At a recent quilting retreat the group was talking about their fabric stash or the lack thereof – who knew this could be such a fiery topic!
The anti-stash group argued that it had freed them from having to store and sort all kinds of material. They felt lighter without having all that material hanging around and it opened them up to only purchasing quilting kits that came with all the fabrics they needed. They looked at this as a smart, ecologically friendly, and thrifty way to quilt. They threw away their scraps at the end of the retreat and went home with only their finished projects or their UFO’s, minus the extra fabric.
The pro-stash group argued that having a stash saved them time as they did not have to go to the store if they miscut a fabric or if the quilt they were making just needed a little something more to make it special. They got joy out of having their fabric and sorting the colors and feeling the fabrics – to them having a stash was not work, but a labor of love of fabrics. They too through they were smart, ecologically friendly because they saved their scraps to use in another quilt rather than putting them in the landfill, and thrifty because they could buy fabrics on sale and save them in their stash. They went home at the end of the retreat with their finished projects or their UFO’s and with extra fabric to be used in another quilt.
In the end the group decided that everyone was right – because they did what worked for them. As for me, when the anti-stash people were leaving, I asked if I could have all their scraps. You never know when you might need them and hey – it’s good to keep them out of the landfill. 😊
Which do you prefer a stash or project based quilting?