athenagwis

Okay you guys are making me feel better :) Thanks everyone for all your thoughts!!

Rachel

patricej

you are the person i want to be when i grow up. (which i'm beginning to think is never going to happen. :roll: )

i wish i had your common sense and self control. i might have a guest room instead of a storage room. :?

be yourself. you're doing great. :thumbup:

weezie

Crazy?? Maybe not, Rachel. Maybe just a serious phobia??? Whatever it is, better you than me! If I see a yummy fabric at a price I'm willing to pay ... the more yards I can get, the happier I am; occasionally I go down to my basement sewing room to admire and touch the fabric ... I think it must call to me. Because there are really very few fabrics that have all the qualities that I want, I don't have a large stash, but enough to make me feel warm & fuzzy. (Gosh, maybe we're both crazy!)

sueisallaboutquilts

Rachel, I look at it this way ( and it does work for me)- if I have an assortment I tend to be more creative. Does that make sense?? It's really fun to go through my stash and come up with a great idea. But again, that's just me. I was hopeless when I bought the fabrics for my first quilt- I wanted most of the shop :D:D:D
One question for you- are you like this about other things or is it just fabric?? I hear a little "phobia" too. I am very sensitive to fears b/c I have some, not fabric though lolol
HUGS, Sue

WLee

I wish I hated to buy fabric--I'm just the opposite! I just love fabric and fabric shopping. It doesn't matter if I have a particular use for what I buy either. It doesn't even have to be beautiful. I can spot something with great texture, or something that is just interesting that I know will find a place in one of my quilts (or dreams of a quilt!). I'm afraid I love designing and drawing and planning my quilts out on graph paper, almost more than I do making and completing the quilts! But it does help to have a great stash. I find that I really don't need to go out and buy when I'm ready to start a project, because I have enough at home to go through and try to make my own fabrics work in my designs. So, I may be a bit fabric-crazy, but, as I tell my DH (when he sometimes just can't help commenting on the amount of fabric vs. finished quilts), he's lucky I'm not hooked on expensive clothes, jewelry, or travel! WLee

Gramof6

I used to think this way. Then I lost it. Figured life is short & ya never know with the way the economy is or can be, so might as well just buy fabric now. Kind of like an investment. LOL I even get a kick out of going to Quilt In A Day site and ordering from their site. Every week they put a certain color or pattern of fabric on Sale. So I hit it. I Shop other online places as well when they have Sales. Blenders are wonderful to have on hand. Whites & Creams, and your primary colors as well. I also started collecting reproductions from the 30's & CW. If I needed to, I could make many quilts without ever leaving the house for fabric. That is a good feeling. But I keep adding. LOL My Mom & a couple of my friends Shop my Stash also, so I try to keep a good amt. so they can keep on sewing. When DH retires I may not be able to buy fabric often so I am getting prepared now! LOL That is my story & I am sticking to it. Oh! And I am also trying to help stimulate the economy. LOL But other than my grandkids, this is the only thing I splurge on. DH knows I am cheap on him so he doesn't mind. :thumbup:

athenagwis

Oh it probably is some sort of phobia. I have a hard time buying anything actually even when i have the money for it. But most things I bite the bullet an buy anyway, but for some reason I have a really hard time with fabric. :) I think it's becuase we are trying very very hard to pay off all our bills, so my mind set is to not spend automatically. So when i do have money for a specific thing I feel like it has to be the ultimate perfect thing I buy because I may not have money for it again for a while. And that's where the fear comes from for buying fabric. I go in with say $50 and intend on buying fabric, but it's not enough to buy for a whole quilt, so maybe I'll just buy 2 yards of only 2 fabrics, but then what if I never find a use for those and I have wasted this precious $50? SO I decide on just getting a bunch of fat quarters, but then what if a fat in not enough once I find a quilt I want to make and this fabric is gone when I am ready to buy more? And then after pacing around the store for 30 minutes picking up and putting down, I leave with nothing. LOL Yes it's a problem. Because I do want to buy. But I guess it's good that my house is not overwhelmed with fabric.

Maybe if I sit down and decide on 5 or 6 projects and what fabrics I want for them, I could start buying for those. I have often bought a coordinating set of fabrics for a project, but then ended up using it for something else. I bet it would help me because I would know that it has an intended project, and I would have a stash because I could end using the fabric for a different quilt ..... hmmm not a bad idea.

Thanks everyone for your comments, I know it's a little odd, but it's good to 'talk' it out. :)

Cheers!
Rachel

dotski

i'm here if you want to purge this way !!!!!

dotski

i'm here if you want to purge this way !!!lol

lots2do

Rachel-
It sounds to me as if it is a situational thing - that when your financial goals are met, you might be in a different place with fabric buying (or not). Since I organized what stash I have, I have really cut down on buying until I use up what I have. The only problem is, now, I have to buy more to go with what I have in some cases because some of this fabric is all over the board. DH is talking about retirement and downsizing so that is affecting my shopping attitude too. When I was at the Keepsake sale this weekend, I kept thinking "Wouldn't it be nice to buy all the pieces I needed for a project right now?" Then, again, I always did enjoy a good treasure hunt...
Give yourself some space - this doesn't sound like a bad problem and it may change when your lifestyle does.
lots2do