State of the Stash Report 2012

I am a member of Stashbuster Yahoo Group. Members are expected to give a stash report during their birthday month. I’ll compare my results to those of last year as I go.


Before I start, I should mention that last summer I gave away one-third of my stash to Vacaville Binky Patrol. That big reduction of stash helped my numbers for this year.


Most of my fabric stash is made up of smaller sizes, fat quarter to 1 yard. I keep them in gallon zip bags by color family. Total: 26 bags (down 9 bags from last year).


Scraps 2.5" to 13" wide of various lengths, organized by width and cool/warm colors: Six 12" x 12" drawers plus 2 gallon size zip bags--most quite full, about the same as last year. I do not keep all of my scraps. I have a grocery bag near my sewing machine where I deposit the scraps that no longer interest me. When the bag gets full I donate to a quilting charity, lately the aforementioned Vacaville Binky Patrol. Also, recently I have been using scraps and leftovers from previous projects to create charity quilts (the Echoes series) that have similar fabrics as the original quilts. I'm hoping this will help to keep my scrap collection manageable.


PIGs (Projects in Grocery Bags): 20 (23 last year), with about many of those set aside for charity, including a good deal of Echoes quilts.


UFOs (UnFinished Objects): I tend to do my projects start to finish, so I have just 3 items that sit unfinished (down 4 from last year). Of those, two just simply need to be finished; one will be given to charity. The remaining project I am quite proud of and would like to be quilted professionally with the intent of displaying in a quilt show someday.


WIPs (Works in Progress): Linda's Plaid, which I have just begun. Also, Quilter's Playtime, which I will continue working on during my at-home retreat in May.


I weighed all of the above to have something to compare to from year to year. All told, my stash weighs 118 pounds, down 20 pounds from last year. Woo-hoo! Giving away a bunch of my stash last summer helped.


I made 17 quilts last year, many of which were from new fabrics. I’m not in Stashbuster’s No-Buy group but my fabric purchases would have been okay since the projects were gifts. However, leftover fabric from those projects increase my stash. It helps to make the Echoes quilts, but I may do another stash giveaway this year to lighten even more.