I may have a problem. If you paid any attention to Star Trek, you might have heard of the Borg, an entity that absorbs all life forms into itself for which "resistance is futile." I think my stash is trying to assimilate all other stashes. And I don't have the will to stop it.
More often than I care to admit, quilters about my age are passing away or going into assisted living. And with these events come the quilters' estate sale...that is, the dispersal of the stash.
Today I grabbed the scrap bin.
On Saturday, with the help of my sister, we claimed these within the first 15 minutes of the sale. No one was hurt.
I also found some vintage Kaffe fabric, some fabrics designed by Mary Ellen Hopkins, a couple of batiks, and a favorite black fabric that I was running out of (excellent for animal eyes etc.).
And today I was not feeling the whole parrot thing. And from the looks of it, the origami parrot is not feeling it either. He's not happy that I made his head too small and I put an extra kink in his tail. I think I am suffering from a fabric hangover and the parrot, a kitten and a cat are suffering the consequences.
9 comments:
I did some shopping too, yesterday! I am excited....your fabrics are so pretty!
For me it seems that every time a sewer or quilter passes away in my family and surrounds, I'm the first person they think of for giving the sewing machine to. Somehow I've acquired about 8 sewing machines in this way. In fact I have 13 sewing machines (a couple are heavy duty that are actually my husband's) and all but one are at least 40 yeast old. Most have cabinets and no protective case. I was thinking just this weekend about how how many sewing machines a person needs and if giving these away would be a bad omen.
Give those machines away! Contact your community center or women's centers and see if any of their students would like a free machine. It's not bad karma - it's opening up for space for more treasures. Be the conduit!
I too cannot pass up a preowned fabric sale. In fact, the vast majority of my stash comes from these sales or the free table. I try not to pay more than $2 a yard ($3 if I love the fabric) so it's almost like free fabric. Although it's common for my bill to be $100 at the sale... So maybe not quite free. But a bargain compared to the retail price!
Thing about you and your stash is that I see production and lots of quilts for charity. Fabric is a quilter's palette, and unless you dye your own, you need a lot of different fabrics to get the color/value/movement/scale you want. So don't feel bad about acquisition. You collect fabric, but you also use fabric.
I love your work and humor and the smile your blog gives me every day :).
Oh wow! Mary Ellen Hopkins fabric - you are the Queen of quilter's estate sales!
Wow what a great bargain to get fat quarter packs of solids, perfect for making penguins and parrots...and borders and and the list is endless! Congratulations an opportunity too good to pass up and definately to be bragged about!
Wow, I want to come live in Portland and soak up some primo fabric estate sales. Oh wait, I can’t keep up with sewing my own stash and its occasional “enhancements” here. And obviously, as the British would say, you’ve created a Poorly Parrot.
I think you've combined a borg problem with a tribble problem. Good luck with that!
I seriously think we are starting into about a decade of a glut of sewing room estate sales/giveaways. Our quilt club was contacted about another one last week. It took 2 cars to get all the stuff!
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