Quilting through Rose-colored Trifocals!: Do You Use Your "Sacred Stacks"?

You know what I'm referring to, don't you?

Those stacks of fabric that look so wonderful together, whether they are a coordinated set you purchased or an inspired stack you pulled from your stash of wonderful fabrics.
Up there on the top shelf!!

Most of mine are "inspired" pulls that result from buying a gorgeous piece of fabric and gleaning a set of coordinating prints and colors from the stash on hand.

This past week, I've been doing some studio tidy up as part of the #cleansewing hashtag on Instagram. So far I've cleaned up the stacks on the floor and put away things in three of the four corners of the room. I make stacks and leave them on the floor in front of my fabric shelves with something in mind but at this point, I have no idea why I set that stack aside?
So back into the stacks they go!!

One of the dangers of studio-tidy-up-events is that a clean cutting mat often stimulates a new project start -- not really what I should be doing. Just the same, when @sterlingsewn put out a call on Instagram for "testers" for a new pattern she is working up, I raised my hand!

So to alleviate some of the guilt, I went through my "sacred stacks" looking for a group of fabrics to use. Four stacks came down off the top shelf and after reviewing the pattern, I settled on this group of mono-color prints pulled "I can't remember when" to coordinate with this pretty blue floral.

In the process of revisiting my sacred stacks, I found quite a few pinks and greens which should be in the color stacks instead of hidden away. I was thinking both of those colors were rather depleted, but no -- they have just been hidden in sacred stacks???
Out they come because I want to use them!!

The test sew is coming along nicely but that's not my topic today. I'm here to encourage you to use those sacred stacks because if you are like me, they contain some of the most beautiful fabric you own!!

In the past I've had a standing rule about going to the "sacred stacks" first when starting a new project but that rule has been forgotten for a while. I've shopped enough "big yard sales" to know that if I don't use the gorgeous stuff up on the top shelf, someone else will use it (and only pay $1 for it?!?!).

I have one more corner of the studio to finish -- it had all my teaching step samples and class outlines and handouts -- having a tough time letting go of some of that stuff even though I don't plan to return to teaching very often. I laid out all the tumbling block demo-pieces I found and will organize them into a sweet little quilt to donate this spring.

Once that corner is tidy, my plan is to go through all the fabric shelves beginning with the sacred stacks and re-evaluate their sacredness.

There's a little voice in the back of my head whispering how "freeing" it will be to break up all those sacred stacks and put the fabrics back into their color stacks. It will be like a huge shopping spree and the color stacks will look vibrant and fresh! And it's not like I have a specific project in mind for any of them.

So next week? We'll see -- what about you?

Hoarding "sacred stacks"?

I have to do it before spring gets going too fast -- I love spring and all the change and don't want to miss any of the season's firsts out of doors. I just spent all day today chasing migrating ducks!

Look at all of them on this pond!

Mostly Redheads here, but some Ring-necked Ducks and Lesser Scaup, too.