then, Spotlight was kind enough to hold a special just for my birthday - $1 fat flats! Woohoo! They only have this sale once a year and I seem to recall it's often near my birthday. For that price, I let myself splurge on 30 something fat quarters. I also got a couple of 1 metre cuts of clearance fabric for $4 a metre.

And Spotlight also had the last of their Christmas craft stock heavily discounted, I got ribbon packages and scrapbooking pads for $2 each. I gave some of the ribbons to the preschool where I work for Christmas projects, and I split the paper packs with a scrapbooking friend. And a packet of Kraft paper, which is my go to for scrapbook layouts and so hard to find, plus a few other bits of pieces also mysteriously appeared in my trolley.

I also heard that Kmart had fantastic metal storage containers really cheap, so I bought a pen holder and desk organiser, as well as an enamel storage tin with "Craft" written on the side that I'm using to store my English Paper Piecing.

Then a naughty, enabling friend who is also meant to be on a fabric diet told me that one of the local thrift stores had a heap of quilting fabric for sale, so I had to have a look. I got some nice designer cuts of fabric, and paid about $25 for around five metres of fabric.

We are doing a birthday swap with my Wombat Stew bee girls, and I got the very generous Kristy as my birthday fairy. Since she knew I was on a fabric diet, she bought me a gift voucher for an Australian online store. I hit the sales section and got about 16 quarter metre cuts (I love places that will do quarter cuts, since I like to have lots of little bits of fabric). Since the store had free shipping for over $50 I let my cart go over $50 to take advantage of that.... but I was very restrained, at one point I had over $90 worth of fabric in my cart.

I got a lovely little collection of stash builders and low volumes.

And... eventually my birthday had to end and now the fabric fast is back on. Probably a good thing, because I don't think I could keep up this pace forever!

Linking up with Sunday Stash with Molli Sparkles.

Tweet

Sunday Stashing

I am doing okay on the fabric/craft supply fast... at least I was until I started to use the birthday excuse, but that's the topic of another post.

Meanwhile, this is the purchasing from February and March (most of it). Not perfect, but not too terrible.

A bunch of scrapbooking cuteness from a local cheapy (dollar) store and KMart. Because I seemed to have a momentary lapse that I was fasting. Yes, that's a fruit bowl, but I am using it to hold Washi tape, as you can put it in the bowl and on the spikes. I also bought a plastic storage container for my English Paper Piecing.

A metre of fabric from Spotllight that will be used for something for the Purple Princess, no doubt. It was $5 a metre, then I used my 40% off voucher so it was $3. The lady at the counter looked at me like I was nuts for using such a valuable coupon on this, but that was because I didn't need anything else. SEE, I AM LEARNING!! I actually stood in Spotlight and filled my cart with a bunch of $4m clearance prints and $8m designer prints and then got guilty enough to put them all back. It wasn't easy, but I did it.

My mother-in-law dropped in and asked me how much quilting fabric was, as she was pricing some for the op shop (thrift store) she volunteers at. After I got over the shock of her asking such a dangerous question in front of my husband, when my beloved stash was right in the next roorm in all its hundreds-of-metres-right-here glory, I took a quick look at what she had. Below is $3 worth of fabric - blenders that might come in handy and some hand-dyed fabric that seems to be a heavier weight but would be useful for the art quilts I might get around to doing one day.

I bought these books because I had a gift certificate from returning a few books I bought but realised I didn't really want. One is quite interesting, the other not so much. My motivation here is to extend my creative skills and try new things - I'm currently at the stage of amassing supplies and references rather than actually doing anything new and innovative... oops!

I also bought the digital back issue collection of  Quilting Arts magazine as it was 40% off. See above comments about art quilts and extending creativity.... I have looked at it briefly but it's all a little overwhelming right now.

Not pictured: A frixion eraseable pen as it's useful, and a bunch of glue sticks as they were on deep discount after back to school sales and I use them constantly.

Oh, and when I was in the office supply store I caved on the set of Stabilo fineliners I'd been eyeing off. Whoops. But they are beautiful and they were good value and I'm already using them all the time.

I was also gifted some selvedges from the lovely Kristy and some Project Life cards from a member of a Project Life Facebook group I'm on.

Despite some little lapses, I'm still calling this a successful fast so far. I did torture myself a few times by going to Spotlight for other things - there seems to be some weird magnetic force that pulls me into the quilting and scrapbooking sections when I go there.

I think staying away from temptation is the biggest tool for successful fabric fasting. I need to avoid Spotlight at all costs. I am doing a good job of avoiding fabric store websites and I'm getting very good at sticking my fingers in my ears and singing La La La every time someone mentions a fabric sale.

I am also shopping my stash to remind me I really don't need anything else! I was tempted to shop for a future project until I did a fabric pull at home and discovered I didn't need another thing.

In addition to linking up with Molli Sparkles' Sunday Stash, I'm linking up with Fabriholics Anonymous's March linky party. I'll confess on my birthday haul in another post, but now the fast is officially BACK ON!

Tweet

Sunday Stash - January 2014

Because I am on a fabric and craft supply buying freeze, along with lots of other members of Fabricholics Anonymous, it seems a little weird to be writing a Sunday Stash post.

But I have decided that as part of my fabric fasting accountability, and as a personal record of how much I spend on craft supplies (even when I'm not meant to be spending on craft supplies), that I will be writing a monthly Sunday Stash update. Plus, if I'm very lucky, sometimes gifty bits of crafty goodness might come my way.

As far as my fabric fasting with the Fabriholics Anonymous girls, it's early days but it's going pretty good. I even survived the Great Aussie Destash on Instagram! I have realised that some of my craft buying is automatic, which is disturbing. I picked up some awesome pens I didn't need at Office Works and then had to remind myself I wasn't buying! I survived a trip to Spotlight, coming out empty handed, but I know I need to avoid places like that!

I am focusing on finishing things and on using my stash so the temptation to buy isn't strong yet.

Here's my legal craft spending for January:

This month, I started by spending on photos. This is completely within the boundaries of the fast, as I have said I will be printing monthly to keep up to date. Because I was catching up on the end of last year I printed quite a few photos, so this cost $25 this month. Interested Australians, I print my photos at OfficeWorks for 9c a print, because I like their quality, price and convenience. It's so easy to pop in with a USB once in a while.

A friend bought me a pack of adhesives on clearance at Spotlight for $5 - absolute bargain! They are on my allowed list but I'm not going to need anything for a while.

I purchased essential sewing supplies - two packs of needles and four reels of cotton. I have discovered that Isacord thread agrees with my sewing machine when FMQing and makes for a much more pleasant sewing experience. It is also readily available at my local sewing shop for only $6.95 a reel in a range of colours. This makes me a happy quilter. These reels are for quilting a number of upcoming quilts and I will be adding to my Isocord collection as I go. Total spend: $41. I did come home and found I had more needles than I thought, but at least I'm good for a while.

I have also decided that adding the occasional book to my craft library is also acceptable spending. After contemplating Mimi Dietrich's Craftsy class, Finishing School, a number of times, I decided to purchase the book the class is based on instead. For around $A10 for the Kindle version, this is a worthwhile investment that will hopefully push me to finish my quilts in more interesting ways.

I have also been super spoilt with crafty gifts this month.

A friend was getting rid of this quilter's carry all - I am not sure if I'll make use of it yet, but if I don't, I'll pass it on.

My mum came to visit and brought with her some Christmas scrapbooking paper she got on clearance after Christmas (I'm passing half on to a friend), and also some beautiful cotton teatowels she bought me in Ireland with a view to making something from them. I'm sure they'll be great for a home decor item.

My lovely adhesive-buying friend also bought me some scrapbooking paper and a paper pad. Lucky me.

And when you'r fabric fasting, the best kind of friend to have is the one who brings you scraps in one of the fabric lines you covet the most. It's like the friend who gives you chocolate when you're PMSing. Lovely Kristy dropped in yesterday and brought me some scraps of Alison Glass. Be still my heart.... Bike Path is one of my most favouritest prints ever.

I was also gifted a lovely bag of selvedges from a lady on the QCA group. Anyone who know me knows that my feelings for my selvedge collection is a little like Gollum's feelings for the Ring so I was very excited to receive this bag of goodness. It's all been sorted into my selvedge collection - doing something with these is high on my priority list this year!

So even while on a fabric and craft supply buying freeze, I still spent about $80 on crafty things... but I don't anticipate I'll spend anything like that most months.

I'm linking up with Molli Sparkles' Sunday Stash over at Sarah Quilts, and updating on Fabriholics Anonymous too.

Tweet

Fabriholics Anonymous - Fabric Fasting in 2014

Have you seen that Jess of the Elven Garden and Rebecca of Making Rebecca Lynne are hosting a six month fabric buying ban starting January 1? For me, the timing on this is pretty well perfect. 

Now I'm on holidays from work and doing the end-of-year mad-dash cleaning and organising, I'm reflecting a lot on the concept of simplicity and having and needing less. I'm a stuff person, as is reflected in my stash, so this is not an easy road for me. And I can fully justify that most of my discretionary income is spent on craft supplies... but if I have more than I need (honestly) then why not save that money instead? 

I haven't bought a massive amount of fabric this year, but I have bought some. I am not obsessive about new lines and particular designers, but I am a sucker for a good sale. I have cut back on my blog reading this year and this has helped a lot with not knowing about all the latest lines and wanting them - ignorance can be bliss.

So here's the stash.... 
And yes, I am super anal-retentive about the organisation of my stash. 

The multicolours and warms

The cools

The neutrals

Scraps sorted by colour

Random little scraps and solid scraps

So that's what I have to work with.... plenty. Even with not buying much this year, I also haven't had a lot of time for quilting this year, so the stash is growing faster than I can get through it. I still have a huge pile of UFOs kicking around the craft room too. 

In addition to quilting, I also scrapbook, which has been taking most of my creative time this year - I am making good progress on my albums and can see a time in my future when I am pretty well 'caught up' which is really exciting. But of course, I also buy scrapbooking supplies too, and my buying ban would extend to that. 

So with this in mind, I am pledging to stop buying craft supplies. Full stop. Which is scary as hell. I am following the fabric fast rules, below. 

The only exceptions to the fast will be to buy batting and maybe backing fabric (big maybe as I have yardage of some solids and should be able to pull something together) and possibly thread, though I have plenty. On the scrapbooking front, I am allowing myself to buy adhesives, blades and page protectors and I will continue to print photos regularly.

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 reevaluate 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?

I'm joining up to the linky party and will report back regularly. Wish me luck!

- Jane

Tweet