Stash

You hear quilters talk about their ‘stash’, which doesn’t necessarily sound appealing, does it? But as every quilter knows, their ‘stash’ is a lovely place. It may not be folded and stacked neatly (probably isn’t) but your stash is one facet of quilting that keeps you going. It is what you want to use up; it is what you want to add to. It is your constant quilting companion.

Many quilters have very large stashes, collected over the years. Many add bits and pieces of all the latest fabrics by all the popular designers. Compared to these kinds of quilters, my stash is quite forlorn, mostly ‘leftovers’ from projects past. I occasionally make lists of what all I could make of these leftovers, and it really is quite a lot. But often, I am mostly drawn to what is currently on the market – what’s new and exciting.

My daughter adds fat quarters to her stash. One friend usually adds fabric in two-yard lengths; another buys all the fabric she’ll need when she finds a new pattern, making her own ‘kit.’ Lately, I’ve added a few things to my stash “just because.”

Before I share the really good stuff, here’s my current stash. Pretty much three bins of that leftover fabric I mentioned, with a tad of newish stuff tossed in, roughly organized by color. Bin three has leftovers bagged together with everything from one project. It’s hard for me to separate what I know goes nicely together. I also have two bags - one of Christmas fabric, and one of "Aunt Gracie's".

New this week and ready to go into bin three are 15 layer cake squares from the Central Park quilt I’m piecing. Thinking they might make into a cute baby quilt.

I don’t have a lot of ‘basic’ solids in my stash, so I recently added three yards each of KONA Charcoal & KONA Snow. Also, because I like it and it’s ‘in’ right now, a yard of Metro Living white rings on pewter by Robert Kaufman.

The quilt class I took this month was held in a quilt store. Duh. Had to check out the goods there, and came home with a charm pack (my favorite kind of pre-cut) of Origins (by basicgrey/origins for Moda), and a fat-quarter pack of Sunkissed grays (by Sweetwater for Moda), both of which would go nicely with the KONA Ash I have left from my SOCKEN QA.

And, of course, the best kind of stash additions are those that are gifted to you! And for my birthday last week, I got two more great additions:

A Cappuccino Bali Pop by Hoffman, along with a book with a pattern using said Bali Pop. I haven’t used batiks very often, but I love how they feel as you sew, so am looking forward to putting this project together soon.

AND a half-yard pack of KONA cotton solids! Hand-picked! Wow. Someone knew I needed those solids in my stash! Those lovely colors are Cardinal, Tangerine, Canary, Sour Apple, Lagoon, Bright Periwinkle, and Charcoal. And are they ever beautiful! They will definitely add some life to the (stash) party!

 

Thank you to the gifters! They are two woman who both encourage and inspire me!

(Am I the only one that leaves new stash items out for a while, just to enjoy the sight of them?! Can’t put them in the bin too soon!)