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.

And I spotted the first pussywillows, too!

Letting go of stuff can be so difficult for me but it's like this seed head I came across today 

-- letting go secures the future, doesn't it?

Mary

What is your fabric hoarding weakness?

One of the aspects of quilting that we all seem to have in common is the accumulation of a "stash".    Last week over at Amy's Creative Side, she shared this quote.

 "The thing is: if you are never going to chose your own fabric, why do you have a stash at all?"  (April Rosenthal) 

 Reading that has triggered a landslide of thoughts during the past week about my own stash. 

 

I've been on both ends of stash development -- I've sold it and I've bought it. 

As a shop owner for 26 years, I suspect I've single-handedly built some pretty awesome stashes out there -- conservatively, I estimate that my contribution to local stash inventories might surpass 125,000 yards of high quality cotton fabric. 

That's a lot of fabric!!

 

And my own stash has the potential to keep me going for another 20 years though those last couple years will be frustrating as I'll be challenged by lots of "ugly" fabric.

 

As I get ready to set up my display for Vendors' Weekend at Lake Metroparks Farmpark Quilt Show this weekend, I'm pushing to finish this quilt. 

I know that when quilters see it, the first thought that will pop into their heads if they like it is to make one "just like that". 

And that is what diverts us from using our stash. 

We want to make that quilt in those fabrics. 

So my fruit and veggie Tessellated Windmill quilt will send someone on a quest to find all the veggie and fruit prints out there so she can make this quilt.  (If you can't find the tool locally, I usually have some in stock -- e-mail me at maryhueyquilts@hotmail.com)

But you are better served by using the inspiration of quilts that catch your eye to use your stash and here's how I do it. 

 

 When I see a quilt that inspires me, I take a deep breath and try to identify why I love it!  

What seems to catch a quilter's eye about this quilt is the way I used a set of fabrics unified by a theme contrasted with the "neutral" black prints.

 

So if that's the inspiration, how can you take that and apply it to your stash? 

What style of prints do you hoard?  (Hopefully, you use them once in a while as well!) 

 I hoard bird prints. 

 I hoard them in fall colors.

I hoard them in Christmas prints. 

I hoard them in Oriental prints (in fact, birds make up about 1/3 of my Oriental stash).  I'm already thinking my next Windmill quilt (love to make this quilt) needs to begin with this stack of Oriental crane prints. 

So find your hoard and contemplate using it this time.  And don't let these issues side track you!!

 

Have you ever heard yourself say, "if I use it, I won't have it anymore". 

If you use now, you are the one who got to use it --

 not some unknown quilter who grabbed it up at the yard sale for 25 cents.

How about this one?  "Its too beautiful to cut up." 

If you use that gorgeous large scale print on the backing of a quilt you are going to keep, 

you'll always have it!!

"I'm looking for the perfect pattern for it.

Really?   How long have you been in that mode?

Watch for opportunities to use those hoarded fabrics because it's more fun to play with them than it is to refold them. 

 

Once this weekend is over, I'm going to make a small wall hanging using this panel (love, love, love) to participate in the Tree Bird Blog Hop from March 13 to 23.  It's been on the "scared shelf" for over a year now and I'm looking forward to chopping it up!!

It's back to the quilting for me!!  For those of you living in Northeast Ohio, I hope to see you at the show this weekend.  My booth will be in the classroom just past the milking parlor. 

Stop by and say "Hello"!!

 

Mary Huey

www.maryhueyquilts.com