Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Fabric Fast 2014

The end of the year is fast approaching and again I'm noticing that I have enough fabric and future projects planned to keep me busy for a long time. I've said that in the past, but I've always fallen off the wagon. This year I really need to stick to my decision. I have absolutely no more room in my storage space for fabric. It is too crowded for me to enjoy it. I have such beautiful fabrics and projects planned it really is ridiculous for me to spend anymore money on fabric or spend anymore time planning new projects. I recently stumbled onto Fabriholics Anonymous and the goals seem to mirror mine, so I've decided to go for it. No fabric purchases from January 1 to July 1 2014. I actually would like to do a fabric fast for the entirety of 2014, but we'll see how the first six months go before I make that pledge! 

GOALS:
- To use the Stash I already have!
- Finish UFOs without distraction by shifting to other new beautiful fabric.
- Stop the insanity of constantly buying the latest and greatest fabric.
- Save the $$ I spend on stashing. (This is an important one for me. No starting a new hobby with the money not spent on fabric. SAVE IT!)
- Destash the fabrics that I realize I am never going to use. (I really need to get rid of some of my old fabric.)

FABRIC FAST RULES:
1) No fabric purchases for 6 months beginning January 1, 2014.   
2) At 6 months reevaluate status and decide whether to keep going for full year.  Evaluation July 1, 2014.
3) Create a UFO list and complete them!
4) Exceptions
  • Backing: purchasing a backing to finish a quilt top is permissible.  However, attempting to use fabric in your possession for a backing is preferable. (I will allow myself fabric for backings, bindings, and sashing. However, I MUST try to use what I have first)
  • Books and Magazine purchases are allowed as they are not fabric.  Notions acceptable too. (I have plenty of these, so I'm going to cut this out too)
  • Swap Mama Fabric: if hosting a swap you are permitted to by fabric to execute swap duties, but you may not join a swap simply for the sake of being able to buy fabric! (No swaps for me!)
  • Quilts for Publication: if you are making a quilt for a publication and need certain fabric to execute it correctly then that is a major exception - who can blame you?

I'm not going to give myself hard and fast rules about what I have to work on. Since I'm not going to allow myself new fabric, I'm not going to focus just on UFOs. If I want to start a new project I will. In my experience if I give myself too many rules, I don't stick with it.

Without further adieu, here is my list of projects for 2014:

  1. Make quilt for my Mother-in-Law for her birthday
  2. Finish my Going Coastal quilt
  3. Finish my Innocent Crush quilt
  4. Finish Grinch quilt for my son
  5. Finish Nicey Jane quilt for my Aunt
  6. Finish baby quilt for cousin
  7. Make two baby quilts for my nephews
  8. Wonky Star quilt with Constellation fabrics
  9.  Finish Cherry Christmas quilt for me
  10. Finish Christmas quilt for my BIL and SIL
  11. Finish two Quilts of Valor 
  12. Organize my scraps and then do a scrappy project.
I know I won't finish all of these and that new shiny projects will come along, but some of these have been on the pile for a long time. I want to finish some of these and use them! I know there are other UFOs I'm not thinking of right now that I might want to finish up too. I will try to update the blog once a month on my progress, but I can't promise anything. Blogging is just not something I do very often, but I'm going to try.

Interested? Please consider joining us! I'm hoping this will really help me meet my goals.