2010 is coming . . ready or not! 2010 is the year that I’m going to use my stash like you won’t believe. If I use anywhere near my goal, my actions will be historic. Future generations of quilters will talk about me . . the lady who used all those yards of fabric back in 2010! OK . . maybe not but I’m giving it my best shot. The only thing that will stop me from reaching my goal would be some unforeseen happening. Let’s just hope there are no such happenings at our house in 2010.
From the responses to the question posed yesterday, it’s obvious that all of our stashes are different. Some are comprised of small amounts of yardage, some are comprised of fat quarters or smaller pieces, many are comprised of a combination of all sizes of fabrics.
To effectively use our stashes, I believe we have to intimately know our stash . . know what types of fabrics are in there and what type patterns work best with our own stash.
My stash for instance, as most everyone knows, is almost totally tone on tone fabrics. I love those! I think they’re timeless. You can look at a Moda Marble that I bought in 1996 and it looks just like a Moda Marble I bought yesterday (but really . . I didn’t buy a Moda Marble yesterday. I didn’t buy any fabric yesterday . . really!) Tone on tones work for me. Florals and plaids do not work for me . . at all! Tone on tones may no work for you . . . that’s ok! So long as your stash works for you, that’s all that matters.
When you see a pattern . . a free pattern on the internet, a pattern in a book, a single pattern . . that you like, what’s the first thing you think? If you want to make that pattern, do you:
- Try to choose the exact same or similar fabrics so you can make your top just as shown?
- Go home and shop your stash to make the quilt using what you have at home, even if it means you have to tweak the pattern a bit to fit what you have at home?
My guess is if you’re thinking along the lines of option #2, you may use enough stash fabric to be in the quilt history books with me! 
Here’s an example. This is the Saratoga Lights quilt just as I showed earlier. One navy, one gold, one red, one light background and one darker background fabric.
Here’s the same drawing where I used multiple gold, red and navy fabrics. I still used one light background and one darker background fabric.
Hardly makes any difference in the overall look of the pattern by using a mixture of fabrics, but it makes a difference . . especially in my stash reports, if I made my stash work for me versus buying the “perfect” fabrics to work in this quilt.
In 2010, if you’re wanting to bust the stash, when you want to make any top or pillowcase or backing or whatever . . see what’s in you stash! Be absolutely sure there’s nothng in there that will work for you before buying new fabric.
Remember . . I’m not saying we don’t want to support the quilt shops! We want to see if we can use what we have in our stash before we buy. What if I had everything needed to make this quilt but had nothing that would work for the darker background. If I really wanted to make this quilt, I wouldn’t hesitate to buy the 1-1/2 yards of darker background fabric needed.
Is your stash going to work for you in 2010 or is it going to sit and collect dust, and then you’re going to feel like you can’t buy fabric because you have so much fabric already?
